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newsclips -- ARB Newsclips for April 18, 2016.
Posted: 18 Apr 2016 14:37:20
ARB Newsclips for April 18, 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 California Appeals Court Questions Don't Bode Well For Cap-And-Trade. A state appeals court is considering a challenge to the constitutionality of California’s cap-and-trade system for reducing greenhouse gases. Some legal experts say the questions the court is asking in a recent document could imply a ruling against the state. http://www.capradio.org/articles/2016/04/18/california-appeals-court-questions-dont-bode-well-for-cap-and-trade/ Transparency In Cap And Trade Costs. A new bill would disclose the added price consumers pay per gallon of gasoline for California’s Cap and Trade Program. Legislative Analyst’s Office, a non-partisan organization, recently estimated that consumers are paying a collective $2 billion per year in higher prices due to the Cap and Trade Program. http://www.mymotherlode.com/news/local/263380/transparency-in-cap-and-trade-costs.html AIR POLLUTION China launches pollution probe after hundreds of students fall sick. Authorities in China have launched an investigation after a report that hundreds of children attending a language school built near a polluted former industrial site developed health problems, including cancer, state news agency Xinhua reported on Monday. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-pollution-school-idUSKCN0XF0GB Campaigners scale Nelson's Column, other London landmarks in clean-air protest. British police arrested eight Greenpeace activists on Monday after they scaled some of the London's best-known landmarks including Nelson's column in Trafalgar Square as part of a protest over air quality in the capital. Greenpeace said its activists had attached gas masks to 15 statues across London… http://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-protest-environment-idUSKCN0XF17D Federal judge dismisses pollution suit by Nucor Steel Arkansas. A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by Nucor Steel that sought to block the Environmental Protection Agency from adopting a plan to control visible pollution in Arkansas by the end of August. Nucor, which operates two steel mills in the state, had argued the EPA missed a deadline under the Clean Air Act… http://www.reuters.com/article/environment-nucor-idUSL2N17I23M New Gadgets Help Pollution-Weary Chinese Breathe Easier. Market for antipollution devices moves to wearables. Some pollution-weary Chinese consumers have moved beyond stocking up on home air purifiers and strap-on face masks and are now trying to breathe better with second-generation gadgets. http://www.wsj.com/articles/new-gadgets-help-pollution-weary-chinese-breathe-easier-1460919605 Calls for Shipping and Aviation to Do More to Cut Emissions. Even though commercial aviation and ocean shipping are significant sources of greenhouse gas emissions, they were excluded from the Paris climate treaty, to be signed by more than 100 countries this week at the United Nations in New York. Now governments and advocacy groups are pressuring these industries to take stronger steps to curb pollution. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/17/science/calls-for-shipping-and-aviation-to-do-more-to-cut-emissions.html?_r=0 Two-year project will study air pollution in San Ysidro from cars idling at the border. Long lines of idling cars waiting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border are a part of life in San Ysidro. Concerned about the neighborhood's proximity to the world's busiest land port of entry, a local community development agency has launched a study to analyze the health risks associated with air pollution at the border. http://www.latimes.com/science/la-me-san-ysidro-air-20160416-story.html ALISO CANYON New natural gas and petrol leak reported near Porter Ranch. A new natural gas and petroleum leak occurred Saturday near Porter Ranch, not far from the shuttered well that spewed gas for four months, state officials reported. The Governor’s Office of Emergency Services reported it received a complaint about a gas and petroleum leak at… http://www.dailynews.com/environment-and-nature/20160416/new-natural-gas-and-petrol-leak-reported-near-porter-ranch http://www.pe.com/articles/gas-800222-natural-ranch.html Nearly 700 Porter Ranch area residents file claims against state, demand $3.5 million each. Nearly 700 residents who live in and around Porter Ranch filed claims against the state of California Friday, accusing the governor and several regulatory agencies of negligence