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newsclips -- ARB Newsclips for December 9, 2016.
Posted: 09 Dec 2016 16:37:26
ARB Newsclips for December 9, 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 National carbon tax soon to become a reality. Canada is on the verge of adopting a national carbon price, a move that the Trudeau government hopes will bring the country closer to achieving its climate targets. Under the program, a price of 10 Canadian dollars ($7.60) will be placed on every ton of carbon pollution in 2018 and continue increasing until 2022. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2016/12/09/stories/1060046914 AIR POLLUTION Paris pollution: Medics on alert, outdoor sports not advised. With more asthmatic children needing hospital treatment in Paris amid exceptional air pollution, France’s government put medics on alert Friday and warned residents to limit outdoor activity over the weekend. The Paris public hospital authority reported that it had 2,045 emergency visits by asthmatic children during the first week of December, compared with 1,516 in the same period last year. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/paris-pollution-medics-on-alert-outdoor-sports-not-advised/2016/12/09/8d5265fc-be1c-11e6-ae79-bec72d34f8c9_story.html?utm_term=.e5bd1bedfe35 A dire week for climate change activists closes on a grim note. There was a brief flurry of optimism on the left earlier this week when Ivanka and then Donald Trump met with Al Gore to discuss the long-term threat of climate change. Gore came out of his meeting with the president-elect expressing some confidence in the conversation; that… https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/12/09/a-dire-week-for-climate-change-activists-closes-on-a-grim-note/?utm_term=.e7360887facd Settlement requires EPA to prod states on ozone plans. EPA has agreed to prod 15 states and the District of Columbia to fully address requirements for meeting the 1997 and 2008 air quality ozone standards, under a tentative lawsuit settlement. In what amounts to a regulatory mop-up operation, EPA would file formal findings of "failure to submit" full state implementation plans (SIPs) and take other steps to enforce compliance deadlines in a series of rounds starting next month… http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2016/12/09/stories/1060046969 California Air Resources Board Chair Sounds Off On New EPA Head. California's top pollution regulator says her agency is not changing its approach to climate change and air regulation due to the election of Donald Trump and his nominee for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. State Air Resources Board Chair Mary Nichols says California will continue to tighten limits on emissions… http://www.capradio.org/articles/2016/12/08/california-air-resources-board-chair-sounds-off-on-new-epa-head/ European Comission agrees new air pollution law as dieselgate lawsuit looms for UK. The European Commission has approved a new air pollution law setting 2020 and 2030 targets for curbing emissions of harmful pollutants such as nitrous oxides and fine particulate matter harmful to human health. http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/3000963/european-comission-agrees-new-air-pollution-law-as-dieselgate-lawsuit-looms-for-uk Over 200 years of deadly London air: smogs, fogs, and pea soupers. 60 years after the Clean Air Act, Londoners still suffer from air pollution. What can we can learn from two centuries of campaigns against city smog? On 9 December 1952 the Great Smog officially ended – for five days a thick layer of air pollution, mostly caused by coal fires, had covered London and caused the deaths of thousands of residents. https://www.theguardian.com/science/the-h-word/2016/dec/09/pollution-air-london-smogs-fogs-pea-soupers CLIMATE CHANGE Companies on Climate: Trump or No, Still Cutting Emissions. Scott Pruitt’s appointment to lead EPA doesn’t change corporate strategies. Many big corporations continue to support efforts to reduce carbon emissions, vowing to stay the course despite the election of Donald Trump, who has promised to dismantle the Obama administration’s climate agenda and this week chose a global-warming skeptic… http://www.wsj.com/articles/as-trump-knocks-obama-on-climate-firms-recommit-to-carbon-reduction-1481218505 U.S. forecaster sees weak La Niña likely to fade in early 2017. A U.S. government weather forecaster on Thursday said weak La Niña conditions were present but favored to dissipate in the coming months. The National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center said in a monthly forecast that conditions were likely to transition back to neutral during January through March. