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newsclips -- CARB Newsclips for September 15, 2017

Posted: 15 Sep 2017 17:22:05
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

Attention stakeholders. 

Staff of the California Air Resources Board will hold a joint
workshop with the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control
District on Tuesday, September 26, 2017 in Bakersfield to discuss
strategies for meeting PM2.5 air quality standards in the San
Joaquin Valley.  This will be the third in a series of workshops
conducted by CARB staff to assess opportunities for reductions
from stationary and mobile sources as part of a comprehensive
PM2.5 attainment strategy. 

For more information, please refer to the following webpage:
https://www.arb.ca.gov/planning/sip/sjvpm25/annualsjvpm25.htm 

_____________________________________________

The California Air Resources Board (CARB or Board) will conduct a
public meeting at the time and place noted below to consider
updates to CARB’s Enforcement Policy. 

DATE:		 September 28, 2017
TIME:		 9:00 a.m.
LOCATION: 	California Environmental Protection Agency
                      California Air Resources Board
                      Byron Sher Auditorium, 2nd Floor
                      1001 I Street
                      Sacramento, California 95814
The draft Enforcement Policy may also be obtained from CARB’s
website at:
https://www.arb.ca.gov/enf/policy2017.htm      

____________________________________

The California Air Resources Board (CARB or Board) will conduct a
public hearing at the time and place noted below to consider
approving for adoption the proposed amendments to California
Evaluation Procedures for New Aftermarket Catalytic Converters. 

DATE:                    September 28, 2017

TIME:                    9:00 A.M.

LOCATION:         California Environmental Protection Agency
                	       California Air Resources Board
                	       Byron Sher Auditorium
                	       1001 I Street
                	       Sacramento, California  95814
Electronic submittal:  
              http://www.arb.ca.gov/lispub/comm/bclist.php       
   

________________________________________________________  

AIR POLLUTION

CLIMATE CHANGE

Some good news about global warming for once — plants are
speeding up their use of carbon. As carbon dioxide continues to
build in the atmosphere — thanks to the burning of fossil fuels —
scientists are busy figuring out how life on earth is adapting to
its effects. And now, new research reinforces the idea that the
world’s plant life is adjusting in a subtle, but deeply
significant, way.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/09/14/some-good-news-about-global-warming-for-once-plants-are-speeding-up-their-use-of-carbon/?utm_term=.326e0b603e4c


Scripps: 5% Chance of ‘Catastrophic’ Global Warming by Century’s
End. A new study by Scripps Institution of Oceanography finds a 5
percent chance that rapid global warming will be “catastrophic”
or worse for the human race. The study led by Veerabhadran “Ram”
Ramanathan, a distinguished professor of climate and atmospheric
sciences…
https://timesofsandiego.com/tech/2017/09/15/scripps-5-chance-of-catastrophic-global-warming-by-centurys-end/


There's a 5% chance warming is 'existential' risk — report.
Deadly climate change could threaten most of the world's human
population by the end of this century without efforts well beyond
those captured in the Paris Agreement. That's the finding of a
pair of related reports released yesterday by an international
group of climate science and policy luminaries who warned that
the window…
https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2017/09/15/stories/1060060777


Driving force: are electric cars crowding out traditional
engines? As Frankfurt motor show puts battery vehicles centre
stage, the tide could be turning against combustion engines. When
Angela Merkel addressed the Frankfurt motor show, it was not to a
backdrop of revving engines but an exhibition of noiseless
electric Golfs, South Korean hybrids and Japanese fuel-cell cars.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/sep/15/electric-cars-frankfurt-motor-show-bmw-mercedes-benz-renault


Can resilience planning be disentangled from climate politics?
After hurricane Harvey hit Texas ‒ and in the lead-up to
hurricane Irma ‒ Scott Pruitt, the administrator of the US
Environmental Protection Agency, made clear his feelings about
discussing climate change in the context of the storms. Such
discussions about the role climate change might have played were
“insensitive”…
https://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2017/0915/Can-resilience-planning-be-disentangled-from-climate-politics

Trump officials eying replacement for key Obama climate rule. The
Trump administration is planning to pursue a less ambitious, more
industry-friendly climate change rule for coal-fired power plants
as it works to scrap the one written under former President
Obama. Multiple sources familiar with the Environmental
Protection Agency’s (EPA) plans say that as soon as next month…
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/350759-trump-officials-eying-replacement-for-key-obama-climate-rule
 

