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ARB Newsclips for August 1, 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

Tougher Ozone Standard Would Cost Billions, Shutter Coal Plants:
Industry. A more stringent national ambient air quality standard
for ozone could cost the U.S. economy up to $270 billion per year
and force the closure of one-third of the nation's coal-fired
power plants, according to a report commissioned by the National
Association of Manufacturers. The report, released July 31,
outlines the economic effects of revising the current ozone
standard of 75 parts per billion to 60 parts per billion…Posted.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2014-08-01/tougher-ozone-standard-would-cost-billions-shutter-coal-plants-indusry.html


Shipping Rates Drop as China Hydro Power Cuts Coal Need. Record
production of hydropower from China’s Three Gorges and newer dams
is displacing so much coal that rates to transport it have
plunged to about record lows, roiling the shipping market. Daily
earnings for Panamaxes, vessels that are about 750 feet long and
get most of their spot cargoes from hauling coal, slumped as much
as 76 percent this year, getting to within $26 of an all-time
low. Posted.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2014-07-31/shipping-rates-suffer-as-china-hydro-curbs-coal-imports-freight.html


CLIMATE CHANGE

Brazil Challenges Rich Nations to Better Its Carbon Cuts. Brazil
said it reduced greenhouse-gas emissions by 3.2 billion metric
tons in the five years through 2010, equivalent to nine months of
output in the European Union and better than any rich nation.
Developed countries should focus on cutting their own emissions
rather than urging others to do so, the Brazilian Ministry of
External Relations said yesterday in an e-mailed response to
questions. Posted.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2014-08-01/brazil-challenges-rich-nations-to-better-its-climate-record.html


Climate change forces a new look at food production. According to
the Economist Intelligence Unit, China will import almost
one-third of all food available in the world by 2030. This will
likely drive up food costs as many countries simply responding to
market forces increase exports to China. In addition, the average
temperature and moisture levels in the Northeastern U.S. are
expected to continue to rise, and, as a result, there will be a
longer growing season and a greater variety of crops that can be
grown. Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/Climate-change-forces-a-new-look-at-food-5660317.php


DROUGHT

California’s Exceptional Drought Just Keeps Getting Worse.
California’s three-year drought just went from bad to dreadful.
In the course of the last week, the crimson expanse of
“exceptional drought” grew to engulf the northern part of the
state. The chart above shows the drought's progression as
reported today by the U.S. Drought Monitor. Archived maps show
the end of July for each year since 2011. Posted.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-31/california-s-exceptional-drought-spreads-north-as-water-supplies-drop.html


Fresno's stricter, twice-a-week watering rules begin Friday.
Fresno city officials said July 22 that, effective Friday,
residents may water two days a week rather than the current
three. The new rules are applicable to everyone from homeowners
and schools to businesses and government. Here are the highlights
of the rules, which are a response to California's ongoing
drought: Posted.
http://www.fresnobee.com/2014/07/31/4049775/new-fresno-city-watering-rules.html#storylink=cpy


Redlands implements water use restrictions, violations. The city
has implemented water use restrictions, which comes with a
violation process to ensure compliance. The State Water Resources
Control Board enacted restrictions on water use effective July
28, which requires cities throughout the state to implement
regulations on irrigation. Gov. Jerry Brown in January declared a
drought state of emergency due to severe drought conditions.
Posted.
http://www.redlandsdailyfacts.com/environment-and-nature/20140731/redlands-implements-water-use-restrictions-violations


VEHICLES

Tesla posts 2Q loss, prepares Nevada factory site. Electric car
maker Tesla Motors widened its loss in the second quarter as it
prepared for the launch of a new SUV and started work on a
massive new battery plant. Tesla said it started preparing a site
for the factory outside Reno, Nevada, last month. But the company
is still considering sites in California, New Mexico, Arizona and
Texas, and won't make a final decision for several months.
Posted.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_EARNS_TESLA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


Tesla Rises as Musk Sets Faster Production Pace for 2015. Tesla
Motors Inc. (TSLA) rose after the carmaker led by Elon Musk
reported second-quarter results that beat analysts’ estimates and
set a goal to double its pace of electric-vehicle production by
the end of 2015. Excluding some costs, earnings were 11 cents a
share in the quarter, the Palo Alto, California-based company
said yesterday in a statement on its website. Posted.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2014-07-31/tesla-model-s-sales-matched-estimates-on-china-shipments.html
http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-hy-tesla-earnings-20140801-story.html
Tesla and Panasonic Agree to Build Factory in U.S. Tesla Motors
announced on Thursday that it had an agreement with Panasonic to
build a large-scale battery plant in the United States. Hours
after the deal, the company said its losses grew in the second
quarter to nearly $62 million, or 50 cents a share, from $30.5
million in the year-ago quarter. But adjusted earnings were 11
cents a share, 7 cents higher than analysts estimated. Posted.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/01/business/tesla-and-panasonic-to-build-battery-factory-in-us.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=1

http://www.sacbee.com/2014/07/31/6596597/tesla-starts-gigafactory-in-reno.html#mi_rss=Our%20Region

