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newsclips -- ARB Newsclips for June 12, 2015
Posted: 12 Jun 2015 13:27:47
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. UN CLIMATE TALKS Trust improving in complex UN climate talks, officials say. The latest round of U.N. climate talks in Bonn helped build trust among countries and kept the long trek to a new global climate deal on track, despite a lack of substantive progress over the past two weeks, officials and experts said. At the meeting which ended on Thursday, negotiators slimmed down the cumbersome 90-page text of a draft deal by a few pages as the language was edited - but no options were weeded out. http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/12/climate-change-un-idUSL5N0YY1JT20150612 CAP AND TRADE Partisan divide stalls ideas for boosting California road-repair funding. State lawmakers are busy this week cobbling together a state budget plan that's due on Monday — but that isn't all they are wrestling with. Among big issues still looming is how to fix California’s roads. Everyone agrees that deteriorating highways are becoming more hazardous. The Brown administration reports the state has deferred some $59 billion in road maintenance. But partisan divisions may block allocation of additional funding for road repair. http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/news/2015/06/11/partisan-divide-stalls-ideas-for-boosting.html CLIMATE CHANGE The Weird Effect Climate Change Will Have On Plant Growth. Add the hindering of plant growth to the long and growing list of the ways climate change may affect life on our planet. The number of days when plants can grow could decrease by 11% by 2100 assuming limited efforts to stall climate change, affecting some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people, according to a new study in PLOS Biology. http://time.com/3916200/climate-change-plant-growth/ Oil bosses break long climate silence with urgent initiative. For an industry used to cautious, long-term evolution, the speed at which leaders of Europe's biggest oil and gas companies moved to take a joint stand in the climate debate speaks volumes. Discrete talks in the eyrie of Davos in January led to a spontaneous, light bulb moment on a stage in Oslo in February. The result: a joint statement two months later. The executives agreed they had to go public, and with alacrity. http://www.businessinsider.com/r-oil-bosses-break-long-climate-silence-with-urgent-initiative-2015-6 DIESEL ACTIVITIES Study Finds Health Problems From Diesel Fuel. Emissions from ships that switch from fuel oil to cleaner-burning diesel may still cause health problems, according to a new study. Scientists studying the effects of maritime ship emissions on lung cells observed a stronger “biological response” to diesel-fuel emissions than heavy fuel oil exhaust. http://www.wsj.com/articles/study-finds-health-problems-from-diesel-fuel-1434036637 Order Reefers Now for CARB Upgrade. Owners of transport refrigeration units may need to think about upgrading their reefer units, says the California Air Resources Board. Model year 2008 units dominate the roads, and those units must be replaced by the end of the year. https://www.gobytrucknews.com/order-reefers-now-for-carb-upgrade/123 DROUGHT Dying trees may force a new outlook on irrigation during drought. The needles on the redwoods that welcome visitors to Griffith Park have faded to brown over the last two years. Laura Bauernfeind has watched the trees slowly die and workers eventually arrive, chain saws buzzing, to fell the husks one by one. "I would be lying if I said it was not disheartening," said Bauernfeind, principal forester with the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks. "We dedicate our careers here to sustaining our park trees." http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-drought-trees-20150612-story.html#page=1 'Extreme Drought' Expands In California. The latest U.S. Drought Monitor report shows that conditions worsened in two California counties in the midst of a fourth year of drought. The report released Thursday, June 11, shows the moisture from the remnants of Pacific Hurricane Andres "triggered showers and thunderstorms in the Four Corners region ... and with much of the region experiencing an unseasonably cool May and wet spring, some impacts have been observed." http://www.capradio.org/51111 Surprise storm means 48-hour sprinkler ban. Vicky Kearsey got out of bed when she heard rain this week and reprogrammed the sprinklers at her Moraga home to take advantage of the unexpected wet weather, to save water — and to comply with state law. Gov. Jerry Brown’s emergency drought regulations prohibit outdoor watering within 48 hours of rain, with fines of up to $500 for violators. That restriction applied to nearly everywhere in the Bay Area after Wednesday’s rainfall, which brought a quarter-inch or more to many