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ARB Newsclips for January 30, 2015. 

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.

CLIMATE CHANGE

EPA administrator at Vatican ahead of encyclical. The head of the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency met Friday with Vatican
officials who helped draft Pope Francis' upcoming encyclical on
ecology, evidence that the Obama administration is seeking to
hitch its climate-change message onto that of the popular pope.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_REL_VATICAN_CLIMATE_CHANGE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


Oregon snowpack at record lows. Oregon's mountain snowpack, vital
for farms, fish and ski resorts is in the midst of another
miserable year, posting record low depths despite normal
precipitation. The reason is persistent warm weather, which is
turning into the new normal as the climate heats up.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OR_OREGON_SNOWPACK?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


NASA moves Vandenberg satellite launch to Saturday. ASA has again
postponed the launch of a satellite on a mission to gather water
data that will help forecast weather, track drought and monitor
climate change. The second postponement came after inspections
revealed problems with the booster insulation of the United
Launch Alliance Delta II rocket that had been scheduled to launch
about 6:20 a.m. Friday, according to the agency.
http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-nasa-smap-satellite-launch-20150129-story.html


Climate change, vaccination: Scientists, public far apart in
concerns, poll shows. The American public and U.S. scientists are
light-years apart on science issues. And 98 percent of surveyed
scientists say it's a problem that we don't know what they're
talking about.  Scientists are far less worried about genetically
modified food, pesticide use, and nuclear power than is the
general public…
http://www.contracostatimes.com/nation-world/ci_27419638/climate-change-vaccination-scientists-public-far-apart-concerns


Obama’s Climate Plan Could Threaten U.S. Forests.  President
Obama’s signature environmental initiative, his Clean Power Plan,
is designed to fight climate change and crack down on America’s
carbon-emitting power plants. But behind the scenes, a dispute is
raging over obscure language that could promote the rapid
destruction of America’s carbon-storing forests.
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/01/obama-climate-plan-threatens-us-forests-114718.html#ixzz3QKYkavTn


Can a country slash its CO2 emissions and avoid electricity price
spikes at the same time? The goal is ambitious: Can Germany
successfully adapt its electricity market to a future where the
predominant power is renewable energy? The country is trying to
pull together its current plan to get there at a difficult
moment, when all across Europe, countries are suffering from
market conditions that favor a fuel switch from natural gas to
low-cost coal.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2015/01/30/stories/1060012563 

DROUGHT

Scientists see shrinking California snowpack as a harbinger.
State workers performed a California winter ritual Thursday,
poking hollow aluminum tubes into Sierra Nevada meadows to
measure the snowpack. In what scientists see as a harbinger, they
didn't find much. "We will conceivably see more years like this
in the future," said geologist Jeffrey Mount, a senior fellow at
the Public Policy Institute of California.
http://www.latimes.com/science/la-me-snowpack-20150130-story.html

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Snow-levels-in-the-Sierra-drop-to-among-the-6049548.php

http://www.bakersfieldcalifornian.com/local/x1992794447/Survey-Calif-short-on-snow-no-drought-relief-in-sight


Gov. Brown sees path to compromise drought legislation.
California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) yesterday expressed confidence in
congressional drought bill negotiations and said he thought
"changes" could be made to the state's water policies. When asked
about tensions between lawmakers over California's historic
drought, now stretching into a fourth year, Brown said he was
confident in President Obama's veto authority to produce a
workable bill.
http://www.eenews.net/eedaily/stories/1060012592/search?keyword=california


FUELS

Shell to revive plans to drill in Arctic. Royal Dutch Shell Plc
plans to resume drilling in Alaska this year even as it plans to
cut spending by $15 billion over the next three years because of
the drop in oil prices. Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden
said the Western Chukchi Sea had the potential to produce
billions of barrels of oil. "We're planning on drilling in Alaska
in 2015 subject to getting the permits and legal clearance," van
Beurden said on a conference call with reporters.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_BRITAIN_EARNS_ROYAL_DUTCH_SHELL?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


Environmental lawsuit targets oil-by-train terminal near Taft. A
coalition of environmental activists filed a lawsuit Thursday
that attempts to shut down a new oil-by-rail terminal northeast
of Taft. The suit in Kern County Superior Court alleges the San
Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District worked with the
terminal's owner…
http://www.bakersfieldcalifornian.com/business/kern-gusher/x1992794345/Environmental-lawsuit-targets-oil-by-train-terminal-near-Taft


End of the road for gas price decline? Six months of nearly
continuous gasoline price drops may be coming to an end as
wholesale prices have jumped about 35 cents in the last two
weeks. The national average retail price for a gallon of gas is
$2.051, up 1.3 cents from a week earlier. But prices may have a
bit further to drop in California. The state’s average price on
the last Friday of January is $2.436, down 3.3 cents from Jan.
23, the AAA says.
http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com/stories/001/?ID=27657 

 

California Waters Spared New Energy Leases. California’s offshore
waters will be excluded from any new oil or gas lease sales per a
draft of a five-year Oil and Gas Leasing Program announced by the
U.S. Department of Interior on Tuesday. The plan, which would
significantly open up new drilling in parts of the Atlantic Coast
and the Gulf of Mexico, creates a schedule to cover the specifics
of lease sales from 2017 to 2022.
http://www.independent.com/news/2015/jan/29/state-waters-spared-new-energy-leases/


