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newsclips -- Newsclips for February 15, 2012
Posted: 15 Feb 2012 13:32:46
ARB News Clips for February 15, 2012. 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 Smog May Harm Women's Brains: Study. The more air pollution they were exposed to, the greater their mental decline. A lifetime's exposure to air pollution may contribute to mental decline in older women, a new study says. Researchers used data from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) air monitors combined with address information on more than 19,000 women aged 70 to 81 taking part in the U.S. Nurses' Health Study to calculate their exposure to air pollution over the course of seven to 14 years. Posted. http://health.msn.com/womens-health/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100285856#scptid L.A. air pollution may increase risk of stroke. L.A.’s smog problem might not be as visible as it was in the bad old days of the 1970s and '80s, but city residents might be at an increased risk of stroke even at levels of pollution that meet EPA standards. Oh yeah, and memory loss. A new study published Monday in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that Boston residents experienced more strokes when exposed to “moderate” amounts of particulate air pollution, as opposed to “good” amounts of pollution, according to EPA standards. Posted. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/environment/la-me-gs-la-air-pollution-may-increase-risk-of-stroke-20120214,0,7456303.story?track=rss Rail yards: Clean-up plan prompts contempt allegation. Railroad officials have asked a federal judge to find Southern California’s air quality chief Barry Wallerstein and other air district officials in contempt of court in a long-running legal dispute over efforts to reduce diesel pollution coming from rail yards. Attorneys representing Union Pacific, BNSF Railway and the American Railroad Association contend that Wallerstein, his planning officer and top attorney violated a 2007 court order by including rules to limit locomotive idling in a regional air clean-up plan that must be approved by state and federal agencies. Posted. http://www.pe.com/local-news/topics/topics-environment-headlines/20120214-rail-yards-clean-up-plan-prompts-contempt-allegation.ece LIBERTY QUARRY: No vote Tuesday, supervisors reconvene Thursday. Riverside County supervisors could decide the fate of a proposed Temecula-area quarry Thursday after spending much of Tuesday questioning the project’s developer. The 8:30 a.m. hearing is set for the board chambers at the County Administrative Center, 4080 Lemon St., Riverside. Board of Supervisors Chairman John Tavaglione said he hopes the board can decide by 11 a.m. Posted. http://www.pe.com/local-news/riverside-county/temecula/temecula-headlines-index/20120214-liberty-quarry-no-vote-tuesday-supervisors-reconvene-thursday.ece CLIMATE CHANGE Carbon Traders Group Urges Overhaul of EU Cap-and-Trade Plan. The European Union should change its carbon-trading plan by introducing a mechanism to allow changing the bloc's pollution cap to reflect economic conditions, the International Emissions Trading Association said. While the world's biggest cap-and-trade program is working as intended, fragmented policies are undermining its price signal at the time when an economic slowdown weighs on the market, IETA said in a statement today. Posted. http://news.businessweek.com/article.asp?documentKey=1376-LZFLEU6JIJXF01-5SB30MBFFR03I6N1QS2BAFQLA4 Carbon capture caught in a rut? Carbon capture has been offered as one answer to climate change but is Kevin Rudd's $300 million CCS project giving value for money for Australia? (Transcript). Posted. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-02-14/carbon-capture-caught-in-a-rut/3830226?section=vic Study: Sierra snowfall consistent over 130 years. Snowfall in the Sierra Nevada has remained consistent for 130 years, with no evidence that anything has changed as a result of climate change, according to a study released Tuesday. The analysis of snowfall data in the Sierra going back to 1878 found no more or less snow overall - a result that, on the surface, appears to contradict aspects of recent climate change models. Posted. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/02/15/BA8N1N7HNQ.DTL&type=printable RIVERSIDE: EPA information chief visits UCR. A top Environmental Protection Agency official told a group of UC Riverside earth science students not to be discouraged by the political noise surrounding issues such as climate change, but to rely on good science. “Just keep reiterating the message and stick to the facts,” said Malcolm Jackson, who is the Chief Information Officer and Director of the Office of Environmental Information for the EPA. Posted. http://www.pe.com/local-news/riverside-county/riverside/riverside-headlines-index/20120214-riverside-epa-information-chief-visits-ucr.ece FUELS Maersk Leads Shipping Industry Developing Fuels From Waste. A.P. Moeller Maersk (MAERSKB) A/S, the world’s biggest container ship owner, is leading its industry in developing biofuels made from organic waste that could cut its carbon emissions and reduce a $6 billion-a-year fuel bill. Maersk (MAERSKB) is conducting tests with companies including Man Diesel & Turbo SE and two Danish universities to develop clean fuels tailored for ships and has worked with the U.S. Navy... Posted. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2012-02-15/maersk-leads-shipping-industry-developing-fuels-to-cut-emissions.html Sky-high gas prices loom. It's only mid-February, but energy analysts already are warning of a perfect storm that could drive gasoline prices to all-time highs when the weather warms up. The latest evidence came in Tuesday's monthly California gas price survey released by AAA. AAA said the average statewide price of regular unleaded gasoline climbed 15 cents from last month to $3.85 a gallon. That's on top of an 11-cent gain from December to January. Posted. http://www.sacbee.com/2012/02/15/v-print/4264585/sky-high-gas-prices-loom.html VEHICLES Electric-car subsidies would to go to automakers. We told you earlier about how the Obama administration is proposing to increase subsidies for electric cars, but it turns out that the breaks would go to automakers, not directly to consumers. Whether makers want to pass through the subsidies is their business. Patrick Olsen of Cars.com, in a report based on an