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newsclips -- ARB Newsclips for July 26, 2016.

Posted: 26 Jul 2016 16:29:46
ARB Newsclips for July 26, 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

Why refinery flares cost ExxonMobil nearly $20 million in
pollution fines in just two years. ExxonMobil paid a hefty $18.5
million in fines over the past two years for producing excess
sulfur oxide emissions during flaring events at its former
refinery in Torrance, the Southern California News Group has
learned. The fines, levied by the South Coast Air Quality
Management District…
http://www.dailybreeze.com/government-and-politics/20160725/why-refinery-flares-cost-exxonmobil-nearly-20-million-in-pollution-fines-in-just-two-years


Smog alert called for Tuesday. The Bay Area Air Quality
Management District issued its tenth Spare the Air Alert for smog
in 2016. Air quality is forecast to be unhealthy again Tuesday.
Strong high pressure over California is expected to bring hot
inland temperatures of 105 degrees or higher and light winds.
These conditions combined with motor vehicle exhaust from traffic
will generate unhealthy ozone…
http://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/smog-alert-called-for-tuesday/article_8da40528-b4bc-557b-b1d6-0462f535b2b8.html


Wildfire smoke from Monterey County drifts into South Bay. Bay
Area residents are getting a double assault on the air they
breathe this week -- smog in a heat wave plus thick smoke
drifting from the Soberanes wildfire into the South Bay and
heading toward other parts of the Bay Area. Winds swept wildfire
smoke from the Monterey County wildfire to the north into San
Jose…
http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_30167279/wildfire-smoke-drifts-into-south-bay
 

California fire containment grows; Washoe air quality improves.
Smoke seen to the south of the Truckee Meadows is coming from a
large fire in Monterey County, California, called the Soberanes
Fire. Washoe County Air Quality says air is in the moderate
range, meaning "Unusually sensitive people should consider
reducing prolonged or heavy exertion". 
http://www.kolotv.com/content/news/Smoke-seen-in-Truckee-Meadows-is-from-Monterey-County-fire-388146162.html


ALISO CANYON

LA County sues SoCalGas to force installation of safety shut-off
valves. In the latest legal fallout from the massive Porter Ranch
natural gas leak, Los Angeles County went to court Monday seeking
to force Southern California Gas Co. to install underground
safety shut-off valves on every active gas storage well and
distribution pipeline it operates in the county.  The suit, filed
in L.A. County Superior Court, claims SoCal Gas "put corporate
profits before public safety" by failing more than 30 years ago
to replace a faulty shut-off valve on the well that blew last
fall at its Aliso Canyon storage facility.

CLIMATE CHANGE

EPA clears path to regulate carbon emissions from U.S. aircraft.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday paved the way
for new curbs on emissions from passenger jets by ruling that
greenhouse gases from airplanes endanger public health. The
finding, which requires the EPA to regulate greenhouse gas
emissions from aircraft under the federal Clean Air Act…
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-airlines-carbon-idUSKCN1051SK


Scientists caught off-guard by record temperatures linked to
climate change. Record temperatures in the first half of 2016
have taken scientists by surprise despite widespread recognition
that extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and
intense, the director of the World Climate Research Program said.
The earth is on track for its hottest year on record with June
marking the 14th straight month of record heat…
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-weather-climatechange-science-idUSKCN1061RH


‘World can’t afford to silence us’: black church leaders address
climate change. One of the largest and oldest black churches in
the US warns that black people are disproportionally harmed by
global warming and fossil fuel pollution. African American
religious leaders have added their weight to calls for action on
climate change, with one of the largest and oldest black churches
in the US warning…
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jul/24/african-methodist-episcopal-church-climate-change-letter

The Link Between Armed Conflict And Climate Change Just Got A Bit
Stronger. When one of the strongest El Niños ever recorded hit
the South American country of Peru in 1982, the abnormal warming
it brought to the Pacific Ocean was a catastrophic blow to the
already economically fragile nation. The fishing industry quickly
suffered massive losses...
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/07/26/3801541/climate-disasters-and-conflict-outbreak/


Parks face 'greatest threat' -- climate change. Visitors at the
Beaver Meadows entrance here marvel over their first glimpse of
thick ponderosa pine stands rolling out like a welcome mat to the
snow-capped Rocky Mountains. But the meadows that should be
filled with native bunchgrasses and flowers instead are covered
with cheatgrass. The invasive plant has turned the fields brown
and threatens extensive ecological...
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2016/07/26/stories/1060040751 

