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ARB Newsclips for December 19, 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.

CAP AND TRADE

Gov. Inslee proposes carbon tax, with most revenue to fund
schools. Gov. Jay Inslee will try to convince lawmakers in the
upcoming session to do something voters wouldn’t last month —
approve a new tax on carbon emissions from fossil fuels. The
Democrat is proposing a tax of $25 per metric ton of carbon
emissions starting in 2018 as part of a two-year budget plan that
seeks more than $4 billion in new revenue…
http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/news/gov-inslee-proposes-carbon-tax-with-most-revenue-to-fund-schools/#


EPA re-releases carbon trading guidance — but no final rules.
U.S. EPA today made public its work to date on guidance for
states to use carbon trading to meet greenhouse gas standards for
the power sector — but the agency stopped short of issuing final
rules. EPA originally meant to finalize the model trading rules,
although President-elect Donald Trump has sworn to eliminate the
underlying regulation, the Clean Power Plan.
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2016/12/19/stories/1060047426  

AIR POLLUTION

Advanced Black Lung Cases Surge In Appalachia. Across Appalachia,
coal miners are suffering from the most serious form of the
deadly mining disease black lung in numbers more than 10 times
what federal regulators report, an NPR investigation has found.
The government, through the National Institute for Occupational
Safety and Health, reported 99 cases of "complicated" black lung,
or progressive massive fibrosis, throughout the country the last
five years.
http://www.npr.org/2016/12/15/505577680/advanced-black-lung-cases-surge-in-appalachia?utm_source=Inside+Climate+News&utm_campaign=d495fbc3f5-Today_s_Climate12_10_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_29c928ffb5-d495fbc3f5-327747457


CLIMATE CHANGE

EU Brandishes Climate Credentials Amid Doubts Over Trump’s Aims.
As U.S. President-elect Donald Trump pledges to bolster
industries blamed for global warming, the European Union is
forging ahead with legislation meant to increase the cost of the
dirtiest forms of energy. Environment ministers from the EU are
due to meet in Brussels on Monday for deliberations over tighter
emission caps on power plants and factories…
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-12-19/eu-brandishes-climate-credentials-amid-doubts-over-trump-s-aims


Trump Rejects Climate Change, but Mar-a-Lago Could Be Lost to the
Sea. Floridians in Palm Beach spend millions to deal with rising
seas. Donald Trump shelled out $409,759 for property taxes in
2016 on Mar-a-Lago, his oceanfront club above billionaire’s row
in Palm Beach, Fla. Some of those tax dollars will go toward
combating the ravages of climate change, a phenomenon the
president-elect has dismissed as a hoax.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-12-16/trump-rejects-climate-change-but-mar-a-lago-could-be-lost-to-the-sea?utm_source=Inside+Climate+News&utm_campaign=d495fbc3f5-Today_s_Climate12_10_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_29c928ffb5-d495fbc3f5-327747457


Scientists confirm that warm ocean water is melting the biggest
glacier in East Antarctica. Scientists at institutions in the
United States and Australia on Friday published a set of
unprecedented ocean observations near the largest glacier of the
largest ice sheet in the world: Totten glacier, East Antarctica.
And the result was a troubling confirmation of what scientists
already feared — Totten is melting from below.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/12/16/warm-ocean-water-is-slamming-into-and-melting-the-biggest-glacier-in-east-antarctica/?utm_campaign=3d1320bdf6-Today_s_Climate12_10_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Inside
Climate News&utm_term=.7d2bef74983d   

Polar Bears’ Path to Decline Runs Through Alaskan Village. The
bears that come here are climate refugees, on land because the
sea ice they rely on for hunting seals is receding. Come fall,
polar bears are everywhere around this Arctic village, dozing on
sand spits, roughhousing in the shallows, padding down the beach
with cubs in tow and attracting hundreds of tourists who travel
long distances to see them.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/18/science/polar-bears-global-warming.html?utm_source=Inside+Climate+News&utm_campaign=3d1320bdf6-Today_s_Climate12_10_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_29c928ffb5-3d1320bdf6-327747457&_r=0


