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newsclips -- ARB Newsclips for June 7, 2016.

Posted: 07 Jun 2016 14:27:39
ARB Newsclips for June 7, 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.

AIR POLLUTION

Germany Pushes EU to Close Loophole in Rules on Emissions (1).
Germany wants the European Union to tighten a loophole in
vehicle-emissions rules that allowed carmakers to reduce
pollution controls in certain conditions, part of the heightened
scrutiny in the wake of Volkswagen AG’s diesel-cheating scandal.
European regulations allow automakers to adjust exhaust systems
for safety reasons…
http://washpost.bloomberg.com/Story?docId=1376-O8EDOM6S973601-6HJOTV3Q7CVV5VBESJ1PHQ971U


Satellite imagery helps NASA find unreported sources of air
pollution. In a recent collaborative study, NASA, along with
Environment and Climate Change Canada and two universities,
located major previously unknown sources of air pollution. In
parts of the Middle East, Russia, and Mexico, the air is more
polluted by factories and power plants than previously thought.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2016/0606/Satellite-imagery-helps-NASA-find-unreported-sources-of-air-pollution


Measuring Shipping Emissions in the Arctic. Shipping must prepare
for stricter black carbon emission regulations; Finns improve the
reliability of international measurement techniques. A new global
challenge and a compliance monitoring market are emerging, due to
tightening environmental regulations.
http://www.marinelink.com/news/measuring-emissions410747.aspx 

CLIMATE CHANGE

Here are three climate change breakthroughs possible during
Modi’s trip to Washington. More than 300 million Indians have no
access to electricity, and about the same number get it for only
a few hours a day. India's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, made
universal electrification a pillar of his election campaign two
years ago, and since then he has made major announcements ramping
up India's ambitions to produce both coal and "clean" power.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/06/06/modis-visit-to-washington-could-set-a-new-tone-on-fighting-global-climate-change/


The Great Barrier Reef: a catastrophe laid bare. Australia’s
natural wonder is in mortal danger. Bleaching caused by climate
change has killed almost a quarter of its coral this year and
many scientists believe it could be too late for the rest. Using
exclusive photographs and new data, a Guardian special report
investigates how the reef has been devastated – and what can be
done to save it.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jun/07/the-great-barrier-reef-a-catastrophe-laid-bare?utm_source=Inside+Climate+News&utm_campaign=f9f827a60f-Today_s_Climate12_10_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_29c928ffb5-f9f827a60f-327747457


Norway just set an incredible target to have net zero carbon
emissions by 2030. Norway's parliament has agreed on a goal to
cut the country's net greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2030,
moving the target forward by 20 years, an official at the
national assembly said on Tuesday. To achieve this goal, oil and
gas producing Norway will have to lower its carbon output or
purchase carbon credits to offset its emissions.
http://www.businessinsider.com/norway-agrees-to-huge-climate-change-goal-2016-6


Unabated Global Warming Threatens West's Snowpack, Water Supply.
New study shows a snowline creeping higher in the Rockies, Sierra
Nevada and Cascades and the resulting decrease in spring runoff
endangers those below. Low-elevation snowpack across the Rocky
Mountains, the Sierra Nevada and the Cascades will disappear in
the coming decades if global warming continues unabated,
according to a new study.
http://insideclimatenews.org/news/07062016/unabated-global-warming-threatens-west-snowpack-water-rocky-mountains-sierra-nevada-drought


Issue gap for voters is greatest on climate -- Gallup poll.  A
new poll shows a wide gap between Democrats and Republicans on
how important climate change is to their vote for president. The
Gallup poll found that 72 percent of Democrats say that the issue
of climate change is "extremely" or "very" important in how they
vote for a presidential candidate. Just 25 percent of Republicans
say that the issue is important.
http://www.eenews.net/eedaily/2016/06/07/stories/1060038382 

DROUGHT

Water conservation has saved energy, cut greenhouse gas
emissions, study finds. debate continues in San Diego County and
around the state over how aggressively to conserve water amid a
historic drought, a new study finds that reductions in urban
water use have saved significant amounts of electricity and
reduced greenhouse gas emissions.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-sd-greenhouse-gas-emissions-20160607-snap-story.html


Californians keep up water savings in April. Californians
continued to save water in April despite the easing of the
drought, reducing use by about 26 percent compared to 2013, the
State Water Resources Control Board said Monday. The reductions
came before the recent roll back of severe mandatory conservation
targets. They also came during a relatively dry April.
http://www.modbee.com/news/article82156412.html#storylink=cpy 

Critical index finds smelt nearly extinct in Sacramento Delta.
Delta smelt have hovered close to extinction for years, but
biologists say they’ve never seen anything like this spring.
“There’s nothing between them and extinction, as far as I can
tell,” said Peter Moyle…
http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/water-and-drought/delta/article82144857.html#storylink=cpy


