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newsclips -- ARB Newsclips for October 10, 2016.

Posted: 10 Oct 2016 15:06:18
ARB Newsclips for October 10, 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

Khan Cites ‘Health Emergency’ as he Ramps up Air Pollution Fight.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan proposed to accelerate existing plans to
fight air pollution in order to tackle what he called a “health
emergency” that kills thousands in the U.K. capital every year.
Khan proposed introducing a year from now an emissions surcharge
in central London to supplement the existing congestion...
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-10/khan-cites-health-emergency-as-he-ramps-up-air-pollution-fight


After criticism, SoCal air board adds more regulatory teeth to
smog-reduction plan. Southern California air quality officials
released a proposal Friday to give more regulatory teeth to a
smog-reduction plan that has faced criticism for its voluntary,
industry-friendly approach. The South Coast Air Quality
Management District has revised a plan, originally released in
June…
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-aqmd-regulations-20161007-snap-story.html


London’s black communities disproportionately exposed to air
pollution – study. Black, African and Caribbean people are
exposed to higher illegal nitrogen dioxide levels than the
percentage of the population they account for. Black communities
in London are disproportionately more likely to breathe illegal
levels of air pollution than white and Asian ones…
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/oct/10/londons-black-communities-disproportionately-exposed-to-air-pollution-study

Global summit to strike deal on phase-out of HFCs. Meeting in
Rwanda seeks amendment to Montreal protocol to eliminate
manufacture of the chemicals used in fridges, air conditioners
and inhalers. Governments will address the law of unintended
consequences when they meet this week to revise a global treaty
and try to eliminate the use of a group of greenhouse gases used
in fridges, inhalers …
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/oct/10/global-summit-to-strike-deal-on-phase-out-of-hfcs
 
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/world-leaders-try-to-ban-another-greenhouse-gas/

EPA will revisit refinery regs. U.S. EPA will reconsider five
parts of its latest oil refinery emissions regulations following
complaints from industry and environmental groups that the agency
failed to provide an adequate public comment period. The agency
had formally issued the revised regulations last December.
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2016/10/10/stories/1060044047 

CLIMATE CHANGE

EU Climate Laws Helped Lead to Brexit, Environment Lobbyist Says.
The European Union rules on 2020 climate and energy goals helped
feed the negative sentiment that led to a decision by British
voters to leave the bloc, according to environmental lobbyist
Bryony Worthington. “The European 2008 package, without realizing
that, contributed to and fostered some of the conditions…
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-10/eu-climate-laws-helped-lead-to-brexit-environment-lobbyist-says
  

BHP Billiton expects to thrive in a lower carbon emissions world.
With the Paris climate accord set to come into force within
weeks, top global miner BHP Billiton said it still expects its
copper, oil and gas, iron ore and coal businesses to thrive in a
world with lower carbon emissions. The company, which favors a
price on carbon, last year was one of the first mining companies
to spell out the impact of climate risks…
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-bhp-billiton-climatechange-idUSKCN12A16X


Time for a carbon tax? A former Bush official says yes. Putting a
price on carbon emissions remains a divisive topic in the USA,
even as polls indicate considerable public support for actions to
address climate change. Voters in Washington state may show the
way  Nov. 8 when they decide on a referendum that would assess a
carbon tax on coal, oil and natural gas…
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/columnist/2016/10/09/time-carbon-tax-former-bush-official-says-yes/91736254/


Climate Change Blamed for Half of Increased Forest Fire Danger.
Forest fires are burning longer and stronger across the western
United States, lighting up the landscape with alarming frequency.
Residents are forced to flee, homes are incinerated, wildlife
habitats are destroyed, lives are lost. Last year, the Forest
Service spent more than half its annual budget fighting fires.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/11/science/climate-change-forest-fires.html?_r=0


Did climate change bring us Hurricane Matthew? Hard to say. But
it makes storm surges worse. The question accompanies every
extreme weather event these days: Was it caused by climate
change? The answer, scientists usually say, is that tracing a
single event to climate change is difficult. A better question
may be whether climate change played a role.
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-hurricane-matthew-climate-change-20161007-snap-htmlstory.html


