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newsclips -- ARB Newsclips for August 10, 2015.

Posted: 10 Aug 2015 14:21:52
ARB Newsclips for August 10, 2015. 

This is a service of the California Air Resources Board’s Office
of Communications.  You may need to sign in or register with
individual websites to view some of the following news articles.

AIR POLLUTION

China Pollution Crosses Sea to Hamper Air Cleanup Effort in U.S.
Chinese air pollution is blowing across the Pacific Ocean and
partly offsetting clean air measures taken in California,
according to Dutch and U.S. researchers. More than two-fifths of
the expected benefits of anti- pollution controls in the western
U.S. were canceled out by rising ozone pollution from China.
http://washpost.bloomberg.com/Story?docId=1376-NSPNOW6JIJUR01-5FNN9G0I1093R70HUE42G6327L


EPA orders more air quality tests for homes near Superfund sites.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has ordered a new round
of air quality tests for a South Bay neighborhood after detecting
a variety of contaminants inside homes near two federal cleanup
sites. The EPA sampled 107 homes near the Del Amo and Montrose
Superfund sites earlier this year under pressure…
http://www.latimes.com/science/la-me-del-amo-superfund-20150810-story.html

LA region breathes much easier since Obama attended Occidental.
President Barack Obama attended Occidental College in Los Angeles
from 1979 to 1981. His memories are full of smog. So how bad was
it?  According to historic ozone data collected by the South
Coast Air Quality Management District, it was pretty bad. In
1979, the air quality failed to meet modern standards for 234
days of the year.
http://www.insidebayarea.com/breaking-news/ci_28613049/la-region-breathes-much-easier-since-obama-attended


POLLUTION: Clean air target missed. Southern California has
missed a long-standing federal deadline to reduce toxic soot and
other small particle air pollution because unhealthful levels of
such pollutants persist in northwest Riverside County. Under
rules set by the Bush administration, communities in Southern
California’s ocean-to-mountains air basin were supposed to meet
the goal by 2015.
http://www.pe.com/articles/air-776370-pollution-loma.html 

County air quality to reach unhealthy range Monday. The Tehama
County Air Pollution Control District warns again Monday that air
quality is expected to reach unhealthy levels due to smoke from
wildfires in the region. Those at risk, including children and
adults with respiratory disease, should stay indoors and avoid
prolonged outdoor exertion. Intense physical activity should be
avoided.
http://www.redbluffdailynews.com/general-news/20150810/county-air-quality-to-reach-unhealthy-range-monday


CLIMATE CHANGE

Australia’s Prime Minister Warns Climate Policy Must Not Cool
Economy. The country’s cabinet is expected to discuss emissions
targets when Parliament resumes this week. Australia’s Prime
Minister Tony Abbott drew a line in the sand on climate policy
Sunday, saying any measures to cut emissions must not hurt the
economy or involve a carbon-pricing scheme, as his chief
lawmakers prepare to
debate…http://www.wsj.com/articles/australias-abbott-says-climate-policy-cannot-come-at-expense-of-economy-1439096152


Why Shell Cut Ties to Conservative Lobby Group Over Climate
Change. Hint: It's got something to do with the company drilling
offshore in the Arctic. Does it matter that Royal Dutch Shell
plans to cut ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council
(ALEC) over climate policy?  Shell follows big oil rival BP and
Silicon Valley titans Google, Facebook, and Yahoo…
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-10/why-shell-cut-ties-to-conservative-lobby-group-over-climate-change


Climate Change Could Harm British Butterflies. Six species of
butterflies in Britain will face local extinctions by 2050
because of climate change, a new study reports. “What was
surprising to me was that even in the most benign scenario, the
drought effects are quite severe…
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/11/science/climate-change-could-harm-british-butterflies.html?_r=0

In simple terms, Climate change will heat up California cities.
Like San Diego weather? Stick around several decades and we all
just might have it. A glimpse into our future reveals a Bay Area
whose weather feels a lot like California’s balmy border city.
Seattle could feel like present-day San Jose, forcing hipsters to
shed their beards and knit beanies. A future Sacramento may have
armpit stains the size of small nations.
http://www.dailynews.com/environment-and-nature/20150808/in-simple-terms-climate-change-will-heat-up-california-cities

http://www.contracostatimes.com/breaking-news/ci_28605516/climate-change-future-bay-area-weather-will-be


