What's New List Serve Post Display

ARB Newsclips for September 28, 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

The more we learn about air pollution, the worse it gets. The
World Health Organization — which has previously found that
indoor and outdoor air pollution killed a shocking 7 million
people globally in 2012 — released a new analysis Tuesday
underscoring the extent of the risk, which seems to grow worse
and worse the more we learn about how damaging tiny airborne
particles can be to our health.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/09/27/the-more-we-learn-about-air-pollution-the-worse-it-gets/?utm_term=.40def5daf093

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/09/27/495654086/who-says-92-percent-of-the-worlds-population-breathes-sub-standard-air

http://www.voanews.com/a/world-meteorological-organiztion-melting-sea-ice-accelerated-global-warming/3528929.html

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/air-pollution-exceeds-who-limits-92-percent-world-s-people-n655266

http://abcnews.go.com/International/90-people-world-live-air-pollution-limit/story?id=42393492


Company to pay $112K to EPA in emissions settlement. A New
Hampshire company that makes valves has signed a settlement
agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency and will pay
$112,000 to settle claims it violated the Clean Air Act. 
Watts Regulator Co. in Franklin operates two foundry process
lines. They are subject to national emission standards for metal
fabrication and for aluminum and copper foundries.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Company-to-pay-112K-to-EPA-in-emissions-9298013.php


ALISO CANYON

As bloody noses continue in Porter Ranch, LA County weighs health
study. Angry, tearful residents from Porter Ranch urged Los
Angeles County Supervisors Tuesday to move forward with an
independent health study that would examine the long-term effects
of exposure to methane and other chemicals as a result of the
massive gas leak almost a year ago in nearby Aliso Canyon.
http://www.dailynews.com/article/20160927/NEWS/160929494 

CLIMATE CHANGE

Oslo's radical "climate budget" aims to halve carbon emissions in
four years. Oslo's leftist city government issued its first
"climate budget" on Wednesday aiming to halve greenhouse gas
emission within four years in one of the world's most radical
experiments to slow global warming. The budget, setting out
annual goals to choke off emissions from cars, homes and
businesses in the Norwegian capital…
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-climatechange-oslo-idUSKCN11Y1RK


Power-Plant-Emissions Court Case Raises Questions on EPA Rules’
Scope.Judges focus on whether the agency overstepped its legal
authority. Defenders and detractors of President Barack Obama’s
centerpiece climate-change regulation faced critical questions
from a federal court Tuesday in a lawsuit that will have a
far-reaching impact on how the nation fuels its electricity.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/power-plant-emissions-case-begins-with-questions-on-epa-rules-scope-1475006428


Appeals Court Hears Challenge to Obama’s Climate Change Rules.
The nation’s second-most powerful court grappled Tuesday with the
intractable and potentially catastrophic problem of climate
change, weighing whether constitutional questions surrounding
President Obama’s climate change regulations should trump the
moral obligations of upholding a plan to curb global warming.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/28/us/politics/appeals-court-hears-challenge-to-obamas-climate-change-rules.html?_r=0


Related Article
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/sep/28/clean-power-plan-court-obama-climate-change


Global Warming Could Decimate Maine Lobsters by 2100, Study Says.
If temperatures in the Gulf of Maine continue to rise, New
England may starve for its beloved lobster rolls. Hold your New
England lobster rolls close: If environmental trends continue as
they are, the sea bugs could be gone within 85 years. A recent
report from the University of Maine Darling Marine Center and
Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences predicts that global
warming’s affect on ocean temperatures could wipe out Maine
lobsters by 2100.
http://www.bostonmagazine.com/restaurants/blog/2016/09/28/maine-lobsters-global-warming/


New York City accelerates emissions efforts in face of daunting
sea level rise. City to expand renewable energy generation,
improve efficiency of buildings, transition to electric vehicles
and improve waste management to cut emissions. New York City has
set out a plan to quicken its pace of decarbonization in order to
meet its emissions reduction target, as the metropolis prepares
for a daunting sea level rise due to climate change.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/sep/27/new-york-city-emissions-sea-level-rise-climate-change


Climate Change and Fall Foliage. With the end of September fast
approaching, many people across the U.S. are eagerly watching the
trees for their annual display of brilliantly colored fall
foliage. A drop in temperatures and a change in the amount of
daily sunlight are the standard cues for trees to begin shutting
down for winter — changing the colors of their leaves in the
process.
http://www.climatecentral.org/gallery/graphics/climate-change-and-fall-foliage


