What's New List Serve Post Display

ARB Newsclips for August 3, 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

Cap and trade pollution program still in its infancy. It was
mid-morning one day in May and somewhere deep inside a 25-story
tower in Sacramento, an auction, cloaked in secrecy, was about to
begin. There was no gavel pounding. No shouting. No frenzy of
traders running around. Instead, an unknown number of state
workers surrendered their cell phones, and took positions
monitoring computer screens…
http://www.dailydemocrat.com/general-news/20150801/cap-and-trade-pollution-program-still-in-its-infancy


Cap and trade: State senator a quiet force in the climate storm.
In a small hearing room decorated with paintings of birds and
flowers, state Sen. Fran Pavley — the great-granddaughter of a
three-time presidential candidate — sat down to present the bill
that will likely cement her legacy as the California
Legislature’s most accomplished environmentalist. As usual, her
tone was understated, and her style more patient schoolmarm than
zealous politician.
http://www.bakersfield.com/News/2015/08/01/Sen-Fran-Pavley-A-quiet-force-in-the-climate-storm.html


Cap and Trade: A how-to guide for Ontario. Ontario has pledged to
fight climate change with a ‘cap and trade’ system to limit
emissions. Success will lie in the execution, explains Kate
Heartfield, and the province can learn from the mistakes of
others. Climate change is a classic example of what is known as a
collective action problem.
http://ottawacitizen.com/news/politics/cap-and-trade-dos-and-donts


AIR POLLUTION

Beijing to limit cars, factories to ensure clean air for war
anniversary. Beijing will limit the number of vehicles on the
streets and shut factories to ensure clean air during a
commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the end of World War
Two, the government and media said on Monday. The heavily
polluted capital, often cloaked in a choking gray haze, will hold
a military parade on…
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/03/us-ww2-anniversary-china-idUSKCN0Q80Z820150803?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews


Burp by Burp, Fighting Emissions from Cows.  A new compound may
help slow climate change by reducing the methane belched by
cattle. At least one thing is true for cows around the world:
They all burp. All the time. This incessant belching expels an
impressive volume of greenhouse gases—mostly methane and carbon
dioxide. Added up, burps from cows account for 26 percent of the
United States' total methane emissions.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/08/150803-cows-burp-methane-climate-science/


Google Street View cars are starting to map air pollution.  A
small number of Google Street View cars are recording more than
photos of the road — they're also taking snapshots of the air
quality around them. Aclima, a company that creates networks of
environmental sensors, announced this week that it's been working
with Google to put air quality detectors on some of its cars.
http://www.theverge.com/2015/7/29/9067171/street-view-car-air-quality-detection-google-aclima


CLIMATE CHANGE/CLEAN POWER PLAN

Obama Announces Rule to Cut Carbon Emissions From Power Plants.
Final regulation calls for 32% cut in emissions by 2030 from 2005
levels. President Barack Obama on Monday announced the nation’s
first-ever federal limits on carbon emissions from power plants,
his administration’s opening pitch ahead of an international
climate conference later this year where he hopes to forge a
global accord to cut emissions.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/obama-announces-rule-to-cut-carbon-emissions-from-power-plants-1438627158?mod=rss_US_News


Clean-energy debate pitted ambition against legal worries. Four
weeks before the official rollout, the news for President Obama’s
signature regulation on climate change suddenly went from bad to
abysmal. Already, the Senate’s top Republican was urging a
nationwide boycott of the carbon-cutting proposal known as the
Clean Power Plan. Fourteen states had joined in a lawsuit seeking
to block the rule even before it became final.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/internal-debate-over-clean-energy-plan-pitted-ambition-against-legal-worries/2015/08/02/9e0c1c94-3966-11e5-9c2d-ed991d848c48_story.html?hpid=z5

 
Obama’s Carbon Rules Press Other Nations Before Paris Talks.
Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency on Monday will finalize
measures that force states and utilities to use less coal and
more wind power, solar and natural gas. The plan, estimated to
cost $8.4 billion, is expected to go into effect in the next
month or two but is likely to face a legal challenge that could
stall its implementation.
http://washpost.bloomberg.com/Story?docId=1376-NSHCJW6TTDS101-5UL2G2CKC05DMCSH3QMJ81QQV1
  
Obama Says No Challenge Greater Threat to U.S. Future Than
Climate Change. President Barack Obama on Monday formally
unveiled his administration's ramped-up plan to cut carbon
emissions from power plants and declared climate change the
greatest threat facing the world. Speaking to a friendly crowd at
the White House a few months before international climate talks
in Paris, Obama said the world may not be able to reverse global
warming if aggressive action to stop it is not taken.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2015/08/03/us/03reuters-usa-climatechange.html
 
