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newsclips -- Newsclips for May 16, 2013
Posted: 16 May 2013 13:51:43
ARB Newsclips for May 16, 2013. 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 Long Beach votes to sue L.A. over proposed rail yard at port. The Long Beach City Council has authorized a lawsuit to challenge plans by Los Angeles to build a rail yard in the harbor that could impact low-income neighborhoods in West Long Beach. Council members voted 9 to 0 Tuesday to sue over the Southern California International Gateway -- a 153-acre project in the Port of Los Angeles capable of handling more than 8,000 trucks a day and the equivalent of 2.8 million 20-foot shipping containers annually. Posted. http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-long-beach-rail-yard-lawsuit-20130515,0,3590660.story Tests show Calif beach bonfires hurt air quality. Preliminary testing released Wednesday by regional air quality officials found that smoke from the beach bonfires that dot the Southern California coastline pollutes the air in nearby neighborhoods and on the beaches themselves. The data will be a critical part of the ongoing debate over a proposal before the South Coast Air Quality Management District to ban nearly 850 beach bonfires along miles of coastline in Los Angeles and Orange counties due to health concerns about wood smoke. Posted. http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_23251590/tests-show-calif-beach-bonfires-hurt-air-quality http://www.fresnobee.com/2013/05/15/3300860/tests-show-calif-beach-bonfires.html#storylink=misearch The 10 most polluted cities in the U.S. There is no doubt that great strides have been made in air pollution in the U.S. Awareness, stricter legislation and improved technology have all contributed to improved air, land and water conditions. Despite the improvements, four in 10 Americans still live where pollution levels are often dangerous to breathe. Since the American Lung Association began studying particle pollution, almost all of the most polluted cities have consistently remained among the worst. Posted. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-10-most-polluted-cities-in-the-us-2013-05-16 CLIMATE CHANGE E.U. Considers Emission Fines on Chinese and Indian Airlines. The European Commission said Thursday that Air China and Air India were among 10 Chinese and Indian airlines facing the prospect of fines and exclusion from airports in the European Union for refusing to comply with rules aimed at regulating greenhouse emissions. The carriers are accused of not providing emissions data, as required by the European rules, and not participating in a permit system that entitles airlines to emit greenhouse gases in European airspace. Posted. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/17/business/global/17iht-emit17.html?ref=global-home&_r=0 Could Supreme Court stall climate change regulations? With a barrage of legal briefs, a coalition of business groups and Republican-leaning states are taking their fight against Obama administration climate change regulations to the U.S. Supreme Court. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other industry groups, along with states such as Texas and Virginia, have filed nine petitions in recent weeks asking the justices to review four U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulations that are designed to cut greenhouse-gas emissions. Posted. http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_23255979/could-supreme-court-stall-climate-change-regulations?IADID=Search-www.insidebayarea.com-www.insidebayarea.com State lays out long-term plans to combat climate change, air pollution. California is looking to a new road marker in its pathbreaking efforts to address climate change, but it's not sure yet what to look for when it gets there. The Golden State has plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to specific levels by 2020 and again by 2050, but nothing yet in between. Policymakers are talking about the 2030 timeframe as a good meeting place to mesh plans to address climate change and other environmental issues, including transportation, land use and housing plans. Posted. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1059981279/print BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY Toll of 2012 disasters means higher cost of climate change – studies. If ever proof was needed to justify comprehensive action on climate change in the United States, experts at the American Security Project (ASP) say, one only has to look to the climate-fueled disasters of last year. "Climate scientists don't like to point to one single event and say that it's directly caused by climate change. But climate change will make events like the ones in 2012 more likely…Posted. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1059981261/print BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY DIESEL EMISSIONS New trucking rules have wide-ranging effects. Two new trucking rules — one from California and the other federal — could have wide-ranging effects on the fresh produce industry from the shipper all the way to the retailer. A panel of industry experts outlined the two regulations and their implications during the Expert Council Workshop Series, May 15, at United Fresh 2013. Of the two, the California Air Resources Board’s Transportation Refrigeration Unit, is the more challenging, said Kenny Lund, vice president, support services…Posted. http://www.thepacker.com/fruit-vegetable-news/New-trucking-rules-have-wide-ranging-effects-207712381.html?ref=381 FUELS Tech institute predicts rapid rise in natural gas vehicles. Major changes are in store for the nation's natural gas industry in the next five to 10 years, an official with the Chicago-based Gas Technology Institute said during an industry gathering here yesterday. GTI sees a rapid rise in the use of natural gas as a fuel for vehicles and gas continuing to overtake coal in power generation. Oil and gas companies also are expected to embark on a major pipeline-building campaign, but mainly to replace aging lines. Posted. http://www.eenews.net/energywire/stories/1059981252/print BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY Hydrogen fuel makes progress in California public transit. Residents of Marin, California, now have an opportunity to experience hydrogen fuel themselves. A new hydrogen-powered bus has made its way to the city and will be operated by Golden Gate Transit. The bus will remain active for the next two years as city officials determine the viability of hydrogen fuel in public transportation. Golden Gate Transit has teamed with other public transportation agencies to manage the hydrogen fuel transportation project over the next two