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newsclips -- ARB Newsclips for February 5, 2016.
Posted: 05 Feb 2016 16:02:10
ARB Newsclips for February 5, 2016. 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 Parties clash over how to allocate carbon allowances. No matter the politics or point of view on U.S. EPA's Clean Power Plan, utilities and other parties in Missouri working on a state compliance strategy unanimously favor a "mass-based" plan to cap power plant carbon dioxide emissions and trading of emissions allowances. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2016/02/05/stories/1060031874 AIR POLLUTION This world map shows where pollution is getting worse. There’s good news for the U.S. When the Eiffel Tower nearly disappeared in a thick haze of smog last year, French authorities decided it was time to act. They limited car traffic in Paris as a last-resort measure. But many argued that much more should have been done much earlier. Many researchers, who had warned of dangerous pollution levels for years… https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/02/05/this-world-map-shows-where-pollution-is-getting-worse-theres-good-news-for-the-u-s/ ALISO CANYON First wrongful death claim filed over California methane leak. Methane fumes spewing from a ruptured underground pipeline near a Los Angeles neighborhood hastened the demise of an elderly woman already suffering from lung cancer, her family said in the first wrongful death claim stemming from the gas leak. The lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages against Southern California Gas Co… http://www.reuters.com/article/us-california-methane-idUSKCN0VD2QR Is the end in sight for the Porter Ranch-area gas leak? state official said Thursday that under the most favorable circumstances, the damaged well that has spewed environmentally damaging natural gas from a storage facility near Porter Ranch could be capped as early as the end of next week. But the timeline, he cautioned, was fraught with variables. http://www.latimes.com/science/la-me-0205-porter-ranch-leak-20160205-story.html County supervisor wants more time for Porter Ranch residents to return home after gas leak. Los Angeles County supervisor wants residents who have been displaced by the Aliso Canyon gas leak to have as long as 30 days after the leak is plugged to return to their homes from temporary housing. Southern California Gas Co. and the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office agreed last December that residents of Porter Ranch... http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-gas-leak-relocation-20160204-story.html Calif. regs seek to prevent more Aliso Canyon-style leaks. California regulators are readying rules to control methane from oil and gas operations, including underground natural gas storage tanks like the one currently leaking in Southern California. The state Air Resources Board released draft regulations Tuesday that would require oil and natural gas facilities to monitor for and control methane leaks from all aspects of their operations. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2016/02/05/stories/1060031882 CLIMATE CHANGE Forests are supposed to help stop climate change. These forests didn’t. Forests play a critical role in the global carbon cycle, helping to mitigate climate change by storing carbon that would otherwise end up in the atmosphere. So maintaining sustainable forest management practices that maximize the trees’ ability to act as a carbon sink… https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/02/04/forests-are-supposed-to-help-stop-climate-change-these-forests-didnt/ 'Wrong type of trees' in Europe increased global warming. The assumption that planting new forests helps limit climate change has been challenged by a new study. Researchers found that in Europe, trees grown since 1750 have actually increased global warming. The scientists believe that replacing broadleaved species with conifers is a key reason for the negative climate impact. http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-35496350 Oil Industry Group's Own Report Shows Early Knowledge of Climate Impacts. A report the American Petroleum Institute commissioned in 1982 revealed its knowledge of global warming, predated its campaign to sow doubt. A Columbia University report commissioned by the American Petroleum Institute in 1982 cautioned that global warming "can have serious consequences for man's comfort and survival." http://insideclimatenews.org/news/04022016/oil-industry-report-shows-early-knowledge-climate-change-impact-api-american-petroleum-institute Study points to developing world feeling more impact from climate change. However, critics of the Australian research team's efforts say industrialized nations have and will be affected, too. A study released Friday shows that the wealthiest 4 percent of the world’s population is creating 50 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions, but will likely suffer little impact resulting from climate change… http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2016/0205/Study-points-to-developing-world-feeling-more-impact-from-climate-change Arctic sea ice sets January record low. The amount of Arctic sea ice set a record low for the month of January, the National Snow and Ice Data Center announced Thursday. January 2016 was a remarkably warm month there, the data center said. Air temperatures were 13 degrees above average across most of the Arctic Ocean. Just before New Year’s, a slug of mild air pushed temperatures above freezing to within 200 miles of the North Pole… http://www.usatoday.com/story/weather/2016/02/04/arctic-sea-ice-january-record-low/79844578/ Southwest Climate is Changing as Weather Patterns Fail to Bring Moisture. It turns out that the southwest may just have shifted to a drier climate. Scientists have found that the weather patterns that typically bring moisture to the southwest are becoming rarer, which is an indication that the region is sliding into the drier climate state predicted by global