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newsclips -- CARB Newsclips for August 4, 2017.
Posted: 04 Aug 2017 15:41:28
CARB Newsclips for August 4, 2017. 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 (CARB) invites you to participate in a public workshop to begin discussing concepts for minimizing community health impacts from seaports, railyards, and warehouses/distribution centers. Workshops will be held at the locations and dates shown below. Both workshops will follow the same format and present the same material. LOS ANGELES Tuesday, August 29, 2017, (1:00 – 3:00 pm) Junipero Serra Building 320 West 4th Street, Los Angeles, California 90013 SACRAMENTO (also webcast) Wednesday, September 6, 2017, (1:00 – 3:00 pm) California Environmental Protection Agency Headquarters, Sierra Hearing Room 1001 I Street, Sacramento, California 95814 For more information on this workshop, please see the meeting notice at: https://www.arb.ca.gov/gmp/sfti/FreightFacility.htm ______________________________ Northern California Truck Owners and Operators -- You’re invited to attend a One-Stop Truck event in Santa Rosa on Wednesday, August 30. At this event, you’ll be able to get help with all of your CARB compliance questions, get up-to-date info on truck rules, learn about financial incentives to help purchase new trucks, visit with vendors, and check out the latest clean trucks. Here's what you will find at this One-Stop event: • One-on-one compliance assistance (Asistencia en español disponible) • Enforcement inspection demo • Truck and bus and off-road regulation overview • New technology options for compliance • Funding options for on-road trucks • CHP Inspection update • Industry vendors & local agency booths • Clean vehicle/technology displays For more information and to sign up to attend, please visit our One Stop Truck Event webpage: www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/truckstop/azregs/onestop.htm or call the Diesel Hotline at 866-634-3735 _____________________________________ CAP AND TRADE California Legislature Passes 10-Year Extension to Cap and Trade. After weeks of negotiations in the California legislature, the Senate and Assembly passed an extension to cap and trade on July 17. This is a win for California’s climate leadership and for green building. USGBC actively supported the cap-and-trade extension, as one of the state’s key strategies to reach its SB 32 goal to reduce emissions by 40 percent from 1990 levels by 2030. http://www.theenergycollective.com/usgbc/2410187/california-legislature-passes-10-year-extension-cap-trade AIR POLLUTION China orders 82 industries to obtain licenses before polluting. China has published a list of 82 industries that will need to obtain licenses before discharging pollutants or face punishments such as fines of up to 1 million yuan ($148,920.33). The industries include feed processing, wine-manufacturing paper-making, as well as the steel and chemical sectors, according to the list… http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-pollution-idUSKBN1AK03N EPA finds air quality improving. The nation's air quality improved last year, according to figures in a newly released U.S. EPA report. In 2016, for example, the total number of days rated as "unhealthy for sensitive groups" in 35 major cities dipped to 697, slightly below the 2015 total of 706 days but much higher than the 2014 total of 599 days, according to the report, posted online earlier this week. https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/08/04/stories/1060058410 Emissions testing a racket? Could end soon. There are those in the world who have strong emotions about the somewhat annoying requirement that they have their cars checked for emissions periodically. Some might call it a racket, but the state calls it a legal requirement if your car is older than a 2009 model year (and not otherwise exempt. http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Auto-emissions-test-could-end-in-Washington-11728571.php CLIMATE CHANGE The Church of England Takes on Climate Change—and Generates a 17 Percent Return. The low-key $10 billion fund that finances missions, cathedral costs and clergy pensions was instrumental in passing Exxon shareholder resolution. President Donald Trump may have quit the Paris climate accord, but shareholders aren’t going to let carbon-producing U.S. companies off the hook. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-04/the-church-of-england-takes-on-climate-change-and-generates-a-17-percent-return As the climate continues to change, Al Gore’s here to boil down the science. In late July, Al Gore was in Bellevue, holding a training for the Climate Reality Leadership Corps, the army he is building to spread the word — and worry — about climate change and global warming. At one point, Gore pointed out a crack in a section of the Antarctic Peninsula — an area he visited during the filming of his 2006 documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth.” http://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/movies/as-the-climate-continues-to-change-al-gores-here-to-boil-down-the-science/ 9 States Deciding Whether to Tighten Power Plant Emissions Rules in RGGI. Members of the RGGI cap-and-trade program talk tough on climate change. What they decide now will reflect on states’ ability to counter Trump’s climate rollbacks. Nine northeastern states that broke ground with the nation's first cap-and-trade program are nearing a decision on whether to seek even deeper greenhouse gas emissions cuts. https://insideclimatenews.org/news/01082017/rggi-cap-trade-climate-change-emissions-tightening-regulations--trump-rollback Climate Change Could Kill Off One-Fifth of the World By End of the Century. Global warming is on pace to ravage a region home to one-fifth of humanity by the end of the 21st century. If global populations continue with a business-as-usual attitude toward greenhouse gas emissions and global warming, a chunk of the population could be in serious