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ARB Newsclips for August 12, 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

Cap-and-trade carbon tax showdown looms. Cap and trade. Despite
years of success in doing what it was supposed to do — cut
emission levels — California’s controversial cap-and-trade system
has run up against opposition that could be strong enough to sink
it. But with nothing to lose and everything to gain, Gov. Jerry
Brown has shifted into political overdrive to save it instead.
http://calwatchdog.com/2016/08/12/cap-trade-carbon-tax-showdown-looms/


AIR POLLUTION

Air pollution taking its toll across the state. California is in
for a statewide warm-up with triple digit temperatures in the
Central Valley and other interior areas by the weekend, which
also brings the prospect of poor air quality. The National
Weather Service says high pressure ridge will build into the
state from the southwest through Saturday and remain in control
through the middle of next week.
http://www.dailydemocrat.com/article/NI/20160812/NEWS/160819972

Gassy cows pose a problem to California legislators. Everyone
poops – and burps and farts. When cows do it, though, it’s a
problem, and California is looking for cows to cut back. A
proposed strategy from the California Air Resources Board seeks
to reduce methane emissions from the dairy industry by more than
40 percent by 2030.
http://www.abc10.com/news/local/california/gassy-cows-pose-a-problem-to-calif-legislators/295366917


Labor feud slowed effort to clean air at ports, according to
pollution data.  A labor dispute that caused massive bottlenecks
at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach last year not only
interrupted the economy — it also hurt efforts to clean the air.
Long Beach’s annual report card on pollution released Thursday
shows the air is significantly cleaner than it was in 2005.
http://www.presstelegram.com/environment-and-nature/20160811/labor-feud-slowed-effort-to-clean-air-at-ports-according-to-pollution-data


Air quality expected to be poor on Friday. The Bay Area Air
Quality Management District issued a Spare the Air alert for
Friday, the 15th alert in the 2016 summer season for excessive
smog expected in the region. Air district officials are advising
Bay Area residents to reduce driving and to limit outdoor
exercise to the early morning hours when concentrations of smog,
otherwise known as ozone…
http://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/air-quality-expected-to-be-poor-on-friday/article_63916b01-3be2-549c-87b6-d5213ab0fcc0.html


Smoke polluting Kings County air. Several fires burning around
the San Joaquin Valley are bringing smoke into Kings County and
causing breathing problems for people with respiratory issues.
Perhaps the biggest contributor of smoke is the massive Soberanes
fire in Monterey County that continues to burn weeks after it
started.
http://hanfordsentinel.com/news/local/smoke-polluting-kings-county-air/article_63dbf847-4565-564d-a769-17ad5fbaec26.html

Big Sur fire: Smoke plaguing cities from Monterey to Santa Cruz
and beyond. Residents on the Monterey Peninsula and in Salinas
awoke Thursday morning to what turned out to be a heavy mix of
smoke from the Soberanes Fire with a marine layer. The smoke is
posing a potential health risk for many. Some areas received an
"unhealthy" and "unhealthy for sensitive groups"…
http://www.mercurynews.com/central-coast/ci_30237454/big-sur-fire-smoke-plaguing-cities-from-monterey


CLIMATE CHANGE

As Earth swelters, global warming target in danger of being
missed. The Earth is so hot this year that a limit for global
warming agreed by world leaders at a climate summit in Paris just
a few months ago is in danger of being breached. In December,
almost 200 nations agreed a radical shift away from fossil fuels
with a goal of limiting a rise…
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-climatechange-temperatures-idUSKCN10N18J

Global warming polarizes more than abortion. Tempers are rising
in America, along with the temperatures. Two decades ago, the
issue of climate change wasn't as contentious. The leading U.S.
Senate proponent of taking action on global warming was
Republican John McCain.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/08/12/global-warming-polarizes-more-than-abortion.html


DROUGHT

San Luis Reservoir at lowest level in 27 years. Robert Haskins
walked across a vast expanse of cracked mud, littered with old
beer bottles and millions of tiny clam shells, that in most
Augusts would be 50 feet underwater. But the San Luis Reservoir,
the vast inland sea along Highway 152 that is a key part of
Silicon Valley's water supply, is only 10 percent full, its
lowest level in 27 years.
http://www.mercurynews.com/drought/ci_30235421/california-drought-san-luis-reservoir-at-lowest-level


FUELS

EPA’s science advisers challenge agency report on the safety of
fracking. Science advisers to the Environmental Protection Agency
Thursday challenged an already controversial government report on
whether thousands of oil and gas wells that rely on hydraulic
fracturing, or “fracking,” systemically pollute drinking water
across the nation.
That EPA draft report, many years in the making and still not
finalized…
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/08/11/epas-science-advisers-challenge-agency-report-on-the-safety-of-fracking/?utm_term=.aba287eafdb6


