What's New List Serve Post Display
Below is the List Serve Post you selected to display.
newsclips -- CARB Newsclips for March 20, 2017
Posted: 20 Mar 2017 17:32:41
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. CARB BUSINESS The California Air Resources Board meets March 23 and 24 at Riverside County Administrative Center, 4080 Lemon St., 1st Floor, Riverside, California 92501 The agenda is posted at: https://www.arb.ca.gov/board/ma/2017/ma032317.pdf The AB 32 Environmental Justice Advisory Committee (Committee) will be meeting on March 29, 2017 from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm (PDT) and March 30, 2017 from 10:30 am to 3:30 pm (PDT) at the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center, 244 South San Pedro Street, Los Angeles, California 90012. The meeting notice and agenda are posted at: www.arb.ca.gov/cc/ejac/meetings/meetings.htm Staff of the California Air Resource Board has completed the 2016 annual credit calculations for non-metered residential electrical vehicle charging and placed a total of 394,818 credits in the Electric Distribution Utilities’ accounts. For more information on these credit calculations, please refer to the Notice of Upcoming Low Carbon Fuel Standard Credits Release for Non-Metered Residential Electric Vehicle Charging. The notice can be accessed at: http://www.arb.ca.gov/fuels/lcfs/workgroups/elect/022217notice.pdf Please consider the following news release from the California Air Resources Board: http://www.arb.ca.gov/newsrel/newsrelease.php?id=900 The California Air Resources Board (CARB) invites you to participate in a public workshop on the Fiscal Year (FY) 2017-18 Funding Plan for Low Carbon Transportation Investments, Air Quality Improvement Program (AQIP), and the potential $25 million Volkswagen settlement funds for zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) aspects of vehicle replacement programs. The meeting will be held at the following time and place: Date: Thursday, April 6, 2017 Time: 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Place: Cal/EPA Headquarters Building Coastal Hearing Room, Second Floor 1001 I Street Sacramento, California 95814 A meeting notice for the workshop is posted at: https://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/aqip/meetings/meetings.htm The California Air Resources Board (ARB) staff has posted the staff presentation for the Low Carbon Fuel Standard Working Meeting on March 17, 2017, that will focus on potentially including alternative jet fuel in the LCFS. The presentation can be found at: http://www.arb.ca.gov/fuels/lcfs/lcfs_meetings/lcfs_meetings.htm The California Air Resource Board has posted an updated Notice of Upcoming Low Carbon Fuel Standard Credits Release for Non-Metered Residential Electric Vehicle Charging. http://www.arb.ca.gov/fuels/lcfs/workgroups/elect/022217notice.pdf Request for Proposal (RFP): Data Monitoring, Collection, and Analysis for Projects Granted under Fiscal Year (FY) 2014-15 Air Quality Improvement Program (AQIP) and Low Carbon Transportation Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) Investments. The California Air Resources Board is seeking a contractor to monitor, collect, and analyze data for heavy-duty vehicle, off-road equipment, and bulk ship projects granted under AQIP and Low Carbon Transportation GGRF Investments, as identified in the fiscal year (FY) 14-15 Funding Plan approved by the Board in June 2014. The contractor shall collect and monitor vehicle and facility data, as applicable, such as vehicle specifications and performance data, as well as capital costs and operation and maintenance data for vehicles and facilities. RFP Information: The Data Monitoring, Collection, and Analysis for Projects Granted under FY 14-15 AQIP and Low Carbon Transportation GGRF Investments RFP advertisement is available at: https://caleprocure.ca.gov/pages/Events-BS3/event-search.aspx (Event ID 0000004538). In order to submit a response, please register on the Cal eProcure website at: https://caleprocure.ca.gov/pages/ The final date for the proposal submission is Friday, March 24, 2017, 3:00 p.m., Pacific Standard Time. CLIMATE CHANGE Republican green groups seek to temper Trump on climate change. President Donald Trump's outspoken doubts about climate change and his administration's efforts to roll back regulation to combat it have stirred a sleepy faction in U.S. politics: the Republican environmental movement. The various groups represent conservatives, Catholics and the younger generation of Republicans who, unlike Trump, not only recognize the science of climate change but want to see their party wrest the initiative from Democrats and lead efforts to combat global warming. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-green-republicans-idUSKBN16R0ZJ https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2017/mar/20/19-house-republicans-call-on-their-party-to-do-something-about-climate-change Stephen Hawking has a message for Trump: Don't ignore climate change. The UK's most renowned theoretical physicist and cosmologist is still using his exceptional mind to map a theory of how the universe works. But when it comes to matters here on Earth, Stephen Hawking is just as concerned about President Trump's science policies as anyone. During a recent interview with Good Morning Britain, set to air Monday, Hawking bluntly laid out his views on U.S. administration's science policies. https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/03/20/stephen-hawking-has-a-message-for-trump-dont-ignore-climate-ch/21903060/ Paris Discord: Is Trump unravelling the climate change agreement? US President Donald Trump’s campaign promise to “cancel the Paris Agreement” is one step closer to reality, after leaders from the Group of 20 richest economies backtracked on pledges to allocate $100 billion per year by 2020 for climate change response. The trend will hit hardest in countries that are not only vulnerable to climate change, but are also too poor to finance mitigation strategies themselves. https://www.irinnews.org/analysis/2017/03/20/paris-discord-trump-unravelling-climate-change-agreement The White House doubts climate change. Here's why the Pentagon does not. The contentious debate over climate change is entering a new phase, with skeptics in the Trump administration poised to roll back regulations governing everything from clean-water standards to fracking — convinced that doing so will boost the U.S. economy. But the Pentagon views the issue differently. For Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, climate change represents a significant national security threat, one that's "impacting stability in areas of the world where our troops are operating today," according his written testimony to Congress provided in January ahead of his confirmation. http://www.militarytimes.com/articles/donald-trump-climate-change-epa-james-mattis The climate change battle dividing Trump’s America. Ever since Donald Trump became US president, certain sectors of American society have felt particularly embattled. His statements on Mexicans and Muslims are notorious, but there is another community, less heard about, that has also been sent reeling: scientists. If politics has never been a world that is overly respectful to empirical research, Trump’s victory exploited a growing popular suspicion of expertise, and a tendency to seek out alternative narratives to fact-based analysis. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/mar/18/the-scientists-taking-the-fight-to-trump-climate-change-epa 3 Cities Prove Climate Action Works. The climate crisis is a problem caused by humans that can be solved by humans. These three cities are proving it. While a lot of media coverage around the crisis is doom and gloom, cities around the world are coming up with powerful solutions on the local level. Here's how a Canadian city, an American city and a Chinese city are taking on climate action. http://www.ecowatch.com/climate-action-solutions-cities-2315394369.html Scott Pruitt isn’t the first administrator hostile to the EPA’s mission. On March 25, 1983, business was booming at Harry’s Liquor, Wine & Cheese, near the Environmental Protection Agency’s Washington, D.C., headquarters. EPA employees were in the mood to party. The agency’s top lawyer had just resigned, the latest casualty in a purge of political appointees. Weeks earlier, EPA Administrator Anne Gorsuch Burford had also resigned amid a ballooning controversy over her management of the Superfund program. Agency staff celebrated by springing for eight cases of champagne and six ounces of Russian caviar from Harry’s. http://www.hcn.org/issues/49.5/scott-pruitt-isnt-the-first-administrator-hostile-to-the-epas-mission AIR POLLUTION Will Trump erect a roadblock to Southern California's decades-long fight against smog? Southern California newspapers once routinely described the region’s air with words such as “strangling.” Breathing it, reporters noted, could be “agonizing.” As recently as the 1970s, a visitor standing in the foothills on many summer afternoons might not realize that the San Gabriel or San Bernardino mountains towered just above, hidden by a curtain of brown smog. http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-vehicles-smog-20170316-story.html Paramount Metal Processing Company Ordered To Shut Down Fourth Time This Year. A metal finishing facility in Paramount was ordered by air quality regulators to shut down all processing equipment and operations that could emit a toxic compound, the fourth time it has been ordered to do so this year. Aerocraft Heat Treating Co., Inc. at 15701 Minnesota Ave., was ordered by the South Coast Air Quality Management District to curtail such operations by midnight Thursday because of elevated levels of hexavalent chromium in the air. http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2017/03/17/paramount-metal-processing-company-ordered-to-shut-down-fourth-time-this-year/ FUELS Biofuels cut jet engine pollution, NASA study shows. A new study from NASA has shown that the jet engines using biofuels have fewer particle emissions in their exhaust trails. In a news release earlier this week, NASA said the reduction could be "as much as 50 to 70 percent" and that the study bode well for both the environment and airline economics. http://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/17/biofuels-cut-jet-engine-pollution-nasa-study-shows.html VW RECALL VW CEO calls on Fiat Chrysler's Marchionne for direct discussions. At the recent Geneva Motor Show, (FCA) boss Sergio Marchionne speculated that the Volkswagen Group would be hardest hit by the union of the PSA Group and GM Europe, as they will from Europe's second largest vehicle maker. What's more, after rescuing Chrysler from liquidation through a US government bailout, bankruptcy