Could Washington pave the way for carbon taxes? Washington
residents will have the chance to vote on a carbon tax at the
polls this November. The proposed tax, which is the first of its
kind in the nation, could set a precedent for how other states
handle greenhouse gas emissions. Washington state is seeking to
curb carbon emissions by posing a ballot initiative to voters…
http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2016/1009/Could-Washington-pave-the-way-for-carbon-taxes


Study: Climate Change May Benefit California Oysters, But There's
A Catch. UC Davis researchers examined how oysters may fair under
climate change. In a study, published in the journal Functional
Ecology, they found that native oysters can tolerate extreme
temperatures – and can even grow faster, provided they have food.
But warmer temperatures also benefit their predators, the oyster
drill, a predatory snail.
http://www.capradio.org/articles/2016/10/10/study-climate-change-may-benefit-california-oysters,-but-theres-a-catch/


Scant mention of climate at U.S. president debate. With the U.S.
military assisting with hurricane response, Greenpeace frustrated
by lack of focus. With the U.S. military responding to hurricane
damage, an advocacy group called foul after neither U.S.
presidential candidate heeded climate change. At least 19 people
in the United States and more than 900 people in Haiti were left
dead in the wake of Hurricane Matthew…
http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Industry/2016/10/10/Scant-mention-of-climate-at-US-president-debate/8711476091335/

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/10102016/presidential-debate-town-hall-donald-trump-hillary-clinton-climate-change-global-warming

http://ens-newswire.com/2016/10/10/88228/

DROUGHT

Grass Warfare in L.A. Some well-intentioned Angelenos traded
grass for gravel on their front lawns. It got ugly. “We thought
we were doing the right thing to save water,” Staci Terrace
Goldfarb, a Southern California homeowner, said late last winter.
“I hate looking at it.” It had been a little more than a year
since Goldfarb had the small, semicircular lawn in front of her
1960…
https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-turf-terminators-grass-war/


SF Bay ecosystem collapsing as rivers diverted, scientists
report. Evidence of what scientists are calling the planet’s
Sixth Mass Extinction is appearing in San Francisco Bay and its
estuary, the largest on the Pacific Coast of North and South
America, according to a major new study. So little water is
flowing from the rivers that feed the estuary, which includes the
Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, Suisun Marsh and the bay…
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/SF-Bay-ecosystem-collapsing-as-rivers-diverted-9953776.php


More water in California reservoirs, but drought persists.
California’s major reservoirs are holding 69 percent more water
than a year ago, the U.S. government announced Friday, but
regulators warned that drought conditions continue to plague the
state. In its annual inventory of water in storage, the U.S.
Bureau of Reclamation said the six key reservoirs owned by the
federal government’s…
http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/water-and-drought/article106703567.html#storylink=cpy

  
FUELS

Natural gas is 'cul-de-sac'. Democratic presidential nominee
Hillary Clinton hit a sour note with some environmentalists last
night when she referred to natural gas as a "bridge to more
renewable fuels" while laying out her energy policy. Climate
activists said Clinton's answer to the penultimate question in
the contentious town-hall-style presidential debate should have
focused on phasing out fossil fuels…
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2016/10/10/stories/1060044059 

VEHICLES

GM opens its arms to VW's diesel refugees. Redesigned engines for
Equinox, Cruze almost ready. General Motors' push to target
disenfranchised Volkswagen diesel owners is gaining power as
versions of the Chevrolet Equinox and Cruze with a newly designed
1.6-liter diesel engine edge closer to market. GM powertrain
chief Dan Nicholson believes the company has a good shot at
attracting VW owners…
http://www.autonews.com/article/20161009/RETAIL01/310109970/gm-opens-its-arms-to-vws-diesel-refugees


