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newsclips -- ARB Newsclips for June 22, 2016

Posted: 23 Jun 2016 13:11:28
This is a service of the California Air Resources Board’s Office
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individual websites to view some of the following news articles.

AIR POLLUTION

Valley air officials demand more from EPA than stricter
standards.
It’s no secret that the Valley Air District and the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency haven’t always seen eye to eye
when it comes to attaining their mutual goal of cleaner,
healthier air in the valley. The EPA sets the standards. The San
Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District tries to make them
work — and much progress has been made over the past few
decades.
http://www.bakersfield.com/news/2016/06/22/valley-air-officials-demand-more-from-epa-than-stricter-standards.html

http://www.capradio.org/articles/2016/06/22/san-joaquin-agency-asks-feds-to-impose-restrictions-on-heavy-trucks-locomotives/


CLIMATE CHANGE

Toxic Air Pollution, Stressors Of Climate Change: Root Causes Of
Ill Health On Children Today.
Researchers discovered that fossil fuel combustion, carbon
dioxide and associated air pollution are the root causes of much
of the ill health of children today. They are vulnerable from the
toxic pollution and stressors of climate change. Frederica
Perera, director of the Columbia Center for Children's
Environmental Health stated that the single most important action
we can take for children and their future is to cure the
addiction to fossil fuel. 
http://www.scienceworldreport.com/articles/42679/20160623/toxic-air-pollution-stressors-climate-change-root-causes-ill-health.htm


Climate change could be even worse for Boston than previously
thought. (video)
The consequences of climate change on Boston are expected to be
far more calamitous than previous studies have suggested, a new
report commissioned by the city says. In the worst-case scenario,
sea levels could rise more than 10 feet by the end of the century
— nearly twice what was previously predicted — plunging about 30
percent of Boston under water. Temperatures in 2070 could exceed
90 degrees for 90 days a year, compared with an average of 11
days now.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/06/22/climate-change-could-have-even-worse-impact-boston-than-previously-expected/S6hZ4nDPeUWNyTsx6ZckuL/story.html


94 million-year-old climate change event holds clues for future.
A major climate event millions of years ago that caused
substantial change to the ocean's ecological systems may hold
clues as to how the Earth will respond to future climate change,
a Florida State University researcher said. In a new study
published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Assistant
Professor of Geology Jeremy Owens explains that parts of the
ocean became inhospitable for some organisms as the Earth's
climate warmed 94 million years ago. As the Earth warmed, several
natural elements -- what we think of as vitamins -- depleted,
causing some organisms to die off or greatly decrease in
numbers.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160622145452.htm 

DROUGHT

FEDS: Drought Kills 66 Million Trees in California’s Sierra.
The number of trees in California's Sierra Nevada forests killed
by drought, a bark beetle epidemic and warmer temperatures has
dramatically increased since last year, raising fears they will
fuel catastrophic wildfires and endanger people's lives,
officials said Wednesday. Since 2010, an estimated 66 million
trees have died in a six-county region of the central and
southern Sierra hardest hit by the epidemic, the U.S. Forest
Service said.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CALIFORNIA_DROUGHT_DEAD_TREES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


Study shows Sierra snowpack 3 years away from pre-drought
levels.
The Sierra snowpack, which is responsible for more than 60
percent of California’s water, won’t likely make it back to its
pre-drought levels until 2019, scientists said in a study
published this week, dashing the hopes of those who believed one
extremely wet El Niño year could alleviate the state’s water
crisis.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Study-shows-Sierra-snowpack-3-years-away-from-8319629.php


DIESEL ACTIVITIES

Lawsuit filed against GM over Chevy diesel emissions.
A class-action lawsuit was filed Wednesday in federal court in
California, alleging General Motors Co. and Chevrolet falsely and
deceptively marketed its Cruze Diesel as a “clean vehicle.” The
suit also claims that GM and Chevy used emissions-cheating
software that allowed the vehicles to pollute at higher than
standard levels.
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/general-motors/2016/06/22/lawsuit-filed-gm-chevy-diesel-emissions/86257922/


FUELS

California Rule in Limbo Means Refiners Still Face Gas Cutoffs.
California’s oil refiners are facing the prospect of crippling
natural gas curtailments in part because of a rule that didn’t
come in time to help. As temperatures soared across Southern
California in the past week, California has warned of power and
gas shortages across the Los Angeles area that may force
refineries out of service and curb the state’s gasoline supply. 
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-23/california-rule-in-limbo-means-refiners-still-face-gas-cutoffs


