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newsclips -- ARB Newsclips for April 16, 2015.
Posted: 16 Apr 2015 15:24:46
ARB Newsclips for April 16, 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. AIR POLLUTION Some governors push back over McConnell letter to defy EPA. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's call for governors to defy proposed federal rules to limit pollution has been met with mostly silence, but leaders in downwind New England states and drought-stricken areas in the West are pushing back. The Kentucky Republican wrote to all the nation's governors in March after the Environmental Protection Agency… http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_EPA_RULES_GOVERNORS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT How Do You Keep Your Kids Healthy in Smog-Choked China? On a recent morning in Arizona, my two young sons padded out into their grandparents’ garden to marvel at the flowers of a hedgehog cactus. The spectacular pink and yellow blossoms of this particular plant burst open once a year and last for only a day. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/16/magazine/how-do-you-keep-your-kids-healthy-in-smog-choked-china.html?_r=0 CLIMATE CHANGE Court skeptical of challenge to Obama's climate change plan. Two out of three judges on a federal appeals court panel are expressing doubts about a legal challenge to the Obama administration's far-reaching plan to address climate change. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit heard arguments Thursday in two cases challenging the Environmental Protection Agency's proposal to cut heat-trapping pollution from the nation's coal-fired power plants. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CLEAN_AIR_LAWSUITS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT Other related articles: http://www.latimes.com/nation/sns-tns-bc-env-climatechange-20150415-story.html http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/17/us/legal-battle-begins-over-obama-bid-to-curb-greenhouse-gases.html?_r=1 Ban Ki-Moon Presses Rich Nations for $100 Billion Climate Plan. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon stepped up pressure on the richest nations and investors to detail how they will meet a pledge to provide developing nations $100 billion a year for climate-related programs by 2020. The United Nations will convene a meeting on the issue in New York next month and wants clear commitments on support for the least-developed countries and islands most at risk of being swamped by rising sea levels, Ban said on Wednesday. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-15/ban-ki-moon-presses-rich-nations-for-100-billion-climate-plan Vatican Announces Major Summit On Climate Change. Catholic officials announced on Tuesday plans for a landmark climate change-themed conference to be hosted at the Vatican later this month, the latest in Pope Francis’ faith-rooted campaign to raise awareness about global warming. The summit, which is scheduled for April 28 and entitled “Protect the Earth, Dignify Humanity. http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/04/15/3647548/vatican-announces-major-summit-climate-change/ Four things Ontario’s cap-and-trade plan must get right. This week, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne made a major announcement in the battle against climate change: Ontario will join Quebec and California in a “cap and trade” system to limit greenhouse-gas emissions. This is an important continuation of the trend to using carbon pricing to cut such emissions and Ontario’s decision to move ahead represents a very positive step forward for Canada. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/four-things-ontarios-cap-and-trade-plan-must-get-right/article23986697/ State may have undercounted wildfire emissions when establishing climate target – study. California's pursuit of greenhouse gas reductions could be complicated by uncertainty about how much carbon the state's forests contain. A new study by scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, and the National Park Service finds that California regulators may have underestimated the emissions generated by forest fires and deforestation when legislators passed the state's 2006 law, A.B. 32, that set a statewide 2020 target of 1990 emissions levels. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2015/04/16/stories/1060016885 Support for carbon tax reaches almost 70%. A large majority of Americans support taxing carbon emissions, according to polling results released yesterday, and favorability rises to two-thirds if the tax is used to send money back to households. The survey by Stanford University and Resources for the Future also found that efforts by environmental organizations to increase urgency around climate change by pointing to extreme weather isn't working, and neither are efforts to erode people's belief in global warming by questioning the science. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2015/04/16/stories/1060016859 Wildfires emit more greenhouse gases than assumed in state climate targets. The findings, published online today (Wednesday, April 15), in the journal Forest Ecology and Management, came from a collaborative project led by the National Park Service and UC Berkeley. The results could have implications for California’s efforts to meet goals mandated by the state Global Warming Solutions Act, or AB 32, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2020. The bill, which passed in 2006, assumed no net emissions for wildland ecosystems by 2020. https://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2015/04/15/california-carbon/ DROUGHT California faces fight over historic water rationing plans. More than 200 letters leveling criticisms at a plan to force Californians to slash urban water use by 25% make it clear just how difficult it will be for regulators to enforce Gov. Jerry Brown's unprecedented mandate. In the week since the State Water Resources Control Board announced its proposal to cut water use statewide, tiny rural towns, huge urban water agencies… http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-83310420/ Heat, drought, swimming pools helped spread record West Nile disease outbreak in Calif. Factors like drought, heat and neglected swimming pools converged to create California's record West Nile virus outbreak last year, experts say. Last week, the California Department of Public Health announced that 2014 was officially the state's worst year for the infection, with 31 fatalities. Health officials detected 801 infections, approaching the 2005 record of 880 cases. Orange County, which has more than 3 million residents and includes Anaheim, Santa Ana and Irvine, suffered 263 cases, the highest in the state. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2015/04/16/stories/1060016880 VEHICLES Hydrogen Fuel Cell Cars Return for Another Run. For decades, hydrogen has been the Dracula of automotive fuels: Just when you think a stake has been driven through its zero-emissions heart, the technology rises from the grave. In 2015, even with gasoline cheaper than it has been in years, hydrogen is back to haunt those who insist that battery electric vehicles are the long-term solution for reducing fossil fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/17/automobiles/hydrogen-fuel-cell-cars-return-for-another-run.html Scenarios For 2030 Zero-Emissions Cars In CA: Hydrogen Or Not? With epic smog in the Los Angeles Basin, the state of California has led the nation's charge to reduce emissions from road vehicles for more than half a century. And it is now state policy to reduce emissions of climate-change gases, primarily carbon dioxide, from its 30 million-plus road vehicles by a whopping 80 percent by 2050. http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1097840_scenarios-for-2030-zero-emissions-cars-in-ca-hydrogen-or-not GREEN ENERGY Apple digs in on green with China solar, US forest projects. In a quest to be more green, Apple says it is investing in Chinese solar power and preserving forests that make environmentally friendly paper. The initiatives come as the tech giant this year met a self-imposed goal of powering all its U.S. operations with renewable energy to reduce carbon emissions - initiatives that have won high marks from environmental groups. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TEC_APPLES_FORESTS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT BP dropped green energy projects worth billions to focus on fossil fuels. Oil firm invested billions of pounds in clean and low-carbon energy in the 80s and 90s but later abandoned meaningful efforts to move away from fossil fuels and locked away the research. BP pumped billions of pounds into low-carbon technology and green energy over a number of decades but gradually retired the programme to focus almost exclusively on its fossil fuel business, the Guardian has established. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/apr/16/bp-dropped-green-energy-projects-worth-billions-to-focus-on-fossil-fuels BLOGS Climate Action Is Driving Innovation and Our Economy. Forty-four years ago this month, EPA announced its first set of national air quality standards under the Clean Air Act. That's 44 years of people breathing easier, staying healthier and, for many, knowing they can walk outside and see the beauty of the mountains and blue skies that surround them. There's another big benefit of these standards and other actions we've taken under the Clean Air Act that we don't talk about enough: They help grow our economy. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gina-mccarthy/climate-action-is-driving_b_7072048.html How Almonds Became A Scapegoat For California's Drought. You may have heard by now that it takes one gallon of water to produce just one almond. And those are considered fighting words in drought-stricken California, which produces 80 percent of the world's supply of the tasty and nutritious nut. So when almond grower Daniel Bays hears that, he just shakes his head. "Almonds really aren't more thirsty than any of our other crops, " says Bays, a third-generation farmer in Westley, Calif. It's a small farming community about 90 minutes southeast of San Francisco where his family has about 700 acres of almond orchards. They also grow tomatoes, melons, beans, wheat and apricots. http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2015/04/16/399958203/how-almonds-became-a-scapegoat-for-californias-drought California is in a drought emergency. Visit www.SaveOurH2O.org for water conservation tips.