Ford used Convergent Science advanced modeling tool for EcoBlue
diesel. The global automaker Ford used the combustion modelling
tool CONVERGE CFD software package from Convergent Science for
the development of its new EcoBlue range of high-efficiency
diesel engines. Dr. Werner Willems, Ford technical specialist for
combustion systems…
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/10/20161010-converge.html 

VW RECALL

VW CEO Mueller had no knowledge of diesel scandal: Bild am
Sonntag. Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) Chief Executive Matthias Mueller
had no knowledge of the carmaker's diesel emissions cheating
scandal, Germany's Bild am Sonntag newspaper said, citing a
report by Jones Day, the lawfirm tasked with investigating the
scandal. Mueller found out about Volkswagen's emissions cheating
software on Sept. 18, 2015…
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-volkswagen-emissions-mueller-idUSKCN1290C1


GREEN ENERGY

World got cannier at using energy last year – IEA. Global energy
efficiency, or the amount of gross domestic product squeezed from
a given unit of energy, improved by 1.8 percent last year, the
International Energy Agency said in a report on Monday.
Measures to improve energy efficiency include car fuel economy
standards, lighting technologies and building standards.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-iea-energy-efficiency-idUKKCN12A0T1


OPINIONS

There’s no oxygen left in this campaign for a debate about
carbon. It’s becoming more and more clear what role climate and
energy issues are going to play in this presidential campaign — a
minor one at best. On the one hand, it’s a slight improvement
upon the campaign of 2012, in that the subject of our warming
planet is now actually coming up peripherally in presidential
debates.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/10/10/theres-no-oxygen-left-in-this-campaign-to-talk-about-carbon/?utm_term=.d520bcf0134c


Canada’s Trudeau Steps Up on Climate Change. Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau of Canada promised to make climate change a
priority when he campaigned for office last year. This week he
made progress on that promise with a plan to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions by putting a price on carbon.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/07/opinion/canadas-trudeau-steps-up-on-climate-change.html


Commentary: Going green is good for the economy, air quality. I
am running to represent the 37th state Senate District because I
know that the challenges California faces require thoughtful
solutions. I am a scientist and an educator specializing in
architectural engineering and psychology. I know that reducing
greenhouse gas emissions is good for our environment, health and
economy, and creates good jobs.
http://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/opinion/tn-dpt-me-1009-commentary1-20161008-story.html


San Francisco to state on water-use cutbacks: How low can we go?
Do you think you could reduce your water use by 40 percent? What
if we asked for even more than that? This is the type of
rationing we can expect during a severe drought if a new proposal
from the State Water Resources Control Board is implemented. The
San Francisco Public Utilities Commission is the retail water
provider…
http://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/article/San-Francisco-to-state-on-water-use-cutbacks-How-9940351.php

 
Taxpayers need protection from flooding during the drought. As
California continues to experience drought concerns, most of us
are probably not thinking about flooding. Yet, the high cost of
flooding in our country is something that every taxpayer, sooner
or later, will be forced to address. Already in 2016, 20 major
flooding disasters have been declared, exceeding $10 billion in
estimated costs.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/flooding-731598-most-cost.html

Washington Voters to Decide on Nation's First Carbon Tax. But not
everyone is in favor—including the Washington State Tree Fruit
Association. Washington lawmakers have tried and failed in recent
years to make polluters pay for their carbon emissions to fight
climate change. Now, voters will get to decide. An initiative on
the November ballot asks voters whether the state should impose
the nation’s first direct carbon tax..
http://fortune.com/2016/10/09/washington-voters-carbon-tax/ 

Get ready to say farewell to a lot of electric cars. We are
nearing the beginning of what I'm calling the "second great
electric-car extinction." The first extinction happened after the
financial crisis, when numerous electric-vehicle startups went
bankrupt and vanished. Since then, the EV market has been
dominated by the single significant survivor, Tesla, and by the
experiments of the major automakers.
http://www.businessinsider.com/electric-car-sales-decline-2016-10