Pipeline Ruptures Plague Oil and Gas Industry. It’s been a rough
start to 2015 for safety concerns at pipelines transporting oil,
natural gas or their byproducts throughout the country. This
week, a pipe in West Virginia became at least the fifth to
rupture so far this year, exacerbating concerns about structural
weaknesses and lax oversight in the industry.
http://www.chem.info/articles/2015/01/pipeline-ruptures-plague-oil-and-gas-industry

 
Pipeline not state-inspected before 3M-gallon saltwater leak. A
pipeline that ruptured in North Dakota spilling 3 million gallons
of saltwater produced during oil drill was not inspected by the
state before being installed. The North Dakota Industrial
Commission, which oversees the state's oil and gas industry, said
Wednesday that it's common for officials not to inspect such
small gathering pipelines before they become operational.
http://www.wral.com/warm-weather-snowmelt-slow-north-dakota-saltwater-cleanup/14399492/


GREEN ENERGY

Land commissioner halts huge renewable energy project. New Mexico
Land Commissioner Aubrey Dunn has put the brakes on a $2 billion
transmission project that would carry electricity generated by
renewable resources in New Mexico and Arizona to markets across
the West. Dunn announced late Wednesday that he was issuing a
60-day suspension after meeting with the developers. That delay
will give his office more time to review the project before any
further development affects state trust lands, he said.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SUNZIA_TRANSMISSION_LINE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


Why 50 million smart meters still haven’t fixed America’s energy
habits. Five years ago came the promise: A great new way of
saving money on your energy bills was on its way. An impressive
new device called a “smart meter” —  a key component of the much
touted “smart grid” —  would let consumers actually see how much
power they’re using in their homes, thus empowering them to
change their habits and slash their bills.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/01/29/americans-are-this-close-to-finally-understanding-their-electricity-bills/

California, U.S. energy plan to aid apartment dwellers. The
federal government, California and one of the nation's largest
foundations are teaming up to expand financing for energy
efficiency and solar energy in multifamily housing. Standing amid
an array of solar panels on the sun-drenched roof of a 151-unit
apartment building in the Tenderloin area…
http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_27420757/california-u-s-energy-plan-aid-apartment-dwellers


What Is Community Solar? It's Coming To California. Pacific Gas
and Electric Co. just received regulatory approval to offer its
customers an option to buy enough solar energy to account for
100% of their electricity needs. It’s part of a statewide effort
to provide clean energy to Californians who aren’t able to own or
lease their own rooftop solar panels.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/uciliawang/2015/01/30/what-is-community-solar-its-coming-to-california/


MISCELLANEOUS

Poll shows giant gap between what public, scientists think. The
American public and U.S. scientists are light-years apart on
science issues. And 98 percent of surveyed scientists say it's a
problem that we don't know what they're talking about. Scientists
are far less worried about genetically modified food, pesticide
use and nuclear power than is the general public…
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SCI_SCIENTISTS_VS_PUBLIC?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


BLOGS

Big Government versus the Small Operator. The new rules drafted
by the California Air Resources Board are designed to clean up
the environment — but the expensive retrofit facing one truck
driver is tough to swallow. The demands of business versus the
demands of the environment: It is a traditional tension,
especially in California, the state with the largest economy in
the U.S and arguably the country’s biggest pollution problem.
http://www.businessfleet.com/blog/auto-focus/story/2015/01/big-government-versus-the-small-operator.aspx?refresh=true


The Climate Post: U.S.-India Climate Agreement Less Substantive
Than U.S.-China Climate Deal. The U.S.-India climate agreement
announced Jan. 25 creates a new agreement between the second- and
third-largest emitters of greenhouse gases in the world but does
not have the strength of the U.S.-China climate deal reached last
year. Rather than committing India to cap its emissions, the
U.S.-India deal called for "enhancing bilateral climate change
cooperation"…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tim-profeta/the-climate-post-us-india_b_6574758.html


U of I at Chicago team to optimize new traffic-powered source of
electricity. The Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department
of the University of Illinois at Chicago has entered into an
agreement with New Energy Innovations, Inc. (NEI), to optimize
New Energy Innovations’ TPRES (Traffic Powered Renewable Energy
System), a new traffic-powered source of electricity that can be
deployed at intersections, municipalities, airport entrances,
toll booths…
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2015/01/20150130-tpres.html 

Did The DC Quick-Charging 'Standards War' Just Quietly End For
Electric Cars? Last week at the DC Auto Show, BMW, Volkswagen,
and ChargePoint jointly announced they would install about 100 DC
fast chargers for electric cars. Their goal is to create “Express
Charging Corridors,” on both the East and West coasts, by the end
of this year. The most intriguing news, however, was that the
hardware will--in most cases--offer fast charging for electric
cars using two different standards:
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1096556_did-the-dc-quick-charging-standards-war-just-quietly-end-for-electric-cars


UK Official Says Encouraging Diesel Cars To Lower Carbon Was
'Wrong' For at least 20 years, diesel cars have been much more
popular in Europe than in the United States. Because diesel
combustion is more efficient than gasoline combustion, the
engines help drivers save money on fuel--and produce lower
emissions of greenhouse gases.
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1096554_uk-official-says-encouraging-diesel-cars-to-lower-carbon-was-wrong

 
US Energy Department provides US$45 million funding for solar
manufacturing technologies. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz: “As
the price of solar continues to drop, the Energy Department is
committed to supporting a robust domestic solar manufacturing
sector that will help American business meet growing demand and
help American families and businesses save money by making solar
a cheaper and more accessible source of clean electricity.”
http://www.pv-tech.org/news/us_energy_department_provides_us45_million_funding_for_solar_manufacturing
 
 





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