DROUGHT

Measuring Californians’ Daily Water Footprint. In California we
commonly debate how much water is used by agriculture, the
environment, industry and urban users. We talk about water in
terms of acre-feet and entire sectors. But we spend less time
thinking about water on the individual level. California’s water
conservation mandate helped bring this back into focus, at least
for a time.
http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2016/07/25/measuring-californians-daily-water-footprint/


DIESEL ACTIVITIES

Long Beach to build new station to showcase new zero-emissions
buses. Long Beach Transit’s leadership plans to spend nearly $1.5
million to build on a new bus station to recharge and show off
its incoming fleet of zero-emissions buses. The transit
provider’s governing board voted unanimously Monday to hire
Fast-Track Construction Corp., a Culver City company…
http://www.presstelegram.com/business/20160725/long-beach-to-build-new-station-to-showcase-new-zero-emissions-buses


FUELS

Keystone’s Death Means Record Oil Revival for Canadian Railways.
Keystone was the great hope for opening U.S. markets further to
Canadian crude. Now that it’s dead, the railways are going to
make not just a comeback, but transport more oil than ever
before. The Keystone XL pipeline was set to carry heavy Canadian
crude…
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-25/keystone-s-death-means-record-oil-revival-for-canadian-railways?utm_source=Inside+Climate+News&utm_campaign=b20dac8903-Today_s_Climate12_10_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_29c928ffb5-b20dac8903-327747457


Crude Slump, Pipeline Expansion Mark End of U.S. Oil-Train Boom.
As more pipelines reach shale regions, producers have a cheaper
way to move their oil to market. The oil-train boom is waning
almost as quickly as it began. Rail became a major way to move
crude after companies began unlocking new bounties of oil from
shale formations…
http://www.wsj.com/articles/crude-slump-pipeline-expansion-mark-end-of-u-s-oil-train-boom-1469484016?mod=pls_whats_news_us_business_f&utm_source=Inside+Climate+News&utm_campaign=b20dac8903-Today_s_Climate12_10_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_29c928ffb5-b20dac8903-327747457

BLM defends plans for Calif. oil and gas drilling. The Obama
administration is again defending its plans for oil and gas
development on public lands in California. Lawyers for the Bureau
of Land Management late last week urged the U.S. District Court
for the Central District of California to rule for the government
in a lawsuit from environmentalists challenging…
http://www.eenews.net/energywire/2016/07/26/stories/1060040761 

VEHICLES

Pressure builds on Calif. to adjust EV incentives. California
regulators are facing pressure to tighten up their rules for
zero-emission vehicles. At a hearing in Sacramento last week,
environmentalists and executives from Tesla Motors Inc. urged the
California Air Resources Board to reform its zero-emission
vehicle mandate once again to encourage automakers to meet sales
targets on the state and federal levels.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2016/07/26/stories/1060040776 

VW RECALL

The Only Winners in Volkswagen's Diesel Mess Are Drivers. A
half-million tainted cars head to the scrap heap, and owners walk
away with up to $44,000. Jeremy Malczyk's 2012 Volkswagen Jetta
Sportwagen is no prize. It has 70,000 hard miles on it, and the
interior has been finely detailed by his two young children:
beige leather buffed with beige Cheerios.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-26/the-only-winners-in-volkswagen-s-diesel-mess-are-drivers


Volkswagen Gets Initial Approval of $14.7 Billion Settlement With
U.S. Drivers. Auto maker plans to hire 250 to 300 people to work
exclusively on the process. A federal judge granted preliminary
approval to Volkswagen AG’s $14.7 billion settlement with U.S.
drivers of diesel-powered vehicles on Tuesday, clearing the way
for the company to put the plan into action and put the emissions
scandal behind it.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/volkswagen-gets-initial-approval-of-14-7-billion-settlement-with-u-s-drivers-1469555383


German prosecutors widen Volkswagen probe to 21 staff.
Prosecutors in the German city of Braunschweig said they had
widened their probe into diesel emissions cheating, with 21
current and former Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) staff under
investigation. As part of the probe, offices and private
residences in the German state of Lower Saxony were searched,
prosecutor Klaus Ziehe said on Tuesday.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-volkswagen-emissions-prosecutors-idUSKCN1061X4