The World's Water Reservoirs Produce More Greenhouse Gas Than All
Of Canada. Mostly methane bubbles, from human-constructed
reservoirs. Reservoirs are placid, lovely places, perfect for
boating, hikes, and apparently, greenhouse gas emissions. In a
review set to be published next week in BioScience, researchers
looked at more than 200 studies examining the contributions of
man-made reservoirs to greenhouse gas emissions.
http://www.popsci.com/man-made-reservoirs-are-emitting-more-greenhouse-gasses-than-we-thought


FUELS

Canada approves natural gas export project. Canada’s federal
government approved a massive natural gas export project in
British Columbia despite opposition from environmentalists. The
project is designed to shift 19 million metric tonnes of
liquefied natural gas per year, mainly to Asia, according to the
Vancouver Sun. Federal officials said the C$11.4 billion ($8.6
billion) project has strict environmental controls…
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/298230-canada-approves-natural-gas-export-project


VW RECALL

Volkswagen investors fret prospect of huge fine. Investors
concerned about the prospect of a massive criminal fine in the
U.S. for Volkswagen Group drove down shares of the automaker's
stock Tuesday morning. Volkswagen shares traded in Germany fell
3.4% to 112.25 euros shortly after 8 a.m. ET. The drop came after
Bloomberg reported that the Department of Justice is "assessing
how big a criminal fine it can extract from Volkswagen AG over…
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2016/09/27/volkswagen-investors-fret-prospect-huge-fine/91156512/
 

VW chief: Working on settlement with US for emissions fraud.
Volkswagen CEO Matthias Mueller says the company is cooperating
with U.S. authorities and hopes to reach a settlement on a fine
with the Justice Department for equipping diesel vehicles to
cheat on emissions tests. Mueller said the company admits it
“made a big mistake” and that “we have worked on a very
cooperative basis with the authorities in Germany, Europe, and
the U.S. 
http://www.seattletimes.com/business/vw-chief-working-on-settlement-with-us-for-emissions-fraud/


BLOGS

California’s New Self-Driving Car Rules Are Great for Texas.
California has drafted rules for the public deployment of
autonomous cars, finally giving us a look at how regulators will
react once self-driving tech is ready to go past the testing
phase. The news is not good for anyone looking to let go of the
wheel and let the robot do all the work. The rules, proposed as a
draft by the state DMV on Wednesday, lay out a variety of
requirements for manufacturers…
https://www.wired.com/2015/12/californias-new-self-driving-car-rules-are-great-for-texas/


The carbon tax is not just political; it's ineffective, too. In a
recent editorial in support of a carbon tax, The Washington Post
complains that "Americans are burning record amounts of
gasoline," arguing that "one of the most glaring ... flaws" of
the "Environmental Protection Agency fuel-efficiency mandates" is
the reality that the regulations "cannot control how much people
drive or what type of vehicles people buy."
http://www.thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/energy-environment/298285-the-carbon-tax-is-not-just-political-its-ineffective


As Millions Die, the Time to Enforce Air Pollution Standards Is
Now. Conventional business wisdom has it that cutting carbon
emissions and air pollution hits industrial output hard, stifling
global growth and holding back emerging economies in particular.
Despite the fact that 195 nations committed to bringing forward
peak global emissions as soon as possible at the climate
conference in Paris last year…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rachael-willis-/as-millions-die-the-time-_b_12190990.html


The World Just Hit This Disturbing Climate Change Metric. It’s a
quiet turning point against the backdrop of U.S. politics. Earth
has seemingly passed a worrisome threshold for the changing
climate this week, according to scientists. The last week in
September is often the time of the year when the planet’s carbon
emissions are at their lowest as summer turns to fall and plants
and leaves start to decay, releasing carbon.
http://fortune.com/2016/09/28/climate-change-400-ppm/ 

We Just Passed A Grim Carbon Dioxide Threshold, Possibly For
Good. CO2 levels surpassed 400 ppm in September. Scientists say
we won’t see a month below that symbolic benchmark “ever again.”
The world has hit a global warming milestone it may never recover
from. Scientists at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii announced
in 2013 that atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide reached
a daily average above 400 parts per million for the first time in
history.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/carbon-dioxide-400ppm-permanent_us_57eb7636e4b082aad9b7e9ab



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Visit www.SaveOurH2O.org for water conservation tips.