New California drought threat: Bark beetles and tens of millions
of dead trees. More rain arrived in Northern California this
year, which is good news overall. Yet, more bad news is lurking
in the forest: Bark beetles. In fact, those bark beetles are
lurking in backyards throughout Butte County. Trees were under
stress the past few years due to lack of water.
http://www.chicoer.com/general-news/20160606/new-california-drought-threat-bark-beetles-and-tens-of-millions-of-dead-trees


Could rising CO2 levels help plants withstand drought? Global
drying may not be as extensive as some models predict, according
to a study published this week in Nature Climate Change. Carbon
dioxide, a main driver of global warming, also helps plants
become hardier against drought. Drying effects could be
counteracted by plants needing less water…
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2016/06/07/stories/1060038395 

DIESEL ACTIVITIES

Santa Cruz Metro receives grant to purchase new electric bus. The
Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District recently received a
grant award of $709,292 on June 1 to purchase an electric bus
that will run as a new circulator service in downtown Watsonville
beginning in 2018. “This is a step toward lowering greenhouse gas
emissions…
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/government-and-politics/20160606/santa-cruz-metro-receives-grant-to-purchase-new-electric-bus


FUELS

UN asks governments for 2050 plans to phase out coal, oil and
gas. Laurence Tubiana and Hakima El-Haite deliver ‘roadmap’ to
COP22 climate summit, call on governments to think long-term.
Governments, cities and business leaders will be asked to develop
plans to radically cut emissions by 20502, under UN proposals
released on Monday.
http://www.climatechangenews.com/2016/06/06/un-asks-governments-for-2050-plans-to-phase-out-coal-oil-and-gas/?utm_source=Inside+Climate+News&utm_campaign=f9f827a60f-Today_s_Climate12_10_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_29c928ffb5-f9f827a60f-327747457


VEHICLES

Italy Says No Emissions Wrongdoing in Fiat Vehicles. Government
says tests show no illegal emissions-evading devices on vehicles
other than Volkswagens. Italian government tests of diesel
vehicles from various manufacturers show that only Volkswagen AG
cars have so-called defeat devices designed to dupe emissions
tests…
http://www.wsj.com/articles/italy-says-no-emissions-wrongdoing-in-fiat-vehicles-1465322468


EU Rejects Call to Tighten Car Emissions Control Law. EU
commissioner says it is up to national authorities to catch and
punish car makes who manipulate data. A German proposal to
tighten European Union rules on when car makers can turn off
emission control systems in their vehicles has been given the
cold shoulder by the bloc’s executive.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/eu-rejects-call-to-tighten-car-emissions-control-law-1465299116


Samsung says sayonara to fuel cells, focuses on batteries for
electric cars. South Korea's Samsung SDI has decided to drop its
hydrogen fuel-cell division, and focus future development
resources exclusively on batteries for electric cars. Samsung SDI
is already a major player in the electric-car battery market. But
until recently the company also dabbled in fuel-cell technology…
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1104333_samsung-says-sayonara-to-fuel-cells-focuses-on-batteries-for-electric-cars


Hyundai's Genesis luxury brand to get electric cars as well:
report. Hyundai's newly separated Genesis luxury brand may add
electric cars to its lineup in the near future. The Korean
carmaker previously sold the Genesis and Equus luxury sedans
under its own brand name, but now feels a separate luxury brand
is warranted.
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1104332_hyundais-genesis-luxury-brand-to-get-electric-cars-as-well-report


S. Korea calls for Nissan to face charges over emissions. South
Korea has called for car giant Nissan to face criminal charges
for allegedly manipulating emissions data on a popular sports
utility vehicle, weeks after Seoul slapped the firm with a fine
over the issue. The environment ministry called on state
prosecutors to probe Nissan Korea after saying tests had shown an
emission defeat system…
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/s-korea-calls-for-nissan-to-face-charges-over-emissions/ar-BBtXjDz

VW RECALL

Volkswagen gets approval for diesel cheat fix in Germany. VW says
the cars will be fully compliant after repair, and performance
won't be impacted. Volkswagen has received approval from German
authorities to go through with its plan to recall more than
800,000 diesel-powered vehicles in order to fix its so-called
"cheat" software used. This is the code that reduces the cars'
emissions - but only when they're being tested.
http://www.autoblog.com/2016/06/07/volkswagen-gets-approval-for-diesel-cheat-fix-in-germany/


