What's New List Serve Post Display

ARB Newsclips for July 7, 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.

CAP AND TRADE

California rice farmers could get pollution credit. California’s
evolving cap-and-trade market may soon have a new player: rice
farmers. A proposal by the California Air Resources Board staff,
up for board approval in September, would allow rice farmers in
the Sacramento Valley to sell carbon emission offsets as part of
the state’s effort to combat climate change. Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/2014/07/05/6535820/california-rice-farmers-who-reduce.html#storylink=cpy

http://www.modbee.com/2014/07/05/3425929/california-rice-farmers-who-reduce.html#storylink=cpy


Business groups, lawmakers accelerate drive to keep fuels out of
Calif. cap-and-trade program. A political push is underway to
block California's carbon cap-and-trade program from expanding
next year to include motor fuels. State Assemblyman Henry Perea
(D) on Friday stripped text out of one of his bills that was
sitting in committee and replaced it with language that would put
a three-year moratorium on adding fuels to cap and trade. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1060002394/print BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

AIR POLLUTION

IBM to Help China Manage Air Quality, Renewable-Energy Supplies.
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) started a project to
support China in managing air quality and energy consumption as
well as forecasting renewable-energy supplies. 
Under the project, the Armonk, New York-based company is
cooperating with the Beijing municipal government on a system to
determine the type, source and level of emissions and predict air
quality in the capital, IBM said today in a statement. Posted.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2014-07-07/ibm-to-help-china-manage-air-quality-renewable-energy-supplies.html
 
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/08/business/international/ibm-will-help-beijing-monitor-pollution.html?partner=yahoofinance&_r=0&module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Aw%2C[%22RI%3A7%22%2C%22RI%3A12%22]
 

Air District to continue vehicle repair program.  Vehicle
emissions are key contributors to the formation of ozone, the
major component of summertime smog.
To help reduce these emissions, the San Joaquin Valley Air
Pollution Control District has approved $4 million to continue
the Tune In and Tune Up vehicle repair program. The program
provides funding to Valley residents to make smog-related repairs
to their vehicles in an effort to reduce pollution. Posted.
http://www.modbee.com/2014/07/06/3427168/air-district-to-continue-vehicle.html#storylink=cpy


CLIMATE CHANGE

Misconceptions helped kill Australian carbon tax. In 2007,
Australians were ready to do something to combat climate change,
even if it was expensive. More than two-thirds of them said so in
a poll, and both major political parties vowed to make industries
pay for greenhouse-gas emissions. The undoing of that perspective
will likely be complete after a new Senate is sworn in Monday.
Posted.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_UNGREENING_AUSTRALIA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

OTHER RELATED STORIES
http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/Misconceptions-helped-kill-Australian-carbon-tax-5602292.php
http://www.modbee.com/2014/07/05/3426227/misconceptions-helped-kill-australian.html#storylink=cpy
  

U.S. Carbon Reduction Plan Will Fall Short of Europe Goal. U.S.
efforts to regulate greenhouse gases will fall short of the
European Union’s goal of reducing emissions by 40 percent by
2030, according to the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. The
Environmental Protection Agency’s plan to regulate emissions from
coal-burning power plants will reduce carbon dioxide by 18
percent by 2030 from 2012 levels…Posted.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2014-07-07/u-s-carbon-reduction-plan-will-fall-short-of-europe-goal.html


Taking Oil Industry Cue, Environmentalists Drew Emissions
Blueprint. In November 2010, three combatants gathered in a sleek
office here to build a carbon emissions policy that they hoped to
sell to the Obama administration. One was a lawyer who had been
wielding the Clean Air Act since his days at the University of
California, Berkeley. Another had turned to practicing
environmental law and writing federal regulations to curb
pollution…Posted.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/07/us/how-environmentalists-drew-blueprint-for-obama-emissions-rule.html


BBC admonished for giving climate change deniers equal air time.
BBC journalists are being schooled in how to cover science. A
progress report from an independent body, the BBC Trust, says
Britain’s public broadcasting service shouldn’t be giving equal
air time to climate change deniers and others on the scientific
fringe. The report found the BBC remains prone to “over-rigid
application of editorial guidelines on impartiality”…Posted.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/07/07/bbc-admonished-for-giving-climate-change-deniers-equal-air-time/


