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ARB Newsclips for September 2, 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 Spends GHG Market Proceeds on Clean Transport.
California has unallocated proceeds from its greenhouse gas
emission cap-and-trade program, and state officials have just
decided how it will be spent. Governor Jerry Brown, State Senate
President pro Tempore Kevin de León and Assembly Speaker Anthony
Rendon Wednesday announced an agreement on an expenditure plan
that will reduce greenhouse gas…
http://ens-newswire.com/2016/09/01/california-spends-ghg-market-proceeds-on-clean-transport/


AIR POLLUTION

Greek shipping companies convicted of pollution, obstruction.
Federal prosecutors say two Greek shipping companies and two of
their employees have been convicted of multiple charges after
they dumped sludge and waste water into the ocean and tried to
cover it up. A statement from the U.S. Department of Justice on
Friday said the companies…
http://www.sfgate.com/news/crime/article/Greek-shipping-companies-convicted-of-pollution-9200170.php


Cow fart regulation approved by American lawmakers. The dairy
farming industry has been given extra time to comply. 'Cow fart'
regulations have been approved by California lawmakers, who added
new restrictions on the amount of methane emissions in the
atmosphere to the state's climate change agenda.
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/california-cow-fart-regulation-approved-by-lawmakers-1579429


CLIMATE CHANGE

California moves to add methane limits to climate agenda.
California Democrats are taking further steps to advance the
state's ambitious climate-change agenda, agreeing to regulate
methane emissions from landfills and dairy farms for the first
time and approving $900 million in spending on environmental
programs. The approval came in the final hours of the two-year
legislative session Wednesday following a flurry of negotiations…
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CLIMATE_CHANGE_FUNDING?SITE=SCAND&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


U.S. and China to lead push on climate change at G20 summit.
China and the United States are expected to give the Paris
climate change agreement a big push forward as the world's
largest economies gather for the G20 summit this weekend,
including potentially jointly announcing their ratification of
the deal and action to curb fossil fuel subsidies, experts say.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-g20-climatechange-china-usa-idUSKCN1175FJ

http://in.reuters.com/article/us-climatechange-aviation-idINKCN11823Q


Largest U.S. Power Grid Says It Can Meet Obama’s Climate Mandate.
The operator of the largest U.S. power market said it can meet
the Obama administration’s sweeping goals to tackle climate
change while limiting the impact on power prices to a less than 3
percent rise. Power suppliers in the market, which covers parts
of the U.S. mid-Atlantic and Midwest, can meet emission reduction
targets for less than $2 a megawatt-hour…
http://washpost.bloomberg.com/Story?docId=1376-OCU8356K50XW01-294HJC3NNKI7MHONNOTOB4VMDA


Obama warns against global warming's impact on Pacific atoll.
President Barack Obama plunked down on a speck of coral reef in
the middle of the Pacific Ocean on Thursday and gazed out at the
turquoise waters of the marine monument he's widened to become
the largest in the world. Hundreds of rare birds fluttered in the
skies halfway between Asia and North America as the president
paid…
http://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/Obama-warns-against-global-warming-s-impact-on-9199329.php


WH announces $40 million climate effort for Pacific islands. The
White House on Thursday announced a $40 million program to help
Pacific Ocean islands cope with climate change. The new funding
is going, in part, to underwrite a fund to send “climate-adaption
coordinators” to eight Pacific Ocean island nations. It will also
invest in a USAID program to “promote resilience, enhance access
to climate finance…
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/294124-wh-announces-40-million-climate-effort-for-pacific-islands?utm_source=Inside+Climate+News&utm_campaign=8bb3ed4a33-Today_s_Climate12_10_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_29c928ffb5-8bb3ed4a33-327747457


'Cool' clothing breakthrough could slash building emissions. Turn
off your air conditioner and stay cool in your shirt instead.
That's the idea behind a new plastic-wrap-like material that
Stanford University scientists say could be made into "cool"
clothing, the use of which could slash emissions and energy
consumption in buildings.
If woven into fabric, the wearable cloth could keep humans cool…
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2016/09/02/stories/1060042298 