California Leads The Way In Growth Of Climate Change Lawsuits.
Lawsuits will help drive how climate change policy evolves in the
years to come. More of those lawsuits are originating in
California than any other state, according to a new study out of
George Washington University. Not only is there a growing number
of climate-change related lawsuits, but roughly 25 percent of
those cases nationally are filed in California.
http://www.capradio.org/102242 

When planning for disasters, don't mention climate. Many
emergency managers try not to talk about climate change as they
plan for disasters to avoid getting entangled in a political
storm. In the wake of Hurricanes Irma and Harvey, there's been
sharp debate about the role of rising temperatures on flooding,
surge and the storm intensity.
https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2017/09/15/stories/1060060779


Glaciers due for massive melt by 2100. Even if the world keeps
global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius, one-third of the ice in
Asia's glaciers will vanish by the end of the century, according
to a new paper. And if the world makes no effort to curb global
warming, nearly two-thirds of that ice could disappear…
https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2017/09/15/stories/1060060775


FUELS

Canada Gas Set to Strike Back Against U.S. Shale as Glut Eases.
Canadian natural gas, locked in a fierce battle for market share
with U.S. shale, may stage a modest recovery as output from some
longtime producers wanes and pipeline maintenance ends. While
Canadian gas will almost always trade for less than U.S. gas --
due mostly to the cost of moving the fuel to markets in Texas and
the American Midwest…
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-14/canada-gas-set-to-strike-back-against-u-s-shale-as-glut-eases


EPA demands Valero records on Houston refinery emissions release.
The enforcement division of the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency is demanding Valero Energy's records and maintenance
history related to a storage tank roof failure after Hurricane
Harvey that released cancer-causing benzene and other volatile
compounds into the air.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/epa-demands-valero-records-on-houston-refinery-emissions-release/ar-AArZdtQ


Mayor's plan pushes major emissions cuts for buildings. New York
City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) yesterday announced a plan to cap
fossil fuel use in large buildings, saying the city needs to
crack down on energy efficiency laggards. Under the plan, large
buildings have until 2030 to get under fossil fuel caps mandated
by the city.
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2017/09/15/stories/1060060759

Natural gas, oil loom large in fuel mix for decades — EIA. Fossil
fuels will continue to dominate the world energy mix as far as
the eye can see, according to federal energy analysts, making up
77 percent of energy use in 2040, while renewables, despite
growing faster than any other fuel source during the coming
years, will represent just 17…
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2017/09/15/stories/1060060763 

GREEN ENERGY

Advocates want Md. utilities to use renewable sources for half
their energy by 2030. Environmental advocates are pushing for
Maryland to require state utilities to buy half of their
electricity from renewable sources such as wind and solar, a
target four other states and the District already have signed
into law. Del. C. William Frick (D-Montgomery), who sits on the
House Economic Matters Committee…
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/maryland-groups-launch-campaign-for-50-percent-renewable-energy/2017/09/13/a5a80fb6-987e-11e7-87fc-c3f7ee4035c9_story.html?utm_term=.05bdfca8e1c0


Assemblyman Chris Holden refuses to advance clean energy
legislation despite push from environmentalists.
Environmentalists are stepping up the pressure on Assemblyman
Chris Holden (D-Pasadena), urging him to advance Senate Bill 100
on clean energy. The legislation, which would put the state on a
path to phasing out fossil fuels for generating electricity by
2045, has been held in Holden's committee.
http://www.latimes.com/politics/essential/la-pol-ca-essential-politics-updates-despite-push-from-environmentalists-1505425541-htmlstory.html

http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/09/14/legislative-logjam-californias-clean-energy-bill-stuck-in-committee/


California Lawmakers Debate 100 Percent Clean Energy Mandate.
California lawmakers must decide by the end of the day Friday
whether to approve the most ambitious clean energy goal in the
country: 100 percent clean energy by 2045.
The state wouldn't be the first. Hawaii already has its own 100
percent goal.
http://www.npr.org/2017/09/14/551046066/california-lawmakers-to-vote-on-100-percent-clean-energy-mandate


