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newsclips -- ARB Newsclips for May 15, 2012.
Posted: 15 May 2012 12:26:31
ARB Newsclips for May 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 EPA critic seeks investigation of human testing on soot exposure. A vocal climate change skeptic has asked U.S. EPA's internal watchdog to study whether the agency broke rules against testing on human subjects when it exposed people to elevated levels of the fine particles found in soot and smoke. Steve Milloy, author of the blog Junk Science, wrote a letter yesterday to EPA Inspector General Arthur Elkins accusing the agency of violating federal law with a series of tests conducted at the National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory in North Carolina from January 2010 until June 2011. Posted. http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2012/05/15/3 BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY CLIMATE CHANGE World living beyond its resources, summit off-track: WWF. Biodiversity has decreased by an average of 28 percent globally since 1970 and the world would have to be 50 percent bigger to have enough land and forests to provide for current levels of consumption and carbon emissions, conservation group WWF said on Tuesday. Unless the world addresses the problem, by 2030 even two planet Earths would not be enough to sustain human activity, WWF said, launching its "Living Planet Report 2012", a biennial audit of the world's environment and biodiversity - the number of plant and animal species. Posted. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/15/us-rio20-wwf-idUSBRE84E00320120515 Running from climate change may trip up some species, study says. Seattle -- As climate change transforms their habitat, some animals are already on the move. But a new analysis from the University of Washington warns that many species won't be able to run fast enough to survive a warming world. On average, about 9 percent of the Western Hemisphere's mammals migrate too slowly to keep pace with the rapid climate shifts expected over the next century, says the study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Posted. http://www.sacbee.com/2012/05/15/4490039/running-from-climate-change-may.html How Wood Is Used Largely Determines Emissions From Logging – Study. The degree to which deforestation contributes to greenhouse gas emissions depends on how the cut wood is used and where it comes from, according to a new study from researchers at the University of California, Davis. The researchers analyzed how 169 countries used cut timber and how those uses would release carbon over a 30-year period. Their model showed that if the wood is made into products like framing boards for housing -- as much of the timber in the United States…Posted. http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2012/05/15/11 BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=10252 FUELS US WCoast Products -Gasoline weakens on BP restart. Gasoline weakened in West Coast spot markets on Monday as BP Plc was restarting its 225,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) Cherry Point, Washington, refinery, traders said. May-delivery CARBOB gasoline was down 3.5 cents in the Los Angeles spot market at 51.5 cents a gallon over June NYMEX RBOB gasoline. June CARBOB, mandated by California's Air Resources Board, fell 4 cents to sell at 30 cents a gallon over July NYMEX RBOB. In the Portland, Oregon, market, May gasoline was down 4 cents at 68 cents over June NYMEX RBOB. Posted. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/14/markets-products-westcoast-idUSL1E8GEI6T20120514 Alternate fuel expo gets rolling with emphasis on electrification. North America's largest alternative transportation exposition is plugging into a growing trend and paying special attention to the electrification of transportation at this year's conference. "There's a tremendous amount of electric transportation momentum building in the market, with almost all of the light-duty manufacturers offering a product, whether it's a plug-in extended range or a hybrid," said Erik Neandross, CEO of consulting firm Gladstein, Neandross and Associates, which holds the annual Alternative Clean Transportation Expo. Posted. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2012/05/15/6 BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY Next round of CAFE standards due this summer -- Obama adviser. The next round of fuel economy rules for passenger vehicles will be released this summer, a senior White House adviser said today. The standards, which would set a fleetwide target of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025, were proposed in November, and U.S. EPA and the Department of Transportation have been reviewing comments submitted in February. That process should wrap up within the next two to three months, at which time a final rule would be published, said Heather Zichal, deputy assistant to the president for energy and climate change. Posted. http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2012/05/15/6 BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY Study says EPA mercury rule may strain coal-fired plants and power grid. Electric utilities will struggle to meet new U.S. EPA regulations governing mercury emissions from coal-fired plants, a new study has found, noting that surging demand for the equipment needed to retrofit or replace old boilers will lead to project backlogs and drive up compliance costs. The assessment was done by the Brattle Group for the Midwest Independent System Operator (MISO), which monitors the nation's high-voltage transmission system throughout the Midwest. Posted. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2012/05/15/3 BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY GREEN ENERGY Wind Power in Mexico Could Double in Three Years. Mexico’s wind energy is surging. In 2005, it had just three megawatts (MW), but by the end of this year that total will have increased to two gigawatts (2,000 MW). In three years, it will double. And, from that total of 4 GW, it will triple by 2020. The planned ramp-up will make Mexico the fastest growing wind power nation this year, of the top 20 economic national powers. Posted. http://cleantechnica.com/2012/05/14/wind-power-in-mexico-could-double-in-three-years/ Lots of solar power may reduce, not increase, electricity prices. Whether German feed-in tariffs or U.S. tax incentives, opponents of solar rail at its perceived high cost. But a story making rounds this week, “why power generators are terrified of solar,” presents a powerful image that may flip this conventional wisdom on its head. Building lots of solar power can actually reduce electricity prices, to the dismay of utilities. Posted. http://grist.org/renewable-energy/lots-of-solar-power-may-reduce-not-increase-electricity-prices/ OPINIONS High-speed rail authority takes criticism seriously. Re "Bullet-train conflicts need study” (Dan Walters, May 13): Though Dan Walters admits that the authors of a recent report on the High-Speed Rail Authority's operations and maintenance cost projections are determined to end the project, he also accuses members of the authority board of dismissing criticisms out-of-hand. This is simply not true. In fact, we have met with virtually all of our critics, including the authors of the referenced study, the Legislative Analyst’s Office, supervisors in Kings County and many others. Often times, their criticisms have led us to revise our plans. Posted. http://www.sacbee.com/2012/05/14/4489609/high-speed-rail-authority-takes.html BLOGS U.S. Consulate in Shanghai Starts Monitoring The Air. Unhealthy, unhealthy, unhealthy. That’s the unfortunate message gleaned from the first hours of air quality monitoring by the U.S. Consulate in Shanghai, now broadcast hourly via Twitter. And so far, like a four-year-old air-quality monitoring program in Beijing and one in Guangzhou, the U.S.’s Shanghai reading of the situation is worse than what is reported by local authorities. In an online statement that also links to updates of the air quality report, the consulate explained its reasoning and methodology: Posted. http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2012/05/14/u-s-consulate-in-shanghai-starts-monitoring-the-air/ Pondering That Green Label. When it comes to labels assuring consumers that they’re buying green products, buyer beware. In theory such labels are intended to help shoppers make responsible choices. But many of these labeling and certification programs are overseen by the industry they are supposedly policing. That is the case made against the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, which has been in the cross hairs of the environmental group ForestEthics for two years. Posted. http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/15/pondering-that-green-label/ Climate change and the redistribution of carbon-sourced wealth. For a multitude of reasons – climate change, air quality, national security, etc. – a large reduction in the burning of carbon-based fuels is a good idea. Since higher prices are known to reduce consumption, one way to achieve this is to simply put a tax on fuel at the pump. It's been proposed by GM's Dan Akerson, Bill Ford and others, but the idea can be difficult politically and economically. Posted. http://green.autoblog.com/2012/05/15/climate-change-and-the-redistribution-of-carbon-sourced-wealth/ Scientists: more Calif. heat waves by 2020. Strings of days when temperatures spike over 100 degrees should become more frequent in California by 2020, and commonplace 50 years after that, according to recent computer modeling results from scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Several computer models, including some with finer-grained climate data than in years past, show that global warming expected in coming decades will translate into a greater chance of potentially deadly heat waves — not unlike a 2006 California heat wave that killed an estimated 400 to 600 people. Posted. http://sciencedude.ocregister.com/2012/05/14/scientists-more-calif-heat-waves-by-2020/171637/ Clean energy as culture war. Not that long ago, some folks were arguing that clean energy — unlike climate change, which had been irredeemably stained by partisanship (eww!) — would bring people together across ideological lines. Persuaded by the irrefutable wisdom of wonks, we would join hands across the aisle to promote common-sense solutions. It wouldn’t be partisan, it would be … post-partisan. Some day, I will stop mocking the people who said that. But not today. The error is an important one and it is still made regularly, especially by hyper-educated U.S. elites. They think clean energy is different from climate change, that it won’t get sucked into the same culture war. They are wrong. Posted. http://grist.org/politics/clean-energy-as-culture-war/