Will California Go Way of Honolulu/Taken to the Cleaners by
Special Interests for Trains. The Big Dig cost about $20 billion
more than planned in Boston and took a dozen extra years to be
built.  In Honolulu the cost of their light rail is already 40%
ABOVE the estimated cost—will totally run out of money before it
hits the downtown area.  The California High Speed Rail is not
going to get another dime from the State or Feds…
http://www.capoliticalreview.com/capoliticalnewsandviews/will-california-go-way-of-honolulutaken-to-the-cleaners-by-special-interests-for-trains/


BLOGS

Climate-change hopes meet urban reality. Hopes of averting
climate change are being pitted against urban reality. Enough
countries have finally just ratified last year’s United Nations
Paris Accord to make it stick. The real battle, though, will be
fought by cities, which account for 75 percent of greenhouse-gas
emissions. Success depends on overcoming bureaucracy, constrained
budgets and ignorance.
http://blogs.reuters.com/breakingviews/2016/10/10/climate-change-hopes-meet-urban-reality/
 

Air Pollution Is Yet Another Issue That Disproportionately
Impacts Minority And Low-Income Communities. First responders are
trained to give people immediate life-saving care and get people
out of dangerous situations. When a patient is suffering an
asthma attack that’s caused by air pollution in their community,
we can administer drugs to calm the attack, but we know it is
only a temporary fix.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/air-pollution-minority-communities_us_57fa6cd6e4b0b6a4303324c8


Diesel Cars Blamed as WHO Warns About Air Pollution. The World
Health Organization (WHO) warns that 92 percent of the world’s
population lives in areas of high air pollution. Many cities in
Europe have pledged to phase out diesel cars - and there’s hope
that sales of electric vehicles could take over as battery life
improves. The British capital is one of the most heavily polluted
cities in Europe…
http://www.voanews.com/a/diesel-cars-air-pollution/3543886.html 

Snowdonia mountains face being downgraded to hills due to rising
sea levels. Mountains face being downgraded to mere hills because
of rising sea levels. Summits in peril include the most westerly
mountain in Snowdonia, Mynydd Graig Goch which is a mere eight
inches above the 2,000ft limit, and Tal y Fan near Conwy which is
six inches above the limit.
http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/snowdonia-mountains-face-being-downgraded-12002908


Global demand for energy will peak in 2030: WEC. Global primary
energy demand growth will slow and per capita energy demand will
peak before 2030: World Energy Council. Global energy use per
capita will peak in 2030 due to new technology and stricter
government policies, but demand for electricity will double by
2060, the World Energy Council predicted on Monday.
http://aa.com.tr/en/economy/global-demand-for-energy-will-peak-in-2030-wec/662015


Indigenous Groups Are Way Ahead Of Everyone Else At Protecting
Forests. And they are turning the Dakota Access protests into a
worldwide environmental movement. By the time three federal
government agencies issued their joint statement halting
construction of the Dakota Access pipeline on September 9, there
were some 5,000 protesters on site in Cannon Ball, North Dakota
challenging the project.
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2016/10/how-dakota-access-pipeline-protests-launched-global-movement


Why world leaders are meeting to discuss hydrofluorocarbons. IN
1985 a gaping hole was found in the ozone layer above Antarctica.
Two years later leaders from around the world signed the Montreal
Protocol, a treaty to phase out the substances causing it, known
as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which were used in refrigeration
and as propellants in products such as hairsprays and deodorants.
Scientists had discovered more than a decade earlier that CFCs
release chlorine…
http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2016/10/economist-explains-4
 

Carbon offsets = Real reductions? Insights about the Clean
Development Mechanism from firms that opted-out. There is
increasing use of opt-in regulation to encourage environmental
protection at minimal cost to economic growth, particularly in
developing countries. But, how do we determine which programs are
effective? Are carbon credits more than hot air? There is
increasing use of opt-in regulation to encourage environmental
protection at minimal cost to economic growth…
http://fbe.unimelb.edu.au/exchange/edition3/carbon-offsets-real-reductions




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

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