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newsclips -- ARB Newsclips for April 23, 2014.

Posted: 23 Apr 2014 14:55:12
ARB Newsclips for April 23, 2014. 

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

De Blasio wants to ban new wood fireplaces. Mayor Bill de Blasio
celebrated Earth Day on Tuesday by proposing more regulations —
including a ban on new wood-burning fireplaces. The mayor made
the proposal, along with those for other sweeping regulations
that he said would update emission standards and help curb air
pollution. 
Instead of wood-burning fireplaces, de Blasio wants to allow only
cleaner-burning units, such as those that use natural gas.
Posted.
http://nypost.com/2014/04/23/de-blasio-wants-to-ban-new-fireplaces/

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/04/23/new-york-city-mayor-wants-to-ban-new-fireplaces/


New map could refocus state's pollution battles.  After being
criticized for assessing environmental hazards only by the
state's 1,800 ZIP Codes, Cal/EPA issues scores for its 8,000
census tracts. The California Environmental Protection Agency has
released a statewide list of census tracts most burdened by
pollution, providing a first-of-its-kind ranking certain to
pressure regulators to clean up neighborhoods with long-standing
health risks. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/science/la-me-0423-pollution-neighborhoods-20140423,0,1487851.story#ixzz2zjUf4nrj


Exide to temporarily lay off nearly all workers at its Vernon
plant. The company notifies 124 employees of the layoffs after
its shutdown last month by air-quality regulators over pollution
concerns. The beleaguered operator of a Vernon battery-recycling
plant announced the temporary layoffs of nearly all of its
employees Monday, weeks after air-quality regulators shut down
its operations over air pollution concerns. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-exide-20140423,0,7226962.story#ixzz2zjWNy41Y

Air quality officials warn that strong winds are likely to kick
up clouds of dust across Valley.  Air quality officials warned
this morning that strong winds are likely to kick up clouds of
dust across the San Joaquin Valley for the rest of the day,
resulting in high levels of harmful particle pollution.  Posted. 
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20140422/A_NEWS/140429954
 
 
CLIMATE CHANGE

Climate change likely to make Everest even riskier. Climbing to
the roof of the world is becoming less predictable and possibly
more dangerous, scientists say, as climate change brings warmer
temperatures that may eat through the ice and snow on Mount
Everest. Nepal was left reeling when a sudden ice avalanche
slammed down onto a group of Sherpa guides on Friday and killed
16 in the deadliest single disaster on Everest. Posted.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_NEPAL_EVEREST_RISK?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


U.N. Report: Avoiding Climate Change Possible With ‘Substantial
Emission Reductions’. The effects of climate change are
undeniable, but governments are still behind the curve in taking
action to slow the spread of greenhouse gases. The U.N.'s
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has just released its
fifth report on the rapidly closing window of time to take action
on reducing greenhouse gases. Posted.
http://www.kpbs.org/news/2014/apr/21/un-report-finds-climate-change-mitigation-possible/


FUELS

Correction: Biofuels-Global Warming story. In a story April 20
about new research showing biofuels made with corn leftovers are
worse for global warming than gasoline in the short term, The
Associated Press erroneously reported that cellulosic biofuels
that failed to release 60 percent less carbon than gasoline
wouldn't earn a $1 per gallon subsidy. That tax subsidy expired
on Dec. 31, 2013. A corrected version of the story is below:
Study: Fuels from corn waste not better than gas. Posted.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_BIOFUELS_GLOBAL_WARMING?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
 

EPA sends 2013 cellulosic blending requirement sharply downward.
U.S. EPA has revised the number of cellulosic biofuel gallons in
2013 that needed to be blended in the U.S. fuel supply to 810,185
ethanol-equivalent gallons -- about five ten-thousandths of a
percent of the country's fuel -- a move supported by both oil and
renewable fuel groups. It's a drastic reduction from the amount
EPA had decided on eight months ago -- 6 million gallons -- and
an even larger decline from the 1 billion gallons the industry
was meant to produce in 2013…Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1059998290/print BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

VEHICLES

Tesla bringing plant to Central Valley, but it’s not the big one.
Tesla Motors Inc. is opening a factory in the San Joaquin Valley,
but it’s almost certainly not the 6,500-job battery plant that’s
being coveted by governors and community leaders in California
and other states. The maker of luxury electric cars leased a
430,000-square-foot facility in Lathrop, officials from the San
Joaquin Partnership announced Tuesday. Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/2014/04/22/6345191/tesla-bringing-plant-to-central.html#mi_rss=Our%20Region#storylink=cpy


Menlo Park poised to get solar panels, electric vehicle charging
stations.  Menlo Park is hoping to reel in four new electric
vehicle charging stations and five solar panels early next year. 
Rebecca Fotu, the city's environmental programs manager, said the
panels could be obtained through the Regional Renewable Energy
Procurement Project, an effort involving Menlo Park and 18 other
public agencies and led by Alameda County to boost green energy. 
Posted. 
http://www.insidebayarea.com/News/ci_25617787/Menlo-Park-poised-to-get-solar


