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newsclips -- ARBNewsclips for November 16, 2012.
Posted: 16 Nov 2012 14:37:29
ARB Newsclips for November 16, 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. CAP AND TRADE State voters support cap and trade. A USC Dornsife/L.A. Times poll of 1,520 registered voters finds that they strongly support the state's ambitious program to limit emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. California voters strongly support the state's ambitious program to limit emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that cause global warming, according to a new post-election poll. At the same time, the USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll of 1,520 registered voters showed that they are sharply divided over whether it is a good idea for the state to relax requirements for environmental reviews of proposed new developments. Posted. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-cap-trade-poll-20121116,0,5315262.story?track=rss California holds cap-and-trade auction of greenhouse gas credits. California environmental officials moved ahead with a first-ever auction of greenhouse gas pollution credits despite a last-minute lawsuit filed by the state Chamber of Commerce to invalidate the sale. On Wednesday state Air Resources Board technicians worked at computer terminals to take bids from some major industrial facilities such as cement plants, steel mills, refineries and food processors. Posted. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-pollution-credits-calif-20121115,0,5041759.story Carbon cap-and-trade launches. California's new system for limiting industrial greenhouse gas emissions by putting a price on carbon is not likely to spur a similar federal program anytime soon, but it might influence other states to follow suit, energy policy experts said. The state's Air Resources Board on Wednesday began auctioning permits called "allowances" for greenhouse gas emissions, launching the world's second-largest marketplace for carbon emissions. Posted. http://www.mercurynews.com/top-stories/ci_22007691/carbon-cap-and-trade-launches With California Carbon Cap-and-Trade Program Launch, Experts Debate Economic Side Effects. At 10 a.m. Wednesday, California’s potentially revolutionary carbon cap-and-trade program launched in a humdrum fashion. Numbers began appearing on a secure Web site accessible to the biggest oil exploration companies, manufacturers, utilities, state regulators and independent monitors. No one outside of this select group got to see its inner workings. But the event marked a new phase in the state’s pioneering effort to halt climate change: actual dollars traded for permits to emit carbon dioxide. Posted. http://sfpublicpress.org/news/2012-11/with-california-carbon-cap-and-trade-program-launch-experts-debate-possible-economic-side-effe AIR POLLUTION Hotel guests face carbon monoxide risk. Eight people have died and at least 170 others have been treated for carbon monoxide poisoning in the past three years in hotels, which rarely are equipped with CO alarms, a USA TODAY investigation finds. And a review of state and local laws finds that few states or municipalities require hotels to be equipped with the alarms — devices that the National Fire Protection Association says should be near bedrooms in every home. Posted. http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/hotels/2012/11/15/hotels-carbon-monoxide/1707789/ Valley air district offers grant for fireplaces, wood stoves. If you plan to warm your home with wood a stove our just like relaxing during cold nights in front of a fireplace, financial help is available to make them burn cleaner. The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District is offering financial incentives to upgrade fireplaces and pellet stoves with versions that produce less pollution from burning wood or versions that operated on natural gas. Posted. http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/article/20121115/NEWS/311150033/Valley-air-district-offers-grant-fireplaces-wood-stoves?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CFrontpage&nclick_check=1 WILDOMAR: State agency may investigate homes. Wildomar residents who blame their homes for making them sick may get the state investigation they have been seeking. In a conference call with residents on Wednesday, Nov. 14, representatives of California’s toxic substances agency said they will reconsider their earlier decision not to test the homes for possible chemical contamination. Two couples who abandoned their homes in the Autumnwood tract talked with officials from the state Department of Toxic Substances Controls and pleaded for an official investigation. Posted. http://www.pe.com/local-news/topics/topics-environment-headlines/20121114-wildomar-state-toxic-substances-agency-may-investigate-homes.ece LIBERTY QUARRY: Pechanga tribe to buy site. The Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians reached an agreement Thursday, Nov. 15, to acquire the site of the proposed Liberty Quarry, ending plans for an open-pit mine that became of one of the most contentious land-use projects in Riverside County history. Posted. http://www.pe.com/local-news/reports/liberty-quarry/liberty-quarry-headlines/20121115-liberty-quarry-pechanga-tribe-to-buy-site.ece http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/swcounty/region-pechanga-to-buy-quarry-site/article_a17a4dde-0a5a-597d-a8f9-057ba5c3eddf.html EPA to finalize pollution controls at Ariz. Plants. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was expected to meet a deadline Thursday on a plan to control emissions from three Arizona power plants that it contends have impaired visibility at places like the Grand Canyon, but a spokesman for the agency said the details wouldn't immediately be available. The EPA had proposed approving Arizona's air-quality plan to reduce sulfur dioxide and soot at the Cholla, Coronado and Apache coal-fired plants. Posted. http://www.vcstar.com/news/2012/nov/15/epa-to-finalize-pollution-controls-at-ariz/#ixzz2CPkuVyYY CLIMATE CHANGE Carbon tax: Exxon backs Obama plan to impose climate change fees. Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) is part of a growing coalition backing a carbon tax as an alternative to costly regulation, giving newfound prominence to an idea once anathema in Washington. Conservative economists and fossil-fuel lobbyists united in 2009 to fend off climate-change legislation that would have established a cap-and-trade mechanism. They are now locked in a backroom debate over a tax on carbon-dioxide emissions that could raise an estimated $100 billion in its first year. Posted. http://newyork.newsday.com/news/nation/carbon-tax-exxon-backs-obama-plan-to-impose-climate-change-fees-1.4229894 Drought forces Midwest firm to ponder drier future. At the height of this year's drought, decision-makers at the agribusiness giant Archers Daniels Midland kept an uneasy eye on the reservoir down the hill from their headquarters. At one point, the water level fell to within 2 inches of the point where the company was in danger of being told for the first time ever that it couldn't draw as much as it wanted. Posted. http://www.nctimes.com/news/national/drought-forces-midwest-firm-to-ponder-drier-future/article_a792e549-367e-5b04-ac27-626fc21ea615.html Forest carbon schemes must consider people, biodiversity – scientists. Efforts to cut carbon emissions by curbing deforestation may fail unless they avoid negative impacts on biodiversity and local people, a network of forest scientists said on Friday. The world's shrinking forests need to be valued as more than just carbon sinks for mitigating climate change, says a report from the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO). Biodiversity is key in determining a forest's ability to absorb greenhouse gases, it adds. Posted. http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/forest-carbon-schemes-must-consider-people-biodiversity-scientists FUELS Despite Accord, Spill Aftermath Shadows BP. The deal BP struck Thursday with the United States is another step toward removing the doubts that have hung over the company and its stock price since the huge blowout that killed 11 people on the Deepwater Horizon rig in 2010. But it is not the comprehensive settlement that the company and investors were hoping for. Posted. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/17/business/global/despite-accord-spill-aftermath-shadows-bp.html Energy innovation could rescue California. California venture capitalists and the Obama administration spent, collectively, $30 billion, over the past four years on energy tech investments to replace oil, coal and natural gas. Odds are that won’t happen again. One reason: All that money didn’t yield one energy company that made last month’s Wall Street Journal list of Top 50 startup companies. Posted. http://www.nctimes.com/news/opinion/perspective/energy-innovation-could-rescue-california/article_ea819396-38b0-5a4a-9a99-053b989615b5.html Climate change implications of new study on methane emissions in coal seam gas field. Coal seam gas has been touted as a green transitional fuel, far less polluting than coal, but a new study implies it may not be as green or climate friendly as the industry makes out. It hinges on the level of fugitive emissions produced in development and production of a gas field. Posted. http://indymedia.org.au/2012/11/16/climate-change-implications-of-new-study-on-methane-emissions-in-coal-seam-gas-field Slow rollout of E15 in California means higher prices at pump. Approval of E15 in California is moving slowly and, ultimately, the losers are consumers, who will pay more for gasoline, said Andy Foster, spokesperson for Aemetis Inc., a biofuel producer that’s a member of the California Advanced Energy Coalition. With the data available on the safety of E15, there’s no reason the process to approve it should take years, as the California Air Resources Board recently said it would. “Frankly, let’s move on,” Foster told Ethanol Producer Magazine. Posted. http://www.ethanolproducer.com/articles/9306/slow-rollout-of-e15-in-california-means-higher-prices-at-pump EPA denies waiver of corn-based fuel requirements. U.S. EPA rejected requests by governors of major livestock-producing states to waive federal corn-ethanol mandates in response to the searing drought. In denying the requests, EPA said the governors had failed to show the renewable fuel standard had caused severe regional or statewide economic harm. The agency also declared it "highly unlikely" that waiving the volume requirements for corn ethanol would affect corn, food and fuel prices. Posted. http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2012/11/16/1 BY SUBSUSCRIPTION ONLY VEHICLES Calif. to coordinate GHG rules with feds. California regulators voted yesterday to mesh their greenhouse gas standards for cars with the federal government's, the last step in the federal-state cooperation on vehicular greenhouse gas