Report blasts Brown over fossil-fuel donors. Governor's office
says his environmental record makes advocacy group's claims
'cuckoo'. A Santa Monica consumer group is criticizing Gov. Jerry
Brown for his ties to utilities and other companies reliant on
fossil fuels, linking almost $10 million in contributions from 26
oil, gas and power companies to decisions by Brown administration
officials that directly benefited the donors.
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2016/aug/11/brown-consumer-watchdog/


Science board pushes EPA to change major fracking report. The
Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) scientific review board
is criticizing a major agency study into fracking, saying
officials need to offer more evidence backing up their claims. 
In a Thursday letter, EPA’s Science Advisory Board (SAB) told
Administrator Gina McCarthy.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/291187-science-board-pushes-epa-to-change-major-fracking-report?utm_source=Inside+Climate+News&utm_campaign=46f5bec830-Today_s_Climate12_10_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_29c928ffb5-46f5bec830-327747457


VW RECALL

VW unit chief questioned by Korean prosecutors over emissions
probe. South Korean prosecutors said they questioned the head of
Volkswagen Group's local unit in connection with allegations that
the automaker fabricated emissions test results for cars sold in
the country. Johannes Thammer, Audi Volkswagen Korea CEO,
answered a summons today, according to the Seoul Central District
Prosecutors' Office.
http://www.autonews.com/article/20160811/COPY01/308119972/vw-unit-chief-questioned-by-korean-prosecutors-over-emissions-probe


Volkswagen eyes SMA Solar storage systems in cooperation talks.
Volkswagen is in early talks with German solar power equipment
maker SMA Solar about working together, the companies said, as
the automaker pushes ambitious electric car plans to overcome its
diesel emissions scandal. SMA Solar, which makes inverters
designed for home storage systems, declined to comment on the
specifics of the talks.
http://www.businessinsider.com/r-volkswagen-eyes-sma-solar-storage-systems-in-cooperation-talks-2016-8


Volkswagen should pay more for diesel buybacks, Consumer Reports
says. Consumer Reports said last week that proposed buyback
amounts may undervalue the retail prices of certain Volkswagen
diesel models affected by the automaker's diesel cheating fiasco.
Last month, a federal judge gave preliminary approval to a
settlement covering Volkswagen 2.0-liter TDI diesel cars with
illegal "defeat device" software.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/In-Gear/2016/0812/Volkswagen-should-pay-more-for-diesel-buybacks-Consumer-Reports-says


GREEN ENERGY

3 American cities that use 100% renewable energy — and 7 that
plan to join them within 20 years. Despite the gains we've made
in renewable energy, Americans' reliance on fossil fuels seems
hard to escape. But some cities are leading the way. The
environmental group Sierra Club compiled a list of some of the US
cities that are on track to becoming 100% powered by renewable
energy in the next 20 years — including some that are already
there.
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-greenest-american-cities-renewable-energy-2016-8


Proposal filed to shut down Diablo Canyon. Paperwork submitted to
CPUC, pro-nuclear group appeals to Gov. Brown. A joint proposal
calling for the shutdown of California’s lone remaining nuclear
power plant was formally submitted by Pacific Gas & Electric on
Thursday morning to the California Public Utilities Commission
(CPUC). A number of environmental organizations and labor unions…
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2016/aug/11/diablo-joint-proposal/
 

Renewable energy: the technology that will transform our world.
Earlier, we looked at the landscape for future energy. We
explained why renewables are the future, instead of dead-end
technologies like carbon capture and storage (CCS). Today, we’re
going to continue our theme – by picking apart the renewable
energy investment market.
http://moneyweek.com/renewable-energy-the-technology-that-will-transform-our-world/


Will Rhode Island wind farm set course for offshore wind in US?
Deepwater Wind's five-turbine wind farm off Block Island is set
to be the first offshore wind farm in the United States. The
nation's first offshore wind farm is set to open off the coast of
Rhode Island this fall, ushering in a new era in the U.S. for the
industry. Developers, federal regulators and industry experts say
the opening will move the U.S. industry from a theory to reality…
http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2016/0811/Will-Rhode-Island-wind-farm-set-course-for-offshore-wind-in-US


OPINIONS

Infrastructure design must change with climate. Engineers have
always taken climate into account when designing the
infrastructure on which our lives depend. When building bridges,
engineers have long considered how fast a river might flow or how
strong the wind might blow. When designing roads, they consider
how hot temperatures might be or how high flood waters might
rise.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/climate-725495-engineers-infrastructure.html


BLOGS

To curb climate change, looking beyond carbon dioxide to your AC.
Even as global temperatures shatter records in 2016, the year's
biggest opportunity to curb further warming hinges on
little-noticed negotiations addressing little-known chemicals.
International negotiations in Vienna last month neared a deal for
curtailing hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).
http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/energy-environment/291076-to-curb-climate-change-looking-beyond-carbon-dioxide-to




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