Volkswagen settlement gets preliminary approval.  A federal judge
gave preliminary approval Tuesday to a sweeping settlement
between Volkswagen, U.S. regulators and owners of VW diesels who
will receive thousands of dollars in compensation. U.S. District
Court Judge Charles Breyer set the settlement in motion, allowing
the German automaker and plaintiff attorneys to begin collecting
information from 475,000…
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2016/07/26/volkswagen-group-emissions-settlement-hearing/87564422/

http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2016/07/26/15-billion-volkswagen-emissions-deal-clears-1st-hurdle/


Updates to VW diesel cars: a few details, timing emerge on
modifications. With luck, owners of the 466,000 Volkswagen and
Audi 2.0-liter diesel cars at the center of the VW emission
cheating scandal now know that they will be offered a choice of
what to do with their cars. Either they will be able to sell
their cars back to the company for a set price, or they can have
their cars updated to comply…
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1105190_updates-to-vw-diesel-cars-a-few-details-timing-emerge-on-modifications


Should Volkswagen diesel owners take the buyback or wait? Some
Volkswagen diesel owners want their cars to go away, and will
sell them back to the manufacturer that deceived them and lied to
regulators. Others, though, still like their cars. It's a
question that hundreds of thousands of VW 2.0-liter TDI diesel
owners will be asking soon, if they haven't already: Should I
take the buyback?
http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/In-Gear/2016/0725/Should-Volkswagen-diesel-owners-take-the-buyback-or-wait


Optimism for VW ahead of US decision on diesel retrofits.
Volkswagen‘s hopes for a more cost-effective resolution to its
diesel emissions cheating scandal in the United States were
bolstered by California air quality chief Mary Nichols ahead of a
court decision expected Tuesday. In an interview published
Monday, Nichols told the German daily Handelsblatt that she was
optimistic about…
http://en.europeonline-magazine.eu/optimism-for-vw-ahead-of-us-decision-on-diesel-retrofitsby-felix-frieler-and-hannes-breustedt-dpa_472506.html


GREEN ENERGY

Historic solar flight marks first round-the-world journey. The
world’s first round-the-world flight to be powered solely by the
sun’s energy made history Tuesday as it landed in Abu Dhabi,
where it first took off on an epic 25,000-mile journey that began
more than a year ago. Since its March 2015 take off, the
Swiss-engineered Solar Impulse 2 has made 16 stops across the
world without using a drop of fuel…
http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/world/2016/07/25/historic-solar-flight-marks-first-round-world-journey/LH9SIWaLBAyMQzb2CsrwtO/story.html?s_campaign=email_BG_TodaysHeadline&s_campaign=

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jul/26/solar-impulse-plane-makes-history-completing-round-the-world-trip


ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

Long Beach port gives $46 million to community to battle
pollution, environmental damage. The board overseeing the Port of
Long Beach unanimously approved a $46.4 million program intended
to lessen pollution damage on the surrounding community.  Lori
Ann Guzman, president of the Harbor Commission, called the vote
on Monday night before a room full of neighbors and activists
“historic” and a “legacy” the commissioners should be proud of.
http://www.presstelegram.com/business/20160725/long-beach-port-gives-46-million-to-community-to-battle-pollution-environmental-damage


OPINIONS

Column: Dirty air and foul water know no borders.  is 2016 the
worst year ever? There’s terrorism, economic stagnation,
inequality — and even environmental woes such as the utter
transformation of the air we all breathe. Yes, the pollution
responsible for global warming has reached concentrations never
before inhaled by any member of our species, Homo sapiens. And
the list of 2016 woes goes on.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/column-dirty-air-and-foul-water-know-no-borders/


BLOGS

Finally, Climate Change Gets Stage Time At The Democratic
Convention. “This election is about climate change, the greatest
environmental crisis facing our planet,” Sen. Bernie Sanders
said. Just one night into the Democratic National Convention,
things are looking a whole lot brighter for the environment under
a potential Hillary Clinton presidency than anything we heard in
Cleveland last week. Climate change, fossil fuels and clean
energy were all mentioned…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/climate-change-dnc_us_5796e480e4b0d3568f84585a?utm_source=Inside+Climate+News&utm_campaign=b20dac8903-Today_s_Climate12_10_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_29c928ffb5-b20dac8903-327747457






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

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