analysis from Leaf electric-car maker Nissan, lays out these bullet points about how the new program would work: Posted. http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2012/02/obama-wants-electric-car-subsidies-to-go-to-automakers/1 Can a Prius increase global warming? Some argue that driving fuel-efficient cars will actually encourage people to drive more, boosting carbon emissions and hastening climate change. Here's why they're wrong. I haven't read David Owen's new book but he appears to be taking Jevons too seriously. He needs to read Gary Becker's work on the value of time in a society where our value of time is rising. Here is the blurb for his book: "Hybrid cars, fast trains, compact florescent light bulbs, solar panels, carbon offsets: Everything you've been told about living green is wrong. Posted. http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Green-Economics/2012/0214/Can-a-Prius-increase-global-warming Tesla loss seen widening ahead of Model S as Roadster sales end. Tesla Motors Inc. may have seen its loss widen in 2011's final quarter as it wound down production and sales of $109,000 Roadster electric cars. Tesla's Model S sedan, intended to expand the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company's sales volume with a base model priced at $57,400, won't go into production until mid-2012. Until then, Tesla's main revenue source is supplying battery packs and other components to Toyota Motor Corp. and Daimler AG, two of its investors. Posted. http://www.autonews.com/article/20120214/OEM05/302149784#ixzz1mTw1rwTr GREEN ENERGY Problems cast shadows of doubt on solar project. Blythe, Calif. -- One of California's showcase solar energy projects, under construction in the desert east of Los Angeles, is being threatened by a deadly outbreak of distemper among kit foxes and the discovery of a prehistoric human settlement on the work site. The $1 billion Genesis Solar Energy Project has been expedited by state and federal regulatory agencies that are eager to demonstrate that the nation can build solar plants quickly to ease dependence on fossil fuels and curb global warming. Posted. http://www.sacbee.com/2012/02/15/v-print/4265359/problems-cast-shadows-of-doubt.html Republicans take Solyndra message to Obama. If you want a window into how outside Republican groups are likely to assail President Barack Obama's record this year, look no further than how the GOP is lambasting the administration's handling of solar company Solyndra. Republicans have used Obama's ties to the bankrupt California manufacturer to argue that he plays the same political games that have consumed Washington for generations - and has failed to live up to promises to change the nation's capital. Posted. http://www.modbee.com/2012/02/14/2069406/republicans-take-solyndra-message.html BY SUBSCRIPTION Sales of residential solar in Japan explode like reactor #4. Sales of solar panels for Japanese homes are up 30.7 percent in 2011, despite — or, let’s be real, because of — the economic hit the country took in the wake of the Fukushima disaster. Sales rose to 1,296 MW, which at high noon on a sunny day is a ton of power — as much as a decent-size conventional power plant. (Granted, the sun doesn’t always shine, blah blah blah. But on the other hand it’s often shining when demand is at its peak — during the day.) Posted. http://grist.org/list/sales-of-residential-solar-in-japan-explode-like-reactor-4/ 11 important clean energy provisions in Obama’s budget proposal. President Obama’s proposed 2013 budget invests in clean energy to help power the engine of economic growth. The budget would direct funds to efficiency and renewable electricity technologies to create jobs and boost domestic manufacturing, and would also make manufacturing more efficient. The cleaner energy that will result from these investments will reduce pollution and protect public health. Posted. http://grist.org/energy-policy/11-important-clean-energy-provisions-in-obamas-budget-proposal/ BLOGS Air Pollution Linked to Heart and Brain Risks. It may be time to start paying more attention to those local air pollution alerts. That is the message of three new studies this week that found, collectively, that people exposed to higher levels of air pollution have a greater risk of stroke, heart attacks and cognitive deterioration. The impact of pollution on the heart and brain was seen over both the short and the long term. Posted. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/15/air-pollution-tied-to-heart-and-brain-risks/?hp Road Use by E.V. Drivers: To Tax or Not to Tax? Drivers of purely electric vehicles avoid paying the gas taxes included in the cost of a petro-product fill-up. Consequently, if E.V.’s were to become widely adopted, less money could flow into accounts that pay to build and maintain roads. That possibility is the impetus behind the efforts of some states to impose alternative forms of taxation on E.V. drivers, like flat annual fees or levies based on the miles traveled. Posted. http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/15/road-use-by-e-v-drivers-to-tax-or-not-to-tax/?scp=7&sq=vehicles&st=cse MRI Reveals Mysteries Inside Batteries for Gadgets and Electric Cars. The ability to make batteries lighter, cheaper and longer lasting is crucial to the development and adoption of next-generation electronics—from mobile phones and tablets to electric cars. Advances in lithium ion batteries have helped slim down smart phones and put cars like the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt on the road. Yet lithium can also be volatile and has been accused of causing electrical fires in gadgets and even Volt test vehicles. Posted. http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2012/02/14/mri-reveals-mysteries-inside-batteries-for-gadgets-and-electric-cars/ Pike forecasts worldwide revenue from fuel cells and hydrogen will reach $785M million in 2012; interest in fuel cell vehicles re-emerges. The total size of the global hydrogen and fuel cell market—including revenues from fuel cells and from hydrogen for fuel cells and internal combustion engines (ICEs)—will reach $785 million in 2012, according to a new white paper from Pike Research. The white paper describes ten key trends for the hydrogen and fuel cell industry in 2012. Posted. http://www.greencarcongress.com/2012/02/pike-forecasts-worldwide-revenue-from-fuel-cells-and-hydrogen-will-reach-785m-million-in-2012-intere.html