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newsclips -- CARB Newsclips for April 10, 2017
Posted: 10 Apr 2017 13:21:56
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 It’s not just climate: EPA hints that it could roll back Obama’s smog rule. The Trump administration has given its strongest indication to date it may not stand in the way of lawsuits aimed at undoing Obama-era environmental protections for smog-forming pollutants. In a court filing, the Environmental Protection Agency sought on Friday to postpone oral argument in a case involving an Obama-era standard limiting an air pollutant that forms smog, arguing it needs “adequate time to fully review” the rule. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/04/07/trumps-epa-makes-first-moves-on-obama-era-smog-protections/?utm_term=.84c165cf7268 Trump may change or scrap Obama ozone standard. The Trump administration is considering whether to change the national ozone standard set by the Obama administration in 2015, a court filing reveals. On Friday evening, U.S. EPA filed a motion seeking to postpone next week's oral arguments over the standard, saying the new administration is "closely scrutinizing" whether the agency should "reconsider the rule or some part of it." https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/04/10/stories/1060052869 Tracking Air Quality Block By Block. A local environmental advocacy group last week launched a first-of-its kind monitoring project, installing air quality sensors in the densely packed neighborhoods near this city’s port to give the people who live and work there on-the-ground readings of pollutants that can seriously injure their health. http://californiahealthline.org/news/tracking-air-quality-block-by-block/ Students learn about San Juan County’s air quality. Islanders are about to find out exactly what is in the air they are breathing. Samuel Garson, a science teacher at Friday Harbor High School, and his junior and senior AP environmental class are on a quest to test air quality. http://www.sanjuanjournal.com/life/students-learn-about-san-juan-countys-air-quality/ CAP AND TRADE Carbon Emissions Trading Scheme Upheld in CA. California’s cap-and-trade system, which allows companies to purchase carbon credits through an auction or a secondary market, is not an illegal tax, a state appeals court has found. The system, because of voluntary participation and the purchase of a specific thing of value, preclude a finding that the auction system has the hallmarks of a tax, said Judge Elena J. Duarte. https://www.environmentalleader.com/2017/04/carbon-emissions-trading-scheme-upheld-ca/ CLIMATE CHANGE What’s at Stake in Trump’s Proposed E.P.A. Cuts. What is at stake as Congress considers the E.P.A. budget? Far more than climate change. The Trump administration’s proposed cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency budget are deep and wide-ranging. It seeks to shrink spending by 31 percent, to $5.7 billion from $8.1 billion, and to eliminate a quarter of the agency’s 15,000 jobs. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/10/climate/trump-epa-budget-cuts.html Trump's energy review blocks Group of Seven from consensus. Top energy officials from the Group of Seven industrial nations failed to agree on language for a joint declaration on Monday because of the U.S. administration's review of policies related to climate change and the reduction of greenhouse gases. Italy's economic development minister, Carlo Calenda, told a news conference that those areas remained "key priorities for other G-7 countries and the EU" but that the United States "reserves its position" while the review is underway. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_ITALY_G7_ENERGY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT U.S. scuppers G7 bid to find joint stance on energy and climate. The U.S. administration of Donald Trump on Monday scuppered efforts by the Group of Seven industrialized countries to reach a common stance on energy when it asked for more time to work out its policies on climate change. Trump signed an order in March to undo climate change regulations drawn up under his predecessor Barack Obama, calling into question U.S. support for an international deal to fight global warming. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-g7-energy-u-s-idUSKBN17C1F3 China may take lead on fighting climate change. With climate change seemingly absent from the agenda, the weekend meeting between President Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping underscored that the U.S. has all but abandoned its status as the international leader on global warming and ceded that position to China. Mr. Trump and Mr. Xi said nothing publicly about past commitments between the two nations to work together to fight climate change, and there seems to be a growing understanding among Chinese officials that their country may now have the responsibility — and a key economic opportunity, activists say — to become the global leader on the issue. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/apr/9/china-may-take-lead-on-fighting-climate-change/ New York, California Lead State Efforts on Climate Change as Trump Retreats. It’s a precarious time for federal climate change action in the U.S., to say the least. Just last week, a sweeping executive order signed by President Trump moved to roll back the Obama administration’s flagship Clean Power Plan to curb greenhouse gas emissions from power plants—the latest in a series of efforts by Congress and the White House to repeal various Obama-era rules. But even as the Trump administration continues reversing federal environmental regulations, state governments are stepping up as the nation’s new front line of defense against climate change. http://www.newsweek.com/new-york-california-state-efforts-climate-change-trump-retreats-580704 Great Barrier Reef Hit By Bleaching For The Second Year In A Row. For the second consecutive year, aerial surveys show severe coral bleaching in the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia. While severe bleaching events have occurred three other times in the past 20 years — in 1998, 2002 and 2016 — this year marks the first time it's known to have happened two years in a row. Scientists say the damage is caused by higher water temperatures due to global warming. http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/04/10/523254085/great-barrier-reef-hit-by-bleaching-for-the-second-year-in-a-row The Single Shining Hope to Stop Climate Change. Science is under attack at the very moment when we need it most. President Donald Trump’s March 28 executive order went much further than simply throwing a lifeline to fossil fuels, as industry-funded congressional climate change–deniers have done in the past. It intentionally blinded the federal government to the impacts of climate change by abolishing an interagency group that measured the cost of carbon to public health and the environment. Now, the government won’t have a coordinated way to account for damages from climate change when assessing the costs and benefits of a particular policy. http://time.com/4731632/climate-change-2020-trump/ Climate change: Turbulence to get a whole lot worse on airplanes. A scary new study has warned one of the worst things about flying is about to get much worse: turbulence. Bouts of turbulence that are strong enough to toss passengers around the cabin could become up to three times more common - and it's all thanks to climate change, according to news.com.au. Scientists at the University of Reading in the UK have carried out a first-ever study into the relationship between anthropogenic climate change and clear-air turbulence. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/travel/news/article.cfm?c_id=7&objectid=11835733 Allergies will be even more miserable in the future — thanks to global warming. It’s spring in California: the birds are chirping, the flowers are blooming, and my sinuses are so swollen they might just pop right out of my face. I’m one of the 36 million or so Americans lucky enough to suffer from seasonal allergies. And experts tell me that I might suffer from this eye-itching, sinus-pounding misery even more in the future. Warming global temperatures may lead to longer blooming seasons, and rising CO2 levels could help weeds and trees grow more, and faster. That could mean more allergy-causing pollen, according to a growing crop of studies. This is especially bad news for people with allergic asthma, who can suffer from life-threatening attacks. http://www.theverge.com/2017/4/10/15203522/allergies-hay-fever-seasonal-spring-pollen-global-warming-climate-change DIESEL ACTIVITIES San Joaquin Valley farmers might get state financial help for off-road mobile ag equipment. Farmers and ranchers in the San Joaquin Valley that trade up old off-road mobile agricultural equipment to new, cleaner operating models might eventually get some financial help from the California Air Resources Board. The trade-up pilot project is expected to aid CARB in its efforts to assess the feasibility of a new, multi-step type of equipment incentive intended for owners of high-emitting mobile agricultural equipment in the San Joaquin Valley Air Basin that may not qualify for existing voluntary incentive funding such as the Carl Moyer Program, Environmental Quality Incentives Program, and others and for which new equipment purchases are not practical. http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com/stories/001/?ID=32422 GREEN ENERGY Renewable energy tax credits challenge markets. In the spring and fall, the wind blows so hard at night that wind turbines supply all of the power that Texas needs in the wee hours of the morning. More surprising is that all of that wind means the price of electricity turns negative. That's right, electric power is not just free, but generators have to pay the grid operator to take their electricity. http://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/columnists/tomlinson/article/Renewable-energy-tax-credits-challenge-markets-11058236.php Renewable energy production in South Australia at 50 per cent, eight years ahead of schedule. Green energy production in South Australia has reached record levels, with the state poised to meet its 50 per cent renewable energy target almost eight years ahead of schedule. Latest figures obtained from sources including the Australian Energy Market Operator indicate SA has derived 53 per cent of its electricity in the past 12 months from sun and wind. http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/sa-power-crisis-renewable-energy-production-in-sa-at-50-per-cent-eight-years-ahead-of-schedule/news-story/2e3a6fcb3c40a0ca61b25eba87206d68 Silicon Valley Clean Energy launches with 100% carbon-free power. A new "community choice" agency began providing cleaner energy to Californians last week. Silicon Valley Clean Energy says it provides 100 percent carbon-free energy to 11 cities in California. Most of its energy comes from renewables such as wind and solar, while the remainder comes from large-scale hydropower. The agency is one of the latest players in the "community choice" movement, which is picking up steam in the Golden State as an alternative to traditional utilities' hegemony. https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2017/04/10/stories/1060052833 SoCalGas eyes