peril. https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2017-08-03/climate-change-could-ravage-areas-of-south-asia-by-late-21st-century https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2017-08-03/climate-change-could-ravage-areas-of-south-asia-by-late-21st-century Global warming reports show we’re in hotter water than first thought. Chances are, if you’ve heard of the Paris Climate Agreement, you know that nearly every nation in the world — except ours — has volunteered to cut carbon emissions enough to prevent an increase in Earth’s temperature of 2 degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, by the start of the 22nd century. https://www.pasadenaweekly.com/2017/08/03/global-warming-reports-show-hotter-water-first-thought/ Global Warming Is Fueling Arizona’s Monstrous Monsoons. Summer in Arizona and throughout the Southwest is monsoon season, which means a daily pattern of afternoon thunderstorms, flash floods, dramatic dust clouds and spectacular displays of lightning over the desert. As the climate changes, Arizona’s monsoon rainfall is becoming more intense even as daily average rainfall in parts of the state has… http://www.climatecentral.org/news/warming-fueling-arizonas-monstrous-monsoons-21679 Scientists say patches of dead trees along the east coast are ‘the most obvious indicator of climate change’. They're called "ghost forests" — dead trees along vast swaths of coastline invaded by rising seas, something scientists call one of the most visible markers of climate change. The process has occurred naturally for thousands of years, but it has accelerated in recent decades as polar ice melts and raises sea levels, scientists say, pushing salt water farther inland and killing trees in what used to be… https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2017/08/04/stories/1060058397 Millions at risk of protein deficiency as carbon emissions rise. Scientists are seeing a troubling consequence of rising carbon dioxide emissions: a decrease in the nutritional value of staple crops in the global diet. This drop in crops' key nutrients increases the risk for dietary deficiencies in the world's most vulnerable populations, according to a new study. http://www.khou.com/news/health/millions-at-risk-of-protein-deficiency-as-carbon-emissions-rise/461910452 Obama rules could yield $300B annually in benefits — study. The benefits of Obama-era rules to curb greenhouse gas emissions would greatly exceed the costs in the coming years, according to a new analysis. Regulations designed to control emissions from power plants, oil production and motor vehicles could together lead to close to $300 billion in net benefits per year by 2030… https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2017/08/04/stories/1060058397 FUELS U.S. to reject biofuel program tweaks in blow to refiners, Icahn: sources. The Environmental Protection Agency will reject a proposed overhaul of the U.S. biofuels program that would have shifted blending responsibility away from refining companies further down the fuel supply chain, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday. The decision is a blow to independent oil refiners like Valero Energy Corp… http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-epa-biofuels-idUSKBN1AJ2H8 National Biodiesel Board Announces New California Air Resource Board Certified Biodiesel Additive. On July 25, 2017, the National Biodiesel Board (NBB) announced that the California Air Resource Board (CARB) certified a biodiesel additive that will make California B20 blends the cleanest diesel fuel with the lowest emissions profile available in the U.S. https://www.natlawreview.com/article/national-biodiesel-board-announces-new-california-air-resource-board-certified Researchers hope for more than 'bright light' North Dakota's night sky burns with enough gas flares to see them from space. Drillers are burning off methane, the oil byproduct that forms the primary component of natural gas. It has about 30 times the warming potential of carbon dioxide, but there's little market value in piping it from the remote areas driving the country's energy boom. https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2017/08/04/stories/1060058395 Interior moves to scrap fossil fuel valuation rule. The Interior Department is moving forward with scratching an Obama era rule related to calculating the value of fossil fuels on federal land. Department of Interior. The Trump administration will carry through on reversing recent changes made to how the federal government values coal, oil and natural gas for assessing royalties. https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/08/04/stories/1060058420 VEHICLES Toyota, Mazda plan $1.6 billion US plant, to partner in EVs. Japanese automakers Toyota Motor Corp. and Mazda Motor Corp. plan to spend $1.6 billion to build a joint-venture auto manufacturing plant in the U.S. - a move that will create up to 4,000 jobs, both sides said Friday. The plant will have an annual production capacity of about 300,000 vehicles, and will produce Toyota Corollas for the North American market. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_JAPAN_TOYOTA_MAZDA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT OTHER RELATED STORIES https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/08/03/three-european-countries-say-theyre-done-with-fossil-fueled-cars-can-the-rest-of-the-world-catch-up/?utm_term=.8a9c604cab46 http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-toyota-mazda-us-plants-20170804-story.html http://www.nydailynews.com/autos/news/toyota-takes-stake-mazda-links-1-6-billion-u-s-plant-article-1.3383634 The all-electric Chevy Bolt is a Tesla Model 3 competitor. You can easily argue that the Chevy Bolt is the most important car General Motors has ever rolled out. What we have here is a $37,495 all-electric vehicle with a range of nearly 240 miles on a single battery charge. GM took it from intro to the assembly line in less than two years, in the process beating the avidly anticipated Tesla Model 3 to market by at least a year. http://www.businessinsider.com/2017-chevy-bolt-review-photos-2017-8 Sonoma County, Calif., Plans for 'Inevitable' Shift Toward Electric Vehicles.Sonoma County has an estimated 4,500 EVs rolling now. Meeting Sonoma County’s climate protection goals will require putting 138,000 electric vehicles on the road by 2030 and effectively ending sales of fuel-burning cars, a local environmental group said in a report due for release this week. “We must now begin to create a future beyond combustion,”… http://www.govtech.com/fs/Sonoma-County-Calif-Plans-for-Inevitable-Shift-Toward-Electric-Vehicles.html VW RECALL Volkswagen executive pleads guilty in U.S. diesel emissions case. Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE) executive Oliver Schmidt pleaded guilty on Friday in U.S. District Court in Detroit in connection with a massive diesel emissions scandal that has cost the German automaker as much as $25 billion. Under a plea agreement, Schmidt faces up to seven years in prison and a fine of between $40,000 and $400,000 after admitting to conspiring to mislead U.S regulators and violating clean air laws. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-volkwwagen-emissions-idUSKBN1AK1OY http://washpost.bloomberg.com/Story?docId=1376-OU48AI6VDKHS01-59322EGEG10JDQJ5IKGSG8LOB2 https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/04/business/volkswagen-diesel-oliver-schmidt.html http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hy-volkswagen-emissions-guilty-20170804-story.html https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/michigan/articles/2017-08-04/vw-executive-scheduled-to-plead-guilty-in-emissions-scandal http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-vw-executive-guilty-emissions-scandal-20170804-story.html http://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/2017/08/04/vwexecutive-pleads-guilty-diesel-cheating-scheme/539737001/ https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/04/volkswagen-executive-pleads-guilty-in-us-diesel-emissions-case.html http://www.foxbusiness.com/features/2017/08/04/former-vw-compliance-executive-pleads-guilty-in-emissions-case.html http://kstp.com/national/vw-executive-scheduled-to-plead-guilty-in-emissions-scandal/4563483/ Electric cars are not the answer to air pollution, says top UK adviser. Cars must be driven out of cities to tackle the UK’s air pollution crisis, not just replaced with electric vehicles, according to the UK government’s top adviser. Prof Frank Kelly said that while electric vehicles produce no exhaust fumes, they still produce large amounts of tiny pollution particles from brake and tyre dust… http://www.msn.com/en-ie/cars/news/electric-cars-are-not-the-answer-to-air-pollution-says-top-uk-adviser/ar-AAppmBG GREEN ENERGY Alphabet's Green Energy Ambitions Hit Turbulence. Makani kite project struggles to take flight as cost of other energy sources falls. On May 16, Makani released a YouTube video. A camera pans on a T-shaped airplane, with wings stretching 85 feet holding eight small turbines and a tether connecting it to a tall ground station. The plane swoops into the air. It dips and soars, looping elegantly in circles that mimic a windmill, something it was built to replace. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-04/alphabet-s-green-energy-ambitions-hit-turbulence OPINIONS A question for environmentalists who oppose cap-and-trade programs. A half-century ago, Ellison Burton and I conducted the first studies exploring cap-and-trade and demonstrated, as the July 30 editorial pointed out, the dramatic cost-benefit efficiency of this method of pollution control [“Look to California on climate”]. Nevertheless, then as now, we were chastised by fellow environmentalists for recommending an approach to pollution control that allowed polluters to pollute. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-question-for-environmentalists-who-oppose-cap-and-trade-programs/2017/08/02/337f0fe4-7622-11e7-8c17-533c52b2f014_story.html?utm_term=.66b654817af4 BLOGS Fleischman: CA GOP’s Phony Pushback Against Cap-and-Trade. California voters could enshrine climate change in the state’s Constitution — thanks to a phony ballot initiative being promoted by weak Republican Party leaders as a brake on cap-and-trade spending. If you search the terms “carbon emissions,” or “greenhouse gas,” or “global warming” in the voluminous text of the California State Constitution, you will come up empty. http://www.breitbart.com/california/2017/08/04/fleischman-browns-cap-and-trade-deal-is-actually-worse-than-you-think/ Climate Change Could Get You Bumped from a Future Flight. Major airports will see more frequent takeoff weight restrictions in the coming decades due to increasingly common hot temperatures. Hot weather has forced dozens of commercial flights to be canceled at airports in the Southwest this summer. This flight-disrupting heat is a warning sign. Climate change is projected to have far-reaching repercussions… https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/climate-change-could-get-you-bumped-from-a-future-flight/ Motion to Vacate EPA Stay of Landfill Emissions Rule. NRDC and partners’ motion for summary vacatur, filed August 4, 2017 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, seeking to overturn EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s 90-day administrative stay of standards of performance and emission guidelines for emissions of landfill gas from new and existing municipal solid waste landfills. https://www.nrdc.org/resources/motion-vacate-epa-stay-landfill-emissions-rule The Death of ‘Alternative Energy’ Fifteen years ago, when I joined the early ranks of clean energy entrepreneurs, we were nearly dead in the water on climate. Oil was $15 per barrel, Al Gore’s groundbreaking movie An Inconvenient Truth hadn’t come out, and a solar panel was something that powered a calculator. In 2005, I went to my first "alternative energy conference” in Aspen, Colorado. https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/the-death-of-alternative-energy