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-weather-elnino-idUSKBN13X1LG U.K. Said to Prefer Staying in EU Carbon Market After Brexit (1). The U.K. would prefer to remain in the European Union’s Emissions Trading System after the country has completed its withdrawal from the 28-nation bloc, according to a government official with direct knowledge of the matter. The thinking of Prime Minister Theresa May’s administration is that the benefits of being in the EU-ETS are better than withdrawing, said the official… http://washpost.bloomberg.com/Story?docId=1376-OHVIEL6JIJV001-34EM6CREJIS9BGKMP8FL8VF8DS Polar Vortex is back and it's going to get ugly. If you think it's cold now, just wait until next week: Winter's favorite whipping boy, the Polar Vortex, will again rear its ugly head. After a chilly, snowy weekend and a brief stretch of slightly milder weather early next week, the next cold blast will invade the northern Plains and Upper Midwest by the middle of the week. The frigid air will eventually make its way to the East Coast and Southeast by week's end. http://www.usatoday.com/story/weather/2016/12/08/polar-vortex-arctic-blast-cold-snap/95142654/ Environmental groups accuse Trump of 'head fake' on climate change. For about a week, some environmentalists maintained hope that President-elect Donald Trump might moderate his views on climate change. The man who formerly called climate change a "Chinese hoax" acknowledged to The New York Times earlier this month that "there is some connectivity" between human activity and climate change. http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-climate-change-epa-scott-pruitt-2016-12 Global efforts to turn back climate change irreversible, Biden tells premiers. Global efforts to turn back climate change irreversible, said U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden, as he sought to reassure Canadian politicians worried the Trump administration will roll back progress. Global efforts to turn back climate change are now irreversible, U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden says, as he sought to reassure… https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2016/12/09/global-efforts-to-turn-back-climate-change-irreversible-biden-tells-premiers.html Democrats’ Domination May Save Calif. Climate Program. As Democrats in Congress confront the specter of watching as the country’s climate policies are dismantled by President-elect Trump, key gains by the party in California could help Sacramento take over as the nation’s leader in the fight against global warming. With a Democrat last week securing the final seat in the state senate, the party held onto its supermajority there. http://www.climatecentral.org/news/democrats-domination-may-save-calif-climate-program-20945?utm_source=Inside+Climate+News&utm_campaign=08fd4e986a-Today_s_Climate12_10_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_29c928ffb5-08fd4e986a-327747457 Great Barrier Reef not likely to survive if warming trend continues, says report. Report projects by 2050 more than 98% of coral reefs will be afflicted by ‘bleaching-level thermal stress’ each year. The Great Barrier Reef will not survive coral bleaching if current sea temperature trends continue, according to a new report charting increases over the past three decades which blames manmade climate change for the problem. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/dec/09/great-barrier-reef-not-likely-to-survive-if-warming-trend-continues-says-report?utm_source=Inside+Climate+News&utm_campaign=08fd4e986a-Today_s_Climate12_10_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_29c928ffb5-08fd4e986a-327747457 Inconvenient Truths About the Man-made Global Warming Scam. Texas has been cooling since 1995, but that doesn’t suit NOAA’s global warming agenda. So they keep cooling the past further and further to create the appearance of a warming trend. The UN bans skeptical journalists from climate summit for holding views not particularly helpful. The Earth is heading towards another ice age as solar magnetic activity is set to drop by up to sixty per cent in the next fifteen years. http://canadafreepress.com/article/inconvenient-truths-about-the-man-made-global-warming-scam FUELS UPDATE 3-Oil drilling advocate expected to be Trump pick for Interior Dept. – sources. President-elect Donald Trump is expected to pick U.S. Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a climate-change skeptic and an advocate for expanded oil and gas development, to run the Interior Department, sources briefed on the matter told Reuters on Friday. The appointment could mean easier access for industry to more than a quarter of America's territory… http://in.reuters.com/article/usa-trump-interior-idINL1N1E40XF Trump to pick Rep. McMorris Rodgers for Interior secretary. President-elect Donald Trump is expected to name Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) to lead the Interior Department, a source close to the transition team told The Hill Friday. Trump will tap McMorris-Rodgers, a five-term Republican who represents eastern Washington and is the chair of the House GOP Conference, to lead the department. The New York Times first reported the news.http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/309628-trump-to-pick-rep-mcmorris-rodgers-for-interior-secretary-report North Dakota Could Be Biggest Loser in Ruling Against Oil Pipeline. Energy Transfer Partners, the nation’s biggest pipeline operator, has lost hundreds of millions of dollars from delays in the completion of the Dakota Access Pipeline. And its standoff with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe over a section running through tribal lands could mean an additional $80 million a month in losses. But it is not the only one paying the price. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/08/business/energy-environment/dakota-access-pipeline-oil.html?