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newsclips -- ARB Newsclips for May 4, 2015.
Posted: 04 May 2015 14:20:36
ARB Newsclips for May 4, 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. CAP AND TRADE Europe's top carbon emitters swap 255 million UN offsets for EU permits. Firms in Europe’s Emissions Trading System (ETS) have swapped a total of 255 million U.N.-backed carbon offsets for European Union emissions allowances (EUAs) from April 2013-2014, data published by the European Commission showed on Monday. Traders in the EU carbon market watch the swap figure because it can indicate both the current supply of EUAs and the future demand for offsets. http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/04/us-europe-carbontrading-offset-idUSKBN0NP1L620150504 Study Finds Symbiotic Relationship Between Voluntary, Compliance Markets. When the US state of California developed its high-profile cap-and-trade program, it drew on (and supported) voluntary markets across North America. Many thought that when the state’s compliance market kicked in, the voluntary markets would quietly fade away. Instead, an Ecosystem Marketplace analysis of 2014 offset transactions across North America shows there is more than enough room for both – with voluntary volume even higher than compliance volume. http://www.ecosystemmarketplace.com/pages/dynamic/article.page.php?page_id=10937§ion=news_articles&eod=1 AIR POLLUTION The High Price of China's Smoggy Skies. A documentary on air pollution hopes to spur action. Rachel Carson's 1962 take on the environmental damage wrought by the U.S. chemical industry in The Silent Spring is credited with spurring a nationwide ban on the use of DDT in agriculture. Al Gore's 2006 documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, and his 1,000-plus live slideshow presentations brought global warming to the masses. Now, China has Under the Dome. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-02/the-high-price-of-china-s-smoggy-skies Scientists: EPA’s curbs on coal-burning will save thousands of lives. The Obama administration’s proposed curbs on coal-burning power plants could prevent thousands of deaths each year from heart attack and respiratory disease, scientists said Monday in the first peer-reviewed study to examine the measure’s health impacts. Many parts of the country could see immediate improvements in air quality as a side-effect… http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/05/04/scientists-epas-curbs-on-coal-burning-will-save-thousands-of-lives/ http://www.nbc12.com/story/28970789/study-cutting-carbon-dioxide-saves-3500-us-lives-a-year How Growth in Dairy Is Affecting the Environment. On a map he keeps in his office, Tom Frantz, an environmental activist and retired math teacher, notes a spot near his home that he says is within a five-mile radius of 10 big dairy farms and about 60,000 cows. This town, in the very fertile but poor and badly polluted San Joaquin Valley in California, is near the heart of dairy country in a state that produces 20 percent of America’s milk. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/04/business/energy-environment/how-growth-in-dairy-is-affecting-the-environment.html?ref=us Study links childhood toxin exposure, poverty to lower IQs. Airborne toxins and poverty combine to lower children's intelligence, according to a recent study of New York City children. Columbia University researchers found that children from low-income households who are exposed to airborne chemicals before birth demonstrated lower IQs than children from more economically secure households who were exposed to less pollution. http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2015/05/04/stories/1060017910 CLIMATE CHANGE Ex-US Rep. Inglis gets JFK courage award for climate stance. Former U.S. Rep. Bob Inglis received the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award on Sunday for reversing his position on climate change despite the predictable political fallout that helped cost the South Carolina Republican his seat in Congress. Kennedy's grandson, Jack Schlossberg, presented the award to Inglis… http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_PROFILE_IN_COURAGE_AWARD?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT Correction: Greenhouse Gases-California-Things to Know story. In a story April 29 about Gov. Jerry Brown's new target for reducing carbon emissions, The Associated Press reported erroneously that California has cut its emissions to about 25 percent below 1990 levels. The state is on track to cut its emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 but does not plan to reduce emissions beyond that before 2020. A corrected version of the story is below: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_GREENHOUSE_GASES_CALIFORNIA_THINGS_TO_KNOW?