Solar industry mum as trade groups praise grid study. Energy
trade groups praised the Department of Energy yesterday for its
staff report on grid reliability, but one industry group was
conspicuously absent. A letter to the House Energy and Commerce
Committee, which praised the grid study's focus on fuel
diversity, was signed by the trade groups for nuclear, oil,
mining, gas, hydropower and wind. Missing: solar.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/09/15/stories/1060060837 

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

People of color still exposed to more air pollution. Although
people of color were more consistently exposed to air pollution,
the study did uncover that average exposure to nitrogen dioxide
decreased across all races and income levels. The study estimates
that up to 5,000 heart disease related deaths could have been
prevented if people of color experienced the same nitrogen
dioxide levels as whites in 2010.
http://www.enn.com/pollution/article/52537 
 http://www.opb.org/news/article/people-of-color-air-pollution/ 


OPINIONS

Congress and Climate Change. Re “It’s Not Too Late to Learn From
Our Mistakes,” by Nicholas Kristof (column, Sept. 3): The answer
to why Congress doesn’t act on climate change is simple political
hydraulics. The Supreme Court let unlimited money into politics.
The fossil fuel industry has unlimited money and, according to
the International Monetary Fund, a multi-hundred-billion-dollar
subsidy to protect.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/15/opinion/congress-climate-change.html


Editorial: SB 49 passage vital to defend environmental
protections. California has the opportunity to continue to lead
the way on protecting the environment, no matter what comes out
of Washington D.C. Many of the laws established to protect the
air, land and water have been adopted by other states and even
become national policy. This state has worked in tandem with the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as well as the federal
http://www.montereyherald.com/article/NF/20170914/LOCAL1/170919874


Harvey and Irma sent a clear message about climate change |
Editorial. If the devastation to Texas and Florida by two
historic hurricanes won’t get President Trump’s
pollution-enabling head of the Environmental Protection Agency to
acknowledge climate change, perhaps nothing will. But the rest of
the nation can’t wait for him to grasp reality. It’s time to act
because hurricanes Harvey and Irma took…
http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/editorials/harvey-and-irma-to-u-s-fight-climate-change-trump-pruitt-global-warming-epa-congress-20170915.html

Yes, climate change made Harvey and Irma worse. The right time to
talk climate change is now. It might seem premature when people
in the Caribbean, Florida and Texas are still mucking out their
flooded homes. And no, changes in our planet's atmosphere did not
cause Hurricanes Harvey or Irma.
http://www.nbc-2.com/story/36376684/yes-climate-change-made-harvey-and-irma-worse



Leske: Climate change must be addressed. Editor: Somehow, we in
Wyoming, due to our economic dependence upon the fossil fuel
industry, feel compelled to totally dismiss the 97 percent of
scientists who say that global climate change exists -- and that
it is human caused. (Going back prior to the industrial
revolution, there were not the climactic changes that we see now
-- with exceptions for volcanic activity, etc.).
http://trib.com/opinion/letters/leske-climate-change-must-be-addressed/article_19c56ddd-5458-5b12-84ca-2b56b972a8da.html


Nicolas Loris: Harvey and Irma can't be blamed on climate change.
In the era of fake news, misinformation tends to spread quickly -
especially during a time of crisis. The deceptions that have
sprung up in the wake of hurricanes Harvey and Irma show that
it's high time to separate fact from fiction. When Harvey hit
landfall, a picture of a shark allegedly on a highway in Houston
went viral, fooling at least one reporter.
http://santamariatimes.com/opinion/columnists/nicolas-loris-harvey-and-irma-can-t-be-blamed-on/article_db7bce21-2ce7-50e9-8760-2dc8b91410d9.html


Global warming alarmists shouldn't exploit hurricanes. The outcry
over global warming crowds out and obscures the real issues with
hurricanes that should be considered by elected officials at all
levels. The notion that Hurricanes Harvey and Irma should cause
President Trump to reconsider withdrawing from the Paris climate
treaty…
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/09/13/dont-exploit-hurricanes-editorials-debates/105583844/


Is climate change causing more severe weather? Right now,
mentioning the very words “climate change” could get you fired in
Washington. EPA Director Scott Pruitt argued, “Now is not the
time to talk about climate change,” while liberal comedian Bill
Maher noted how many climate change deniers were fleeing the
storm.
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/article173403001.html#storylink=cpy


