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ARB Newsclips for February 11, 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

With oil fee, Obama shows plan for sector-by-sector carbon price.
U.S. President Barack Obama’s budget would raise $319 billion
over 10 years from the phased introduction of an oil fee
equivalent to $10.25 per barrel on crude oil, according to budget
documents published on Tuesday. The oil fee is one of the largest
revenue-raising items in the president’s budget…
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-oiltax-kemp-idUSKCN0VK11Y 

AIR POLLUTION

Indian capital to curb cars again to control air pollution. The
New Delhi government will restrict cars on the streets for
another two weeks to fight the extreme air pollution that has
made the Indian capital the world's most polluted city. Private
cars will be allowed on the streets on alternate days from April
15-30 based on even or odd license plate numbers, Arvind
Kejriwal, the city's top elected official, said Thursday.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/c5b882c1dedd48c99c7b14d19cced7be/indian-capital-curb-cars-again-control-air-pollution


ALISO CANYON

SBA disaster loans available for Porter Ranch businesses. Rep.
Brad Sherman said Wednesday that the U.S. Small Business
Administration will make federal financial assistance available
to Porter Ranch businesses impacted by the gas leak in Southern
California Gas Co.’s Aliso Canyon storage field. Sherman,
D-Sherman Oaks, who is also a Porter Ranch resident, has been
urging the SBA to make financial assistance…
http://www.dailynews.com/business/20160210/sba-disaster-loans-available-for-porter-ranch-businesses


CLIMATE CHANGE

Delay of clean power plan stokes worries about Paris treaty. The
Obama administration asserted Wednesday that a Supreme Court
order delaying enforcement of its new clean-power rules will
ultimately have little impact on meeting the nation's obligations
under the recent Paris climate agreement. But environmentalists
and academic experts are more nervous.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/97f12e9bcd7f40059a6a6832c5f5072f/delay-clean-power-plan-stokes-worries-about-paris-treaty



Australian PM inherits climate sceptic for deputy. Australian
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has inherited a hard-right,
climate change sceptic for his deputy after the retirement of his
current No.2 on Thursday, an appointment that could block any
revamp of an emissions trading scheme. Agriculture Minister
Barnaby Joyce, an outspoken lobbyist for farmers and for tougher
controls… http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFKCN0VK0DU  


Gov. Jerry Brown makes budget the latest battleground on climate
change. Gov. Jerry Brown is looking to make good on a promise to
curb California's petroleum use by shifting away from new
legislation and instead tucking his fuel-reduction goal inside
the state budget. Oil companies spent millions of dollars in 2015
to strip a controversial climate change bill of its provision
slashing petroleum use in half by 2030.
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-sac-brown-cap-trade-oil-fight-20160211-story.html


Climate ruling sparks expensive game of red light, green light.
U.S. EPA needed thousands of pages to lay out its ambitious,
highly complex strategy to force blue states and red states to
figure out how to curb greenhouse gas emissions from their power
plants. The Supreme Court has plunged the entire endeavor into
uncertainty with a single page.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2016/02/11/stories/1060032234 

North Pole ice levels hit new low in January. Unusually high air
temperatures over the Arctic Ocean and a strong negative
atmospheric circulation in the region caused Arctic sea ice to
shrink to the lowest level ever recorded by satellite for the
month of January, according to the National Snow and Ice Data
Center. Arctic sea ice extended an average of 5.2 million square
miles in January, which was 35,000 square miles…,
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2016/02/11/stories/1060032185 

Supreme Court's pause jumbles the political debate. The Supreme
Court's decision to freeze the Obama administration's signature
carbon rule will likely shape the political debate on climate
change on Capitol Hill and in the upcoming presidential
elections, lawmakers yesterday predicted. On the one hand, House
Republicans may not be as gung-ho about going after the Obama
administration's climate agenda.
http://www.eenews.net/eedaily/2016/02/11/stories/1060032219 

DROUGHT

Feinstein water policy bill could signal a compromise in sight.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein filed a 184-page water policy bill
Wednesday, calling it one of the most difficult bills she's
worked on in 23 years representing California. “This is the
hardest thing I've done, because you look for the sweet spot, the
balance, and it’s very difficult because it’s very polarized,”
Feinstein said.
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-feinstein-drought-relief-bill-20160211-story.html


FUELS

Bet on Biofuels, Not Russian Gas, Former NATO Chief Tells EU.
European Union governments and companies would do better
increasing production of renewables than counting on a
natural-gas pipeline from Russia to ensure energy security,
former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. The
28-nation EU is seeking to guarantee energy flows while cutting
greenhouse-gas emissions and improving cross-border gas and power
connections.
http://washpost.bloomberg.com/Story?docId=1376-O2CEBK6S972E01-20D0AA7URHR9DDF9V2RUIMB4KJ