Did the EPA Bulletproof the Clean Power Plan? By making the Obama
administration's landmark climate rules more workable and more
stringent, Gina McCarthy may have strengthened their legal
footing. Gina McCarthy, the head of the Environmental Protection
Agency, has learned two lessons from her long career in the
regulatory martial arts: adversity can be a source of strength…
http://insideclimatenews.org/carbon-copy/03082015/did-epa-bulletproof-clean-power-plan-obama-climate-carbon-regulations?utm_source=Inside+Climate+News&utm_campaign=35fd0d1dfe-Weekly_Newsletter_8_9_20158_6_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_29c928ffb5-35fd0d1dfe-327494049


Underground Desert Aquifers Could Hold Missing Carbon. Here’s
what we know: Carbon dioxide is building up in the atmosphere as
the result of manmade emissions, trapping more and more heat and
warming the planet. Here’s what we’re still working on: Of the
excess CO2 that doesn’t stick around in the atmosphere — about 60
percent of it — exactly how much gets pulled into various
so-called carbon sinks…
http://www.climatecentral.org/news/desert-aquifers-hold-missing-carbon-19320


Can combating climate change coexist with increased US oil
production? After the unveiling of President Barack Obama's Clean
Power Plan, it's an appropriate time to take stock of whether the
administration's climate goals are at odds with the ongoing shale
boom. Platts senior editor Brian Scheid asks whether history will
remember Obama as the climate change…
http://www.platts.com/podcasts-detail/crude/2015/august/capitol-crude-081015?hootpostid=38014dc179caacb63fae50673ec3a189


Climate change crusade goes local. While US leaders remain bogged
down in debate over global warming, local communities are acting
on their own to hold back rising seas. Florida’s state leaders
are running hard from climate change. The governor, Rick Scott,
doesn’t want state employees to even utter the words.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2015/0809/Climate-change-crusade-goes-local


Concerns mount as Australia decides its greenhouse gas emissions
targets. Climate change activists are glumly anticipating the
announcement tonight of Australia's new greenhouse gas emissions
target, which many say is sure to be weak and could even dampen
hopes for an ambitious global climate change agreement. The
target -- expected by many to be in the range of 25 percent below
2005 levels by 2030…
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2015/08/10/stories/1060023204 

Court won't reconsider greenhouse gas judgment. Federal judges on
Friday declined an industry request to reconsider their
interpretation of a Supreme Court ruling that trimmed U.S. EPA's
greenhouse gas regulations.
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2015/08/10/stories/1060023210 

Rivers may slow CO2 release from Arctic permafrost – study.
Permafrost holds vast amounts of stored carbon, making its fate
in a warming world of critical interest to scientists. Yet much
is still misunderstood about how it will behave with higher
temperatures and how much greenhouse gases it will release. Now,
a new study in Nature finds that large amounts of organic carbon…
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2015/08/10/stories/1060023199 

Governor warns of global warming's 'new normal' at site of
massive blaze. California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) spotlighted the
increasing risks of global warming to the state on a visit to the
site of the erratic and destructive Rocky Fire in Northern
California. On Thursday, the governor met with first responders
and residents who had lost their homes in the 69,600-acre blaze
that started more than a week ago.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2015/08/10/stories/1060023189 

New research initiative aims at making cities more resilient to
climate change. The National Science Foundation has bankrolled a
$12 million initiative called the Urban Resilience to Extreme
Weather-Related Events Sustainable Research Network (UREx SRN),
which launched Friday. The five-year effort is a collaboration
between Arizona State University and the Forest Service and
brings together experts from different fields…
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2015/08/10/stories/1060023201 

DROUGHT

Tribes seek boost in Oregon, California water flows to aid
salmon. Two American Indian tribes asked the U.S. government to
increase flows from dams to prevent the spread of a deadly fish
disease that flourishes in warm water as trout and salmon suffer
along the drought-parched West Coast. Starting in about three
weeks, a fall run of some 120,000 Chinook salmon is expected to
swim up the Klamath River…
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/08/us-usa-oregon-fish-idUSKCN0QD00T20150808?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews


A Once-Flourishing Pima Cotton Industry Withers in an Arid
California. Up and down the San Joaquin Valley, vast fields that
once grew cotton lie fallow, remnants of a boom and bust fueled
by a worldwide demand for premium T-shirts and linens. Farmers
here have fallowed acres of Pima cotton by the thousands,
threatening the region’s unlikely reign as the world’s biggest
producer of the specialty cotton, also called Supima.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/08/business/a-once-flourishing-pima-cotton-industry-withers-in-an-arid-california.html?_r=0


Where the drought has brought Head Start to a stop. A plush
Cookie Monster wearing overalls and a sparkling pony ridden by a
doll with one eye permanently shut huddled against a living room
wall with a contingent of other orphaned toys. Diana Toscano
picked up a child's hat with a yellow puppy stitched on the
front.
http://www.latimes.com/local/great-reads/la-me-c1-drought-head-start-20150810-story.html#page=1


Innovation is blooming at water-wise urban farms. As California
moves through its fourth summer of drought, cutting back on water
use means shorter showers, fuller dishwashers and drier lawns for
most people living in urban areas. But for small farms nestled
between city streets, saving water means recycling it — and
finding new ways to keep plants alive without wasting the
precious liquid.
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-urban-farming-drought-20150810-story.html


Green waste collections fall by millions of pounds as
Sacramentans let their lawns turn brown.  One less thing for many
Sacramento-area residents to worry about: Is this the day to put
out the green waste can? As families across the region let their
lawns go brown, garbage haulers for the area’s largest population
centers have collected 26 million fewer pounds of green waste so
far this summer compared to 2012…
http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article30553818.html#storylink=cpy


Explosive Rocky Fire a warning for drought-parched state. Scott
Upton shook his head in wonder as he drove past ranch lands along
a flat section of Highway 20, where the massive Rocky Fire had
leaped over helpless firefighters trying to make a stand. The
firefighters had set intentional backfires in an attempt to burn
away fuel, but the blaze shot embers across what is known as New
Long Valley, igniting the hills on the other side of the road.
http://www.sfchronicle.com/science/article/Explosive-Rocky-Fire-a-warning-for-6433258.php


Southern California turf rebate program paid out nearly $57M. The
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California shelled out
nearly $57 million during a popular program that paid homeowners
and businesses to replace lawns with drought-friendly
landscaping. The money went to 15,000 residents and businesses,
many of which received additional rebate funds from their local
water supplier…
http://www.modbee.com/news/state/article30549792.html#storylink=cpy


California drought hasn't killed summer vacations.  At Russian
River Adventures near Healdsburg, owner Larry Laba fields calls
every day from people worried that California's epic drought has
pulled the plug on their summer rafting trips.  Surely, after
four years of drought -- with fish and farmers fighting over
every drop -- there can't be much left over for the lowly
inflatables, right?
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/general-news/20150809/california-drought-hasnt-killed-summer-vacations


FUELS

U.S. gas prices fall alongside crude oil: Lundberg survey. The
average price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States fell
11 cents in the past two weeks, pulled down by the ongoing slump
in crude oil prices, according to the Lundberg survey released on
Sunday. Regular grade gasoline fell to an average price of $2.71
per gallon, according to the biweekly survey dated Aug. 7, down
11 cents from the previous survey on July 24.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/09/us-usa-gasoline-survey-idUSKCN0QE0SH20150809


Methane-Powered Tractor Could Cut Farmers' Costs, Emissions. Luca
Remmert's dream of running a self-sustainable farm is within
sight. He produces energy from corn and grain near the northern
Italian city of Turin and hopes in the not too distant future to
run all of his eight tractors on methane generated at the farm.
Remmert's 450-hectare (1,100-acre) La Bellotta farm has been
testing a second-generation prototype of what will be the first
tractor to run on methane.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/08/10/business/ap-eu-italy-biofuel-tractor.html

Canadian candidates battle over Keystone pipeline, climate.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper defended Thursday his work
on approving the Keystone XL Pipeline and predicted the next
United States president will support the project. “As you know,
that’s a situation under the control of the United States,”
Harper said of Keystone during Canada's first pre-election debate
Thursday night.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/250545-canadian-candidates-battle-over-keystone-pipeline-climate


Tsinghua studies on alcohol-gasoline dual fuel engines show fuel
efficiency and particle number benefits. Researchers at Tsinghua
University in China are studying the effects of Dual-Fuel Spark
Ignition (DFSI) combustion fueled with different alcohols and
gasoline. In one paper, published in the journal Fuel, they
investigated the use of alcohols–gasoline DFSI Combustion for
knock suppression and high fuel efficiency using a gasoline
engine with high compression ratio.
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2015/08/20150810-tsinghua.html 