Atmospheric rivers fueled by climate change could decimate wild
oysters in San Francisco Bay. Climate change could supercharge
the powerful storms often hailed for bringing drought-busting
rains to California. The storms, called atmospheric rivers, are
long stretches of water vapor that travel from the tropics up to
the West Coast of the U.S. In California, they can deliver up to
half of the state’s annual precipitation in just a couple of
weeks. But too much water at once can be a bad thing.
http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-atmospheric-rivers-oysters-20161215-story.html


EPA stops work on climate rule compliance program. The
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) stopped work Monday on
writing an optional program that states could use to comply with
the climate change rule for power plants. Janet McCabe, the EPA’s
top air regulator, announced the decision in a blog post, along
with the draft, incomplete compliance plans and related
documents.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/311032-epa-stops-work-on-climate-rule-compliance-option


Centrica has donated to US climate change-denying thinktank.
Company owned by Centrica gave $20,000 to TPPF, praised by new US
energy secretary for opposing ‘hysteria of global warming’.
British Gas’s parent company, Centrica, has given tens of
thousands of dollars to a US thinktank that denies climate change
and is backed by Donald Trump’s energy secretary.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/dec/16/centrica-has-donated-to-us-climate-change-denying-thinktank?utm_source=Inside+Climate+News&utm_campaign=d495fbc3f5-Today_s_Climate12_10_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_29c928ffb5-d495fbc3f5-327747457


Green Climate Fund misses 2016 target as US donation in doubt.
Board celebrates approval of projects worth $1.3bn at meeting in
Samoa, but falls short of $2.5bn goal and delays key policy
decisions. The Green Climate Fund board approved eight funding
proposals worth US$315 million as a meeting in Samoa concluded on
Friday. It brings the total allocated by the UN’s flagship
climate finance initiative in 2016 to $1.3 billion, far short of
a $2.5bn aspirational goal.
http://www.climatechangenews.com/2016/12/16/green-climate-fund-misses-2016-target-as-us-donation-in-doubt/?utm_source=Inside+Climate+News&utm_campaign=d495fbc3f5-Today_s_Climate12_10_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_29c928ffb5-d495fbc3f5-327747457


Independence group urges Brown to sign Paris Agreement.
Californians distressed by the presidential victory of Donald
Trump are hoping the state's leadership on climate change will
provide an avenue to assert independence from the federal
government. The California National Party, a group working on
"peaceful and lawful independence," is urging Gov. Jerry Brown
(D) to sign the U.N. agreement on climate change… 
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2016/12/19/stories/1060047393 

A fight about climate change — but not emissions. The Standing
Rock Sioux Tribe and its supporters captivated a nation this year
with their protests against the Dakota Access oil pipeline. Their
victorious faces beamed from the front pages of newspapers around
the country the day after the Obama administration halted
construction of the project.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2016/12/19/stories/1060047391 

FUELS

U.S. Forest Service grants Colorado exception to roadless rule,
again, for expansion of coal mining. The U.S. Forest Service has
finalized an exception for Colorado in the nation’s rule for
protecting last-remaining roadless forests: allowing expansion of
a coal mine that cuts beneath pristine woods near Paonia in the
North Fork Valley. That decision enabling construction of
temporary roads and drilling pads on 19,700 acres…
http://www.denverpost.com/2016/12/18/us-forest-service-roadless-rule-coal-mining-expansion/


VEHICLES

BlueCalifornia Bringing Electric Carsharing Service to Los
Angeles.  A French company is expanding its global reach by
bringing electric carsharing to Los Angeles. Bolloré Group
received backing Monday from the Los Angeles City Council to
bring its BlueCalifornia subsidiary to LA. It’s the second U.S.
city to bring the electric carsharing service to the metro area,
following Indianapolis and its BlueIndy program.
http://www.hybridcars.com/bluecalifornia-bringing-electric-carsharing-service-to-los-angeles/