California's New Methane Rules Would Be the Nation's Strongest.
States are beginning to step up and regulate methane emissions,
while federal rules fall short of addressing the problem
industry-wide. California proposed new regulations to curb
methane from the oil and gas industry last week, adding momentum
to a state and federal push to reduce emissions of the powerful
greenhouse gas.
http://insideclimatenews.org/news/10022016/california-new-methane-rules-would-be-nation-strongest-oil-gas-aliso-canyon?utm_source=Inside+Climate+News&utm_campaign=56e05b20ea-InsideClimate_News12_10_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_29c928ffb5-56e05b20ea-327494049


LUMBER LIQUIDATORS

CDC: Lumber Liquidators' Flooring Poses Little Cancer Risk. In a
newly released report, federal regulators called the risk of
cancer from Chinese-made Lumber Liquidators flooring low. Further
details in the report cited health risks to be minor and
temporary. Last year, CBS’s "60 Minutes" reported that
independent tests of the retail giant’s flooring found levels of
cancer-causing formaldehyde to be off the charts…
http://www.builderonline.com/newsletter/cdc-lumber-liquidators-flooring-poses-little-cancer-risk_c


VEHICLES

Honda to start making gasoline-electric cars in China this year.
Honda Motor Co Ltd plans to start making gasoline-electric hybrid
cars in China later this year, to meet increasingly stringent
fuel economy regulations in a country blighted by worsening air
pollution. The Japanese automaker will build hybrid versions of
its Accord sedan and Acura compact crossover sport utility
vehicle (SUV) in the southern city of Guangzhou, Tokyo-based…
http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFL3N15Q184 

Elon Musk: Tesla to accept orders on new car. Tesla Motors will
begin accepting reservations on its mass-market electric vehicle
in March, even though analysts say anyone who pre-orders the
vehicle will have to wait at least two years to get it. Tesla CEO
Elon Musk said on Twitter early Thursday that pre-orders of the
Model 3 would start in stores March 31 and online April 1.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2016/02/11/elon-musk-tesla-motors/80222610/#


GREEN ENERGY

California solar industry job growth reaches record levels.
California led a record-breaking year for solar power in 2015
that included the addition of more than 20,000 new jobs within
the state -- more than half of the positions the industry created
nationwide, according to a new report. The California Solar Jobs
Census report released Wednesday found that roughly one out of
three employees in the solar industry works in California.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-solar-industry-job-growth-20160209-story.html

http://www.desertsun.com/story/tech/science/energy/2016/02/10/solar-jobs-industry-employs-75000-people-california/80088826/

http://mynewsla.com/business/2016/02/10/la-oc-home-to-most-solar-jobs-in-u-s-in-2015/


Bioenergy faces opposition in national policy plan. More than 100
social and environmental groups are calling for an exclusion of
biomass and biofuels as part the European Union's next iteration
of renewable energy policy. A letter sent yesterday to the
European Commission, the executive body of the European Union,
applauded the group's ongoing efforts to boost renewable energy
use across European countries.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2016/02/11/stories/1060032211 

OPINIONS

The U.S. can't allow Supreme Court clean power roadblock to slow
its fight against climate change. The Supreme Court's order late
Tuesday halting President Obama's Clean Power Plan is
frustratingly opaque. The terse ruling offers no hints about why
the court took the unusual step of pausing Obama's important new
regulations — which would have significantly curtailed emissions
from the nations' coal-fired electric plants — before a lower
court had ruled on their legality.
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-climate-change-20160211-story.html


Bullet train to nowhere when pigs fly. Re: “Farmers try again to
derail bullet train” [Front page, Feb. 8]: I had to take note of
Dan Richard, the rail authority chairman, stating that the
upcoming business plan could lower the project's overall cost.
Yeah, when pigs fly. (That projected cap-and-trade law, nothing
but a forced hand in your wallet that could be better spent on
highway and road repair…
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/gender-363900-ocprint-want-train.html


Payne: Plug-in electric Volt or natural-gas Impala? The 2015
Chevy Impala natural gas-assisted, gasoline hybrid has a range of
about 545 miles. Which is a good thing because that’s how far you
may need to drive to find a natural gas filling station. The
closest one to my Oakland County home was 38 miles away at a DTE
Energy depot on French Drive by Detroit City Airport.
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/opinion/columnists/henry-payne/2016/02/10/payne-plug-electric-volt-natural-gas-impala/80214842/


Dan Walters: Conservation vs. new supply in Water Wars. Despite a
wet winter, California’s historic drought continues to spark
fierce — even bitter — debate over how the state’s water needs
should be met in the future. The core issue is whether we should
primarily rely on conservation of what may be a permanently
diminished water supply, or make more energetic efforts to
increase the supply with new dams and…
http://napavalleyregister.com/news/opinion/editorial/dan-walters-conservation-vs-new-supply-in-water-wars/article_b1a285d9-a4d7-506c-aa16-8e912f432e74.html




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