New one-pot process to produce gasoline-grade biofuel from the
bacterial biopolymer PHB.  A team from the Hawaii Natural Energy
Institute, University of Hawaii at Manoa is developing a new
one-pot process to produce gasoline-grade (C6–C18) hydrocarbon
oil from polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB)—an energy storage material
formed from renewable feedstock in many bacterial species.
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2015/08/20150809-phb.html 

VEHICLES

Electric-Car Mandates: Can't Meet 'Em, Makers Say, While Buyers
'Shrug' At Efficiency. With the approaching midterm review of the
Corporate Average Fuel Economy rules coming up in the next two
years, automakers and advocates are positioning themselves to
lobby for changes to the rules.
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1099510_electric-car-mandates-cant-meet-em-makers-say-whle-buyers-shrug-at-efficiency


GREEN ENERGY

The boom in wind energy couldn’t be coming at a better time. The
Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan, released last week,
requires the country to use a lot more renewable energy by the
year 2030 — and a lot less coal. And right on time, two new
reports published Monday by the Department of Energy find that
one key renewable sector — wind — is booming…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/08/10/the-boom-in-wind-energy-couldnt-be-coming-at-a-better-time/


Pleasanton: Big solar project planned at Shadow Cliffs Park. The
East Bay Regional Park district is betting big on solar power --
big enough to offset nearly all the energy used at its 65
regional parks in two counties. The agency plans an $8 million
solar project at Shadow Cliffs Regional Recreation Area to
generate up to 1.2 megawatts of electricity -- roughly as much
power as used by 800 to 1,000 homes.
http://www.insidebayarea.com/breaking-news/ci_28611109/pleasanton-big-solar-project-planned-at-shadow-cliffs


Solar power begins to surge in Latin America, mostly without
subsidies. Riding an unprecedented expansion of solar in Honduras
and continued strong performances in Chile, Brazil and Mexico,
Latin America's solar sector netted its strongest quarterly
growth from April to June with 363 megawatts of new capacity
coming online, according to industry data released last week by
GTM Research.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2015/08/10/stories/1060023197 

U.S. will help Indonesia lower its greenhouse gas emissions. The
United States will work with Indonesia to help the country
develop its geothermal energy potential, the U.S. State
Department has announced. In a workshop with high-level
government officials and technical experts from both countries
last week, the United States and Indonesia agreed to collaborate
"to accelerate private investment in geothermal energy."
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2015/08/10/stories/1060023200 

DOE: US wind power capacity grew 8% in 2014 to ~66 GW, 2nd in
world; meets 4.9% of end use demand; lowest prices to date.
According to the 2014 Wind Technologies Market Report released
today by the US Department of Energy (DOE) and its Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory, total installed wind power capacity
in the United States grew at a rate of 8% in 2014…
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2015/08/20150810-doewind.html 

OPINION

Curbing global warming: Mission impossible? On climate change, we
need to go beyond the tired story line of “deniers” vs. the
“scientific consensus.” Until it’s discredited by falling
temperatures, global warming is a reality. We can still debate
how much has occurred and the share attributable to human
activity, but the more relevant question is what — if anything —
can be done about it.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/curbing-global-warming-mission-impossible/2015/08/09/b95b2650-3d2d-11e5-b3ac-8a79bc44e5e2_story.html


As long as California allows fracking, it can't call itself a
leader on climate change. To the editor: Even as Gov. Jerry Brown
applauds President Obama's new clean power plan, our governor is
sabotaging the fight against global warming in California by
supporting fracking and other extreme techniques for extracting
dirty fossil fuels. ("California is ahead of the game as Obama
releases Clean Power Plan," Aug. 4).
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/readersreact/la-le-0808-saturday-california-fracking-climate-change-20150808-story.html


RON LOVERIDGE: Climate change law benefiting many residents. It’s
an easy applause line to say that the politicians in Sacramento
put their personal ideologies ahead of their district’s needs.
Orchestrated attacks on California’s landmark clean energy law,
Assembly Bill 32, are so easy and commonplace that I was more
than disheartened to see this smear campaign parading as fact in
“Focusing on climate over constituents” [Opinion, July 26].
http://www.pe.com/articles/california-776354-energy-climate.html