U.N. Chief Says Obama Power Plan Key Ahead of Climate Change
Talks. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday
praised U.S. President Barack Obama's plan to tackle greenhouse
gases from coal-fired power plants, saying such "visionary
leadership" is needed ahead of negotiations on a global climate
change deal.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2015/08/03/us/03reuters-usa-climatechange-cleanpowerplan-un.html


How Obama's new emissions rules will likely shape the White House
race. With Monday's release of landmark rules to combat global
warming, President Obama is putting into place what probably will
be the last piece of his ambitious second-term agenda – one that
highlights deep divisions in the country and helps shape the race
to succeed him.
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-obama-climate-20150802-story.html#page=1


The Winners and Losers Under Obama’s New Climate Change Plan.
President Barack Obama is mandating even steeper greenhouse gas
cuts from U.S. power plants than previously expected, while
granting states more time and broader options to comply. The
tweaks to Obama’s unprecedented emissions limits on powerplants,
to be unveiled at the White House on Monday…
http://time.com/3982191/obama-climate-change-winners-losers/    

White House Plan Calls for Even Greater Greenhouse Gas
Reductions. The most forceful action on climate change in U.S.
history was set to be unveiled by the Obama administration Monday
afternoon when it releases the final version of a rule that would
slash heat-trapping emissions from power plants — a regulation
made even stricter since it was proposed last year.
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/08/03/epa-clean-power-plan-calls-for-bigger-greenhouse-gas-reductions


President Obama to unveil tough proposal targeting greenhouse
gases.  Calling it the "biggest, most important step we've ever
taken to combat climate change," President Obama said his
administration would unveil the final version of a proposal aimed
at curbing the amount of carbon pollution put out by power
plants. NPR's Scott Horsley reports that the new regulations are
actually tougher than the ones unveiled by…
http://www.scpr.org/news/2015/08/02/53520/president-obama-to-unveil-tough-proposal-targeting/

Major S.F. Bayfront Developments Advance Despite Sea Rise
Warnings. Builders plan to invest more than $21 billion in
offices and homes in flood-prone areas, where waters could climb
8 feet above today’s high tide by the end of this century. Like
every body of water that opens onto a global ocean, San Francisco
Bay is virtually guaranteed to rise several feet in coming
decades, climate scientists say.
http://sfpublicpress.org/news/searise/2015-07/major-sf-bayfront-developments-advance-despite-sea-rise-warnings#sthash.ZsIZYTBU.dpuf


Majority of Californians support current climate change policies
and a move to strengthen them. Nearly 70 percent of Californians
support the state's emissions reductions policies and support
even tougher standards currently in the works, according to a
poll released last week by the Public Policy Institute of
California (PPIC). The survey, which has been conducted each
summer for the last 15 years by the nonpartisan research center…
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1060022869/search?keyword=california


Clean power and the divided states of America. U.S. EPA's Clean
Power Plan is opening new fault lines among sparring states
across the country and the federal government, triggered by sharp
political differences over climate policy. At first glance, the
Obama administration's principal climate policy initiative seems
to have landed in the same political bucket as health care and
immigration…
http://www.eenews.net/energywire/2015/08/03/stories/1060022871

USGS scientists say Arctic is warming 'faster than any other
place on Earth'. The U.S. Geological Survey is releasing its
first-ever Arctic science strategy, noting that the current
warming seen in the region "is unlike anything recorded
previously and is affecting the region faster than any other
place on Earth." While it is not tied to specific new dollars…
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2015/08/03/stories/1060022841
 
Former military leaders say reducing GHGs is essential for
international security. A leading group of retired military
officers is calling for action on climate change in the wake of a
Pentagon report that declared the threats of global warming have
already arrived. The statement of 12 officers from all four
branches of the military is also being timed to coincide with
U.S. EPA's…
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2015/08/03/stories/1060022839 

DROUGHT

Hospitals seek water savings amid drought. Experts say there is
plenty of "low-hanging fruit" to be had at many medical
facilities. From nurses washing their hands every time they enter
a patient’s room to steam scalding surgical instruments sterile,
water is everywhere in a hospital. According to the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, hospitals are among the highest
water users…
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2015/aug/02/tri-city-water-savings-drought/


Leak complaints flow from older areas. Problems around Wabash and
33rd dominate complaints over past 12 months. San Diego city
crews have responded to more than 10,000 calls about water leaks
and related problems in the past 12 months, amid the worsening
drought. The neighborhood with the most problems was City
Heights, where tap water has been emerging for years…
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2015/aug/02/leak-data/ 

Manufacturers Beware: Stiff New Water Discharge Requirements Go
Into Effect Aug. 14. Industrial water permits just got a whole
lot more complicated for Santa Clarita businesses, and many
companies in the light industrial fields that really never needed
to worry about certifying their stormwater runoff now need to pay
serious attention to the requirements which go into effect this
month. http://www.signalscv.com/section/24/article/140569/ 