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT Pakistan pushes to put stalled climate policy into action. Pakistan's provinces will create committees to oversee reductions in carbon emissions and support climate change adaptation, in a push to implement a long-stalled national climate policy. Under an agreement reached at the first meeting of the National Climate Change Policy Implementation Committee in late April, climate change sections will be established… http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/04/us-pakistan-climate-idUSKBN0NP0HL20150504 China says climate change threatens major projects. Climate change threatens some of China's most important infrastructure projects, China's top meteorologist warned in a state newspaper, adding the country's rate of warming was higher than the global average. http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/04/us-climatechange-china-idUSKBN0NP05Z20150504 Fjords are unexpected natural allies against climate change: study. Fjords from Alaska to Norway soak up potentially damaging carbon from the atmosphere, making the steep-sided inlets an overlooked natural ally in offsetting man-made climate change, a study showed on Monday. Fjords cover only 0.1 percent of the world's ocean surface but account for 11 percent of the organic carbon in plants… http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/04/us-climatechange-fjords-idUSKBN0NP1DI20150504 Limiting global warming to 2 degrees 'inadequate', scientists say. Holding global warming to a 2-degree Celsius temperature rise – the cornerstone of an expected new global climate agreement in December – will fail to prevent many of climate change's worst impacts, a group of scientists and other experts warned Friday. With a 2-degree temperature hike, small islands in the Pacific may become uninhabitable, weather-related disasters… http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/01/us-climatechange-temperature-idUSKBN0NM40820150501 Report: Global emissions goals still aren’t enough to prevent a dangerous level of climate warming. When it comes to combating climate change, many scientists and policy makers focus on one major goal: cut carbon emissions enough to keep the planet’s average surface temperature from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius above its pre-industrial level. http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/05/04/report-global-emissions-goals-still-arent-enough-to-prevent-a-dangerous-level-of-climate-warming/ One in six species could be wiped out by climate change, study says. About one in six species now alive on the planet could become extinct as a result of climate change, according to a study published in Friday’s edition of the journal Science. If present trends continue, the Earth’s temperature will wind up 4.3 degrees Celsius higher than it was before the onset of the industrial era. http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-climate-change-species-extinction-20150501-story.html Clean Power Plan protects public health as much as high carbon tax – paper. U.S. EPA's Clean Power Plan will protect public health as much as a very stringent carbon tax would, but at less cost to consumers, a paper published today found. The paper, by researchers at Harvard University and the Washington, D.C., think tank Resources for the Future (RFF), says that a flexible nationwide model roughly approximating EPA's proposal for carbon dioxide from existing power plants… http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2015/05/04/stories/1060017930 DROUGHT Drought’s Extremes Can Be Measured at Record-Low Lake Mead. Gail Kaiser has spent much of her life here on Lake Mead, with its crystal blue water pouring into canyons and splintering off like blood vessels into coves and bays, forming the vast reservoir that stretches into two states. She was just a child when, in 1957, her father took over the marina that has stayed in her family’s hands ever since. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/05/us/droughts-extremes-can-be-measured-at-record-low-lake-mead.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0 Central Valley's growing concern: Crops raised with oil field water. Here in California's thirsty farm belt, where pumpjacks nod amid neat rows of crops, it's a proposition that seems to make sense: using treated oil field wastewater to irrigate crops. Oil giant Chevron recycles 21 million gallons of that water each day and sells it to farmers who use it on about 45,000 acres of crops, about 10% of Kern County's farmland. http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-drought-oil-water-20150503-story.html#page=1 Dozens of agencies seek to alter reports on how much water residents used. When California’s State Water Resources Control Board announced last month that it was basing its orders for mandatory water cutbacks on each community’s per capita water use, it elevated a somewhat obscure figure into the spotlight: residential gallons of water used per person per day. http://www.sacbee.com/news/investigations/the-public-eye/article20156682.html#storylink=cpyhttp://www.sacbee.com/news/investigations/the-public-eye/article20156682.html#storylink=cpy California Drought Kills 12 Million Forest Trees Since Last Year. An estimated 12 million trees across California’s forestlands have died over the past year because of extreme drought conditions, according to an aerial survey conducted April 8-17 by the U.S. Forest Service. In San Diego County, 82,528 trees, mostly Jeffrey pines across Mt. Laguna, have succumbed to a lack of rainfall, with many more struggling to survive… http://www.kpbs.org/news/2015/may/04/california-drought-kills-12-million-forest-trees-l/ California drought: Landscape of abundance becomes landscape of scarcity. Photographer Matt Black grew up in California's Central Valley. He has dedicated his life to documenting the area's small towns and farmers. Last year, he says he realized what had been a mild drought was now severe. http://www.scpr.org/news/2015/05/04/51429/california-drought-landscape-of-abundance-becomes/ Drought forces Lake Mead marina to move. One measure of how hard the Western drought has been on boaters and marina owners in the West can be found at Lake Mead in Nevada, where crews recently began the process of moving a marina farther out into the lake. The lake, which is part of the Colorado River system, feeds into the Hoover Dam. http://www.tradeonlytoday.com/2015/05/lake-mead-marina-forced-move-drought/ FUELS The Shale Boom Has Already Gone Bust - At Least for Now. The meteoric rise in U.S. oil production has ended, easing a global glut and driving a rebound in crude prices from below $50 a barrel, according to crude trader and hedge fund manager Andrew J. Hall. “We have now reached a turning point,” Hall said in a letter Friday to investors in Astenbeck Capital Management LLC, his commodities hedge fund. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-03/the-shale-boom-has-already-gone-bust-at-least-for-now New Oil Train Rules Are Hit From All Sides. Ending months of uncertainty and delays, federal regulators on Friday unveiled new rules for transporting crude oil by trains, saying the measures would improve rail safety and reduce the risks of a catastrophic event. But the rules quickly came under criticism from many sides. Lawmakers and safety advocates said the regulations did not go far enough in protecting the public… http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/02/business/energy-environment/us-sets-new-rules-for-oil-shipments-by-rail.html?ref=energy-environment&_r=0 With its pilot project, one Irvine company is turning emissions into electricity. One thousand cubic feet of methane is flared every minute at Santiago Canyon Landfill, methane generated by 23.7 million cubic yards of trash now capped by 5 feet of dirt and blanketed by coastal sage scrub. The burning prevents a powerful, heat-trapping greenhouse gas – about 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide – from getting into the atmosphere and speeding global warming. http://www.ocregister.com/articles/landfill-660309-electricity-core.html RFS delay has 'chilled necessary investment' in industry – report. The Obama administration's delays in setting annual renewable fuel targets are responsible for up to a $13.7 billion shortfall in investment for the advanced biofuels industry, according to a new industry report. The Biotechnology Industry Organization report also found that the delays at U.S. EPA have limited the industry's ability to create more than 80,000 direct jobs. http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2015/05/04/stories/1060017924 VEHICLES SGL Carbon Jumps as Investors See Benefit From Tesla Batteries. SGL Carbon SE shares climbed the most in almost three months as investors anticipate the maker of carbon components could benefit from Tesla Motors Inc.’s push into batteries that store electricity for buildings. SGL supplies graphite anodes to Japanese electronics companies Hitachi Ltd. and Panasonic Corp., which in turn sell components to electric carmaker Tesla, according to Marc Gabriel, a Bielefeld, Germany-based analyst at Bankhaus Lampe. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-04/sgl-carbon-jumps-as-investors-see-benefit-from-tesla-batteries U.S. Auto Buyers Spend to Trade Up. Buyers’ demand for more luxury in new vehicles shows up in rising prices paid. Americans snapped up pricey automobiles in April amid low gasoline prices and favorable lending terms, with buyers paying on average hundreds of dollars more than in the same period a year ago. In a season when the pace of auto sales typically weakens… http://www.wsj.com/articles/chrysler-sales-rise-5-8-in-april-1430484083?KEYWORDS=emissions Chevy Volt Emits Significantly Less Smog-Forming Pollution Than Other PHEVs. The Chevy Volt is in a class of its own compared to other plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). The Volt emits significantly less smog-forming pollution than other PHEVs, according to a GM study presented to the Society of Automotive Engineers. Furthermore, GM-Volt reports that the engineering analysis for the new 2016 Volt that will be on the market soon… http://cleantechnica.com/2015/05/02/chevy-volt-emits-significantly-less-smog-forming-pollution-phevs/ GREEN ENERGY Supreme Court to Review FERC Energy Saving Rule. Court will consider the case during its next term, which begins in October. The Supreme Court said Monday it would consider whether a federal regulator overstepped its authority with a rule to promote energy conservation using incentives for big energy consumers to cut power use. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which oversees wholesale electricity markets, had appealed a lower court decision striking down the 2011 regulation… http://www.wsj.com/articles/supreme-court-to-review-ferc-energy-saving-rule-1430748924?KEYWORDS=emissions New utility-driven community solar program takes shape in Calif. A new chapter in utilities' relationship with rooftop solar is evolving in California. The state's three major investor-owned utilities are developing proposals to buy rooftop solar power and sell it to customers who want to be greener than the norm. There are community renewables programs under development or already being implemented in several other states, including Colorado… http://www.eenews.net/energywire/stories/1060017807/search?keyword=california MISCELLANEOUS The Uphill Battle to Better Regulate Formaldehyde. A decade after emergency trailers meant to shelter Hurricane Katrina victims instead caused burning eyes, sore throats and other more serious ailments, the Environmental Protection Agency is on the verge of regulating the culprit: formaldehyde, a chemical that can be found in commonplace things like clothes and furniture. But an unusual assortment of players, including furniture makers, the Chinese government… http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/04/business/energy-environment/the-uphill-battle-to-better-regulate-formaldehyde.html