locations. http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Surprise-storm-means-48-hour-sprinkler-ban-6322145.php FUELS U.S. fracking rules to face early legal test. Energy industry groups and states that oppose new U.S. rules for hydraulic fracturing on public lands are headed to court this month to try to block the regulations a day before they are to take effect. Foes of the regulations will go before a federal judge on June 23 to seek a preliminary injunction. The Interior Department rules, slated to take effect on June 24, would require companies to provide data on chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and to take steps to prevent leakage from oil and gas wells on federally owned land. http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/11/us-usa-fracking-injunction-idUSKBN0OR2QQ20150611 VEHICLES Used Electric Cars: Which Hold Their Value Best? Which Is Worst?. Used electric cars starting to enter the market in higher numbers, letting advocates suggest that if the purchase price of a new plug-in car is too high, buyers can look at used options. The usual metric of retained-value calculations can be tricky for plug-ins, though because most buyers take advantage of Federal income-tax credits of $2,500 to $7,500. http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1098663_used-electric-cars-which-hold-their-value-best-which-is-worst GREEN ENERGY Can Solar Panels Help Solve California's Drought? From a distance, they almost look like a massive mosaic swimming-pool cover. They are photovoltaic panels, half-millimeter thick silicon wafers that are erected over reservoirs. Their function: Generate power while also conserving water. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-11/got-lots-of-sun-not-enough-water-there-s-a-solar-panel-for-you Clean Power Plan: Utility Industry Says It Will Do The 'Right Thing'. Despite their disparate interests and diverse geographies, U.S. utilities have locked shoulders, especially when it comes to federalenergy policies. At the core of their communique is the will to work with the Obama administration to reduce carbon emissions. http://www.forbes.com/sites/kensilverstein/2015/06/11/clean-power-plan-utility-industry-says-it-will-do-the-right-thing/ California moves closer to zero net energy for buildings. Buildings built in California starting in 2016 will have to comply with the nation’s toughest energy conservation standards. The California Energy Commission has unanimously approved building energy efficiency standards that it says will reduce energy costs, save consumers money, and increase comfort in new and upgraded homes and other buildings. http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com/stories/001/?ID=28492 MISCELLANEOUS Before Francis, Long Line of Popes Voiced Environment Alarm. Anxiety has gripped American conservatives over Pope Francis' upcoming encyclical on the environment. So much so that you might think a pope had never before blamed fossil fuels for global warming. Or accused energy companies of hoarding the Earth's resources at the expense of the poor. Or urged the rich to consume less and share more. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_REL_VATICAN_POPE_ENVIRONMENT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT BLOGS In San Diego and Elsewhere, Cleaner Driving and Cleaner Air within Sight. Recently, Politico announced what we at Sierra Club have long known: across the country, King Coal is on the ropes. In a long-form piece detailing the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign strategy and history of success, the numbers spoke for themselves. Sierra Club and our allies have, through grassroots organizing, lobbying, litigation, and media engagement, secured the retirement of one dirty coal-fired power plant every 10 days on average for the last five years--and are on track to have secured the retirement or announced retirement of one third of the coal fleet by year's end. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gina-coplonnewfield/in-san-diego-and-elsewher_b_7571150.html Climate Change and the Road to Paris: It's All About that Trust. The year of 2015 holds a promise to change the world. The United Nations is orchestrating a politically challenging agenda that counts among its goals the adoption of a framework for disaster risk reduction (achieved in March 2015), the agreement of long-term financing for international development, the creation of a post-2015 development agenda and concomitant sustainable development goals (known as the SDGs), and perhaps most importantly, settling once-and-for-all on how to tackle climate change during the UNFCCC climate negotiations scheduled for Paris in December. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nicole-de-paula/climate-change-and-the-road-to-paris-its-all-about-that-trust_b_7568302.html California is in a drought emergency. Visit www.SaveOurH2O.org for water conservation tips.