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newsclips -- ARB Newsclips for March 16, 2016.
Posted: 16 Mar 2016 12:28:32
ARB Newsclips for March 16, 2016. 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 Mexico City Suffers First Pollution Emergency in More Than a Decade. Local authorities restrict vehicle use and warn residents to stay indoors as much as possible. Mexico´s capital had its first pollution emergency in more than a decade this week, prompting local authorities to restrict vehicle use and warn residents to stay indoors as much as possible on Tuesday. http://www.wsj.com/articles/mexico-city-suffers-first-pollution-emergency-in-more-than-a-decade-1458075581 Pigeons in tiny backpacks are measuring air pollution in London. Air pollution caused by diesel vehicles in London is bad — so bad that it is blamed for 9,500 premature deaths a year and has prompted Britain’s Supreme Court to order the government to make a plan for cleaning up the skies. Now what is commonly seen as another scourge of the city, the pigeon, is helping in the fight against smog. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2016/03/16/pigeons-in-tiny-backpacks-are-measuring-air-pollution-in-london/ This Type Of Pollution Hid Global Warming From Us For Years. Less acid rain, more heat. No good deed goes unpunished. Two papers published in Nature Geoscience today found a strange link between pollution and global warming. Namely, some air pollution—specifically an aerosol called sulfur dioxide—acted as a disguise from global warming for part of the 20th century. Now that we've gotten rid of it, temperatures are continuing their ascent unabated. http://www.popsci.com/pollution-helped-hide-global-warming-for-decades?dom=rss-default&src=syn House offers regulatory break to 19 waste-coal power plants. A handful of power plants that burn so-called "coal refuse" would get a break from air pollution regulations under a bill approved by the House yesterday on a 231-183 vote that fell mostly along party lines. It was the second time in two weeks that the Republican-controlled chamber had advanced legislation to relax emissions standards for a select industry. http://www.eenews.net/eedaily/2016/03/16/stories/1060034079 CLIMATE CHANGE Rapid melt of New Zealand glaciers ends hikes onto them. New Zealand is renowned for its wondrous scenery, and among the country's top tourist attractions are two glaciers that are both stunning and unusual because they snake down from the mountains to a temperate rain forest, making them easy for people to walk up to and view. But the Fox and Franz Josef glaciers have been melting at such a rapid rate… http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_NEW_ZEALAND_MELTING_GLACIERS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT U.K. Treasury Will Get $648 Million Bonus in Carbon Tax Reform. The U.K. government will get a 460 million pound ($648 million) bonus by scrapping one unpopular carbon tax while it increases another levy in 2019, despite claiming the move is cost neutral. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said he would abolish the Carbon Reduction Commitment, which requires large companies… http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-16/u-k-treasury-will-get-648-million-bonus-in-carbon-tax-reform When 'Global Warming' Became 'Climate Change' When exactly did one become the other, and why? First there was "global warming." Then came "climate change." Turns out, use of the latter became more prevalent in 2008 and that dominance became irreversible in 2009. Here's how use of the terms compare in stories on the Bloomberg Professional service. The term "global warming," which describes an increase… http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-15/climate-change-replaces-global-warming-as-preferred-term-for-a-changing-world Global energy sector CO2 emissions flat in 2015: IEA. Global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the energy sector were flat in 2015, despite an uptick in economic growth, the IEA said on Wednesday. The energy sector is the largest source of man-made greenhouse gas emissions and traditionally its emissions have only fallen or stayed flat during economic downturns. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-iea-emissions-report-idUSKCN0WI1KI?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews http://www.ibtimes.com/global-co2-emissions-stayed-flat-2015-even-world-economy-grew-report-2337658 http://mashable.com/2016/03/16/economy-grew-carbon-emissions-stalled/#7F20fhJ0Xmq4 Japan Signs Off on Climate Change Plan to Meet Paris Targets. Japan’s government signed off on a set of measures ranging from energy-saving steps to a broader use of hydrogen to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in a bid to meet the country’s commitments made last year at the Paris climate meeting. The cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected to approve the… http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-15/japan-signs-off-on-climate-change-plan-to-meet-paris-targets?utm_source=Inside+Climate+News&utm_campaign=60c67fc1d4-Today_s_Climate12_10_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_29c928ffb5-60c67fc1d4-327747457 Climate change, energy is back on EU summit agenda: draft. EU leaders meeting in Brussels this week will debate the Paris Agreement on climate change, a draft EU text showed, after officials previously said the migrant crisis had knocked it off the agenda. EU officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said European Council President Donald Tusk, who will chair the summit… http://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-migrants-climatechange-idUSKCN0WI1NY?