Climate change prevention efforts will save money and more.
Editor, Regarding Samantha Weigel’s article “San Mateo seeks new
protections from floods” in the Sept. 5 edition of the Daily
Journal, I’m glad that the San Mateo City Council is being
proactive in planning for future sea level rise. The three
hottest years ever recorded were the last three years, and 2017
is on track to beat those.
http://www.smdailyjournal.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/climate-change-prevention-efforts-will-save-money-and-more/article_f7767a14-99b7-11e7-8ec0-035336694e41.html


Veggies and grains are becoming more like junk food, thanks to
rising carbon emissions. There’s been a long decline in the
nutrition of our crops, often attributed to people breeding
plants for higher yields rather than health benefits. But, as is
often the case, climate change is making it worse. An altered
atmosphere means altered food, because plants suck up CO2 from
the air and turn it into sugars…
http://www.businessinsider.com/vegetables-grains-crops-climate-change-effects-carbon-emissions-2017-9


BLOGS

Failing to adapt to climate change likely to cost at least five
times more. Cost of not adapting to climate change would be at
least five times higher. Coastal cities deal with the constant
fear that sea levels will continue to rise in coming years due to
climate change. In the case of Santos, home of Latin American's
biggest harbor… https://phys.org/news/2017-09-climate.html#jCp 

Truck and Bus Legislation to Watch in California. Today’s the
last day of the California legislative session. It gets hectic in
Sacramento this time of year, but here are two bills I’m paying
attention to that could help reduce air pollution and global
warming emissions from heavy-duty vehicles. As a reminder,
heavy-duty vehicles make up just 7 percent of vehicles in
California but disproportionately contribute to global warming
emissions…
http://blog.ucsusa.org/jimmy-odea/truck-and-bus-legislation-to-watch-in-california


The great nutrient collapse. The atmosphere is literally changing
the food we eat, for the worse. And almost nobody is paying
attention. Irakli Loladze is a mathematician by training, but he
was in a biology lab when he encountered the puzzle that would
change his life. It was in 1998, and Loladze was studying for his
Ph.D. at Arizona State University.
http://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2017/09/13/food-nutrients-carbon-dioxide-000511


California May Direct $1.5B to Expand Alternative Transport Fuel,
Including NatGas. A legislative agreement has been reached to
direct up to $1.5 billion of revenue from California's greenhouse
gas (GHG) emissions allowance to expand the use of alternative
transportation fuels, including natural gas, according to
reports.
http://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/111750-california-may-direct-15b-to-expand-alternative-transport-fuel-including-natgas


Invest cap-and-trade funds in Gold Line light-rail extension:
Guest commentary. California lawmakers should support the recent
request made by state Senators Anthony Portantino and Connie
Leyva and Assemblymember Freddie Rodriguez to utilize
cap-and-trade program funds to complete the Foothill Gold Line
light-rail project from Glendora to Montclair.
http://m.topix.com/county/san-bernardino-ca/2017/09/invest-cap-and-trade-funds-in-gold-line-light-rail-extension-guest-commentary


U.S. real estate lobbyists turn blind eye to rising sea level
threats to waterfront properties. Some are teaming up with
climate-change skeptics and small government advocates to block
public release of sea-level rise predictions and ensure that
coastal planning is not based on them. All along the coast of the
southeast United States, the real estate industry confronts a
hurricane.
https://www.thestar.com/business/real_estate/2017/09/15/us-real-estate-lobbyists-turn-blind-eye-to-rising-sea-level-threats-to-waterfront-properties.html


GRACE mission making plans for final science data collection.
With one of its twin satellites almost out of fuel after more
than 15 years of chasing each other around our planet to measure
Earth's ever-changing gravity field, the operations team for the
U.S./German Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE)
mission is making plans for an anticipated final science
collection.
https://phys.org/news/2017-09-grace-mission-science.html#jCp 

Barrasso touts carbon capture. Carbon capture technology has the
possibility of changing the future of America’s energy
production. On Wednesday, U.S. Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo.,
chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works,
held a hearing to discuss the power of this technology and to
propose the federal government’s support.
http://www.jhnewsandguide.com/news/legislature/barrasso-touts-carbon-capture/article_14ab1b29-15bf-51fa-9cb0-e47d28fd5b56.html

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