Coal ash contamination upsets residents near North Carolina plants. As a boy, Ron Thomas often watched murky water pour from a pipe into the Yadkin River behind his family's farmhouse, dumped from coal ash storage ponds at Duke Energy's Buck electricity plant. Now 80, Thomas worries that he and his wife, Joann, 72, have for decades been drinking well water contaminated by the ponds. http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-coal-ash-pollution-20150504-story.html#page=1 Compressed Air Car Wins $5 Million Deal on Shark Tank. AIRPod, a $10,000 car that runs on compressed air, has won a development deal on the American TV program “Shark Tank.” Robert Herjavec, one of the investors, or sharks, Friday night agreed to invest US$5 million in Zero Pollution Motors, the U.S. licensee for Luxembourg-based MDI, developer of the Air Car as a compression-based alternative to the internal combustion engine. http://ens-newswire.com/2015/05/04/compressed-air-car-wins-5-million-deal-on-shark-tank/ OPINIONS Carbon Taxes In Revenue Fantasyland. There’s nothing neutral about plans for offsetting the added expenses. Let’s take a look at Yale’s new green brainstorm. The words “carbon tax” are appearing ever more frequently on the lips of economists and policy makers. Earlier this month, former Rep. Bob Inglis (R., S.C.) received the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for advocating it. http://www.wsj.com/articles/carbon-taxes-in-revenue-fantasyland-1430436869?KEYWORDS=emissions Gov. Brown strikes a blow for climate science. To the editor: The reverberating power of one single state finally doing the right thing to address the most critical and urgent threat to humanity cannot be underestimated. Gov. Jerry Brown has thrown down the gauntlet, challenging other politicians of conscience to follow. http://www.latimes.com/opinion/readersreact/la-le-0503-sunday-climate-change-20150503-story.html The GOP attack on climate change science takes a big step forward. Living down to our worst expectations, the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology voted Thursday to cut deeply into NASA's budget for Earth science, in a clear swipe at the study of climate change. The committee's markup of the NASA authorization bill for fiscal 2016 and 2017 passed on a party-line vote, Republicans in the majority. http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-gop-attack-on-climate-change-science-20150501-column.html BLOGS With Pope Francis’s Encyclical on Climate Change Done, Now a Vatican Sales Push – and Pushback. The much-anticipated environmental encyclical that Pope Francis plans to issue this summer is already being translated into the world’s major languages from the Latin final draft, so there’s no more tweaking to be done, several people close to the process have told me in recent weeks. http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/04/28/spin-substance-and-pope-franciss-environmental-encyclical/?emc=edit_tnt_20150504&nlid=46426900&tntemail0=y&_r=0 Q. and A.: Ma Jun on Using Mobile Phones to Fight Pollution. Ma Jun, a former journalist who has become one of China’s most prominent environmentalists, was recently honored with a Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship for the work of his nongovernmental organization, the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, in increasing awareness about sources of pollution in China. http://sinosphere.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/04/28/q-and-a-ma-jun-on-using-mobile-phones-to-fight-pollution/?emc=edit_tnt_20150504&nlid=46426900&tntemail0=y Catastrophic California drought causing infestation wave of rodents looking for water. As California's climate fades to desert, rats are coming out of their hiding places in search of water. They are coming out to parks to steal water from dog bowls and attacking horse troughs in desperate need of something to drink. They are finding new ways into homes and becoming a menace like never before. http://www.naturalnews.com/049588_California_drought_rat_infestation_thirsty_rodents.html#ixzz3ZBpHr4Vw Refrigeration Battery is a cool idea for saving energy at the supermarket. Elon Musk gets all the pixels for his new Powerwall battery system, but here's another cool battery that is making a splash. It's the Refrigeration Battery from Axiom. Apparently those giant coolers and fridges full of all that unhealthy frozen prepared food eat up 56 percent of a grocery store's electricity. http://www.treehugger.com/energy-efficiency/refrigeration-battery-cool-idea-saving-energy-supermarket.html Warm Oceans Caused The Mega-Drought And Hottest Years In The 1934-36 Dust Bowl. Two ocean hot spots have been linked to the hottest summers on record for the central United States, in 1934 and 1936. Those two summers and the "Dust Bowl" that saw farming devastated were accompanied by the worst drought in America of the last 1,000 years. http://www.science20.com/news_articles/warm_oceans_caused_the_megadrought_and_hottest_years_in_the_193436_dust_bowl-155308#ixzz3ZBnBZG5z A Novel Dutch Lawsuit Demands Government Cut Carbon Emissions. A lawsuit in the Netherlands is taking an unusual approach to climate change. So unusual, in fact, that experts around the world are watching it closely, wondering whether it might spark a major shift in environmentalists' efforts to limit carbon emissions. http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2015/05/04/401971833/a-novel-dutch-lawsuit-demands-govt-cut-carbon-emissions California is in a drought emergency. Visit www.SaveOurH2O.org for water conservation tips.