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newsclips -- ARB Newsclips for September 4, 2013.

Posted: 04 Sep 2013 15:41:09
ARB Newsclips for September 4, 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.


CAP AND TRADE

World Bank targets air pollution in climate battle. The World
Bank said on Tuesday it was planning "aggressive action" to help
developing nations cut emissions of soot and other air pollutants
blamed for causing climate change, in a shift also meant to
protect human health and aid crop growth. Of its funding to poor
nations, almost 8 percent - $18 billion from 2007-12 - goes to
sectors such as energy, farming, waste and transport that have a
potential to cut emissions, a bank report said. Posted.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/03/us-climate-pollution-idUSBRE9820YD20130903
 

Cap-and-trade auctions look safer after court ruling. In case you
missed it, California’s cap-and-trade system scored a big win in
court last week. A Sacramento Superior Court judge ruled the
state’s 2006 climate change law, Assembly Bill 32, gives
authority to the California Air Resources Board to create the
cap-and-trade program, according to the Sacramento Bee. Posted.
http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/news/2013/09/03/cap-and-trade-emissions-auctions-ruling.html


AIR POLLUTION

EPA says Ill. sand company violated clean air law. The U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency says it's reached a settlement
with a northern Illinois sand manufacturer over alleged air
pollution violations. The agency said Tuesday that HA
International will install equipment to reduce hazardous
chemicals and sand emitted at its Oregon facility in Ogle County.
Oregon is about 100 miles west of Chicago. Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/EPA-says-Ill-sand-company-violated-clean-air-law-4785049.php


School gets parking lot outlets for car heaters. A construction
project aimed at improving Fairbanks air quality is affecting a
high school during the opening weeks of school. Crews are
installing electrical outlets in the parking lot of West Valley
High School so students and staff can plug in vehicle headbolt
heaters. The heaters warm car engines and cut down on pollution
emitted by cold starts. Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/School-gets-parking-lot-outlets-for-car-heaters-4785904.php
 

CLIMATE CHANGE 

Sandy's 'freaky' path may be less likely in future. Man-made
global warming may further lessen the likelihood of the freak
atmospheric steering currents that last year shoved Superstorm
Sandy due west into New Jersey, a new study says. But don't
celebrate a rare beneficial climate change prediction just yet.
The study's authors said the once-in-700-years path was only one
factor in the massive $50 billion killer storm. They said other
variables such as sea level rise and stronger storms will worsen
with global warming…Posted.
http://online.wsj.com/article/AP977c805021d942faa60b7fd78a46a3c6.html?KEYWORDS=climate+change


 Wildfires and Climate Change.  The huge wildfire scorching one
of America’s most beloved national parks, Yosemite, has rained
ash on San Francisco’s water supply and jolted the nation.
Experts say this is just a foretaste of major fires to come, in
the United States and much of the world. Increasing incursions by
humans into forests, coupled with altered forest ecology and
climate change, will make fires bigger and more destructive, with
implications for air quality as well as homes and infrastructure.
Posted.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/05/business/energy-environment/wildfires-and-climate-change.html?ref=earth&_r=0


Black soot forced early retreat of Alpine glaciers in the 1800s.
Black soot from 19th century homes and factories in Europe
hastened the end of the Little Ice Age and caused glaciers in the
Alps to retreat decades sooner than they would have otherwise,
according to a new study. The black carbon particles caused the
snow to absorb more heat, speeding up the melting process. As a
result, the glaciers beneath the snowpack were exposed earlier in
the year, giving them more time to melt. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-black-carbon-alps-glaciers-20130904,0,1354331.story


DIESEL EMISSIONS

Redding Joins North State Counties in Opposing New Clean-air
Standards for Big Rigs. Redding became the first city to ask the
California Air Resources Board to delay pending diesel-truck
emission regulations that one council member said would decimate
the north state trucking industry and lead to higher prices and
empty store shelves. In a 5-0 vote, the Redding City Council...
Posted.
http://anewscafe.com/2013/09/04/redding-joins-north-state-counties-in-opposing-new-clean-air-standards-for-big-rigs/


FUELS

'Fracking' moratorium proposed by two L.A. City Council members.
Los Angeles City Council members Paul Koretz and Mike Bonin are
calling for a moratorium on the practice of hydraulic fracturing,
or “fracking,” which is used by energy companies to extract
hard-to-reach oil. In a prepared statement Tuesday, the
councilmen called fracking and its related processes a “major
threat” to the city’s local water supply, air quality and private
property. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-fracking-moratorium-20130903,0,313998.story?track=rss


VEHICLES

Toyota Avalon adds fuel-thrifty hybrid. Move over, Toyota Camry.
It's time for Toyota's other sizable sedan, the Avalon, to get
some well-deserved attention. Recently revamped with a stylish
body and new features, the five-door Avalon now also has an
impressive, fuel-sipping, gasoline-electric hybrid model. Not
only does the Avalon Hybrid provide comfortable seating for five,
with a roomy back seat, the new hybrid is rated by the federal
government at 40 miles per gallon in city driving and 39 mpg on
the highway — the best of any Avalon ever. Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/science/article/Toyota-Avalon-adds-fuel-thrifty-hybrid-4731614.php


DOE invests $45M in accelerating vehicle efficiency. The
Department of Energy announced a $45 million investment today in
38 projects aimed at making motor vehicles leaner and greener.
The projects examine every aspect of trimming automobiles' energy
use -- including lighter-weight materials; electric batteries;
power electronics; fuels and lubricants; and efficient heating,
ventilation and air conditioning systems, DOE said. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1059986711/print BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