models. http://www.scienceworldreport.com/articles/36908/20160205/southwest-climate-changing-weather-patterns-fail-bring-moisture.htm http://www.climatecentral.org/news/southwest-drier-climate-change-19990 Natural cycles don't explain warming, study finds. The planet would not be warming without an extra push -- from increased greenhouse gases or a change in orbit, for example -- because natural feedback loops keep temperatures in equilibrium, a new study confirms. The researchers, who published their results in the Journal of Climate on Monday, dug into data to see what would happen to global temperatures… http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2016/02/05/stories/1060031847 Supreme Court intervention would undercut climate action – EPA. Halting U.S. EPA's landmark Clean Power Plan would delay critical greenhouse gas reductions and undermine a global effort to address climate change, the Obama administration told the Supreme Court yesterday. "Granting such relief would harm the public's interests in implementing this duly-promulgated Rule, in reducing the accumulation of greenhouse… http://www.eenews.net/energywire/2016/02/05/stories/1060031873 DROUGHT Barren a year ago, a snowpack station comes up deep and dense. It was 22 degrees and snowing Tuesday morning. State snow surveyor Frank Gehrke slowly crossed a blanketed field. He periodically jabbed a hollow pole into the snow and then hung it from a portable scale, reading nature to draw a bead on where, exactly, the California drought is heading. http://www.latimes.com/local/abcarian/la-me-0205-abcarian-snowpack-20160205-column.html El Niño 'Takes A Break' El Niño, which helped increase precipitation in California last month, is taking a break. January brought heavy precipitation to California. But forecasters say the next 7-to-10 days will be drier and warmer. The water content in the Sierra snowpack currently ranges from 110 to 150 percent on average. http://www.capradio.org/articles/2016/02/05/el-nino-takes-a-break/ FUELS Utilities Must Reduce Methane Leaks from Natural-Gas Pipelines, Says New Bill. With plenty of natural-gas pipelines in New Jersey and more on the way, lawmakers want to reduce leaks in those systems, which can pose a safety hazard to the community while increasing pollution contributing to climate change. http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/16/02/04/utilities-must-clamp-down-on-methane-leaks-from-natural-gas-pipelines-says-new-bill/ Obama to push $10-per-barrel oil tax for green transportation plan. President Obama will propose a $10-per-barrel fee on oil production to fund a new green transportation plan, the White House announced Thursday. The proposal would go toward a $32.4 billion annual push to green the transportation sector by funding public transit, an urban planning initiative and clean vehicle research, the White House said in a fact sheet. http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/268266-obama-to-push-10-per-barrel-oil-tax-for-green-transportation-plan VEHICLES 2016 Prius Four is a smarter, sleeker version of Toyota's aging hybrid. Powered by a 1.8-liter, four-cylinder engine supported by an electric motor and a lithium-ion battery, the 2016 Toyota Prius Four gets great mileage — an estimated combined city-highway 52 miles per gallon. Back in the dark days of automotive history, fuel was cheap and plentiful and Detroit dinosaurs ruled the Earth. http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-hy-prius-review-20160206-story.html Tesla Trails Volkswagen Despite Diesel-Emissions Scandal: Chart. Tesla Motors Inc. shares fell 33 percent through Thursday from Sept. 18. That’s the day Volkswagen AG’s emissions scandal began. During that period, Volkswagen’s American depositary receipts slid 29 percent. On Friday, Tesla declined as much as 8.7 percent while Volkswagen’s ADRs gained as much as 4.2 percent. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-05/tesla-trails-volkswagen-despite-diesel-emissions-scandal-chart Should Utility Customers Pay For Electric-Car Charging Stations They Don't Use? California is by far the most advanced state in adopting plug-in electric cars. Fully 45.3 percent of the country's more than 400,000 plug-in cars were sold in California, according to data from the state's Plug-In Electric Vehicle Collaborative. But electric cars need public charging stations… http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1102231_should-utility-customers-pay-for-electric-car-charging-stations-they-dont-use Plug-in Electric Car Sales in Canada, January 2016: New Year, Old Models, New Records. Like an exhausted Times Square reveler, the Canadian plug-in electric vehicle market tends to start the New Year slowly, and this past January was no exception. Chevy sold 94 Volts, down more than half from December's 220 but well ahead of the 71 from a year ago. http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1102228_plug-in-electric-car-sales-in-canada-january-2016-new-year-old-models-new-records VW RECALL Volkswagen, Reeling From Emissions Scandal, to Delay Earnings Report. Volkswagen said on Friday that it would delay reporting its annual earnings and move back the date of its annual shareholders’ meeting because of uncertainty about the cost of its diesel emissions scandal. The delays reflect the company’s problems from the fallout of its admission in September that it had equipped 11 million diesel vehicles with software that could enable them to cheat on emissions tests. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/06/business/international/volkswagen-earnings-emissions.html http://www.sacbee.com/news/business/article58604293.html#storylink=cpy http://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/feb/05/volkswagen-postpones-financial-results-agm-diesel-emissions-scandal Volkswagen legal assault lands in San Francisco courts. The international scandal over Volkswagen’s cheating on emissions controls in its diesel engines has already produced a predictable result — one of the most massive legal assaults in U.S. history. Now dozens of class-action lawsuits filed nationwide on behalf of hundreds of thousands of angry Volkswagen owners, dealers and others have been centralized in… http://www.montereyherald.com/article/NF/20160205/NEWS/160209844 GREEN ENERGY After Years of Growth, Renewable-Energy Investors Pull Back From Europe. Spain, U.K, Italy have cut incentives for renewable-energy projects to reduce government spending. Europe is tired of paying for renewable energy. For more than a decade, countries across Europe used big financial incentives to become world leaders in wind and solar development. http://www.wsj.com/articles/after-years-of-growth-green-energy-investors-pull-back-from-europe-1454591209 Hartford Cuts Energy Bets Amid Pressure From Slumping Oil Prices. Hartford Financial Services Group Inc., the insurer that sold life units to focus on property-casualty coverage, spent last year cutting its exposure to energy investments by more than $1 billion and hedging its bets on the sector as falling oil prices pressured returns. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-05/hartford-cuts-energy-bets-amid-pressure-from-slumping-oil-prices Senate Democrats block energy bill in impasse over Flint. Senate Democrats on Thursday blocked the first bipartisan energy bill in almost a decade after majority Republicans balked over sending hundreds of millions of dollars in emergency aid to Flint, Michigan, to fix and replace the city's lead-contaminated pipes. The impasse hardened an increasingly partisan response to the water crisis… http://www.sfgate.com/business/energy/article/Senate-Dems-block-energy-bill-in-impasse-over-6806854.php U.S. reaches 'turning point' in low-carbon growth. The United States has reached a watershed in efforts to decarbonize its energy economy, setting records in 2015 for natural gas and renewable energy production, alongside rising investment in energy efficiency and the continued retirement of dozens of older coal-fired power plants. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2016/02/05/stories/1060031852 OPINIONS Why climate change is really, really unfair. With his 2015 encyclical “Laudato Si,” Pope Frances went further than perhaps anyone has before to reframe the entire debate around climate change by focusing on the world’s poor and the duty to protect them from environmental harms that they did not cause themselves. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/02/05/why-climate-change-is-really-really-unfair/ COLUMN-Obama's budget will not lead to $10 oil tax: Kemp. President Barack Obama's final budget will propose a $10 per barrel oil tax, investing the proceeds in mass transit, high-speed rail, urban planning, highway upgrades and self-driving cars, among other programmes. "President Obama's 21st Century Clean Transportation System", outlined by the White House to reporters on Thursday…http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFL8N15K31K Clean Energy Revolution? To the Editor: In “Wind, Sun and Fire” (column, Feb. 1), Paul Krugman, concluding that we can have the energy revolution we need “even if the crazies retain control of the House,” ignores some important realities. The powerful oil, gas and coal industries are committed to keeping the world dependent on fossil fuels. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/05/opinion/clean-energy-revolution.html What You Get When You Mix Chickens, China and Climate Change. IT was a gray, damp January afternoon a few years back when I visited the Jiangfeng wholesale poultry market on the outskirts of Guangzhou, in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong. With its bleak wire enclosures and grid of cement paths, the place had the feel of a neglected 1970s-era urban zoo. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/07/opinion/sunday/what-you-get-when-you-mix-chickens-china-and-climate-change.html?_r=0 L.A. needs fewer platitudes and more action on port air pollution. When Port of Los Angeles leaders approved the environmental impact report for the China Shipping company's terminal in 2008, the Harbor Commission chairman at the time boasted that the project would be among the cleanest and greenest terminals in the world. Months later, however, port officials quietly waived some of the most ambitious pollution-cutting mandates… http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-0205-port-pollution-20160205-story.html BLOGS California Leads on Reducing Methane Emissions from Oil & Gas Operations. California took a big step forward to reduce emissions of potent, heat-trapping methane pollution from the oil and gas industry. Joining states like Wyoming, Colorado, and Pennsylvania, California is proposing strong but sensible rules to control methane across the oil and gas supply chain - from production to transmission. http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/bmordick/california_leads_on_reducing_m.html The Great Race: The cyclist beat both car and bus - here's why. We sent out three staffers in rush hour traffic. The mission: To race from Union Station in downtown Los Angeles to Santa Monica Pier via bike, bus and car. The winner: The bicyclist. Jacob Margolis biked there in 65 minutes, while Sue Carpenter drove and parked in the span of 70 minutes. Leo Duran spent 94 minutes using public transportation. http://www.scpr.org/programs/take-two/2016/02/04/46099/dtla-to-santa-monica-car-bike-or-bus-who-wins/ Venezuela the worst carbon polluter in Latin America, Brazil among the best. Venezuela has the highest levels of carbon pollution in Latin America, while its southern neighbor, Brazil had one of the lowest levels despite being one of the region’s wealthiest economies. On a per capita measure, Venezuelans were responsible for 6.4 metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2011 while Brazilians averaged 2.2 metric tons… http://latincorrespondent.com/2016/02/venezuela-the-worst-carbon-polluter-in-latin-america-brazil-among-the-best/ California is in a drought emergency. Visit www.SaveOurH2O.org for water conservation tips.