What's New List Serve Post Display

ARB Newsclips for June 18, 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.

CLIMATE CHANGE

Fracking's risk of causing quake small, panel says. Pumping
high-pressure water and sand underground to break up shale rocks
and harvest natural gas or oil - the practice known as fracking -
poses little risk of triggering significant earthquakes, a
government-sponsored scientific committee reported Friday. But
the method of disposing the wastewater from fracking by injecting
it permanently underground could cause an increased risk of
earthquakes strong enough for people to feel, the scientists
said. Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/06/16/MNS11P2P5E.DTL&type=printable

Budget amendment changes how state can spend cap-and-trade money.
.A California budget bill slated for a vote tomorrow would shift
how some revenues from the state's upcoming cap-and-trade
auctions are spent, directing them away from consumers and into
energy efficiency. The measure also proposes to give part of the
money to electricity customers in the form of rebate checks. That
would dash the hopes of the state's biggest utilities, which have
argued that the funds should be used to help reduce monthly power
bills once cap and trade kicks in. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2012/06/18/4 BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

The warming Arctic: The longer we wait, the higher the cost.  Now
that summer is here, the Arctic is crowded with life.
Phytoplankton are blooming in its chilly seas. Fish, birds and
whales are gorging on them. Millions of migratory geese are in
their northern breeding grounds.  And the area is teeming with
scientists, performing a new Arctic ritual.  Between now and
early September, when the polar pack ice shrivels to its summer
minimum, they will pore over the daily sea-ice reports of
America’s National Snow and Ice Data Center. Its satellite data
will show that the ice has shrunk far below the long-term
average. Posted. 
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20120617/WIRE/120619635
 
Kaiser Permanente: Climate Change ‘Will Impact Our Ability To
Provide Quality Health Care’.  One of America’s largest health
care companies is warning that climate change will worsen public
health problems and make it more difficult to provide services. 
Kaiser Permanente is the biggest non-profit health care company
in the U.S., serving more than 9 million people with an operating
revenue of $44 billion. Speaking to Andrew Winston of the Harvard
Business Review, a Kaiser spokeswoman explained why the health
care giant is concerned about a warming planet . . . Posted. 
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/06/15/500290/kaiser-permanente-climate-change-impact-ability-to-provide-quality-health-care/?mobile=nc
  
FUELS

Underground carbon dioxide storage likely would cause
earthquakes. The notion of mitigating harmful carbon dioxide
emissions by storing the gas underground is not practical because
the process is likely to cause earthquakes that would release the
gas anyway, according to a commentary published Monday in
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. While the
scientists do not expect that the approach would cause any large
and dangerous seismic activity, they say it is likely that the
earthquakes would be severe enough to jeopardize the ability to
store the gas underground over the long term. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-carbon-storage-may-cause-earthquakes-20120618,0,5073255.story?track=rss

Twitterstorm rising: On Rio eve, sharing a call to end fossil
fuel subsidies.  The forecast calls for a “twitterstorm” Monday,
thanks to a couple dozen environmental activist groups, including
350.org, Greenpeace International, and the Natural Resources
Defense Council.  A “twitterstorm” isn’t something out of Alfred
Hitchcock’s The Birds; it’s a global campaign to raise a ruckus
on Twitter by deliberately spreading a message — in this case,
the call to end fossil fuel subsidies, or
#endfossilfuelsubsidies, as the hashtag call will go out. 
Posted. 
http://grist.org/climate-energy/twitterstorm-rising-on-rio-eve-sharing-a-call-to-end-fossil-fuel-subsidies/

VEHICLES

REGION: Local officials rolling out electric-car charging
stations.  Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone drives a Honda
hybrid from his Temecula home to the County Administration Center
in Riverside.  Eventually, he intends to tool up and down
Interstate 215 in a plug-in electric car ---- once automakers
extend the range of such vehicles.  It's a 90-mile round trip to
Riverside, and most plug-ins go less than 100 miles on a charge
now.  Posted. 
http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/swcounty/region-local-officials-rolling-out-electric-car-charging-stations/article_12279f18-a860-5735-9d7a-07f170dc88ff.html

GREEN ENERGY

Accounting for natural wealth gains world traction.  What is a
sip of clean water worth? Is there economic value in the shade of
a tree? And how much would you pay for a breath of fresh air? 
Putting a price on a natural bounty long taken for granted as
free may sound impossible, even ridiculous. But after three
decades on the fringes of serious policymaking, the idea is
gaining traction, from the vividly clear waters of the Maldives
to the sober, suited reaches of the World Bank.  Posted. 
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jN8bmsebxhNWvMb0hTOEEeVq_hXA?docId=cb749988ee334a16ad9ab80c3229f0d5
 

AP Newsbreak:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/green-accounting-movement-to-recognize-costs-of-using-natural-resources-gains-global-traction/2012/06/17/gJQA7hsDkV_story.html
 
http://www.vcstar.com/news/2012/jun/17/accounting-for-natural-wealth-gains-world/
http://www.nctimes.com/business/accounting-for-natural-wealth-gains-world-traction/article_2e261619-3dc9-5091-a08b-857cb10990e4.html