WILDFIRES

California governor declares state of emergency over raging
wildfires.California's governor declared a state of emergency on
Friday as a string of wildfires raged across the state and a
firefighter was killed battling a blaze in drought-parched
forest, officials said. The firefighter, David Ruhl of Rapid
City, South Dakota, was on temporary assignment in Northern
California, where the brunt of 18 large fires burning…
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/01/us-usa-wildfires-california-idUSKCN0Q51YE20150801?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews


Lake County wildfire threatens 5,000 homes, burns 73 square
miles. Fire officials say a massive blaze raging in the Lower
Lake area of Lake County spread overnight, covering more
drought-stricken ground. Cal Fire says the fast-moving Rocky Fire
had charred 47,000 acres, or more than 73 square miles, by Sunday
morning and is threatening 5,000 homes. It is only 5 percent
contained.
http://napavalleyregister.com/ap/national/lake-county-wildfire-threatens-homes-burns-square-miles/article_6b59cc02-f2ff-51ce-bee8-4195a657bda4.html


Firestorm grows near Clear Lake, Calif.; 12,000 ordered from
homes. Fueled by withering dry brush left by an historic drought,
a wildfire near Clear Lake ballooned into a ravenous fire storm
Sunday, more than doubling in size and forcing authorities to
order 12,000 people out of their homes. The Rocky Fire, which
began Wednesday afternoon east of the Lake County town of Lower
Lake, had destroyed
24…http://www.fresnobee.com/news/nation-world/national/article29825926.html


FUELS

Exxon and Chevron Report Worst Quarterly Results of Current
Decade. The long decline in oil prices is hitting American oil
companies where it hurts and forcing them to scale back some
investments in their production that would otherwise drive future
growth. Exxon Mobil and Chevron on Friday posted their worst
quarterly results of the current decade as oil and natural gas
prices continued to plunge.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/01/business/energy-environment/exxon-mobil-chevron-q2-earnings-oil-prices.html?partner=rss&emc=rss


VEHICLES

California Has a Plan to End the Auto Industry as We Know It.
Sergio Marchionne had a funny thing to say about the $32,500
battery-powered Fiat 500e that his company markets in California
as “eco-chic.” “I hope you don’t buy it,” he told his audience at
a think tank in Washington in May 2014. He said he loses $14,000
on every 500e he sells and only produces the cars because state
rules re¬quire it.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-03/california-regulator-mary-nichols-may-transform-the-auto-industry


Gas prices fuel U.S. big-vehicle sales in July. The major
automakers posted strong U.S. sales performances in July as the
auto industry creeps closer to its first full year of 17
million-unit sales since before the Great Recession. The
automakers reaped profits from consumers' rush to buy bigger
vehicles as gasoline prices remain low. SUV sales stood out. That
segment of the market continues to be smoking hot," said Mark
LaNeve, Ford's sales chief, on a conference call.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2015/08/03/nissan-us-sales-up-8-big-vehicles-soar/31046075/


California is squaring off against automakers when it comes to
electric cars. The most powerful woman in California isn’t a
celebrity, she’s not even someone you often see on TV. That’s
because the most powerful woman in California is Mary Nichols,
head of the state’s Air Resources Board. Rules set by Nichols’
agency are among the strictest environmental laws in the nation.
Visionary quotas have been set under her reign to increase the
percentage of new cars sold that are ZEV’s…
http://www.businessinsider.com/california-is-squaring-off-against-automakers-when-it-comes-to-electric-cars-2015-8#ixzz3hmhduFhT


Car Buyers Unprepared For Coming Wave Of Plug-In Hybrids,
Electric Cars. Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) rules
require carmakers to achieve a U.S. fleet average of 54.5 mpg by
2025--meaning about 40 mpg on the window sticker. That has
automakers working to improve their vehicles' fuel efficiency
dramatically, including many more plug-in hybrids. But that may
be only half the battle.
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1099390_car-buyers-unprepared-for-coming-wave-of-plug-in-hybrids-electric-cars


Plug-In Electric Car Sales In July: Leaf Plummets, Volt Holds.
While May was a good month for sales of plug-in electric cars,
the numbers sagged in June--and they appear to be doing the same
for July. Last month's sales data is now arriving, and it looks
like the lack of new and exciting plug-in vehicles, plus buyers'
continuing infatuation with SUVs, have kept plug-in sales
substantially below last year's levels for the same period.
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1099391_plug-in-electric-car-sales-in-july-leaf-plummets-volt-holds


