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newsclips -- ARB Newsclips for November 21, 2016

Posted: 21 Nov 2016 12:43:00
This is a service of the California Air Resources Board’s Office
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PARIS AGREEMENT

UN Climate Talks End with Pleas for Trump to Join  Fight.
The first U.N. climate conference after the landmark Paris
Agreement closed Friday with delegates appealing to Donald Trump
to join the battle against global warming and inviting him to see
its impacts in Pacific islands. Suddenly faced with the
possibility that the U.S. could withdraw from the emissions pact
adopted in Paris last year, countries rallied in support of the
deal and said they would forge ahead no matter what.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/UN_CLIMATE_TALKS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


The Problem With Abandoning the Paris Agreement.
If the Trump administration withdraws the United States from the
Paris Agreement, the country would face a massive global
diplomatic backlash and permanently cede worldwide leadership on
climate and renewable-energy issues to China, experts warn.
Withdrawing from the treaty “would be a huge mistake, even
forgetting about climate change,” said Todd Stern, the former
U.S. special envoy on climate change. He added that it would have
“radiating bad impacts with respect to U.S. standing” on all
other international issues.
http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/11/the-problem-with-abandoning-the-paris-agreement/508085/


COP22 Opens New Era in Climate Negotiations: EFEverde.
This global meeting featured new alliances that will bolster the
transition to a low-carbon economy as part of the implementation
of the Paris Climate Agreement, the news Agency noted. The
Marrakesh conference was also an opportunity to celebrate the
entry into force of the said Agreement only eleven months after
its adoption, while the Kyoto Protocol had to wait seven years to
enter into force, added “EFEverde”, noting that the Paris Accord
has been ratified to date by 111 countries, which represent 80 pc
of global emissions of greenhouse gases.
https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2016/11/201847/cop22-opens-new-era-climate-negotiations-efeverde/


AIR POLLUTION

High court gives ministers deadline for tougher air pollution
plan.
The government is being forced to deliver an effective plan to
tackle the UK’s air pollution crisis within eight months, after a
high court judge rejected a longer timetable as “far too
leisurely”. Environmental lawyers ClientEarth inflicted a
humiliating legal defeat on ministers earlier in November – its
second in 18 months – when the high court ruled that ministers’
plans to tackle illegal levels of air pollution in many UK cities
and towns were so poor they were unlawful.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/nov/21/high-court-ministers-deadline-air-quality-pollution-plan


Delhi's air pollution: What China got right and where we fall
behind.
Delhi’s smog may have made national headlines in early November
2016–when air-quality levels exceeded by 40 times safe limits set
by the World Health Organization (WHO)–and subsequently receded
from public attention. But as IndiaSpend was interviewing Pallavi
Aiyer, author of ‘Choked’, a new book that investigates Delhi and
India’s air-pollution crisis, the air was unhealthy or worse in
the majority of 17 cities where our sensors are installed.
http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/delhi-s-air-pollution-what-china-got-right-and-where-we-fall-behind-116112100175_1.html


ALERT: Air Pollution Could Promote Drug-Resistant Bacteria.
A new study revealed that air pollution could provide a possible
means of transportation for the genes that make bacteria
resistant to existing drugs. The study, published in the journal
Microbiome, showed that the DNA from genes, which makes bacteria
resistant to most drugs, lingers in the air samples taken from
Beijing.
http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/32432/20161121/alert-air-pollution-promote-drug-resistant-bacteria.htm


CLIMATE CHANGE

What Does A Trump Presidency Mean For Climate-Change Education?
On Nov. 8, the World Meteorological Organization published a
press releasesummarizing the findings from a report on global
climate from 2011-2015. The report identified the last five years
as the hottest on record, with 2015 marking the first year with
global temperatures more than 1 degree Celsius above the
pre-industrial era. Arctic sea ice declined, sea levels rose and
many extreme weather events occurred — events that were "made
more likely as a result of human-induced (anthropogenic) climate
change."
http://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2016/11/21/502847128/what-does-a-trump-presidency-mean-for-climate-change-education