VW RECALL

Report: Volkswagen Settlement Over 3-Liter Vehicles Could Add $1B
To “Dieselgate” Tab. Volkswagen has already agreed to pay $15
billon to settle a large portion of its “dieselgate” scandal, so
what’s another 1 billion? That figure could reportedly be added
to the carmaker’s tab as part of a settlement concerning
so-called “defective devices” on thousands of 3-liter vehicles
not covered by the company’s earlier settlement with federal
regulators.
https://consumerist.com/2016/12/19/report-volkswagen-settlement-over-3-liter-vehicles-could-add-1b-to-dieselgate-tab/


GREEN ENERGY

California to Regulate Energy Use of Desktop Computers and
Monitors. Computers, long a symbol of the digital age, are now
moving into a more earth-friendly future: California’s state
energy agency voted unanimously Wednesday to approve new
regulations for energy efficiency in desktop computers and
monitors. The rules, passed by the agency, the California Energy
Commission, are the country’s first attempt…
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/15/science/california-new-computer-energy-rules.html?mabReward=CTM&recp=0&moduleDetail=recommendations-0&action=click&contentCollection=U.S.®ion=Footer&module=WhatsNext&version=WhatsNext&contentID=WhatsNext&src=recg&pgtype=article&_r=0


Solar PV became carbon neutral in 2011 — study. That's when the
global solar photovoltaic industry likely became a net winner for
the planet, at least in greenhouse gas emission reductions and
overall energy use, according to a study. The analysis, published
this month in Nature Communications, fits into a body of research
about clean energy technologies that produce zero or few
emissions…
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2016/12/19/stories/1060047420

Engineers want to turn mine into renewable energy project.
Engineers in New York's Adirondack Mountains are proposing a
novel approach to resuscitating an abandoned mine: converting the
old mine shafts into a hydropower station. Millions of gallons of
groundwater has inundated the old pit in the town of Mineville
over the years, leading engineers to envision 100 turbines
running half a mile underground.
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2016/12/19/stories/1060047409 

MISCELLANEOUS

Exxon probes may figure in Tillerson Senate hearings for top
diplomat job. Donald Trump isn't the only person headed to the
U.S. government's executive branch saddled by legal issues. As
the president-elect tapped ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson as the
chief U.S. diplomat, a judge issued a ruling that could help
decide the outcome of state investigations into the energy
giant's statements on climate change and the firm's accounting
disclosures.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2016/12/18/exxon-probes-may-figure-tillerson-senate-hearings-top-diplomat-job/95380806/


OPINIONS

The electoral college is thwarting our ability to battle global
warming. Who (you might ask) is David Brearley? Brearley plays a
critical, and entirely accidental, role in climate change because
of his position as the chair of the Committee on Postponed Parts
within the Constitutional Convention of 1787. While drafting the
U.S. Constitution, the convention left several “sticky questions”
to Brearley’s Committee, such as the manner by which U.S.
presidents would be elected.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/12/19/the-electoral-college-is-thwarting-our-ability-to-battle-global-warming/?tid=pm_business_pop&utm_term=.fc2fc412013a


With State pick, Mass. politicians see an opportunity to probe
ExxonMobil on climate change. When he faced off with ExxonMobil
chief executive Rex Tillerson 6½ years ago, Edward J. Markey
seized on the walruses, to great effect.  Then chairman of a
House subcommittee investigating the BP oil spill, Markey
highlighted the sloppiness of four oil companies’ spill response
plans — nearly identical reports produced by the same consultant…
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/12/19/massachusetts-politicians-environmental-groups-target-exxonmobil-climate-change/x635GI8xBNIQGdpRZlrabP/story.html?utm_source=Inside+Climate+News&utm_campaign=3d1320bdf6-Today_s_Climate12_10_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_29c928ffb5-3d1320bdf6-327747457


BLOGS

Mayors Vow Not to Let Feds Trump Their Climate Change Fight. As
the new administration likely backs away from Obama's commitment
to reduce greenhouse gases, mayors are stepping up their efforts.
Since the November election, several big-city U.S. mayors have
sent President-elect Donald Trump and many congressional
Republicans a message on climate change: You won't stop our
fight.
http://www.governing.com/topics/transportation-infrastructure/gov-climate-change-trump-mayors.html




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