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Reno-may-have-hit-jackpot-with-Tesla-Gigafactory-5660962.php

http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_26252541/tesla-motors-breaks-ground-reno-gigafactory-speeds-up?source=rss
http://www.contracostatimes.com/green-energy 

HIGH-SPEED RAIL

California bullet train project scores major court victory. in a
major victory for California’s bullet train project, an appellate
court Thursday overturned a lower court ruling that found the
state failed to comply with the law in developing a funding plan
for the $68 billion line between Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The new ruling sets aside a decision last year by Sacramento
Superior Court Judge Michael Kenny who found the state failed to
meet legal requirements, in part…Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-high-speed-rail-story.html?track=rss

http://www.mercurynews.com/california-high-speed-rail/ci_26254992/california-high-speed-rail-project-wins-big-appellate?source=rss


GREEN ENERGY

Goldman’s Icy Arbitrage Draws Interest to Meet EPA Rule.
Clustered deep beneath the trading floors of Goldman Sachs Group
Inc. (GS)’s Manhattan headquarters are 92 tanks with enough ice
for 3.4 million margaritas. Goldman runs chilled anti-freeze
through pipes connected to the 11-ton vessels during summer
nights -- when power costs less -- to freeze the water. That ice
is used the next day in its air-conditioning system, when
high-demand electricity comes with a surcharge. Posted.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2014-08-01/goldman-s-icy-arbitrage-draws-interest-to-meet-epa-rule.html


OPINIONS

California needs to overhaul its protection of groundwater. There
are many environmentally worrisome aspects of oil and gas
production, and one is the injection of wastewater back into the
ground. This process — a way of disposing of the contaminated
water created during the drilling process — is done in
conventional oil and gas drilling, and is even more common in
fracking, which uses large amounts of water to fracture rock and
release oil. The concern is that the injection process can end up
poisoning the aquifers that provide drinking water. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-aquifer-fracking-20140801-story.html


Opinion: Where’s the balance? I believe all Californians are
environmentalists. Who doesn’t want clean air and clean water? I
believe all Californians are environmentalists. Who doesn’t want
clean air and clean water? So I’ve always been troubled that
single-issue advocacy groups have hijacked the term
“environmentalist” and under that umbrella pushed specific
agendas that do little more than swell the coffers of those
advocacy groups, grow the size of government and ignore the
economic impact on Californians. Posted.
http://www.signalscv.com/section/33/article/125024/ 

BLOGS

California’s Biggest Water Source Shrouded in Secrecy. There’s an
“alarming lack of information” about California’s biggest
reservoir, finds a major new analysis of the state’s groundwater
resources. As water levels dwindle in California’s rivers and
reservoirs, many farmers and water districts are relying on the
state’s vast underground reservoirs instead. In drought years,
groundwater provides up to 60 percent of California’s water
supply, according to rough estimates by state officials. Posted.
http://blogs.kqed.org/science/2014/07/31/californias-biggest-water-source-shrouded-in-secrecy/


Using CO2 Emissions to Pump Oil May Help the Climate. Carbon
capture and storage is often talked about as a way to keep major
polluters’ carbon dioxide emissions out of the atmosphere by
tucking them away safely underground forever. But carbon capture
and storage, or CCS, could be used more often in a rather
counterintuitive way: To produce crude oil, which releases its
own CO2 emissions when it’s burned, helping drive climate change.
Posted.
http://www.climatecentral.org/news/co2-emissions-to-pump-oil-may-help-climate-17838


Turning a slate quarry green: 40 years of Centre for Alternative
Technology. Welsh hippies ushered in an era of sustainable living
well before the world had woken up to climate change. Hippies in
a slate quarry in Wales are celebrating four decades of green
revolution this weekend, having transformed the character of a
local town, pioneered new energy technologies and constructed a
water-powered railway. Posted.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/aug/01/turning-a-slate-quarry-green-40-years-of-centre-for-alternative-technology





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