Md. man accused of selling bogus energy credits.  A Maryland man
faces trial in a $9.1 million fraud case that is shedding light
on problems in a renewable energy credits program run by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency.  Federal prosecutors accuse
Rodney Hailey of Perry Hall of selling renewable fuel credits
even though his company, Clean Green Fuel LLC, did not produce
any renewable fuel. Instead, prosecutors say he pocketed the
money and bought Ferraris and other luxury cars, as well as
tractor-trailers, homes, jewelry and computers.  Posted. 
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5igsLbSslINhdWJud3iFAxk97_HBA?docId=865c25690e9346d0b7d6e07f4e4f0cd9

AP Newsbreak:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/industries/authorities-md-man-sold-9m-in-energy-credits-even-though-company-didnt-make-renewable-fuel/2012/06/17/gJQARTX2iV_story.html
http://www.fresnobee.com/2012/06/17/2876754/md-man-accused-of-selling-bogus.html#storylink=misearch
http://www.nctimes.com/news/national/md-man-accused-of-selling-bogus-energy-credits/article_845f0b8a-9b62-52eb-8cd0-82d36b17c721.html

Hot dam: Hydropower continues to grow.  World hydroelectric power
generation has risen steadily by an average 3 percent annually
over the past four decades. In 2011, at 3,500 billion
kilowatt-hours, hydroelectricity accounted for roughly 16 percent
of global electricity generation, almost all produced by the
world’s 45,000-plus large dams. Today hydropower is generated in
over 160 countries.  Posted. 
http://grist.org/climate-energy/hydropower-continues-steady-growth/

MISCELLANEOUS

UC Davis to host 'green' campus seminar this week.
Representatives from more than 70 universities will gather at the
UC Davis campus this week to discuss the latest practices in
"greening" college campuses. The 11th annual California Higher
Education Sustainability Conference, to be held Monday through
Friday, will bring together individuals from California Community
Colleges, California State Universities, the University of
California, and several out-of-state universities. Through
presentations and workshops, institutions will share experiences,
examples and suggestions for increasing environmental
sustainability on college campuses.
Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/2012/06/17/4567879/uc-davis-to-host-green-campus.html

OPINIONS

Another View: Market approach to clean air worked in East. Gary
Lambert, a Republican state senator in New Hampshire, is
responding to Dan Morain's May 27 column "Can market for
clean-air credits resist profiteers?" In his column about
California's cap and trade program, Morain wrote: "California has
an alliance with Quebec to create a market in which emission
credits will be bought and sold, overseen by a nonprofit
headquartered in Delaware. Goldman Sachs will be involved. What
could possibly go wrong?" Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/2012/06/17/4565851/market-approach-to-clean-air-worked.html

Climate change is simple: We do something or we’re screwed [my
TEDx video] Back in April, The Evergreen State College invited me
to speak at a TEDx event called “Hello Climate Change: Rethinking
the Unthinkable.” Videos from the event are now online.  My talk
was called “Climate change is simple.” I’m proud to say that I
used only 17 of my allotted 15 minutes.  I’ve put an annotated
version of my slideshow beneath the video, linking to sources and
adding thoughts. The only thing I’ll say about the video itself
is that I’ve always thought these things would be better with a
soundtrack. If anybody out there on the web wants to make a
mashup with it, add some good beats, be my guest.  Posted. 
http://grist.org/climate-change/climate-change-is-simple-we-do-something-or-were-screwed/

BLOGS

Why $775 billion in fossil-fuel subsidies are so hard to scrap. 
Environmentalists have rallied around a new, simple goal. As the
Earth Summit gets underway in Rio de Janeiro, they’re asking the
world’s nations to scrap the $775 billion spent each year
subsidizing oil, gas, and coal. They’re even urging Justin Bieber
to (yes) tweet about it.  On the surface, it’s an alluringly
elegant idea. Getting rid of government subsidies that
artificially lower the price of oil or coal would reduce fuel use
and produce nearly half the emissions cuts necessary to avoid 2°C
of global warming. Posted. 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/why-775-billion-in-fossil-fuel-subsidies-are-hard-to-scrap/2012/06/18/gJQABaQUlV_blog.html

Arrested Development.  Don’t expect too many developments on
development at the Rio+20 summit this week. Touted as an
opportunity for developing countries to show their new strength
in the global economy, the meeting is shaping up to be an
exercise in putting off important decisions.  The 1992 Earth
Summit, also held in Rio, jolted the world into taking
environmental problems more seriously. But looking at many
countries’ current political programs, it’s evident “the issue of
sustainable development is not a priority at all,” writes
Philippe Roch, a member of the Swiss delegation to the 1992
summit, in Switzerland’s Le Temps (as translated by Worldcrunch).
 Posted. 
http://latitude.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/18/at-rio20-expect-little-progress-on-sustainable-development/


NRDC and WSPA, CMTA and Chamber of Commerce Jointly Support Bill
that Establishes Review Process for New AB 32 Offset Protocols.
Conventional wisdom is that politics these days is nothing more
than a bunch of polarized special-interests that can’t agree on
anything. Well it simply ain’t true. The Natural Resources
Defense Council and the Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2) have
joined forces with the Western States Petroleum Association,
California Manufacturers and Technology Association, the
California Chamber of Commerce, and the California League of Food
Processors in support of AB 2563, which will be heard by the
Assembly Natural Resources Committee next Monday afternoon. 
Posted.
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/pmiller/nrdc_and_wspa_cmta_and_chamber.html