GREEN ENERGY

Saudi Arabia Scales Back Renewable Energy Goal to Favor Gas (1).
Saudi Arabia is curtailing renewable-power targets as the world’s
biggest oil exporter plans to use more natural gas, backing away
from goals set when crude prices were about triple their current
level, according to Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih. The kingdom
aims to have power generation from renewable resources…
http://washpost.bloomberg.com/Story?docId=1376-O8DM0P6TTDS401-77T4V5QGN4OR13LFU6VA3LKBPR


A Biologist Works to Reconcile Bats and Wind Energy. Tim Hayes,
with Duke Energy Renewables, seeks to reduce bat and bird
fatalities on the company’s wind farms. Tim Hayes’s early
interactions with bats on his grandparents’ Indiana farm didn’t
scream “future bat expert.” He recalls sitting outside with his
brother at dusk watching them flutter out of the barn…
http://www.wsj.com/articles/a-biologist-works-to-reconcile-bats-and-wind-energy-1465319783


Who's In Charge? Getting Western States To Agree On Sharing
Renewable Energy. In California, there is so much solar energy
that grid operators have to switch off solar farms. One solution
of dealing with the additional power generated is to share the
renewable wealth across state borders – but in the West, it's
sparking some not-so-neighborly opposition.
http://www.capradio.org/news/npr/story?storyid=475731503 

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://napavalleyregister.com/ap/business/energy-bill-prospects-dim-in-dispute-over-drilling-drought/article_81550141-b45a-54de-b20d-68c656a07ea7.html


German grid agency skeptical of new renewables strategy.
Germany's drastic growth in renewable energy deployment has sent
regulators scrambling to ensure that the country doesn't become a
victim of its own success. On May 8, renewable energy fulfilled a
record 87 percent of the country's electricity demand. Rainer
Baake, state secretary at the German Federal Ministry for
Economic Affairs and Energy…
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2016/06/07/stories/1060038394 

MISCELLANEOUS

Most big users failing on cotton sustainability: report. Most
companies using cotton do nearly nothing to improve environmental
sustainability in its supply, environmental groups said on
Tuesday, citing a report by an online green consumer site. 
Traditional farming of cotton, the second-biggest raw material
for textile, makes heavy use of pesticides and water.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-cotton-companies-idUSKCN0YT14D?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29


Calif. regulator aims for 50% methane emissions cut with proposed
oil, gas rule. The California Air Resources Board proposed new
greenhouse gas and methane emissions standards for oil and gas
facilities that it said will cut these emissions by more than
50%. The board, or CARB, anticipates a reduction of 1.5 million
metric tons of CO2 equivalent…
https://www.snl.com/Interactivex/article.aspx?CdId=A-36716272-10293

OPINIONS

California's drought: How Trump's blustering caricatured a
genuine crisis. If all the mistakes, misstatements, and assorted
bloviations issuing from Donald Trump during the current
presidential campaign, surely one of the leading head-scratchers
is his May 27 assertion to the effect that “there is no drought”
in California.
http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-trump-westlands-20160606-snap-story.html


BLOGS

Reducing Methane Emissions: An Important Part of a Clean Energy
Future. Recently the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
released its final rules on methane emissions. The rules aim to
crack down on leaked emissions of methane from new sources of oil
and gas production, processing and transmission equipment. The
new rules also represent the first time the EPA has directly
addressed methane pollution.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amy-francetic/reducing-methane-emissions_b_10323756.html


Norway moves closer to banning sales of gas-powered cars by 2025.
The agreement political parties in Norway reached won't "ban"
fossil fuel-powered cars, according to Norway's Minister of
Climate and Environment Vidar Helgesen. In a Twitter exchange
with Mashable, he stated: "There is an agreement on a target of
zero new fossil-fuel cars sold" from 2025 on.
http://mashable.com/2016/06/06/norway-car-ban-elon-musk/#RBDZ8MvU8Zqd


Climate change and the value of daring. Solving climate, peace
and human security issues requires a quiet defiance. The climate
system is a unifying ethical field that extends from the physical
to the metaphysical and connects your actions to my well-being,
and vice-versa, no matter how remote your life is from mine.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2016/jun/06/the-value-of-daring

A New Air Pollution Database Is Good, but Imperfect. WHO's most
recent atlas of air quality leaves significant gaps in coverage.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recently released its latest
global urban air pollution database, including information for
nearly 3,000 cities—a doubling from the 2014 database, which
itself had data from 500 more cities than the previous (2011)
iteration.
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/a-new-air-pollution-database-is-good-but-imperfect/


Explaining The Recent Extreme Weather: Global Warming. The human
release of greenhouse gasses has ultimately caused changes in
weather patterns so that major storm systems in the Northern
Hemisphere get wetter and move along more slowly, causing
significant rainfall events to occur at a much higher rate than
previously. This has become a nearly ongoing phenomenon, with
major floods in Canada…
http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2016/06/07/explaining-the-recent-extreme-weather-global-warming/





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

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