How Climate Change Advocates Plan to Fight the Next Four Years
Under Trump.
During the campaign, Donald Trump pledged to curb regulations on
fossil fuel exploration, decimate the EPA, and bring back the
coal industry. He's called climate change a "hoax." His
environmental transition team is led by a climate change denier,
and names being floated for secretary of energy and interior
include an oil industry executive, a billionaire fracking
entrepreneur, and Sarah Palin.
http://www.newsweek.com/how-climate-change-advocates-plan-fight-next-four-years-under-trump-522760

Climate Scientist Ponders Trump Presidency's Effect On Climate
Change Progress.
One thing President-elect Donald Trump has been pretty clear
about this campaign season is that he wants to dismantle the
Environmental Protection Agency. He called the agency a disgrace
and has put a leading climate change skeptic in charge of his EPA
transition team. To get some perspective, we called up Katharine
Hayhoe. She's an atmospheric scientist and director of the
Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University. She's also a
devout Christian and has spent her life outside of her research
convincing fellow conservative Christians that climate change is
real.
http://www.npr.org/2016/11/20/502770941/climate-scientist-ponders-trump-presidency-effect-on-climate-change-progress


What Trump really means for global progress on climate change.
That was the refrain along the canopied walkway that runs through
the makeshift tent village here at the United Nations climate
conference. Yes, United States president-elect Donald Trump is
threatening to pull the world’s second-largest emitter out of a
major international deal to ratchet down greenhouse gases. But,
no, it will not scuttle progress. No doubt, Mr. Trump’s election
victory still hung over this conference as it concluded in the
early morning hours Saturday. It’s impossible to know what more
might have been accomplished here but, as expected, events ended
with a proclamation to come back next year to continue
constructing the rules that will underpin the international
climate regime.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/Inhabit/2016/1119/What-Trump-really-means-for-global-progress-on-climate-change


Donald Trump actually has very little control over green energy
and climate change.
Yes, there are reasons to fear an impending environmental
disaster: Donald Trump has spent much of his campaign claiming
the mantle of climate-change-denier-in-chief, and his
vice-presidential running mate isn’t much better. Now they are
mulling their picks for key Cabinet posts: Interior Secretary
Sarah “Drill, baby drill” Palin, if elephant hunter Donald Trump
Jr. doesn’t get that gig? Energy Secretary Harold Hamm, if the
oil and gas mogul decides he is willing to spend the Trump
administration outside the private sector? Environmental
Protection Administrator Myron Ebell, unless the fringe-hugging
climate skeptic dismantles the agency instead?
http://www.salon.com/2016/11/20/trump-has-very-little-control-over-green-energy-and-climate-change_partner/


Trump is taking advice on the future of the environment from a
man who denies basic science.
Trump has said that he does not believe the planet is warming as
a result of human activity — despite the research-backed
consensus reached long ago by researchers across the globe. He
even Tweeted publicly in 2012 that "the concept of global warming
was created by and for the Chinese in order to make US
manufacturing non-competitive." More recently, Trump has pledged
to roll back Obama's Clean Power Plan — a set of rules that
requires states to substantially reduce their emissions over the
next few decades.
http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-epa-climate-science-myron-ebell-2016-11


Sea level rise — a common threat, an array of answers.
The levee that rings Oakland International Airport seemingly has
nothing in common with the salt-crusted stretch of land and water
alongside Menlo Park’s Bayfront Park. One is a 7-foot-high line
of boulders, an engineered barrier between the tidal flows that
surge in through the Golden Gate twice daily and the runways used
by 10,000 commercial flights every month. The other is quiet
desolation, a white void dotted with stagnant pools of water.
Both, though, are examples of the Bay Area shoreline at risk from
the long-term effects of sea level rise — and reminders that
there’s no single way to prepare for what might lie ahead.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Sea-level-rise-a-common-threat-an-array-of-10625837.php


Nuclear Power's Last Hope: Climate Change.
Climate change is the one phenomenon that could overcome public
opposition and economic obstacles to nuclear power, a former
director of Argonne National Laboratory said Friday. “In
principle I don’t think there’s a real obstacle to” building a
new fleet of reactors, said Robert Rosner, a theoretical
physicist who directed Argonne from 2005-09 and founded its
Advanced Reactor Technologies program. ”The obstacle—because
there’s money and risk—is the will, and the will isn’t there.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2016/11/20/nuclear-powers-last-hope-is-climate-change/#4fdee6517d13