years. Posted. http://www.hydrogenfuelnews.com/hydrogen-fuel-makes-progress-in-california-public-transit/8510579/ After 'frank discussion' with Jewell, greens call for tougher fracking regs. A dozen environmental groups yesterday urged Interior Secretary Sally Jewell to strengthen forthcoming Bureau of Land Management rules governing hydraulic fracturing on public lands in addition to tightening oversight of roads and well pads, waste storage and site reclamation. Modern hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has changed significantly since Jewell first fracked a well in the 1970s as an engineer for Mobil Oil Corp., the groups wrote. Posted. http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1059981295/print BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY VEHICLES Lease plans and battery rental - solutions to the EV market uptake? Electric vehicles have required OEMs to come up with new business models in order to increase sales. Battery rental, EV leasing or EVs available in multiple battery sizes, are some of the innovative schemes that have been launched to reduce the initial cost of the car, thus helping to raise consumer interest in Europe, and also in the US. cars21.com summarizes below the current and upcoming options available. Posted. http://www.cars21.com/news/view/5397 HIGH-SPEED RAIL Kings County fights to keep rail lawsuits separate. Kings County opponents of high-speed rail are battling the California High-Speed Rail Authority to keep their legal fight on track. Hanford farmer John Tos, Hanford homeowner Aaron Fukuda and the Kings County Board of Supervisors have a court date May 31 in Sacramento for the suit they filed against the rail agency in 2011. They say that the high-speed rail project doesn't square with Proposition 1A, the $9.9 billion bond measure approved by California voters in 2008 to help finance high-speed rail. Posted. http://www.fresnobee.com/2013/05/15/3301201/kings-co-keep-rail-suits-separate.html GREEN ENERGY A powerful use for spoiled food. Kroger Co.'s anaerobic digester in Compton takes unsold food from Ralphs and Food 4 Less and converts it into 13 million kilowatt-hours of electricity a year. What happens to the 40% of food produced but never eaten in the U.S. each year, the mounds of perfect fruit passed over by grocery store shoppers, the tons of meat and milk left to expire? At Ralphs, one of the oldest and largest supermarket chains on the West Coast, it helps keep the power on. In a sprawling Compton distribution center that the company shares…Posted. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ralphs-energy-20130516,0,7330815.story Stepping up to do right by the environment: More than 1,000 sign up for 'Sustainability Challenge'. If one Contra Costa County home gardener fights "peach curl" with enviro-safe fungicide once a year, a tree is saved. And if one Alameda County resident chooses reusable beverage containers over throwaway plastic bottles, cash piles up and garbage in landfills doesn't. Posted. http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_23242110/stepping-up-do-right-by-environment-more-than?IADID=Search-www.insidebayarea.com-www.insidebayarea.com OPINIONS Edison, Mitsubishi hit roadblock on San Onofre's future. A flurry of letters that went back and forth between Southern California Edison and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries late last year reveal the serious hurdles that stand in the way of the San Onofre nuclear power plant's long-term future. The plant had been offline at that point for nearly a year because of unusual wear on tubes that carry radioactive water in the plant’s newly replaced steam generators, which were designed and manufactured by Mitsubishi. Posted. http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-san-onofre-repair-20130515,0,6868664.story?track=rss&utm_source=feedly&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+lanowblog+%28L.A.+Now%29 Increase in greenhouse gases reaches ominous milestone. The following editorial appeared in the Miami Herald on Wednesday, May 15: Milestones are usually to be cheered, but not the one the world reached at 8 p.m. on Thursday, May 9. For the first time in millions of years the level of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere reached above 400 parts per million. So what, you say? It's just a bunch of scientific numbers. Not really. What these numbers tell us is that within 25 years, if we continue to produce CO2 at our present rate, we can expect significant alterations in our climate. Posted. http://www.sacbee.com/2013/05/16/5425292/increase-in-greenhouse-gases-reaches.html#storylink=cpy http://www.fresnobee.com/2013/05/16/3301612/increase-in-greenhouse-gases-reaches.html BLOGS A “boring” look at the California carbon market. Last month, carbon market practitioners and observers gathered in San Francisco for the annual Navigating the American Carbon World (NACW) conference. NACW began in California over a decade ago as a regional meet-up for the nascent community of practice working on voluntary carbon management initiatives. Now, in step with California’s climate leadership and the start of the second shift in North American policy attention from top-down federal efforts to bottom-up state/regional action, the conference’s relevance far exceeds Golden State’s borders. Posted. http://ghginstitute.org/2013/05/10/a-boring-look-at-the-california-carbon-market/?utm_source=May+2013+Newsletter&utm_campaign=Monthly+newsletter&utm_medium=email Free "Etch and Catch" catalytic converter event in Elk Grove. Motorists can have identification numbers etched onto the catalytic converters on their vehicles for free in Elk Grove next month. The Elk Grove Police Department is partnering with Jiffy Lube to etch the license plate numbers onto catalytic converters at the "Etch and Catch" event. The effort takes place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 4 at Jiffy Lube, 9611 Auto Center Drive in Elk Grove. Posted. http://blogs.sacbee.com/crime/archives/2013/05/free-etch-and-catch-catalytic-converter-event-in-elk-grove.html#storylink=cpy 2013 Nissan Leaf officially rated at 115 MPGe, with 75 miles* of range. The news keeps getting better for Nissan and its efforts to boost sales of its all-electric Leaf: the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ahs confirmed that the EV's range is about 15 percent better than it used to be. The EPA finalized its 2013 Leaf numbers, confirming a miles per gallon-equivalent rating of 115, up from 99 MPGe. And while the single-charge range distance is only up two miles – to 75 – it's apples to oranges because the current number stems from about a 90 percent charge whereas the old number is from a full charge (details here). Posted. http://green.autoblog.com/2013/05/15/2013-nissan-leaf-officially-rated-at-115-mpge-75-mile-range/