Las Cruces council to consider climate measure. The Las Cruces
City Council will consider a proposed resolution that would urge
Congress to pass legislation promoting reductions in carbon
dioxide emissions. The Las Cruces Sun-News reports
(http://bit.ly/1ktOpRq) the council is scheduled to take up the
proposal Monday. The measure states Las Cruces has a track record
of acknowledging climate change and taking steps to counter it,
such as the city's sustainability action plan. Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/Las-Cruces-council-to-consider-climate-measure-5603538.php


Miami-Dade urged to accelerate climate change plan.  A South
Florida task force is urging officials to speed up climate change
adaptation planning because sea level rise is a "measurable,
trackable and relentless reality." The Miami-Dade Sea Level Rise
Task Force issued its recommendations earlier this week. The
county commission created the task force a year ago to develop a
report on sea level rise. Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/Miami-Dade-urged-to-accelerate-climate-change-plan-5600336.php

Warming's impact on wolverines cast into doubt.  A top federal
wildlife official says there's too much uncertainty about climate
change to prove it threatens the snow-loving wolverine —
overruling agency scientists who warned of impending habitat
loss. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Regional Director Noreen
Walsh said there's no doubt that the wolverine's high-mountain
habitat is getting warmer. Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/2014/07/07/6538440/warmings-impact-on-wolverines.html#storylink=cpy
 
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/jul/07/warmings-impact-on-wolverines-cast-into-doubt/


Climate Change Puts World's Energy Systems at Risk.  Rising sea
levels, extremes of weather and an increase in the frequency of
droughts and floods will all play havoc with the world's energy
systems as climate change takes hold, a new report has found.
Energy companies are more often cited as part of the problem of
climate change, generating the lion's share of the world's
greenhouse gas emissions, amounting to around 40 percent of the
total. Posted.
http://www.vcstar.com/news/state/climate-change-puts-worlds-energy-systems-at-risk_81326492
 

City wrestles with climate-change plan. How aggressively the city
of San Diego should fight climate change will be a hot topic in
coming months, with Mayor Kevin Faulconer starting to move
forward with an ambitious plan that many of his political allies
oppose. The worsening drought and the earlier-than-usual start
this year of San Diego’s fire season have increased momentum
behind efforts to reduce greenhouse gases. Posted.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/jul/07/tp-city-wrestles-with-climate-change-plan/


DROUGHT

Some Sacramentans let their lawns die, but city says that’s not
necessary. Jerry let his lawn turn brown, but that doesn’t mean
everyone has to. Around the state Capitol, expanses of grass are
dead or dormant. The administration of Gov. Jerry Brown let the
lawns die to make a point to residents during a historic drought,
said Brian Ferguson, deputy director for public affairs at the
state Department of General Services, which maintains the Capitol
grounds. Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/2014/07/07/6534427/some-sacramentans-let-their-lawns.html#storylink=cpy


GREEN ENERGY

What’s Your Clean Energy Future? Do you think it's a good idea to
get away from fossil fuels for our energy needs? If so, you'd be
one of millions. Fact is, we are totally dependent on energy for
our daily lives, especially electricity. (You can't read this
post without electric power, for example.) Where Does Power Come
From? Most electricity, by far, is generated with fossil fuels:
coal, oil and natural gas. Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/What-s-Your-Clean-Energy-Future-5602475.php


OPINIONS

Congress’s head-in-the-sand approach to climate change. ANY GOOD
business executive knows that the world is full of risks, ignored
at a company’s peril. Interest rates could spike. China could
change its currency policy. Chaos in Iraq could push up gasoline
prices. Smart firms account for these possibilities as best they
can, adjusting business plans so that they aren’t caught
flat-footed. The same can be said of wise societies. Posted.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/congresss-head-in-the-sand-approach-to-climate-change/2014/07/06/656db75e-0167-11e4-8572-4b1b969b6322_story.html