and restructuring, Marchionne is looking to "leave the house in good order" before his planned retirement in early 2019, Krebs said. http://clicklancashire.com/2017/03/17/vw-ceo-calls-on-fiat-chryslers-marchionne-for-direct.html GREEN ENERGY Google concludes nearly 80% of US rooftops suitable for solar. Google’s 'Project Sunroof' tool reveals the vast untapped potential for rooftop solar installations in the U.S. Since 2015, the project has analysed around 60 million buildings across the U.S. concluding that 79 per cent are technically viable for generating solar power. http://www.climateactionprogramme.org/news/google_concludes_nearly_80_of_us_rooftops_suitable_for_solar Qatar’s largest solar project to begin construction in 2017. A joint venture between Qatar Electricity and Water Company (QEWC) and Qatar Petroleum will begin construction on a 200 megawatt (MW) solar project this year. Reportedly, construction of the country’s largest solar power project will begin in June 2017, scheduled to be completed and fully operational by 2020. http://www.climateactionprogramme.org/news/qatars_largest_solar_project_to_begin_construction_in_2017 The Corporate Commitment To Green Energy Is Helping Rural America. The signage is all around — that renewable energy has all green lights ahead, despite the current White House’s emphasis on the expansion of traditional fossil fuels. Both corporate America and the governors from 20 states are going all-in to support sustainable fuels. Their reasoning is grounded in economics — that the cost of wind and solar technologies has fallen dramatically and that, in turn, has led to their impressive growth. Indeed, about 60% of the electricity added to the grid in 2016 came from wind and solar energy. https://www.forbes.com/sites/kensilverstein/2017/03/19/the-corporate-commitment-to-green-energy-is-helping-rural-america/#253885896a0a Green energy in a coal state: the struggle to bring solar jobs to West Virginia. If solar energy were Dan Conant’s only passion, the West Virginia native could have stayed in Vermont, working for a fast-growing startup in a state friendly to renewables. Instead, Conant returned home to Shepherdstown, where he started an installation company, Solar Holler, in 2014. Now, with three employees and a crew under contract, Conant’s new passion comes with an audacious goal: bring solar jobs to communities hit hard by the decline of coal. https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/mar/19/solar-power-industry-jobs-market-coal-west-virginia How hydroelectric power has roared back in California. After slowing to a trickle during the past five years of punishing drought, hydroelectric power in California is poised to make a major comeback this spring and summer, thanks to the wet winter. Across Northern California, hydroelectricity producers say their reservoirs are brimming at levels not seen in decades. Together, their dams should produce as much as 21 percent of the state’s total electricity output this year, according to projections from the California Energy Commission. http://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Winter-rains-boost-hydropower-reduce-greenhouse-11013172.php Energy efficiency is becoming an essential tactic for the US military. The US military sees climate change as a national security threat. So, it’s finding ways to adapt to global warming, to make the armed forces stronger and more flexible. For starters, green technologies such as solar "blankets" and hybrid vehicles have improved operations within the Marine Corps and the Navy, according to Capt. Jim Goudreau, who served as a deputy assistant secretary of the Navy. He spent over two decades in the supply corps and is now the head of climate at Novartis. http://news.wbfo.org/post/energy-efficiency-becoming-essential-tactic-us-military MISCELLANEOUS People are sending EPA employees chocolate chip cookies and thank you cards. The cookies showed up Monday morning, hundreds of them packed tightly in cardboard boxes, and made their way to offices throughout the Environmental Protection Agency’s headquarters in downtown Washington. “To: EPA Staff. From: America,” the labels read. “Thank you so much for all you do. You save lives. You make the world better.” On the back of the cookie wrappers were personal stories from people around the country who see the EPA as a force for good. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/03/17/people-are-sending-epa-employees-chocolate-chip-cookies-and-thank-you-cards/?utm_term=.20fc7a34a08c OPINIONS Trump budget would make America dirty and sick again. President Trump’s budget proposal is a direct assault on our health and safety. The enormous cuts he is proposing to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other departments will hurt people and the planet by gutting enforcement of laws that protect the water we drink, the air we breathe and the environment that sustains us. How many voters last year asked for more smoggy skies and fouled water, for less enforcement of criminal pollution and faster climate change? It’s doubtful most Trump voters want that, but his budget sides with polluter interests and climate deniers — not with us. http://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/Trump-budget-would-make-America-dirty-and-sick-11012345.php?cmpid=gsa-sfgate-result California is in a drought emergency. Visit www.SaveOurH2O.org for water conservation tips.