Letters: Remember water crisis at polls. Gov. Jerry Brown should
be recalled based on his inaction concerning the current drought.
One of his primary duties is to ensure that California’s
infrastructure can support the population. He has admitted that
California’s infrastructure can’t support its population. To
compound the problem, he promotes policies that encourage
unlimited increases in the illegal alien and welfare populations.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/water-676851-homes-new.html 

A bad climate change plan. President Barack Obama has a new plan
to fight global warming, and science is on his side, isn’t it?
No, not exactly. But wait, calculations show the economy will
benefit, don’t they? No, not even close — consumers will take a
bath. Well, finally, the Constitution backs up the effort’s
legality, does it not? It does not.
http://salina.com/opinion/columns/a-bad-climate-change-plan/article_9bb68ed2-780a-53dc-a61d-3e4c08ef5ee7.html


Robert J. Samuelson: Curbing global warming: mission impossible?
On climate change, we need to go beyond the tired storyline of
“deniers” versus the “scientific consensus.” Until it’s
discredited by falling temperatures, global warming is a reality.
We can still debate how much has occurred and the share
attributable to human activity, but the more relevant question is
what — if anything — can be done about it.
http://www.montereyherald.com/opinion/20150809/robert-j-samuelson-curbing-global-warming-mission-impossible


Carbon fee uses free market to promote cleaner energy. Is
regulation by the EPA’s Clean Power Plan the best choice to help
us breathe easier? A carbon-fee-and-dividend plan advocated by
George P. Shultz, former secretary of State under President
Ronald Reagan, is a free-market plan with a fee on dirty energy
that recycles 100 percent of revenue back to American households.
It would speed the transition from our dirty past and into a
clean-energy future.
http://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/letters/2015/08/10/carbon-fee-uses-free-market-promote-cleaner-energy/31384675/


BLOGS

Alexander Sherriffs and William B. Marcus: Clean-energy economy
for the Valley.  The San Joaquin Valley is a remarkable place. It
has played a vital role in the development of the economy and the
character of the state. The Midway-Sunset and Kern Oil Fields
produced over 5 billion barrels of oil since being discovered in
the 1890s. Natural water run-off and later some of the world’s
largest public works brought water to the Valley floor creating
an agricultural treasure…
http://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/article30437568.html
 

Daily oil trains could threaten lives in the Bay Area. If oil
giant Phillips 66 has its way, an oil train disaster and
increased air pollution may be coming to a Bay Area town near
you. Phillips 66 is proposing an oil transport station to refine
Canadian tars sands in San Luis Obispo. If the project is
approved by the San Luis Obispo planning commission and board of
supervisors…
http://blog.sfgate.com/hottopics/2015/08/10/daily-oil-trains-could-threaten-lives-in-the-bay-area/


IKEA is going green in a very big way. It’s making a significant
change. IKEA has announced it will be the first major U.S.
retailer to carry only LED lightbulbs when it makes the switch
next month. Steve Howard, IKEA’s Chief Sustainability Officer,
explained the company’s motivation behind the LED shift: “LED is
a light revolution. http://fortune.com/2015/08/10/ikea-green-led/


The Perilous Morality of Climate Change. It's a challenging
endeavor to discuss "what's working" with climate change. News
outlets the world over are littered with stories of doom and
gloom, of current calamities and human suffering.  A quick
perusal of the summary of the most recent Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change (IPCC) Report, the definitive scientific body
on the topic, lays out where we are and what that means.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maxwell-d-dotson/the-perilous-morality-of-_b_7815156.html


The Forest Path to an Ambitious Climate Deal. Later this year,
global leaders will make important decisions about some of the
planet's toughest challenges. If the world wants a climate deal
and new development agenda that's good for the economy, for the
poor, and for businesses, the path forward needs to include
forests.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-polman/the-forest-path-to-an-amb_b_7964208.html


An Extreme Climate Warming Episode Led To Smaller Mammals - But
How?  A massive and bizarre climate event 56 million years ago
seems to have had some odd effects on terrestrial life. This
event, the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) is marked in
the rock record by an extremely unusual carbon isotope signature
in both the marine and terrestrial sediment records.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/shaenamontanari/2015/08/10/extreme-climate-warming-episode-lead-to-smaller-mammals-but-how/




California is in a drought emergency.
Visit www.SaveOurH2O.org for water conservation tips.

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