VEHICLES

Electric cars a key part of climate-action plans in Ontario,
Quebec.
In the past two months, the Canadian provinces of Ontario and
Quebec announced aggressive climate-change policies, both
featuring strong plug-in electric vehicle support. Ontario's
provincial government followed up on its recently-strengthened
purchase rebates with a battery of policies including four years
of free overnight charging for electric car owners. For its part,
the province of Quebec followed through on its long-standing
promise to introduce a Zero Emissions Vehicle mandate.
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1104555_electric-cars-a-key-part-of-climate-action-plans-in-ontario-quebec


Sweden inaugurates its first electric road.
Sweden inaugurated a test stretch of electric road on the E16 in
Sandviken, thus becoming one of the first countries to conduct
tests with electric power for heavy transports on public roads.
The test stretch on the E16 is two kilometers long. The
technology is similar to light rail, with contact lines 5.4
meters over the roadway. The truck has a pantograph on the roof
that feeds 750 VDC to the truck’s hybrid electric system. The
current conductor can connect automatically at speeds up to 90
km/h (56 mph). The test stretch is equipped with posts 60 meters
apart that hold up the electric lines over one of the lanes.
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/06/20160622-sweden.html 

Which countries have plans for all new cars to be electric, and
when?
Plug-in electric cars currently make up a fairly small percentage
of the millions of new vehicles sold globally. But within the
next two decades, they may be the only new cars available for
sale in certain countries. Multiple countries have announced
plans to end the sale of new internal-combustion cars as a way to
cut carbon emissions.
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1104635_which-countries-have-plans-for-all-new-cars-to-be-electric-and-when


VW 

AP Sources: VW to pay near $10.2B to settle emissions claims.
Volkswagen has agreed to take a series of steps with a total cost
of about $10.2 billion to settle claims from its unprecedented
diesel emissions cheating scandal in the U.S., two people briefed
on the matter said Thursday. Most of the money would go to
compensate 482,000 owners of cars with 2-liter diesel engines
that were programmed to turn on emissions controls during lab
tests and turn them off while on the road, said the people, who
asked not to be identified because a judge has issued a gag order
in the case.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_VOLKSWAGEN_EMISSIONS_SCANDAL?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


GREEN ENERGY

Italy signs off on 9 bln euro green energy plan.
Italy's government has approved a 9 billion euro ($10 billion)
subsidy scheme for renewable energy to be rolled out over the
next 20 years, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said on Thursday. The
new law, which has already been signed off by Industry Minister
Carlo Calenda, envisages support of around 435 million euros per
year for the sector, most of it earmarked for biomass, on-shore
wind and thermodynamic solar projects.
http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFL8N19F2V7 

MISCELLANEOUS

Smog vouchers available at Merced event.
Merced-area drivers who have owned a car for more than six months
may qualify for free vehicle emissions testing and diagnostic
inspection Saturday. The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control
District and Valley Clean Air Now, a nonprofit, will offer the
free service as part of their Tune In and Tune Up car cleanup
event. It will take place from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday at the
Merced County Fairgrounds, 900 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, at the
11th Street parking lot.
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/news/local/environment/article85439182.html


OPINIONS

Closing California’s last nuclear plant is welcome, so long as it
doesn't hamper the state's climate change goals.
The announcement this week by Pacific Gas & Electric Co. that it
will shut down the state’s last nuclear power plant by 2025 and
replace the energy it generated with renewable power is good news
for Californians, who have always had an uneasy relationship with
nuclear power in general, and with the Diablo Canyon Power Plant
in particular.
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-diablo-canyon-closing-20160623-snap-story.html


Forget cap and trade's detractors, California's carbon-pricing
works.
California’s cap-and-trade program to reduce carbon emissions and
address climate change keeps on ticking as it was designed to,
defying its critics. Cap-and-trade programs are considered to be
among the most effective ways to reduce pollution, in particular
carbon emissions, from power plants and other sources. These
programs first cap pollution at reduced levels but also enable
participating emitters to buy and sell allowances, or emissions
permits, to achieve the required reductions in the least
expensive way possible.
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-burtraw-cap-and-trade-reduces-emissionsornia--20160623-snap-story.html


Don’t believe naysayers: Carbon market is working.
A funny thing happened on the way to California’s carbon market
collapsing – it didn’t. It’s no coincidence that we are hearing
predictions that the state’s world-renowned cap-and-trade program
is doomed to failure just as the governor and Legislature are
wrangling about how best to extend our greenhouse gas reduction
targets and cap and trade beyond 2020. We have seen this strategy
to undermine our state’s climate policies before. In 2010, it was
a failed ballot measure funded by out-of-state oil companies to
kill our landmark law, Assembly Bill 32.
http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/soapbox/article85360452.html




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

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