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AIR POLLUTION

NASA Found 39 Unreported Man-Made Sources of Toxic Air
Pollution.
NASA's satellites also function as an observatory for climate
change and weather behavior on Earth. These satellites were
proven to be helpful in the recent findings by NASA scientists in
partnership with the Environment and Climate Change Canada, who
discovered that there are 39 unreported sources of toxic air
pollution on Earth.
http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/23293/20160606/nasa-found-39-unreported-man-made-sources-of-toxic-air-pollution.htm


EU dilutes proposal to halve air pollution deaths after UK
lobbying.
EU states have agreed to water down a proposed law aimed at
halving the number of deaths from air pollution within 15 years,
after intense lobbying from the UK that cross-party MEPs have
condemned as “appalling”. Some 14,000 people will die prematurely
every year across Europe from 2030 as a result, if the weakened
proposal is implemented, according to figures cited by the
environment commissioner, Karmenu Vella.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jun/03/eu-dilutes-proposal-halve-air-pollution-deaths-uk-lobbying


EPA: Coal-fired power plants need new pollution controls.
Federal regulators are requiring new pollution controls at Utah's
oldest coal-fired power plants to reduce haze near national
parks. The Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday it
would require new equipment to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions at
Rocky Mountain Power's Hunter and Huntington power plants in
Emery County.
http://www.latimes.com/travel/cruises/sns-bc-ut--coal-plants-pollution-rules-20160602-story.html


Air Pollution May Increase The Risk Of High Blood Pressure.
Exposure to air pollutants like vehicle exhaust and burning of
fossil fuels may increase the risk of high blood pressure in
humans, reports a recent study. Researchers noted that both long
and short term exposure to air pollution have roles to play in
increasing blood pressure. The Chinese researchers analyzed 17
different studies conducted earlier to find the association
between air pollution and hypertension. The findings were
published in the American Heart Association's journal
Hypertension.
http://www.scienceworldreport.com/articles/41278/20160603/air-pollution-increase-risk-high-blood-pressure.htm


Many SoCal Gas wells leak, but air quality cops have little
recourse.
The agency that enforces air quality laws in the Los Angeles
Basin has determined that many natural gas storage wells operated
by Southern California Gas Company are leaking some amount of
methane. But inspectors with the South Coast Air Quality
Management District currently don't have the authority to cite
the company for violating air pollution laws.
http://www.scpr.org/news/2016/06/03/61296/many-socal-gas-wells-leak-but-air-quality-cops-hav/


Calabasas fire that burned 516 acres is mostly contained.
The Old Fire is 75 percent contained, according to the Los
Angeles County Fire Department. And it turns out that only two
buildings — one home and one commercial building — were destroyed
in the blaze. The L.A. County Department of Public Health has
issued an air quality advisory for the San Fernando Valley, Santa
Clarita Valley and surrounding areas. In areas where there is
visible smoke or the odor of smoke, all people should avoid
unnecessary outdoor exposure and limit physical exertion (whether
indoor or outdoor), such as exercise. This is especially true for
people with heart disease, asthma or other respiratory disease,
who should stay indoors as much as possible even in areas where
smoke, soot or ash cannot be seen. Schools and non-school related
sports organizations have been advised to suspend outside
physical activities in these areas.
http://www.scpr.org/news/2016/06/05/61342/calabasas-fire-burns-200-acres-evacuations-ordered/


Thanks To These Fort Collins 5th-Graders Wearable Air Quality
Sensors May Be In Our Future.
Colorado State University researchers are working on finding new
ways to measure air quality. To help pilot a new wearable air
quality monitor, they’ve turned to people like Katherine Steger.
The thing is, Steger is a fifth-grader. “Eventually the hissing
noise it would make when it would suck in the air became kind of
soothing to me, helped me go to sleep at night, it really sort of
helped me,” she told a CSU asthma researcher in a focus group at
the end of the study. “I didn’t notice it was there.”
http://www.kunc.org/post/thanks-these-fort-collins-5th-graders-wearable-air-quality-sensors-may-be-our-future#stream/0