and demanding $3.5 million each for the pain and loss they suffered after the massive gas leak erupted near their homes. http://www.dailynews.com/general-news/20160416/nearly-700-porter-ranch-area-residents-file-claims-against-state-demand-35-million-each CLIMATE CHANGE Suncor to disclose more information on carbon risk, lobbying. Suncor Energy (SU.TO), Canada's largest oil and gas company, said it would disclose more details on its plans to compete in a lower-carbon future and on its lobbying activities. Several oil and gas companies, including Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) and Anadarko Petroleum Corp (APC.N)… http://www.reuters.com/article/us-suncor-energy-climate-change-idUSKCN0XF1NW Impaled polar bear sculpture highlights global warming threat. A sculpture of an impaled polar bear went on display on Friday in front of the Danish parliament to highlight the impact of global warming. The seven-meter high metal sculpture named "Unbearable" depicts a graph of carbon dioxide accumulation in the atmosphere sky-rocketing into the belly of a polar bear… http://www.reuters.com/article/us-greenland-climatechange-sculpture-idUSKCN0XC1T2 Does premature Paris climate deal risk a painful birth? When ministers and climate change negotiators from the world's poorest countries gathered in Kinshasa recently, they were dismayed at a proposal from the Third World Network (TWN) urging them not to rush into signing the new Paris climate agreement at a U.N. ceremony this week. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-climatechange-politics-analysi-idUSKCN0XF1IX US and China lead push to bring Paris climate deal into force early. Early start date would add momentum for deeper emissions cuts and lock a future US president into the deal for four years. The US and China are leading a push to bring the Paris climate accord into force much faster than even the most optimistic projections – aided by a typographical glitch in the text of the agreement. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/apr/18/us-and-china-lead-push-to-bring-paris-climate-deal-into-force-early?utm_source=Inside+Climate+News&utm_campaign=03ef2d3e1f-Today_s_Climate12_10_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_29c928ffb5-03ef2d3e1f-327747457 Here’s What Happens When Companies Track Emissions. Ten years ago, as part of a sustainability initiative, Walmart decided to take a look at its greenhouse gas emissions. The retail giant not only tallied up the carbon footprint of its trucking fleet and supersize stores, it also set out to quantify the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the countless products offered on its shelves. http://www.climatecentral.org/news/corporations-track-climate-emissions-20249 Climate deal to be ratified without Europe's help -- for now. If last year's landmark Paris climate agreement enters into force this year or early next year, it will likely do so without the help of one of its strongest supporters. That's because the European Union, which carried the torch for international climate action for two decades before playing a … http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2016/04/18/stories/1060035780 A push to demystify climate rules on campuses. A national environmental advocacy group aimed at raising climate change awareness among millennials is taking to college campuses to educate students about U.S. EPA's Clean Power Plan. Defend Our Future, a project of the Environmental Defense Fund, posts full-time employees to universities around the country to coordinate student volunteers who canvass about global warming. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2016/04/18/stories/1060035778 Leaders to ask for global carbon price ahead of N.Y. signing. Heads of state will unveil a declaration in New York City on Thursday asking other countries to join them in pricing carbon emissions as a way to deliver on their climate commitments. A high-level panel from the Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition will introduce the proposal… http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2016/04/18/stories/1060035779 Warming's threat to corals getting clearer. Conservationists and research scientists have a new tool to evaluate which coral species are most vulnerable to bleaching from rising ocean temperatures. Researchers at Northwestern University have just completed a global index charting the thermal sensitivity of nearly half of the world's reef-building coral species. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2016/04/18/stories/1060035777 DROUGHT Child malnutrition soars in northern Somalia due to severe drought. Child malnutrition rates are soaring in northern Somalia, where the harshest drought in decades has ravaged crops and livestock, and aid workers fear hunger will worsen with further poor rains predicted. Parts of the region are reeling from three years of failed rains which have left many families short of food… http://www.reuters.com/article/africa-drought-somalia-idUSL5N17G1PP Delta drought gives glimpse into bleak future for mighty Mekong. While China has been releasing water from a hydro-electric dam in the upper Mekong River to help relieve drought down river in Southeast Asia, little of it has flowed to Nguyen Van Thach's sugarcane farm in southern Vietnam. After feeding his six cows with grass uprooted from a village nearby… http://www.reuters.com/article/us-drought-mekong-idUSKCN0XE00N Sac Valley rice growers have water, but markets have turned for the worse. Surface water supplies have returned to normal for most rice growers in the Sacramento Valley. That’s great news, especially compared to other parts of the state where the water supply is still in a more severe version of drought mode. http://www.chicoer.com/general-news/20160417/sac-valley-rice-growers-have-water-but-markets-have-turned-for-the-worse FUELS RPT-Cheap oil slows appetite for LNG as alternative shipping fuel. Low oil prices are denting the take-up of liquefied natural gas as a cleaner source of energy to power ships, and it will be a few more years yet before the fuel makes serious inroads into the marine bunker market. The global shipping sector is under pressure from governments to reduce harmful emissions from vessels, including sulphur oxides (SOx)… http://www.reuters.com/article/lng-shipping-fuel-idUSL5N17G3J3 Australia state bans underground coal gas drilling. Australia's Queensland state on Monday banned underground coal gasification, a controversial process used to convert coal into gas. Unlike fracking, which involves pumping fluid into coal seams to cause fractures, the method by which unearthed coal… http://www.reuters.com/article/us-australia-gas-ban-idUSKCN0XF0TR Oil Falls Below $40 a Barrel After Output Deal Fails. Saudi Arabia refused to participate in the deal without Iran pledging to do the same. Oil prices slid Monday after key producers failed to negotiate a curb on their output, but the market erased most of its losses on concerns about an oil-workers’ strike in Kuwait. U.S. oil prices have rallied more than 50% from a 13-year low reached in February… http://www.wsj.com/articles/oil-prices-fall-5-in-late-asia-trading-1460964703 BLM defends Calif. oil and gas plan against enviro challenge. The Obama administration last week fired back at allegations that it's allowing unchecked hydraulic fracturing in California. In a legal brief filed Friday, the Interior Department slammed a lawsuit from environmental groups challenging the agency's broad resource management plan for central California. http://www.eenews.net/energywire/2016/04/18/stories/1060035776 VEHICLES Finally, auto industry starts to admit: electric vehicles are better. Electric cars are often touted for their financial and environmental benefits, but there's another major perk they offer to consumers. They're very nice to drive. Many drivers have been won over by electric cars' near-silent operation and instant torque delivery. http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1103457_finally-auto-industry-starts-to-admit-electric-vehicles-are-better VW RECALL Volkswagen increases discounts after emissions scandal: report. Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE) is offering bigger discounts in its home market to try to lure back customers after the automaker admitted using software to allow diesel vehicles to cheat emissions tests, a German trade magazine reported on Saturday. Germany's Automobilwoche said Volkswagen was trying to boost the used car trade… http://www.reuters.com/article/us-volkswagen-discounts-idUSKCN0XD0PO ECB-fuelled market smoothes path for Volkswagen's return. Volkswagen should find plenty of demand for its bond market comeback, helped by an ECB-led corporate rally that has cut funding costs and piqued interest for higher-risk credits. The German carmaker is readying a multi-billion deal for as early as http://www.reuters.com/article/volkswagen-debt-idUSL5N17G4PN Volkswagen names North American CEO to run its U.S. unit. Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE) said on Friday it was tapping Hinrich J. Woebcken, who just took over on April 1 as the head of its new North American region, to serve as president and chief executive of Volkswagen Group of America. In March, VW said its top U.S. executive, Michael Horn, was stepping down immediately nearly six months… http://www.reuters.com/article/us-volkswagen-northamerica-ceo-idUSKCN0XC2HJ Volkswagen Emissions Scandal Update: Deadline Looms For ‘Dieselgate’ Fix. German automaker Volkswagen must tell a U.S. judge this week how it intends to fix more than 500,000 diesel cars fitted with faulty software to rig emissions tests. A group of research scientists revealed in September that Volkswagen had fitted some of its diesel engines with a so-called defeat device that allowed the cars… http://www.ibtimes.com/volkswagen-emissions-scandal-update-deadline-looms-dieselgate-fix-2355100 GREEN ENERGY Solar powered bid to bring modernity to developing world. A 40 meter long photovoltaic computer which provides clean water, while generating electricity to recharge external devices, has been designed by an Italian company for use in the developing world. Watly, set up by entrepreneur Marco Attisani, has started an Indiegogo campaign to fund the third version of its solar technology. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-solar-water-idUSKCN0XE0QP Siemens may build gas-fired power plant in Germany. Siemens cleared a regulatory hurdle on Monday in a bid to build a gas-fired power station in southern Germany, a rare event in a country where a drive for renewable energy has made many traditional sources of power unprofitable. http://www.reuters.com/article/germany-gas-siemens-idUSL5N17L1HQ Corporate green bond issuance could triple this year -S&P. The issuance of green bonds by corporates could reach up to $28 billion this year, three times more than last year, if the Chinese green bond market takes off as expected, credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's said on Friday. Green bonds are created to fund clean energy or low-carbon… http://www.reuters.com/article/corporate-greenbonds-idUSL5N17I1RX BRICS bank okays first loans, $811 million for green energy: Russian media. The New Development Bank (NDB), formed by the BRICS group of emerging nations, has approved its first loans - $811 million for renewable energy projects in Brazil, China, India and South Africa, Russian news agencies reported on Saturday. The BRICS bank, with authorized capital of $100 billion, started work last year on funding initiatives… http://www.reuters.com/article/us-brics-bank-loans-idUSKCN0XD0ED Expansion an elusive dream for Indian industry. Expansion is a distant dream for many Indian manufacturers as they grapple with under-utilised factories and towering debts, putting pressure on Prime Minister Narenda Modi to count on government spending instead of private investment to boost Asia's third-biggest economy.There is a renewed manufacturing push under Modi's flagship 'Make In India', but with global demand depressed… http://www.reuters.com/article/india-economy-manufacturing-spending-idUSL3N17E412 EUROPE POWER-Spot down on wind, solar supply, curve shrugs off oil drop. European prompt power prices fell on Monday in response to increased supply of wind and solar power and also because mild, sunny weather reduced the impact of expectations that demand is set to rise. "The weather outlook is volatile, while there is plenty of wind and solar now, the weekend will already be cooler… http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFL5N17L326 Inside the Fall of SunEdison, Once a Darling of the Clean-Energy World. Easy money from Wall Street fueled an ambitious expansion into solar and wind power, but rising interest rates cast a shadow. Last June, two dozen SunEdison Inc. senior managers gathered at the Park Hyatt near Paris’s Place Vendôme to hear a… http://www.wsj.com/articles/inside-the-fall-of-sunedison-once-a-darling-of-the-clean-energy-world-1460656000 Ohio energy company offers option for 100% wind. An Ohio-based utility company will offer a limited number of its customers the option to buy 100 percent wind-energy-generated power for the same cost as its other power. The "Switch2Green4Free" program is part of FirstEnergy's "The Switch is On" campaign, which promotes the company's strides in green energy. http://www.eenews.net/energywire/2016/04/18/stories/1060035732 MISCELLANEOUS Following suggestion to shower together, Claremont named coolest city in California. A quirky video by then-Mayor Corey Calaycay may have tipped things in Claremont’s favor to becoming the coolest city in the state. Earlier this year, Calaycay recorded a message to residents asking they take a shower with a friend to save water and energy. It was a move to help gain the city points in the “CoolCalifornia Challenge.” And it worked. http://www.dailybulletin.com/environment-and-nature/20160415/following-suggestion-to-shower-together-claremont-named-coolest-city-in-california OPINIONS COLUMN-America's Secret Weapon. This presidential election has the country captivated. As many commentators have pointed out, the primaries are more focused on personalities than policy. While the parties focus on who is going to represent them in the fall, I want to make the case for something that I hope every candidate will agree on in November: America's unparalleled capacity for innovation. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-innovation-gates-idUSL2N17L0D5 Is the California drought America's water wake-up call? The California drought is not over. The great hope for major replenishment of California's surface and groundwater supplies — the “Godzilla” El Niño — has failed thus far to live up to its super-sized hype, delivering only average amounts of rain and snow, primarily to the northern half of the state. Average, however, is welcome. Cap-and-trade spending proposals require a two-thirds vote. Ten years ago, on a simple majority vote, California legislators approved AB 32, the California Global Warming Solutions Act – groundbreaking legislation to reduce our state’s greenhouse gas emissions. Once the act became law, a regulatory agency took charge and developed a “cap-and-trade” system, where the amount of carbon emissions http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/soapbox/article71292252.html#storylink=cpy Drought bill would benefit state. Re “Better water plan would yield billions of gallons a year” (Forum, Another View, April 10): The authors write that a drought relief bill should benefit the entire state. That’s exactly what the comprehensive drought bill introduced in February would do. In the long-term, this bill authorizes $650 million for recycling, desalination and water efficiency projects. Of that, $100 million is for desalination. http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article71915142.html#storylink=cpy I’m an environmental writer and I dread Earth Day. Earth Day is officially Friday. And as someone who writes about the environment, it’s a day that I dread. Like activities during Black History Month or Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Earth Day celebrations tend to trivialize the matter at hand. It doesn’t represent progress for race relations to hold an… http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/environment-and-nature/20160416/im-an-environmental-writer-and-i-dread-earth-day It Still Makes Sense to Cut Toxic Air Pollution From Its Worst Industrial Source. The U.S. EPA has written another important chapter in the decades-long story of our nation’s attempt to reduce toxic air pollution from power plants that burn coal and oil. Following a December proposal, EPA just finalized a determination that it remains “appropriate and necessary” to regulate these power plants… https://www.nrdc.org/experts/john-walke/it-still-makes-sense-cut-toxic-air-pollution-its-worst-industrial-source Does Tesla's Claim For Environmental Friendliness Stand Up? Whisper it to the home crowd whooping and hollering every time Tesla Motors TSLA +0.05% CEO Elon Musk said “sustainability” and “CO2 reduction” at the reveal of the Model 3 prototype, but lifetime carbon dioxide from electric cars may actually not… http://www.forbes.com/sites/neilwinton/2016/04/17/does-teslas-claim-for-environmental-friendliness-stand-up/#1b9d309fac6b Fossil Fuels' Value Not Imperiled By Climate Change. Amusingly, one pundit described the bankruptcy filing of the coal giant Peabody Energy as educational for the petroleum industry as to the effect of climate change on their business, saying, “it acts as a warning to oil and gas companies – and their investors – about how quickly things can change.” http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaellynch/2016/04/17/fossil-fuels-value-not-imperiled-by-climate-change/#4c1f2abd5190 BLOGS Will Delhi’s Extreme Traffic Restrictions Have an Impact on Air Pollution This Time? For the two weeks starting April 15, most cars in the Indian capital will only be allowed on the roads every other weekday. Delhi has implemented severe restrictions on which cars are allowed on the road again in hopes of combating the megacity’s horrendous air-pollution problem. http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2016/04/18/will-delhis-extreme-traffic-restrictions-have-an-impact-on-air-pollution-this-time/ California is in a drought emergency. Visit www.SaveOurH2O.org for water conservation tips.