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews As temperatures soar, new doubts arise about holding warming to 2 degrees C. February 2016 was a stunningly warm month. According to NASA data, it was the most anomalously hot month the Earth has seen since record keeping began — fully 1.35 degrees Celsius (2.43 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than the average from 1951-1980. In the context of international climate policy, February is ominous as well. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/03/15/temperatures-are-spiking-can-we-keep-global-warming-in-the-safe-range/?postshare=4321458136213097&tid=ss_tw Scotland urged to adopt more ambitious carbon emissions target. UK Committee on Climate Change says Holyrood should aim to reduce greenhouse gases by 61% over next 14 years. Scottish ministers should aim to cut the country’s greenhouse gas emissions by a challenging but achievable 61% by 2030, an influential advisory committee has recommended. http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/mar/15/scotland-urged-adopt-ambitious-carbon-emissions-target?utm_source=Inside+Climate+News&utm_campaign=60c67fc1d4-Today_s_Climate12_10_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_29c928ffb5-60c67fc1d4-327747457 Rising seas may disrupt lives of millions in U.S., study says. Sea-level rise, a problem exacerbated by greenhouse gas emissions, could disrupt the lives of more than a million people in California and more than 13 million in the United States, three times more than most current estimates, according to a study published Monday. Rising seas, which already endanger coastal communities through tidal floods… http://www.ocregister.com/articles/rise-368998-ocprint-sea-level.html MIT Energy Initiative report on transforming the US transportation system by 2050 to address climate challenges. A new MIT Energy Initiative report spearheaded by John Heywood, Sun Jae Professor of Mechanical Engineering Emeritus at MIT, identifies three important paths forward reducing light-duty vehicle energy use and greenhouse gas emissions… http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/03/20160316-mitei.html Lawmakers move to block climate rule planning. Missouri lawmakers are pushing legislation to prohibit the state from planning for the Obama administration's climate change regulation until a Supreme Court stay on implementing the rule is lifted. Two separate bills are working their way through the state Legislature: One, which advanced this week, would suspend U.S. EPA Clean Power Plan… http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2016/03/16/stories/1060034060 Warming poses 'severe' threat to wheat. Could bread become a victim of climate change? Not if researchers can help it. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is announcing today that it will provide a $24 million grant over four years to develop the Delivering Genetic Gain in Wheat project. Researchers at Cornell University will expand an ongoing global hunt for wheat varieties that can handle higher temperatures… http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2016/03/16/stories/1060034088 DROUGHT California water cutbacks draw flood of complaints as reservoirs rise. Rick Williams stood on his dead front lawn near Sacramento, California, wondering why he still pays a drought surcharge on his water bill and cannot run his sprinklers as often as he needs when a nearby reservoir is so full it could overflow come spring. After four years of catastrophic drought and nearly a year of mandatory water conservation… http://www.reuters.com/article/us-california-drought-idUSKCN0WH2CQ?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=Inside+Climate+News&utm_campaign=60c67fc1d4-Today_s_Climate12_10_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_29c928ffb5-60c67fc1d4-327747457 DWP unveils a plan to punish water wasters--but it could take some time to implement. The revelation was as shocking as it was incomprehensible: Someone in Bel-Air used 11.8 million gallons of water in a single year. Appalled officials had no choice but to react when they found out last fall. Councilman Paul Koretz called the consumption “a slap in the face to neighbors” who had conserved… http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-dwp-rates-20160315-story.html DID Storms end the drought? Is California's drought almost over? That's the question officials with