injection of 'renewable natural gas' into pipelines. A $100 million project on track for completion this spring will inject "renewable natural gas" derived from organic waste into Southern California Gas Co.'s pipeline system for the first time. The landmark project is part of the state's push to harness methane emitted at farms and landfills as an alternative to fossil fuels for transportation, heating and power generation. http://marketintelligence.spglobal.com/our-thinking/news/socalgas-eyes-injection-of-renewable-natural-gas-into-pipelines California is getting so much power from solar that wholesale electricity prices are turning negative. The extraordinary success of solar power in some pockets of the world that combine sunshine with high investment in the technology mean that governments and energy companies are having radically to rethink the way they manage—and charge for—electricity. California is one such a place. https://qz.com/953614/california-produced-so-much-power-from-solar-energy-this-spring-that-wholesale-electricity-prices-turned-negative/ Massachusetts requests supply of Canadian renewable energy. A request by the state of Massachusetts for a supply of clean, renewable electricity could give a boost to proposals to carry Canadian renewable energy to southern New England via proposed transmission lines in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. There are a handful of proposals across the three states designed to help energy-hungry states Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut make use of the renewable energy available in Canada and experts say the Massachusetts request gives a huge boost to those efforts. http://globalnews.ca/news/3366788/massachusetts-canadian-renewable-energy/ Mayor Emanuel Announces City Buildings to be Powered by 100 Percent Renewable Energy by 2025. Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) CEO Forest Claypool, Chicago Park District CEO Mike Kelly, Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) Eugene Jones, Jr., Fleet and Facility Management Commissioner David Reynolds, and City Colleges of Chicago (CCC) leadership today announced their commitment to move their buildings’ electricity use to 100 percent renewable energy by 2025. When implemented, Chicago will be the largest major city in the country to have a 100 percent renewable energy supply for its public buildings. https://enewspf.com/2017/04/10/mayor-emanuel-announces-city-buildings-powered-100-percent-renewable-energy-2025/ Getting Green Energy for Less in Underserved Communities. In the past, some energy providers have claimed that fossil fuels are needed to keep electricity costs low for the poorest consumers. But research has shown this “cheap” energy comes at a high price for the poor and minorities that are most susceptible to the effects of pollution. The Energy Efficiency for All published a study in 2016, which found that the vast majority of families living under 80% of the poverty line struggle to afford energy month-to-month. http://www.theenergycollective.com/ryank/2401949/getting-green-energy-less-underserved-communities VEHICLES Ford says hybrid police car catches bad guys, saves gas too. The next time the cops chase you down for speeding, they could be driving a fuel-efficient gas-electric hybrid. Ford Motor Co., which sells more police vehicles in the U.S. than any other automaker, says it will offer a police pursuit version of the hybrid Fusion midsize sedan, in response to requests from cities nationwide. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_FORD_HYBRID_POLICE_CAR?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT Related articles: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-10/warning-to-crooks-new-ford-cop-car-may-be-green-but-it-s-fast Diesel cars CAN improve air quality and ‘tackle climate change’, claims industry group. Diesel cars can help to improve air quality and play a positive role in the fight against climate change, a key motor industry group has claimed. In light of the raft of new taxes and regulations being slapped on diesel vehicles, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) have released a report to champion the fuel. https://www.thesun.co.uk/motors/3297351/diesel-cars-can-improve-air-quality-and-tackle-climate-change-claims-industry-group/ Amazon Finds There's Nothing Foolish in Fuel Cells. Victims of tech hype should be a bit wary of Elon Musk’s dismissal of hydrogen fuel cells as "fool cells." A figure as iconic in the tech industry, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, appears to disagree. Amazon has acquired the right to buy 23 percent of Plug Power, a Latham, New York-based company that went public back in 1999, has never made a profit, and was until recently a penny stock. Plug Power shares almost doubled in price immediately after the Amazon announcement. https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-04-06/amazon-finds-there-s-nothing-foolish-in-fuel-cells SF Goodwill Puts 11 Electric Trucks On the Road. The San Francisco Goodwill will start using electric trucks as part of a test project that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District announced Friday. The project, which is product of the Goodwill's partnership with the BAAQMD, the California Air Resources Board, the Center for Transportation and the Environment and BYD Corp., will bring 11 electric trucks to Goodwill locations in San Mateo, San Francisco and Marin counties. https://patch.com/california/san-francisco/sf-goodwill-puts-11-electric-trucks-road Huntington to install second electric vehicle charging location. Huntington officials are set to install a public electric vehicle charging station at Town Hall as part of a statewide clean-energy initiative. Town officials purchased the station to meet one of the conditions for inclusion in the state’s Clean Energy Communities initiative, which will make the town eligible to apply for $250,000 in state funding for future energy projects. http://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/huntington-to-install-second-electric-vehicle-charging-location-1.13373472 MISCELLANEOUS California attorney general requests documents on EPA chief. California's attorney general announced Friday he is seeking documents that could show conflicts of interest and ethics violations by the man President Donald Trump appointed to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, the latest episode in the ongoing feud between Golden State officials and the Trump administration. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CALIFORNIA_PRUITT_RECORDS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT California's environmental crusaders helped save our state. Now, they face down Trump. It did not begin well for Alicia Rivera, who carried a stack of fliers as she made her way around the parking lot of a Wilmington shopping center. The first person she approached brushed past her, uninterested in her spiel about polluted air in the harbor area’s smokestack neighborhoods. The next guy shook his head; he didn’t want the flier calling residents to an April 29 climate change march protesting the planned expansion of the nearby Tesoro refinery. https://flipboard.com/@flipboard/flip.it%2FsgMK1h-californias-environmental-crusaders-hel/f-e751774395%2Flatimes.com Dear Earth Talk, what is meant by “environmental justice”? Environmental justice is defined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as “the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin or income, with respect to the development, implementation and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations and policies.” In layperson’s terms, it means making sure specific groups of people don’t bear a disproportionate burden from potential and existing environmental threats. http://smdp.com/dear-earth-talk-what-is-meant-by-environmental-justice/160383 OPINIONS California Fights Back. When Donald Trump threatened on the campaign trail to deport every single immigrant living in the country illegally, bring back offshore drilling and reverse the anti-pollution policies that help clear smoggy skies, Californians immediately understood that our state would be disproportionately affected — and disproportionately harmed — by the reckless policies he was hoping to enact. http://www.latimes.com/projects/la-ed-california-fights-back/ Quora: Trump’s Policies Will Only Accelerate Climate Change. Climate change will accelerate slightly under Donald Trump, and our ability to mitigate the damage will decrease significantly. Here’s the thing about climate change: it’s potentially very “teetery.” What I mean by that is that our climate was, until very recently (geologically, of course), really well balanced. Heat in and heat out were nearly the same, and so the temperature on this planet was remarkably constant and predictable over time. Constant and predictable will hereafter be referred to as “good” for simplicity’s sake. http://www.newsweek.com/quora-question-how-will-trump-affect-climate-change-579765 Courts Jump on Revenue Raising Bandwagon. Tax and revenue increases are piling up on Californians–passed by voters, approved by legislators, and now the courts are getting into the act. On the same day that the legislature passed the $52 billion gas tax, California’s Third District Court of Appeal on a 2 to 1 vote upheld a lower court ruling that businesses paying for auction allowances in the cap-and-trade program were not being subjected to an illegal tax. http://www.foxandhoundsdaily.com/2017/04/courts-jump-revenue-raising-bandwagon/ BLOGS Climate Change Is Ruining Farmers’ Lives, But Only A Few Will Admit It. When Christina Carter started growing vegetables 12 years ago, she looked forward to winters because they offered her the chance to recover from the strenuous growing and harvesting seasons. That’s no longer the case. Summers are hotter and stormier than they used to be, and fall never seems to come. A true winter also seems to be a thing of the past, but that doesn’t mean spring won’t bring the occasional surprise hailstorm. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/climate-change-farmers_us_58e3c1d8e4b0d0b7e16502d5 Farmers could lead the way on climate action. Here’s how. President Trump, congressional Republicans, and most American farmers share common positions on climate change: They question the science showing human activity is altering the global climate and are skeptical of using public policy to reduce greenhouse gas pollution. But farmers are in a unique position to tackle climate change. We have the political power, economic incentive, and policy tools to do so. What we don’t yet have is the political will. http://grist.org/article/farmers-could-lead-the-way-on-climate-action-heres-how/ Electrek green energy brief: California ‘cap and trade’ not a tax, tax credit worth 29GW of green energy, more. Solar and wind tax credit extension worth 29GW of utility scale wind/solar from 2016-2020 – Another interesting number, $23B in economic activity in the USA from wind and solar in 2017. Roughly – $5B will be given to solar power installations in the form of a federal 30% tax credit. There will be $25B’ish in solar power sales in the USA in 2017. https://electrek.co/2017/04/10/california-can-trade-tax-credit-flow-battery/ California is in a drought emergency. Visit www.SaveOurH2O.org for water conservation tips.