CLIMATE CHANGE

China Prods U.S. to Do More on Climate Change for Poorer
Nations.
China said the U.S. should do more to help developing nations to
cope with climate change and bring the Paris deal on greenhouse
gases into force, raising an issue that has divided the main
presidential contenders. Speaking in Beijing, one of China’s top
climate envoys also praised the U.S. for its efforts to rein in
emissions damaging the Earth’s atmosphere and noted that both
countries worked together to seal the agreement in Paris in
December.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-06/china-prods-u-s-to-do-more-on-climate-change-for-poorer-nations


Statue of Liberty washed away. A sunken Venice. New climate
change report suggests it’s possible.
The catastrophes seem like the stuff Roland Emmerich’s dreams are
made of: In the United States, Yellowstone National Park morphs
from thick woods to sparser brushland in the aftermath of
frequent and furious forest fires. In Italy, Venice sinks beneath
a swelling Adriatic Sea. In England, Stonehenge tumbles to the
ground when the local mole and badger populations explode, and
their burrows weaken the earth beneath the 5,000-year-old rock
monuments.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/national/article80334832.html

ENERGY
Energy bill prospects dim in dispute over drilling, drought
Congressional efforts to approve the first major energy bill in
nearly a decade are in jeopardy amid a partisan dispute over oil
drilling, water for drought-stricken California and potential
rollback of protections for the gray wolf and other wildlife.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/APFN_US_CONGRESS_ENERGY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


FUELS

Fertilizer use could reduce climate benefit of cellulosic
biofuels.
According to a new, three-year study from the Great Lakes
Bioenergy Research Center and Michigan State University (MSU),
the use of nitrogen fertilizer on switchgrass crops can produce a
sharp increase in emissions of nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas up
to 300 times more harmful than carbon dioxide and a significant
driver of global climate change. Switchgrass is one of several
crops poised to become a feedstock for the production of
"cellulosic biofuels" – i.e., fuels derived from grasses, wood,
or the non-food portion of plants. Though touted for being a
clean energy alternative to both fossil fuels and corn ethanol,
cellulosic biofuel comes with its share of complexities. A lot of
its environmental benefit depends, for starters, on how its crops
are grown.
http://phys.org/news/2016-06-fertilizer-climate-benefit-cellulosic-biofuels.html


MISCELLANEOUS

AQMD board opposes bill to add 'environmental justice' members
and urges feds to clean up truck emissions.
Southern California’s air quality board has come under criticism
for a political shift that critics say has made it too friendly
to polluting industries. Earlier this week, the state Senate
approved a bill aimed at changing the balance. On Friday, the
South Coast Air Quality Management District board pushed back
with an attempt to defeat the legislation, which would add three
state-appointed “environmental justice” members to its ranks.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-aqmd-bill-20160603-snap-story.html


Was There an Ice Age in the Southern Hemisphere?
Yes, the most recent ice age affected the Southern Hemisphere as
well, saidJoerg M. Schaefer, a climate scientist at the
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University. But
there were big differences between hemispheres in this and other
glacial periods. The effects of ice ages in the Northern
Hemisphere are more extensive because it is “land-dominated, with
lots of continents, whereas the south is mostly ocean,” Dr.
Schaefer said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/07/science/was-there-an-ice-age-in-the-southern-hemisphere.html


OPINIONS

Green energy won't bring about oil's doom: Bloomberg View.
For hydrocarbon doomsayers, there's good news and bad news. In
2015, there were record investments in renewable energy, and
record capacity was added, much of it in emerging economies. Yet
despite the huge investment, the global share of fossil fuels is
not shrinking very fast. Renewables such as wind, solar and
geothermal still account for a tiny share of energy production,
and there are factors that may inhibit their growth in the next
few years. 
http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2016/06/green_energy_wont_bring_about.html


BLOGS

The Louvre's closure proves art cannot survive climate change.
One of the oldest human illusions is that culture is a conquest
of, or an escape from, nature. It is an illusion we need to
abandon fast. We might nurture some desperate dream that, as the
benign post-ice age climate that has made civilisation possible
is destroyed by our own folly and greed, our own creations will
survive. That in some no longer distant future the Mona Lisa and
the Arnolfini portrait, the works of Shakespeare and the scores
of Beethoven’s operas will still be safe in museums and archives
and great libraries. In short, that civilisation’s treasures will
survive the flood.
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2016/jun/06/louvre-closure-flooding-paris-climate-change





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