Next Nissan Leaf Could Become Family Of Electric Cars: Report.
The first Toyota Prius came to market in the U.S. in 2000, but it
wasn't until 2012 that the single hybrid model expanded into a
family of four different cars. Now it appears that the same could
happen--somewhere down the road--to the Nissan Leaf, although not
until after a second-generation Leaf is introduced, likely for
the 2017 model year.
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1099392_next-nissan-leaf-could-become-family-of-electric-cars-report


Simple tech: Electric cars explained. If you just woke up after
falling asleep in the 60s, you should know that the world has
changed. There’s a real possibility that the fuel we’ve been
using so far – mostly sucked out of the ground – will run out.
There is also the issue of the byproducts of fuel use that are
altering the planet and slowly turning it into a hostile
environment.
http://overdrive.in/features/simple-tech-electric-cars-explained/


OPINIONS

Obama Takes a Crucial Step on Climate Change. President Obama’s
Clean Power Plan has rightly been hailed as the most important
action any president has taken to address the climate crisis. The
new rule requires the nation’s power plants to cut their carbon
dioxide emissions to 32 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. Power
plants are the largest source of such pollution in the United
States, responsible for more than a third of the country’s carbon
dioxide emissions.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/04/opinion/obama-takes-a-crucial-step-on-climate-change.html?comments


Trickle-down politics: Drought could force real change among
city, state leaders. It's something of a relief, if a mixed one,
that the drought has surged into the role of the latest scourge
to freak out California. It's a relief in the sense that it means
that the California economy, so recently frighteningly rocky, has
receded as the top-billed problem facing the state, even if the
recovery is more patchy and vulnerable than anyone might wish.
http://www.latimes.com/local/politics/la-me-pol-california-politics-drought-20150802-story.html


Will every house be its own electrical generator? Renewable
energy technologies have made outstanding progress in the last
decade. Solar panels and wind turbines have become massively more
efficient. In many locations, some forms of renewable energy are
cost competitive. And yet…just as these exciting changes are
taking place, many advocates are shifting their focus to an issue
disconnected from the fundamental environmental goals:
distributed generation.
http://www.modbee.com/opinion/article29793763.html 

Our View: Pats on the back due for June water savings. We should
be patting ourselves on the back just a bit for our water
conservation work so far this summer. That's the first part of
the message. The second part? You might be getting tired of being
so diligent by now … but don't. It's just as likely as not that
the drought could continue. And we're probably never going to be
able to use water the way we used to.
http://www.appeal-democrat.com/opinion/our_views/our-view-pats-on-the-back-due-for-june-water/article_611d4812-37fe-11e5-a668-473fbc43b24d.html


BLOGS

The Promise and Limits of Obama’s ‘Clean Power Plan’ for Limiting
Global Warming. Over the weekend, in a “Memo to America” and lots
of details released to the press, President Obama set the stage
for today’s release of the Environmental Protection Agency’s
final “Clean Power Plan,” aimed at meeting the administration’s
pledges to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Obama spoke today
about the new climate plan.
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/08/03/the-promise-and-limits-of-obamas-clean-power-plan-for-limiting-global-warming/?_r=0


Cap and Trade and Polarization. One of the most obvious facts
about the U.S. political scene is also a fact most pundits refuse
to acknowledge: the extreme polarization we now experience, the
complete disappearance of any kind of political center, is not a
two-sided phenomenon. Democrats haven’t moved drastically to the
left — if anything they inched right for a couple of decades…
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/08/03/cap-and-trade-and-polarization/


Clean Power Plan: Your State-by-State Greenhouse Gas Emissions.
Texas was the country's largest source of greenhouse gas
emissions in 2012, according to data compiled by the World
Resources Institute. The country’s biggest polluters will soon
have to clean up their acts. The Obama administration was
expected to release the final version of its Clean Power Plan on
Monday afternoon, the first federal rule to limit heat-trapping
carbon emissions…
http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/data-mine/2015/08/03/clean-power-plan-your-state-by-state-greenhouse-gas-emissions


Why “Just Say No” is Just Plain Wrong: the Sound Legal Basis for
the Clean Power Plan.  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) will soon finalize the Clean Power Plan — a suite of
historic Clean Air Act standards that will establish the first
nationwide limits on carbon pollution from America’s fossil
fuel-fired power plants. Rigorous carbon pollution standards for
the nation’s power sector will yield immense…
http://blogs.edf.org/texascleanairmatters/2015/08/03/why-just-say-no-is-just-plain-wrong-the-sound-legal-basis-for-the-clean-power-plan/


It's Time to Protect Little Lungs.  An Act To Protect Little
Lungs is a bill that I filed in the Massachusetts House of
Representatives. The idea behind this bill would be to make it
illegal for anyone to smoke while a child is in the car in a car
seat. Penalty would be a $100 fine, which would be collected by
either the local or state police agency who issued the ticket.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-heroux/its-time-to-protect-littl_b_7913158.html




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