DROUGHT

Who benefits from California’s drought? These 8 businesses are
helped by less water. It’s hot, wildfires are cropping up
throughout the state and water is at a premium. And that recent
El Nino? It was a bust for Southern California, bringing little
of the rain that weather experts had predicted. As California
navigates its way through a fifth year of serious drought,
residents and businesses alike are feeling the effects. But as
bad as all of this is, some businesses have managed to benefit
from California’s drought.
http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/business/20160902/who-benefits-from-californias-drought-these-8-businesses-are-helped-by-less-water


FUELS

U.S. Gasoline Use Hits A Record, But That May Not Last. The U.S.
has set a new record for how much gasoline the country consumes
in a month. Drivers burned more than 405 million gallons of gas a
day in June, the latest month counted. The Energy Information
Administration says that's the highest amount ever, on records
dating back to 1946. Just a few years back, when the economy was
suffering, "staycations" became popular.
http://www.npr.org/2016/09/02/492271953/u-s-gasoline-use-hits-a-record-but-that-may-not-last?utm_source=Inside+Climate+News&utm_campaign=8bb3ed4a33-Today_s_Climate12_10_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_29c928ffb5-8bb3ed4a33-327747457


VEHICLES

In China's electric car boom, global automakers select different
gear. By 2020, Beijing says automakers must meet tough new green
standards to cut epic pollution in China's cities. As domestic
firms bet heavily on electric cars to meet that goal, foreign
peers are set to stay in a different, petrol-driven gear. In the
latest sign of caution from global automakers in China, Germany's
Audi last week unveiled a new factory for high-efficiency
transmissions in Tianjin, to be used in petrol-powered cars.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-autos-green-idUSKCN11767X


Fiat Emissions Cleared by Italy as Germany Seeks Wider Probe (2).
Italy rebuffed German efforts to look more deeply at Fiat
Chrysler Automobiles NV, arguing the automaker’s vehicles don’t
breach emissions rules. The Italian Transport Ministry’s tests
showing Fiat used no unauthorized devices on its vehicles still
stand, an Italian government official said.
http://washpost.bloomberg.com/Story?docId=1376-OCTTOX6JIJUP01-34UG89MFA5FOF4F7J6NTO1D3F6

California’s Zero-Emissions Program is Struggling Due to its
Structure. Even though Toyota sold less than 300 hydrogen
fuel-cell vehicles in California this year, and even though it
doesn’t sell an EV, it still will almost certainly meet
California’s zero-emission vehicle mandate. That’s because Toyota
can use state-issued environmental credits to meet the mandate,
instead of relying on current vehicle sales.
http://www.hybridcars.com/californias-zero-emissions-program-is-struggling-due-to-its-structure/


GREEN ENERGY

Big Hydro Fights to Be Part of New York’s Clean Energy Targets.
Big hydroelectric suppliers are lobbying to be included in New
York’s new clean energy plan that’s promising subsidies for
money-losing nuclear plants. Hydro-Quebec and Brookfield
Renewable Partners LP say their hydroelectric plants should get
the same subsidies for carbon-free electricity as those being
given to wind, solar and nuclear generators…
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-09-02/big-hydro-fights-to-be-part-of-new-york-s-clean-energy-targets


Solar Power Does Work, Even Better Than Expected. One of the
prices we have to pay for our ideological divide on renewable
energy is that we have to read headlines like this, particularly
in the Murdoch media: “Solar and wind power simply don’t work,
not here, not anywhere”. It was written by the former chairman of
a coal mining company, in case you were wondering.
https://cleantechnica.com/2016/09/02/solar-power-work-even-better-expected/


Solar cell is more efficient, costs less than its counterparts.
Exposed in step-like formation, layers of new photovoltaic cell
harvest more of sun's energy.  The cost of solar power is
beginning to reach price parity with cheaper fossil fuel-based
electricity in many parts of the world, yet the clean energy
source still accounts for just slightly more than 1 percent of
the world's electricity mix.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/08/160829163522.htm 