CA DROUGHT

California Today: More Than 100 Million Trees Are Dead. What
Now?
California’s trees are dying at an alarming rate. Late last week,
the U.S. Forest Service said an aerial survey revealed that 36
million additional trees had died while in the grip of persistent
drought, bringing the total since 2010 to more than 102 million.
Those numbers have startled California officials and scientists
while adding urgency to a long-simmering debate over what should
be done about it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/21/us/california-today-dead-trees-forests.html


FUELS

Trump’s Vow to Bring Back Coal Gives Hope to Weary Regions.
The hard-eyed view along the Tug Fork River in West Virginia coal
country is that President-elect Donald Trump has something to
prove: that he'll help bring back Appalachian mining, as he
promised time and again on the campaign trail. Nobody thinks he
can revive it entirely - not economists, not ex-miners, not even
those recently called back to work. But for the first time in
years, coal towns are seeing a commodity that had grown scarcer
than the coal trains that used to rumble through around the
clock: hope.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_COAL_COUNTRY_COMEBACK?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

http://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/Trump-s-vow-to-revive-coal-country-is-met-with-10627267.php


VEHICLES

The 11 Hottest Rides Driving This Year’s LA Auto Show.
Los Angeles may be the land of the car, but Silicon Valley’s
efforts to rejigger the auto industry with ridesharing, electric
motors, and autonomous cars are starting to infiltrate Southern
California. This year, that change in focus even killed the
long-running Los Angeles Auto Show press days, when journalists
get a preview of what’s coming to the show floor: That gathering
now calls itself as “Automobility LA.”
https://www.wired.com/2016/11/11-hottest-rides-driving-years-la-auto-show/


Electric Cars Will Get Big Boost From Rules Curbing Conventional
Ones-Report.
Car manufacturers are suddenly accelerating plans to build
electric cars as the realization dawns that tightening rules on
traditional engines will make them uncompetitive quicker than
expected. During the transition though, auto manufacturers’
profits will take a huge hit. That’s the conclusion of a report
by investment banker Morgan Stanley, which has revised its
estimate for electric car sales up to between 10 and 15% of the
global market by 2025, more than three times the current average
of expectations.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/neilwinton/2016/11/18/electric-cars-will-get-big-boost-from-rules-curbing-conventional-ones-report/#3153c6d84f61


Electric vehicles face uncertain future under Trump.
The Chevrolet Bolt EV, Tesla Model 3 and electric vehicles in
general face a radically new regulatory and political playing
field as a professed climate change skeptic prepares to occupy
the White House. The budding Trump administration so far has been
short on policy specifics. But just two days after the election,
automakers' chief lobbying group, the Alliance of Automobile
Manufacturers, urged the Trump transition team to revise not only
the fuel economy standards, but also the Obama administration's
autonomous vehicle standards, on the grounds that they could cost
its member companies billions of dollars.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2016/11/21/electric-vehicles-face-uncertain-future-under-trump/94203910/


How Electric Vehicles Are Becoming a Tool for Grid Stability.
A high penetration of renewables has started to cause
resource-planning issues for some states, such as California and
Hawaii. Not only do grid operators have to prepare for a spike in
electricity usage in the late afternoon, they also have to
account for negative pricing and potential over-generation in the
late morning and early afternoon -- an issue commonly known as
the duck curve. Electric vehicles (EVs), if managed properly,
could offer a solution.
https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/How-EV-Are-Becoming-a-Tool-for-Grid-Stability-duck-curve


RENEWABLE ENERGY

Canada to Phase Out Coal-Fired Electricity by 2030.
Canada is announcing a plan to phase out the use of coal-fired
electricity by 2030. The move is in stark contrast to
President-elect Donald Trump's vow to revive the American coal
industry. Environment Minister Kathleen McKenna said Monday that
the goal is to make sure 90 percent of Canada's electricity comes
from sustainable sources by that time — up from 80 percent
today.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CN_CANADA_COAL_PHASE_OUT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2016/11/21/world/ap-cn-canada-coal-phase-out.html

http://www.sacbee.com/news/business/article116165233.html 
http://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/Canada-to-phase-out-coal-fired-electricity-by-2030-10627703.php