GREEN ENERGY

The 'invisible renewable' struggles with slow U.S. growth.
Geothermal energy is sometimes referred to as the "invisible
renewable." That is in part because the resource is located
thousands of feet underground. But it's also just not on the
radar for many utilities and policymakers. The geothermal energy
industry saw "lackluster growth" over the past year due to policy
barriers, gridlock at the federal level, inadequate
transportation infrastructure and low natural gas prices…Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1059998291/print BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

MISCELLANEOUS

Decades after first Earth Day, hope endures.  More than 40 years
after the first Earth Day, there’s much improvement and some
challenges for the greater Orange County area. Here are four
updates from the eco front lines.  Posted. 
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/county-610830-orange-pollution.html


OPINIONS

Fracking expert Mark Zoback: We need good science, good
engineering, good regulations and good enforcement.  "Fracking" —
now there's a word that just begs for a bumper sticker. Short for
"hydraulic fracturing" — the process of breaking open rock with
high-pressure liquids to get at otherwise untappable oil and
natural gas — fracking conjures up a welcome energy boom for
some, ecological disaster for others. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/commentary/la-oe-0423-morrison-fracking-zoback-20140422,0,65426.column#ixzz2zjVAOWy2


Koch brothers and big utilities campaign to unplug solar power. 
The Koch brothers have a new ploy to protect the traditional
energy business that helped make them the planet’s fifth- and
sixth-richest humans. They are funding a campaign to shackle
solar energy consumers who have escaped the grip of big electric
utilities. Of all the pro-business, anti-government causes they
have funded with their billions, this may be the most cynical and
self-serving. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/topoftheticket/la-na-tt-koch-brothers-and-solar-power-20140422,0,1087398.story#ixzz2zjWs1d4q


Obama's Keystone pipeline trap. The president's predicament is
just the latest example of how climate change monomania has
become a problem for environmentalists — and the country. On Good
Friday, President Obama made a bad call. The State Department
announced that it would delay its decision on the Keystone XL
pipeline until after the Nebraska Supreme Court rules in a case
involving the route. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/commentary/la-oe-goldberg-keystone-democrats-20140422,0,7790783.column#ixzz2zjVk1l3M


Combating climate change and keeping energy costs low. 
California’s pathbreaking market approach to combating climate
change just celebrated its first anniversary in ho-hum fashion.
Thinking back to the state’s ill-fated experiment with markets to
deregulate utilities, critics said that my cap measure, part of
Assembly Bill 32, would cause electricity and other energy prices
to skyrocket.  Posted. 
http://www.sacbee.com/2014/04/23/6345604/viewpoints-combating-climate-change.html
  

Gas price increase a hidden tax.  A recent Associated Press news
item warns us that we may experience an immediate 12-cent
increase in gas prices as a direct result of California’s
greenhouse gas reduction law. Moreover, this 12-cent gouge is
just the beginning; gas prices could ultimately increase by as
much as 40 cents per gallon.  Posted. 
http://www.thecalifornian.com/article/20140423/OPINION04/304230014/Gas-price-increase-hidden-tax


BLOGS

A Deeper Look at a Study Finding High Leak Rates From Gas
Drilling. Most efforts to slow the natural gas drilling boom in
the United States have focused on questions about the
environmental impacts of the process called hydraulic fracturing,
or fracking, which occurs deep underground after a well is
drilled. That’s why a great deal of attention was paid last week
to the results of a two-day aerial survey over gas fields in
southwestern Pennsylvania that calculated emission rates of
methane…Posted.
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/23/a-deeper-look-at-a-study-finding-high-leak-rates-from-gas-drilling/?_php=true&_type=blogs&src=twrhp&_r=0


A Jesuit carbon offset programme in Cambodia. The Jesuits in
Cambodia have initiated a carbon offset programme in conjunction
with the modest seedling nursery set up in Banteay Prieb, the
Jesuit-run vocational school for people with disabilities, in
late 2012. Primarily intended for Jesuits within the country,
volunteers and visiting friends, the carbon offset programme
provides an opportunity for air travelers to counterbalance the
carbon emissions from their flights to or from Cambodia. Posted.
http://sjapc.net/content/jesuit-carbon-offset-programme-cambodia 


Happy Earth Day. We Just Reached Another Scary Climate Change
Milestone. In May 2013, it was big news when, for the first time,
the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere hit 400
parts per million. Now, researchers say that number has been
consistently above 400 for the last month. "This is higher than
it's been in millions of years," said Pieter Tans, a senior
scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration's Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory.
Posted.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/22/carbon-dioxide-climate-change_n_5187844.html




California is in a drought emergency.
Visit www.SaveOurH2O.org for water conservation tips.

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