regulations for model years 2017-2025. The California Air Resources Board voted to accept U.S. EPA's greenhouse gas standards, which EPA and the Department of Transportation finalized in August along with fuel economy standards of 54.5 miles per gallon fleetwide by 2025 (Greenwire, Aug. 28). "The board's action today is the final step in establishing a single national program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by increasing vehicle efficiency," said Air Resources Board Chairwoman Mary Nichols. Posted. http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2012/11/16/19 BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY Chrysler to debut Fiat 500e, company's first electric car. Chrysler’s first electric car, the Fiat 500e, will make its debut at the American Music Awards on Sunday. The Auburn Hills automaker released the first ever images of the car today. The photos include an exterior shot of a bright orange car with a white front bumper and a separate photo of a white interior with orange stripes on the seat and orange interior accents. The plug-in electric Fiat 500e will premiere on the "green carpet" of the American Music Awards and will be shown to the general public for the first time at the 2012 Los Angeles Auto Show starting Nov. 30. Posted. http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2012/11/16/19 BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY HIGH-SPEED RAIL Calif. high-speed rail faces crucial court ruling. California’s plan to begin building its $68 billion high-speed rail system in the Central Valley hinges on a crucial court decision that could stop the project in its tracks if a judge agrees to a request for a delay from farming interests. Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Timothy Frawley is expected to decide Friday whether to grant a preliminary injunction that would temporarily halt the ambitious infrastructure project. Posted. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hdxqH3KOxmGo9_vAPsgAw2ncR90g?docId=4037bf90f253437c86dba16e3f73275e Other related articles: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/california-high-speed-rail-project-faces-crucial-decision-in-lawsuit-over-environmental-review/2012/11/16/fce37a92-2fc7-11e2-af17-67abba0676e2_story.html http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/morning_call/2012/11/california-high-speed-rail-faces-court.html High-speed rail must tame California’s tricky terrain. A bullet train linking Northern and Southern California will be an audacious engineering feat because the line must cross two mountain ranges and a half-dozen earthquake faults, according to experts. Planners foresee the 141-mile segment from Bakersfield to Los Angeles running through vast tunnels, diving through the Tehachapi and San Gabriel mountains, plunging 500 feet underground in some places and soaring over canyons on viaducts 200 to 330 feet high, the Los Angeles Times reported. Posted. http://www.sfexaminer.com/news/2012/11/high-speed-rail-must-tame-california-s-tricky-terrain GREEN ENERGY Creating Better Climate Policy: Linking Carbon Taxes to Investments in Clean Energy. Nipping at the heels of Mayor Bloomberg’s climate-tinged Presidential endorsement, Hurricane Sandy, and President Obama’s victory speech shout-out to climate change is a reinvigorated debate on carbon pricing. This week, the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), the Brookings Institution, the International Monetary Fund, and Resources for the Future co-hosted a daylong conference on designing a U.S. carbon tax. Posted. http://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewstepp/2012/11/16/creating-better-climate-policy-linking-carbon-taxes-to-investments-in-clean-energy/ Carbon emerging as new solar cell material. Researchers are investigating how carbon can harness the sun's light, potentially replacing more expensive and toxic materials used in conventional photovoltaic technologies. Now a team at Stanford University has developed a solar cell whose components are made solely from carbon. The scientists published their findings last month in the journal ACS Nano. Posted. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2012/11/16/4 BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY Wind could supply up to 12% of global electricity by 2020, study says. Wind power could supply up to 12 percent of global electricity by 2020 and more than 20 percent by 2030, a new study by the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) and Greenpeace shows. Wind energy installations totaled 240 gigawatts globally by the end of 2011, and the industry is set to grow by at least another 40 GW this year, the study says. By 2020, under the scenario put forth by the International Energy Agency, total capacity would reach 587 GW, supplying about 6 percent of global electricity. Posted. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2012/11/16/8 BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY MISCELLANEOUS Kettleman City landfill could face sanctions for unreported spills. The largest toxic waste landfill in the West failed to report 72 spills to regulators over a five-year period and now faces heavy fines, the Department of Toxic Substances Control said Thursday. The case has been referred to the state Attorney General's Office to decide how much to levy and if more sanctions are warranted. Each violation could result in a fine of up to $25,000. Posted. http://www.fresnobee.com/2012/11/15/3067675/kettleman-city-landfill-could.html#storylink=cpy OPINION Cap-and-trade funds to struggling communities. California's cap-and-trade system became a reality Wednesday with the state's first auction of carbon permits. Thanks to legislation signed in September by Gov. Jerry Brown, this event brings a real promise of help for our state's most polluted and economically struggling communities. The story begins in 2006, when lawmakers passed AB32, the Global Warming Solutions Act, which requires California to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. Posted. http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Cap-and-trade-funds-to-struggling-communities-4042244.php Carbon auction levies unauthorized tax. California has long been at the forefront of the effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. AB32, the state's climate change law, gave us the opportunity to be the leader in this arena. The key to success of AB32 is cost-effective implementation so that we become a model for other states. Obviously, greenhouse gas reduction is a global problem that California cannot solve on its own. We need other states to follow our lead to truly create change. Posted. Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Carbon-auction-levies-unauthorized-tax-4042247.php#ixzz2CPXfRhE0 Editorial: Cap and trade finally underway. It took six years along with a lot of debate over climate change and the cost of fighting it, but California has begun the complicated permitting system known as "cap and trade" to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. On Wednesday, the state Air Resources Board took bids for permits from industrial facilities including oil refineries, cement plants, steel mills, power plants and food processors. This market-based system of auctioning permits comes from the landmark 2006 law, known as AB 32, signed by then Gov. Arnold Schwarzengger. Posted. http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/opinion/ci_21998250/editorial-cap-and-trade-finally-underway The Potential Long-run Impact of California’s Cap-and-Trade Plan. California’s first auction of greenhouse gas pollution credits is a landmark effort to combat emissions, says Wharton legal studies and business ethics professor Eric W. Orts. The auctions will be held quarterly and are aimed at reducing California’s greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. The state expects to cut emissions by 30% from current levels by 2020 and 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. Posted. http://knowledgetoday.wharton.upenn.edu/2012/11/the-potential-long-run-impact-of-californias-cap-and-trade-plan/ We will lead on climate change. New York must press ahead with urgency to equip itself for the new age of extreme weather. In just 22 months as governor, I’ve witnessed firsthand the destructive force of three powerful storms that have crippled the state: Irene, Lee and now Sandy. Each has taken an immeasurable toll on communities. Precious lives have been lost, and homes and businesses destroyed. This storm alone was responsible for 60 deaths to date and more than $30 billion in damage in New York State. Posted. http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/lead-climate-change-article-1.1202221#ixzz2CPPjm3xT Has Obama turned a corner on climate change? In response to a reporter's question during his first press conference after reelection, President Obama says he aims to curb the effects of climate change while growing the economy. In his first post-reelection press conference Wednesday, President Obama broached the topic of climate change head on. "I am a firm believer that climate change is real, that it is impacted by human behavior and carbon emissions," Mr. Obama said in response to a reporter's question. Posted. http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/Energy-Voices/2012/1115/Has-Obama-turned-a-corner-on-climate-change BLOGS Obama on Climate Policy: Not Just Now, Thanks. Environmental advocates have expressed frustration with the lack of discussion of climate change in the presidential race this year, a reticence that persisted even after the devastation of Hurricane Sandy. On Wednesday, in his first post-election news conference, President Obama offered his most extensive remarks on climate change in months. They did not particularly thrill environmentalists. Posted. http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/16/obama-on-climate-policy-not-just-now-thanks/ Can Public Leak Patrols Stem Gas Emissions at a Profit? This is the second of a pair of “Your Dot” reactions to my post on citizens’ efforts to build mapped data bases as a tool for tracking the gas drilling surge in the United States. The first, by environmental watchdog Walter Hang, described potential pitfalls in such “do it yourself” efforts. Today’s post is by Frank O’Donnell, a seasoned clean-air campaigner in Washington. Posted. http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/16/can-public-leak-patrols-stem-gas-emissions-at-a-profit/ Sen. Kehoe to head plug-in collaborative. State Sen. Christine Kehoe will take a new job Jan. 1, but one that allows her to continue to help steer California toward alternative fuel vehicles. The San Diego Democrat has been named executive director of the California Plug-in Vehicle Collaborative, which promotes all-electric cars. She will step into the post Jan. 1, after leaving the state Senate. Posted. http://www.nctimes.com/blogsnew/news/politics/sen-kehoe-to-head-plug-in-collaborative/article_f148689f-50b6-5125-8099-bab6fec9b89d.html