World's poorest countries to aim for 100% green energy.
Members of the Climate Vulnerable Forum issued their statement on
the last day of the Marrakech climate conference. Bangladesh,
Ethiopia, and Haiti, among others, say they will update their
national plans on cutting carbon before 2020. Delegates here
welcomed the move, saying it was "inspirational". These two weeks
of negotiations have been overshadowed to an extent by reaction
to the election of Donald Trump to the US presidency.
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-38028130 

As green energy gains traction, oil majors are under pressure to
de-risk.
Following the breakthrough at the United Nations COP21 conference
last year, countries and businesses are now being scrutinized to
make sure they implement the correct strategies to deliver a
greener future. And as zero-carbon fuels gain more traction, oil
majors will have to embrace the new energy world, or face getting
left behind. "Global energy trends are changing. Sixty percent of
global energy demand growth over the next 20 years will come from
either gas or zero-carbon fuels such as wind and solar," Paul
McConnell, research director of global trends for Wood Mackenzie,
told CNBC Friday.
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/11/18/as-green-energy-gains-traction-oil-majors-are-under-pressure-to-de-risk.html


Burney biomass plant, sawmill get five-year reprieve.
With a stroke of a pen in September, Gov. Jerry Brown gave a
five-year reprieve to workers at a biomass facility and
associated lumber mill in Burney. In signing Senate Bill 859,
Brown set in motion steps that temporarily saved the biomass
facility and sawmill Shasta Green from having to shut down and
sending more than 80 people to the unemployment line. Assemblyman
Brian Dahle, R-Bieber, amended the bill that allocates $900
million in cap and trade funds to various initiatives to also
require electricity retailers to enter into five-year contracts
with biomass facilities using wood harvested from fire hazard
zones.
http://www.redding.com/news/local/burney-biomass-plant-sawmill-get-five-year-reprieve-40f8338e-53c8-38ee-e053-0100007fd484-402082725.html


Solar Energy Has Big Apple Potential But New York Real Estate
Entrepreneurs Haven't Seen the Light.
I love New York. I can walk outside, look up and get a lesson in
history just from looking at its buildings. Not only is it the
birthplace of the American dream, its skyline is an icon of
industry, capitalism and our intention to always go bigger and do
better. As a local contributor to that skyline, it’s personal,
but this home of mine is slower in keeping up with the
sustainability Joneses than a city of 8.4 million people should.
Meanwhile, smaller cities in California and Arizona are saving
money big time by installing solar panels on large commercial
buildings -- something that NYC lacks.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Solar-Energy-Has-Big-Apple-Potential-But-New-York-10625186.php


MISCELLANEOUS

From chaos, a bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly Freeport Boulevard
is born.
The stretch of Freeport Boulevard through Land Park and Curtis
Park has long been one of the busiest and most chaotic commute
routes in central Sacramento. Now the street has completed a $2.3
million personality makeover. City officials cut the red ribbon
Friday on a project that turned the four-lane thoroughfare into a
calmer two-lane street with a center turn lane and bike lanes on
each flank – a transformation that could serve as a model for
other corridors in the city.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/transportation/article115956748.html


OPINION

Trump is a threat to the Paris agreement. Can states like
California defend it?
There’s no point hiding from it – Donald Trump’s election should
give us all concern for our future and the future of our
children. The chances of successfully mitigating climate change
and holding global temperature increases to below a manageable
1.5 degree rise has nosedived. Trump, a man who believes that
climate change is a “hoax”, wants to pull the US out of the Paris
climate agreement. Even if that ends up taking time, he can
decimate US federal agencies engaged in efforts to move to a
greener society. He will probably cancel Obama’s Clean Power
Plan, and slash federal funding for renewable energy.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/21/trump-threat-paris-agreement-california-climate-change



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

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