some water districts have raised after this winter's rain and snow. That has prompted regulators to consider relaxing or even dropping strict water-conservation orders. However, while Northern California has reservoirs filled to the brim and a deep snowpack in the Sierra Nevada, Southern California hasn't fared so well. http://www.ocregister.com/articles/california-368920-ocprint-water-officials.html Winter storms put California drought emergency in question. Recent storms that nearly filled Northern California's major reservoirs and created a deep snowpack in the Sierra Nevada have some water districts questioning whether a drought emergency still exists. While key reservoirs in Northern California are reaching normal levels, those in central and Southern California remain low. http://www.ocregister.com/articles/water-368948-ocprint-california-emergency.html California Experiencing 'Miracle March,' Says Water Manager. The northern Sierra has seen nearly double the average precipitation since the beginning of March. It may seem hard to believe after such a dry February, but some of California’s largest reservoirs have approached flood operations. Lake Oroville, the largest state-operated reservoir, is 106 percent of its historical average as of March 15th. http://www.capradio.org/articles/2016/03/15/california-experiencing-miracle-march-says-water-manager/ FUELS Peabody shares plunge; coal producer raises bankruptcy risk. Peabody Energy Corp, the largest U.S. coal producer, may have to seek bankruptcy protection, the company said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday, citing poor economies in countries that import coal and other factors battering the coal industry. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-peabody-energy-bankruptcy-idUSKCN0WI19Z Major oil producers to talk output freeze in Qatar in April. OPEC member states and other major oil producers plan to meet next month to discuss a freeze in oil output levels, Qatar's top energy official said Wednesday. The gathering, which will build on earlier talks that included major suppliers Russia and Saudi Arabia, reflects a growing sense of urgency among producers to try to shore up crude prices… http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML_QATAR_OIL_MEETING?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT If Oil Prices Have Hit Bottom, the Top May Not Be Too Far Away. The top of the oil market may be closer than you think. With Brent futures having bounced back as high as $41 a barrel, the International Energy Agency sees “light at the end of the tunnel,” and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is spotting “green shoots.” http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-15/if-oil-prices-have-hit-bottom-the-top-may-not-be-too-far-away Natural Gas Rally Gives Way to Skepticism. A dip in natural-gas prices is putting a March rally into limbo amid continued skepticism that producers will slow down despite heavy stockpiles and low prices. Natural-gas prices turned down in early trading Wednesday, putting a March rally into limbo amid continued skepticism that producers will slow down despite heavy stockpiles and low prices. http://www.wsj.com/articles/natural-gas-rally-gives-way-to-skepticism-1458138649 VEHICLES The Future Is Electric for BMW. German luxury-car maker has announced a strategy shift. BMW AG is betting that the future of the automotive industry is electric. The German luxury-car maker announced a strategy shift on Wednesday that includes plans to invest in new technology to head off upstart competitors, such as the ride-sharing service Uber Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google, which threaten to upend the global auto industry. http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-future-is-electric-for-bmw-1458142897 Consumer Reports: avoid buying used 2014 BMW i3 electric cars. The BMW i3 electric car has been on sale in the U.S. since May 2014, meaning some of the earliest examples are now likely turning up on used-car lots. So does BMW's radical electric city car make a good used-car purchase? http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1102878_consumer-reports-avoid-buying-used-2014-bmw-i3-electric-cars VW RECALL VW missing out on European car boom. Volkswagen, penalized down by its emissions scandal, continues to miss out on the booming European car market. The European carmakers' association, ACEA, said Wednesday that February sales in Europe accelerated by 14.3 percent, but VW brand deliveries nudged up just 4.4 percent. VW group sales, boosted by Audi and Skoda, grew by 8 percent, as market share eroded to 23.9 percent. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_EUROPE_CAR_SALES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT Volkswagen’s Global Vehicle Recall Gets Stuck in First Gear. U.S. and European regulators have yet to give the green light for the German auto firm’s proposed fixes. Volkswagen AG ’s global recall of millions of tainted diesel vehicles is stuck in first gear as regulators in the U.S. and Europe continue to hold back on approving the company’s proposed fix for millions of cars that don’t meet emissions standards. http://www.wsj.com/articles/volkswagens-global-vehicle-recall-gets-stuck-in-first-gear-1458131854 U.S. Law Firm Seeks Meeting With Volkswagen to Negotiate Victims’ Compensation. Hausfeld LLP urges VW to avoid litigation by negotiating settlement with German, European consumers. Michael Hausfeld has put Volkswagen AG on notice. The German office of U.S. law firm Hausfeld LLP on Tuesday sent a letter to the management of Volkswagen AG requesting a meeting by the end of the month to begin negotiating a settlement… http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-law-firm-seeks-meeting-with-volkswagen-to-negotiate-victims-compensation-1458075303 HIGH-SPEED RAIL Bullet train to potentially change course into Southern California. The bullet train was to either barrel through Santa Clarita and San Fernando, disrupting homes, schools and businesses, or soar over and under San Fernando Valley horse country, disrupting equestrians. But now the proposed California High-Speed Rail run from Burbank to Palmdale may be changing course, the Daily News learned late Tuesday. http://www.dailynews.com/article/20160315/NEWS/160319645 http://www.scpr.org/news/2016/03/15/58591/high-speed-rail-officials-realign-proposed-burbank/ GREEN ENERGY $2 Billion Loss for Generators as a Million U.S. Roofs Get Solar. Rooftop solar is casting a $2 billion shadow over power generators across the eastern U.S. With more than a million U.S. houses set to have solar panels by the end of next month, grid managers serving the eastern U.S. plan to cut the amount of electricity they buy from conventional plants by about 1,400 megawatts, starting in 2019… http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-16/-2-billion-loss-for-generators-as-a-million-u-s-roofs-get-solar 80k acres off Long Island coast dedicated for wind energy. Federal officials say 81,130 acres off the coast of Long island will be dedicated for the development of commercial wind energy. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said Wednesday that New York state has "tremendous" wind potential. Officials say the area is large enough to make major renewable energy contributions. http://www.wsj.com/articles/AP72addf15d9764d118ce640bc41f539af Senior Senator Launches Inquiry on ‘Green Energy’ Grants. Sen. Orrin Hatch requests details about $25 billion distributed by the Treasury Department, IRS. A senior U.S. senator has begun an initial inquiry into a federal stimulus plan that has distributed roughly $25 billion in cash grants to solar companies and other “green energy” firms during the Obama administration. http://www.wsj.com/articles/senior-senator-launches-inquiry-on-green-energy-grants-1458079073 EUROPE POWER-Sharp wind power decline lifts spot prices. European prompt power prices for next day delivery rose on Wednesday as a sharp decline in wind power supply offset a slight increase in solar power availability amid a marginal decrease in consumption. Wind power supply in Germany and Austria is expected to fall by 4 gigawatts (GW) on Thursday to 3 GW out of over 40 GW installed capacity… http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFL5N16O3DI India Opens Market for Solar Battery Makers Such as Tesla (1). India plans for the first time to include energy storage as a requirement when a solar project is tendered this month, opening what could become a significant new market to battery makers such as Tesla Motors Inc., Samsung SDI Co. and Panasonic Corp. The state-owned Solar Energy Corp. of India, which is responsible for implementing the government’s green targets… http://washpost.bloomberg.com/Story?docId=1376-O3TQDO6S972Z01-6RPPKEHTO0SIVRGSCSN4A9FLDO Surge in renewable energy stalls world greenhouse gas emissions. Falling coal use in China and the US and a shift towards renewable energy globally saw energy emissions level for the second year running, says IEA. Falling coal use in China and the US and a worldwide shift towards renewable energy have kept greenhouse gas emissions level for a second year running, one of the world’s leading energy analysts has said. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/mar/16/surge-in-renewable-energy-stalls-world-greenhouse-gas-emissions http://www.platts.com/latest-news/electric-power/london/global-energy-related-co2-emissions-hold-steady-26398118?hootpostid=00f98de5c9c0337b731abb0dd4cbb15f http://fortune.com/2016/03/16/good-news-world-gdp-growth-is-getting-greener/ MISCELLANEOUS Los Angeles area can claim the worst traffic in America. Again. Southern California has, yet again, clinched the dubious distinction of having the country’s worst traffic. Drivers in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana region spent 81 hours idling on freeways in 2015, the worst cumulative delay of any U.S. metropolitan area, according to a study released Tuesday by the data company Inrix. http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-la-worst-traffic-20160314-story.html OPINIONS Here's Why Oil Prices Have Tanked Four Times in Three Decades. It's all about too much supply. Oil may have hit its top price. Prices are in the middle of a rally, having inched up to about $38 a barrel from a 12-year low of $27.10 in January. Analysts are warning that this recovery might sputter out once prices climb high enough to convince U.S. shale producers to increase production—about $55 a barrel. The problem is supply. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-16/here-s-why-oil-prices-have-tanked-four-times-in-three-decades The economy is growing, but carbon emissions aren’t. That’s a big deal. Roughly a year ago, the International Energy Agency announced a wonky yet nonetheless significant development. Looking at data for the year 2014, the agency found that although the global economy grew — by 3.4 percent that year — greenhouse gas emissions from the use of energy (their largest source) had not. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/03/16/this-key-rule-of-economics-and-the-environment-just-failed-again/ ‘Keep It in the Ground’ Obama reneges on his offshore oil lease off the Atlantic coast. Climate-change activists once believed they could tolerate fossil fuels as long as their price was high enough to make wind and solar power competitive. But these days the climate left’s agenda is to “keep it in the ground,” as the green slogan goes, and on Tuesday the Obama Administration followed orders. http://www.wsj.com/articles/keep-it-in-the-ground-1458083731 Plenty of Political Climate Change. Sen. Whitehouse used to pretend he opposed jailing dissenters. Sheldon Whitehouse took to the Senate floor last fall to assail our coverage of his climate agenda. We had criticized his plan to use the RICO law, created to prosecute mobsters, against people who disagree with him about global warming. http://www.wsj.com/articles/plenty-of-political-climate-change-1458083603 Clinton and Sanders Are Wrong on Fracking. The fracking-based natural gas revolution has resulted in the U.S. becoming the only nation in the world to reduce its CO2 footprint over the past 10 years. In addition to the economic and scientific hypocrisy of opposing fracking as outlined in your editorial “Clinton Against American Energy” (March 8), I find it ironic that the environmental opposition to fracking ignores the fact that the fracking-based natural gas revolution… http://www.wsj.com/articles/clinton-and-sanders-are-wrong-on-fracking-1458078936 Leonard Pitts Jr.: Gov. Scott’s silence on climate change. Dear Florida Gov. Rick Scott: So it turns out the experts were mistaken. It turns out the impact of climate change on Florida – and much of the coastal United States – is not going to be anywhere near as bad as had been predicted. Apparently, it’s going to be much worse. That’s the sobering finding of a study published this week in the journal Nature Climate Change. Previous scenarios, grim as they were… http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/article66216997.html#storylink=cpy Saving for when California’s March miracle goes away. The snowpack is back and the water is rising. Between last weekend’s storms and this weekend’s forecast, drought-weary California appears to have gotten the March miracle we were all hoping for. That’s the good news. The bad news is that, between this state’s natural climate and global warming, drought is now perpetually around the corner… http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/editorials/article66241662.html#storylink=cpy All Solar-Power RE Sales. Climate change is a reality caused by overpopulation and burning fossil fuels. As more people migrate to a better living environment, like Santa Barbara, we must encourage the preservation of our natural resources. One such solution is to require that for every real estate transaction, a solar-powered system… http://www.independent.com/news/2016/mar/16/all-solar-power-re-sales/ BLOGS Supreme Court ruling on Clean Power Plan doesn't halt EPA action or change timeline. Last month, the Supreme Court unexpectedly issued a "stay" of the Clean Power Plan, the centerpiece of the Obama administration's efforts to mitigate climate change. This decision unquestionably bars the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from enforcing any of the rule's requirements until the lawsuits against it are fully resolved. http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/energy-environment/273189-supreme-court-ruling-on-clean-power-plan-doesnt-halt Could climate-change warnings on gasoline pumps actually work? Later this year, someone stopping to fuel up in North Vancouver will be the first customer to see the controversial warning labels. They’ll be wrapped around the gas pump handles. The exact wording isn’t settled yet, but here’s the gist of it: Every time you pump gas, you’re contributing to air pollution and climate change. http://grist.org/climate-energy/could-climate-change-warnings-on-gasoline-pumps-actually-work/ California is in a drought emergency. Visit www.SaveOurH2O.org for water conservation tips.