Are Natural Resources Defense Council, Environmental Defense Fund
and Sierra Club three of the richest bullies on the block?
President Obama's anti-carbon emissions program is a classic
illustration of how liberal elites shape federal regulatory
policies. The New York Times on Sunday posted a revealing story
that described in detail how two lawyers and a
climate-scientist-turned-lobbyist at the Natural Resources
Defense Council crafted a 110-page proposal that was Obama's
"blueprint." Posted.
http://washingtonexaminer.com/are-natural-resources-defense-council-environmental-defense-fund-and-sierra-club-three-of-the-richest-bullies-on-the-block/article/2550537


Two Approaches to Tidal Politics.  The politics of climate change
are veering in starkly different directions in the neighboring
states of North Carolina and Virginia. Foolhardy denial about the
severity of rising seas is underway in North Carolina, where the
Republican Legislature, prodded by tourism-dependent coastal
counties and alarmed homeowners, ordered a state commission of
experts to soften its estimate that coastal waters could rise 39
inches by the end of the century. Posted.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/07/opinion/climate-change-politics-north-carolina-virginia.html?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Aw%2C[%22RI%3A7%22%2C%22RI%3A12%22]

 
Editorial Building L.A. County segment would accelerate bullet
train project. The "train to nowhere" is beginning to look a bit
more like a train to somewhere. Flush with $250 million this year
and the promise of billions more from the state's cap-and-trade
program, the California High Speed Rail Authority has proposed
accelerating plans to build the segment of the bullet train that
will run through Los Angeles County. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-high-speed-rail-20140706-story.html


Cap-and-trade won't help in the Delta. Re "Polluter games aren't
so cool" (Dan Morain, June 29): Dan Morain is correct in calling
cap-and-trade pollution laws into question and looking for better
ways to handle pollution. He needs to look no further than
Chapter 22 of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan's Environment
Impact Report which concerns pollution. Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/2014/07/06/6521910/cap-n-trade-wont-help-in-the-delta.html#storylink=cpy


The risky business of not facing up to climate change: Editorial.
 Unafraid to make use of the commonest economic-political cliche
of our time, a new group announced itself last fall thusly: “If
the United States were run like a business, its board of
directors would fire its financial advisers for failing to
disclose the significant and material risks associated with
unmitigated climate change.” Nothing wrong with a cliche in the
service of the greater good.  Posted.
http://www.sbsun.com/opinion/20140705/the-risky-business-of-not-facing-up-to-climate-change-editorial


The time to act on global warming is now. It appears that
concerns about climate change from global warming have not been
exaggerated. Climate change appears to be happening now and this
can have potentially serious damaging effects on the health of
people. A calculation of the cumulative cost of carbon dioxide
emissions offers new insights into the question of who is
actually responsible for climate change…Posted.
http://www.examiner.com/article/the-time-to-act-on-global-warming-is-now


BLOGS

Bill would delay cap-and-trade effects on gas. A Fresno Democrat
has introduced a bill that would postpone a change in
California's carbon-emissions law that is expected to push up gas
prices for consumers, several news organizations reported late
last week. AB 69 by Henry Perea would delay by three years a rule
that would extend cap-and-trade requirements to transportation
fuels, noted Jeremy White in the Sacramento Bee. That means
refiners would have to purchase credits to offset the
environmental effects of their products. Posted.
http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/blog/morning-roundup/2014/07/bill-would-delay-cap-and-trade-effects-on-gas.html


California's Climate Revolution: Could It Change the National
Conversation? Largely under the radar of national and even local
media, California has begun a quiet revolution in climate policy
that could change the whole national conversation about curbing
global warming. Advocates of strong climate change policies have
had an immense political challenge that goes far beyond debunking
the antiscientific rants of global warming deniers. Posted.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/preeti-vissa/californias-climate-revol_b_5563386.html


Climate Change This Week: Patriots Win the Fracking War, and
More! Today, the Earth got a little hotter, and a little more
crowded. Daily Climate Change: Global Map of Unusual
Temperatures, July 5, 2014 How unusual has the weather been? No
one event is "caused" by climate change, but global warming,
which is predicted to increase unusual, extreme weather, is
having a daily effect on weather, worldwide. 
Posted.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mary-ellen-harte/climate-change-this-week_b_5561786.html

 



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