GREEN ENERGY

Hero Group Plans 1 Gigawatt of Indian Renewable-Energy Capacity. 
Hero Group, the parent of India’s biggest motorcycle maker, plans
to build 1,000 megawatts of renewable energy capacity by 2017.
Its new unit, Hero Future Energies, completed its first
37.5-megawatt wind farm in Rajasthan state and has won a license
to build a 10-megawatt solar photovoltaic plant in Karnataka,
Hero Future Managing Director Rahul Munjal said in an e-mailed
statement today. Posted.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-04/hero-group-plans-1-gigawatt-of-indian-renewable-energy-capacity.html


Silsbee-based company teams with Coca-Cola to create
first-of-its-kind bottle. It's in the plastic bottles you drink
from, the carpet you walk on, the clothes you wear and in the
fuel in your tank. And a Silsbee company working alongside the
Coca-Cola Co. is transforming that chemical into the first
environmentally-friendly product of its kind. Gevo, adjacent to
the South Hampton Resources plant on Farm-to-Market Road 418 in
Silsbee, is tinkering with the molecules to make the new product.
Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/Silsbee-based-company-teams-with-Coca-Cola-to-4785676.php


DOE study finds wind farms have no economic impact on neighbors.
A new study from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory finds
that wind farms have no measurable effect on real estate prices
in communities where turbines are built within 10 miles of homes.
But the analysis, prepared for the Energy Department's Office of
Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, is unlikely to quell
ongoing debate over wind farms' effects on property values,
especially at the local level. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1059986673/print BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

Wary of cultural impacts, tribe wants to slow review of massive
Calif. Project. An American Indian tribe with a history of
challenging the Obama administration over the effects of
renewables development on cultural resources wants regulators to
slow down the review of a proposed solar power project in
Southern California's Chuckwalla Valley. The Quechan Tribe of the
Fort Yuma Indian Reservation submitted a three-page comment
letter to the California Energy Commission…Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1059986708/print BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

MISCELLANEOUS 

Economist's Theories Led to Carbon Trading. Economist Ronald
Coase garnered a Nobel Prize for work that, among other things,
provided the intellectual framework for reducing pollution by
trading carbon credits instead of enforcing antipollution laws,
as well as for auctioning the airwaves for cellphones and pagers.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324202304579053280483349094.html?KEYWORDS=carbon
 

OPINION

A sampling of editorials from around New York. The Albany
Times-Union on the value of cap-and-trade of greenhouse
emissions. Sept. 1 Imagine a program that lowers pollution and
raises hundreds of millions of dollars for energy savings,
investment and research without taxation. That, in a nutshell, is
the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/09/04/5706207/a-sampling-of-editorials-from.html#storylink=cpy


Clock is running out for real CEQA reform: Editorial. State
residents are still waiting for the Legislature to complete
meaningful reforms of the California Environmental Quality Act,
the four-decades-old law that has done a lot of good but also has
been exploited by powerful interests to stall development
projects for selfish reasons. With the deadline for passing bills
only 10 days away, the state senator who’s supposed to be leading
CEQA reform efforts for the good of all Californians has been
focusing on a narrow fix that would mostly help his
Sacramento-area district. Posted.
http://www.presstelegram.com/opinion/20130903/clock-is-running-out-for-real-ceqa-reform-editorial


BLOG

Beijing Eyes Car Congestion Fee. Faced with often catastrophic
air pollution, Beijing is considering taking a page out of
London’s playbook: a congestion fee for car owners. A notice
published on the Beijing government website (in Chinese) late
Monday said the city is mulling a policy to impose a congestion
fee for cars as it aims to keep less than 6 million vehicles
licensed by the end of 2017, from about 5.35 million now. Posted.
http://blogs.wsj.com/riskandcompliance/2013/09/03/beijing-eyes-car-congestion-fee/?KEYWORDS=air+pollution


Global warming in one unmistakably compelling chart. If you have
any doubt the balance of the globe has warmed over the last
century, view this chart: (Chart) Produced by NASA, the chart
illustrates how temperatures have compared to “normal” (or the
1951-1980 average) from 1880 to present, from pole to pole (-90
latitude to 90 latitude). From the 1880 to the 1920s, blue and
green shades dominate the chart, signaling cooler than normal
temperatures in that era.  Posted.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2013/09/04/an-unmistakably-compelling-chart-of-global-warming/


260.5 EVs set world record for electric vehicle parade.  Norway
has long led Europe in electric vehicle adoption, and now the
country's EV advocates can boast of holding a new world record:
the largest-ever gathering of moving electric vehicles. We are
particularly amused that the record was set by 260 and a half
EVs, since one of the cars was a cutaway version of the Nissan
Leaf. Posted.
http://green.autoblog.com/2013/09/03/260.5-evs-set-world-record-electric-vehicle-parade-video/


Battery Recycler to Test Soil for Dangerous Metals; Neighbors
Skeptical. State-ordered testing of the soil for lead and other
toxins around a battery recycling plant in Vernon, just east of
downtown Los Angeles, is underway. The plant, Exide Technologies,
has already been accused of endangering the lives of 110,000
people who live nearby. But neighborhood residents and community
leaders say they’re skeptical that the test results will force
Exide’s factory to close before it can do any more harm. Posted.
http://blogs.kqed.org/stateofhealth/2013/09/04/neighbors-skeptical-battery-recycler-to-test-soil-for-dangerous-metals-exide-arsenic-los-angeles/

 

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