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

Legislature declines to add 'environmental justice' members to
Southern California air quality board. The state Legislature has
rejected a controversial measure that would have shifted the
political balance of Southern California’s air-quality board by
adding three state-appointed “environmental justice” members to
represent low-income communities suffering from pollution.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/ 

OPINIONS

Legislature did much, but full impacts of big items remain
unknown. The biennial legislative session that ended very early
Thursday morning amassed a very substantial record of action –
some positive, some negative and much whose real effects won’t be
known for years. The latter category includes extending the
state’s war on carbon dioxide emissions for another decade,
gradually increasing the state’s minimum wage by 50 percent to
$15 per hour…
http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/politics-columns-blogs/dan-walters/article99386622.html#storylink=cpy


Melting glaciers, shifting biomes and dying trees in our national
parks – yet we can take action on climate change. Trees are dying
across Yosemite and Yellowstone national parks. Glaciers are
melting in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve in Alaska.
Corals are bleaching in Virgin Islands National Park. Published
field research conducted in U.S. national parks has detected
these changes and shown that human climate
change…http://yubanet.com/enviro/melting-glaciers-shifting-biomes-and-dying-trees-in-our-national-parks-yet-we-can-take-action-on-climate-change/


BLOGS

The problem with natural gas: methane emissions. The largest
methane leak in the nation’s history began last October in an
underground natural gas storage facility in California’s Aliso
Canyon. When it was all said and done, experts said that 110,000
tons of methane had leaked into the atmosphere over the course of
four months and conjured up ways to describe the figure in
relatable terms.
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/energy-environment/294232-the-problem-with-natural-gas-methane-emissions


The Science of Car Sharing: Can Shared Vehicle Services Reduce
Transportation Emissions? I’m a fan of car sharing services like
Zipcar and car2go. Both offer instant access to vehicles that are
scattered throughout my city, and car2go offers the unique
benefit of being able to drop a vehicle off at any parking spot,
even one with a meter. Using these services is super easy…
http://blog.ucsusa.org/josh-goldman/car-sharing-climate-change-emissions


U.S. wind power surpasses 75 GW and Americans love it. Sometimes
the more you know about something. And that’s the case for wind
energy. The amount of installed wind capacity across the U.S. has
tripled over the last eight years and people are taking notice.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-kiernan/us-wind-power-surpasses-7_b_11802446.html


Volkswagen Says It's All But Done With Diesel in the United
States. Bad news, VW TDI lovers: Volkswagen doesn’t want to get
back together. According to Car and Driver, Heinrich Woebcken,
the President of Volkswagen Group of North America, has stated
that “the push for diesel for the brand is done. We don’t foresee
that the strength of diesel will come back for this market.”
http://www.thedrive.com/news/5091/volkswagen-says-its-all-but-done-with-diesel-in-the-united-states


Climate Summit of the Americas - Increased cooperation among
governments of the Americas in the fight against climate change.
At the 2(nd) Climate Summit of the Americas at Guadalajara (State
of Jalisco) Mexico, participating governments of Quebec, Ontario
and Mexico issued a joint declaration on August 31, 2016, in
which they affirmed the desire to strengthen their climate
cooperation, particularly by encouraging…
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/climate-summit-of-the-americas---increased-cooperation-among-governments-of-the-americas-in-the-fight-against-climate-change-2016-09-02


California targets clean transport, urban greening for $900M in
cap-and-trade funds. Dive Brief: •California legislators have
approved a last-minute deal to use $900 million from the state’s
cap-and-trade program to fund environmental and clean energy
projects across the state. •The funds will be spent on subsidies
for electric cars, rail programs, urban green spaces and
pollution abatement in low-income communities.
http://www.utilitydive.com/news/california-targets-clean-transport-urban-greening-for-900m-in-cap-and-tra/425620/




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