_r=1&utm_source=Inside+Climate+News&utm_campaign=08fd4e986a-Today_s_Climate12_10_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_29c928ffb5-08fd4e986a-327747457 Looser requirements for dairies make slashing methane a tall order. California's push to reduce greenhouse gases 40 percent by 2030 will be a steeper climb than expected due to protections for the state's largest methane emitters. Dairy and livestock cows produce more than half of California's methane emissions, via decomposition of manure as well as enteric fermentation, also known as burping. But the state has yet to require facilities to reduce emissions, given high technological and financial hurdles. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2016/12/09/stories/1060046942 VEHICLES PG&E poised to install 7,500 electric car chargers. Early last year, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. proposed spending $654 million to install 25,000 electric-car chargers across Northern and Central California — the largest charging program the nation had ever seen. Those plans have since been scaled back, though they are still ambitious. Next week, California utility regulators are expected to vote on a considerably smaller, $130 million version of the program… http://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/PG-E-poised-to-install-7-500-electric-car-chargers-10784185.php Electric vehicle market footprint growing. Study from IHS Markit finds EV sales up roughly 1000 percent from 2010. Europe and China are expected to dominate the consumer electric vehicle market as the footprint grows into double-digit percent, a market report finds. "Significant advances in battery technology, financial support from governments, regulations and values of millennials will be key factors… http://www.upi.com/Electric-vehicle-market-footprint-growing/2211481288574/ VW RECALL Swiss seize evidence from AMAG group in VW emissions case. Swiss prosecutors have opened criminal proceedings and seized evidence from the AMAG dealership network after an appellate court ruled Swiss investigators must conduct their own investigation of an emissions scandal at German carmaker Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE), they said on Friday. The Swiss Office of the Attorney General "has meanwhile opened a criminal investigation and carried out measures… http://www.reuters.com/article/us-volkswagen-emissions-swiss-idUSKBN13Y1SI GREEN ENERGY Clean Energy ‘Moving Forward’ Despite Trump’s E.P.A. Pick, Experts Say. President-elect Donald J. Trump’s choice of a fossil-fuel advocate and climate-change denier to head the Environmental Protection Agency comes at a moment when the American energy market has already shifted away from the most polluting fossil fuels, driven more by investors and economics than by federal regulations. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/08/us/politics/trump-climate-epa-coal-jobs.html?_r=0 Solar's scorching demand for silver set to cool. Scorching demand for silver used in solar cells is set to peak this year as technology advances slash the amount of metal required. Solar power accounts for around 8 percent of overall silver consumption and has been a rare bright spot this year as falls in jewelry demand, industrial use and physical investment feed into a 9 percent fall in demand. http://www.reuters.com/article/silver-solar-idUSL8N1DV4R5 SunPower to cut 2,500 jobs amid struggles in the solar industry. A San Jose solar company announced plans Wednesday to cut 2,500 jobs, including about 200 in California, as part of an effort to restructure operations and reduce expenses. Most of SunPower Corp.’s layoffs, which represent 25% of its workforce, are expected to come from its operations in the Philippines, the company said. SunPower Chief Executive Tom Werner said that "given the current market dislocation, we have made the strategic decision to implement a broad restructuring program to position the company for sustained, long term profitability.” http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-sunpower-job-cuts-20161207-story.html Solar power plant in Nevada commissioned to serve California. Officials have flipped the switch on a $1 billion solar power generation station in the Mojave Desert south of Las Vegas that they say can produce enough electricity to power about 80,000 California homes. Officials with Arizona-based First Solar and Florida-based NextEra Energy Resources said at a ceremony Thursday that the project… http://www.mercurynews.com/2016/12/09/solar-power-plant-in-nevada-commissioned-to-serve-california/ Sempra Subsidiary Supports Pilot Program for Hydrogen Energy Project. A pilot program funded by a subsidiary of San Diego-based Sempra Energy is producing hydrogen from excess renewable energy then using the gas for heating and other purposes. The project, already running for more than a year at the University of California, Irvine, could increase efficiency of solar and… http://www.sdbj.com/news/2016/dec/09/sempra-subsidiary-supports-pilot-program-hydrogen-/ PG&E approaches private rooftop solar milestone. PG&E announced the company will soon reach a milestone of 2,409 megawatts of installed private rooftop solar capacity on the energy grid, representing more than 275,000 solar power customers in Northern and Central California. Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) announced the company will soon reach a milestone of 2,409 megawatts of installed private rooftop solar… http://www.pennenergy.com/articles/pennenergy/2016/12/pg-e-approaches-private-rooftop-solar-power-milestone.html MISCELLANEOUS Trump Team’s Memo Hints at Broad Shake-Up of U.S. Energy Policy. Advisers to President-elect Donald Trump are developing plans to reshape Energy Department programs, help keep aging nuclear plants online and identify staff who played a role in promoting President Barack Obama’s climate agenda. The transition team has asked the agency to list employees and contractors who attended United Nations climate meetings… https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-12-09/trump-team-s-memo-hints-at-broad-shake-up-of-u-s-energy-policy?utm_source=Inside+Climate+News&utm_campaign=08fd4e986a-Today_s_Climate12_10_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_29c928ffb5-08fd4e986a-327747457 ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE Environmentalism Was Once a Social-Justice Movement. It can be again. The incoming Trump administration is likely to see the greatest revival of environmentalism as a confrontational, grassroots, sometimes radical movement since at least 1970, when more than a million people took part in the first Earth Day. The vigil at Standing Rock, which surprised nearly everyone by blocking the proposed route of the Dakota Access Pipeline through traditional Sioux lands… https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/12/how-the-environmental-movement-can-recover-its-soul/509831/ Will a weakened EPA set environmental justice back? President-elect Donald Trump on Dec. 7 nominated Scott Pruitt to head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Pruitt has close ties with the fossil fuel industry and has been an ardent critic of the agency. As attorney general of Oklahoma, Pruitt has led the legal fight against many of the EPA’s signature regulations during the Obama administration, including the Clean Power Plan… http://www.newstimes.com/news/article/Will-a-weakened-EPA-set-environmental-justice-10781814.php . OPINIONS Time to hit the accelerator to ensure electric vehicle policies are expanded. Foon Rhee reported on a study questioning whether California will achieve its goal of placing 1.5 million electric vehicles on our roads by 2025, characterizing California as moving “agonizingly slowly” (“California is stuck behind a Prius on electric car goal”; The Numbers Crunch, Dec. 3). While I share his concern about how quickly California will achieve 1.5 million vehicles… http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/california-forum/article119502433.html#storylink=cpy Clean air – at what price? Although the San Joaquin Valley has some of the most stringent smog-fighting laws in the United States, people should brace for even harsher rules that could affect home stoves and fireplaces, farmers, restaurants, food processors and Modesto’s Gallo winery, as well as cars, trucks and other vehicles. Air quality has improved immensely in recent years, but new requirements of the federal Clean Air Act are kicking in. http://www.modbee.com/news/article119842483.html#storylink=cpy Who Is Really Politicizing Climate Science, Trump Or NASA? Climate research conducted at NASA had been “heavily politicized,” said Robert Walker, a senior adviser to US President-elect Donald Trump. This has led him to recommend stripping funding for climate research at NASA. Walker’s claim comes with a great deal of irony. Over the past few decades, climate science has indeed become heavily politicized. https://cleantechnica.com/2016/12/09/really-politicizing-climate-science-trump-nasa/ Roberts: Bravo Trump. It's about time we do something about all that clean air. Let the inquisition begin. I, for one, am fed up with all of this clean air I am forced daily to breathe. I long for the hazy days of old, when you couldn’t see the mountains, when we were oozing with ozone and good old-fashioned carcinogens. http://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/laurieroberts/2016/12/09/robertsbravo-trump-s-time-we-do-something-all-clean-air/95206828/ California Legislature’s gaseous impulses. The California Legislature last week received a load of bad publicity because of a new law that attempts to reduce the methane output of dairy cows dramatically — putting California on the cutting edge of worldwide efforts to regulate cow flatulence. It sounds like one of those overstated internet memes, but sadly, it’s a true story. And it’s not even the most ridiculous case of gaseous emissions coming from Sacramento. http://www.rstreet.org/op-ed/california-legislatures-gaseous-impulses / The Spectator's View: Don’t hide the cost of cap-and-trade. Everyone seems to think it's a good idea to let Ontario natural gas consumers know exactly how much of their monthly heating bill will go toward paying for the provincial government's cap and trade program. So why is the Ontario Energy Board so reluctant to do so? Seventy five of 80 stakeholder groups consulted by the OEB said they wanted to see cap and trade… http://www.thespec.com/opinion-story/7010427-the-spectator-s-view-don-t-hide-the-cost-of-cap-and-trade/ BLOGS Corals tie stronger El Niños to climate change. Kim Cobb and two team members, clad in black scuba gear, have been scouring the coral-studded seabed near the equatorial Pacific's Christmas Island here for nearly an hour. Then Cobb emerges with a victorious "Yes!" A few minutes later, Cobb, a paleoclimatologist at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, dives back to the bottom and, from under a coral head, extracts the prize… http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/12/corals-tie-stronger-el-ni-os-climate-change California is in a drought emergency. Visit www.SaveOurH2O.org for water conservation tips.