What's New List Serve Post Display

ARB Newsclips for January 30, 2017. 

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

BP Advocates for Putting a Price on Carbon. A key oil and gas
company is saying that governments internationally need to put a
price on carbon to increase the percentage of renewables, natural
gas and energy efficiency. BP’s Chief Executive Bob Dudley said
in the company’s “BP Energy Outlook 2035” that even though carbon
emissions will grow at a slower rate than in the past, they will
still rise overall.
https://www.environmentalleader.com/2017/01/bp-advocates-putting-price-carbon/


AIR POLLUTION

Mongolians Demonstrate in Capital Demanding Action on Smog.
Thousands of Mongolians stood in frigid weather on Saturday for
the second time this winter to demand that the government
strengthen its response to the smog that routinely blankets Ulan
Bator, the capital. About 7,000 people, many in air masks and gas
masks under thick winter hats, braved temperatures below minus 4
Fahrenheit.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/28/world/asia/mongolia-smog-capital-demonstration.html?utm_source=Inside+Climate+News&utm_campaign=e9bc8c3360-Today_s_Climate12_10_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_29c928ffb5-e9bc8c3360-327747457


Shell Not Revealing Full List of Gases Released in December
Martinez Refinery Flares. Electrical engineers inadvertently
caused a power outage at the Shell Oil Company’s Martinez
refinery last month that led to a loud flaring operation, sending
thousands of pounds of toxic gas into the air, prompting a health
alert for nearby residents. The refinery workers were
troubleshooting a separate problem with an alarm…
https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2017/01/30/shell-wont-say-what-gases-its-martinez-refinery-sent-into-the-air-during-outage/


CLIMATE CHANGE

In America’s Heartland, Discussing Climate Change Without Saying
‘Climate Change’. Doug Palen, a fourth-generation grain farmer on
Kansas’ wind-swept plains, is in the business of understanding
the climate. Since 2012, he has choked through the harshest
drought to hit the Great Plains in a century, punctuated by
freakish snowstorms and suffocating gales of dust.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/28/business/energy-environment/navigating-climate-change-in-americas-heartland.html?ref=energy-environment&utm_source=Inside+Climate+News&utm_campaign=e9bc8c3360-Today_s_Climate12_10_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_29c928ffb5-e9bc8c3360-327747457


As the White House changes course on climate change, California
stubbornly presses forward. With cheese and shrimp cocktail piled
on their plates, guests strolled the exhibit like patrons at an
art gallery, sipping beer and pausing to ponder the displays that
lined the room. But instead of paintings or sculptures, they were
examining scientific charts about climate change at a state
environmental agency.
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-california-climate-resolve-20170129-story.html?utm_source=Inside+Climate+News&utm_campaign=e9bc8c3360-Today_s_Climate12_10_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_29c928ffb5-e9bc8c3360-327494049


Al Gore puts the CDC's health and climate conference back on
track — minus the CDC. n abruptly postponed conference on climate
change and its effects on human health is going to take place
after all — thanks to Al Gore. But there’s a caveat: The
conference’s original sponsor — the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention — won’t be involved. Georges Benjamin, executive
director of the American Public Health Assn.,…
http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-health-climate-cdc-gore-20170127-story.html
 

Fearing deletion, Tom Steyer copies Environmental Protection
Agency website on climate change. With President Trump in the
White House, information about climate change has been
disappearing from government websites. Some fear the same thing
could happen with the Environmental Protection Agency. Now the
advocacy organization run by environmentalist and political donor
Tom Steyer is taking steps to preserve the information.
http://www.latimes.com/politics/essential/la-pol-ca-essential-politics-updates-fearing-deletion-tom-steyer-copies-1485541980-htmlstory.html


World leaders ‘goofing off’ amid climate change threat, Jerry
Brown says. Gov. Jerry Brown, continuing his broadsides against
those “sworn to deny,” accused world leaders Friday of “goofing
off” and averting their collective gaze from the existential
threats of climate change and nuclear war. Brown noted that the
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists a day earlier moved the clock
up 30 seconds to 2 1/2-minutes...
http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article129186039.html#storylink=cpy


Researchers: Abandon Neighborhoods, Avoid Flood Zone to Limit Sea
Level Rise. Understanding the sociology and politics around word
‘retreat’ San Francisco is partway through a years-long process
of proposing elaborate — and incredibly expensive — engineering
fixes to the looming prospect of sea level rise. But the current
sketches of a future city buttressed by dikes, levees and
seawalls, which could cost tens of billions of dollars over
coming decades…
http://sfpublicpress.org/news/2017-01/researchers-avoid-flood-zone-to-limit-sea-level-rise


Trump Will Withdraw From Global Climate Pact, Transition Official
Says. The United States will switch course on climate change and
pull out of a global pact to cut emissions, said Myron Ebell, who
headed U.S. President Donald Trump's Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) transition team until his inauguration. Ebell is the
director of global warming and international environmental policy
at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a U.S. conservative
think tank…
http://www.newsweek.com/trump-withdraw-global-climate-pact-transition-official-550272


FUELS

Natural Gas Falls as Forecasts Call for Warmer Weather.
Expectations of coming cold weather have frequently failed to
materialize this winter. Natural-gas prices tumbled Monday as the
latest weather forecasts called for warmer temperatures.
Natural-gas futures for March delivery fell 12.6 cents, or 3.75%,
to $3.232 a million British thermal units on the New York
Mercantile Exchange. About half of all U.S. households burn gas
for heat…
http://www.wsj.com/articles/natural-gas-falls-as-forecasts-call-for-warmer-weather-1485790403


Trump's Promise to Pay for Infrastructure With Fossil Fuel
Revenue Rings Hollow. The president and his industry allies argue
that a drilling boom will raise billions, but raising money
through higher royalties and taxes is not a simple equation.
Among the fuzzy pledges President Trump has made in his energy
plans, his idea to pay for a $1 trillion public infrastructure
program with a bonanza of fossil fuel mining and...
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/28012017/trump-infrastructure-fossil-fuel-royalties-drilling-public-land?utm_source=Inside+Climate+News&utm_campaign=9e41019175-InsideClimate_News12_10_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_29c928ffb5-9e41019175-327494049


VEHICLES

GM-Honda Joint Venture to Make Fuel Cells in Michigan. The auto
makers will split the $85 million cost to fund the operation at
an existing GM facility. General Motors Co. and Honda Motor Co.
Ltd. are ratcheting up their partnership to build fuel cells for
use in future vehicles, as the auto industry continues its push
into the pricey, emissions-free technology despite barriers to
commercial success.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/gm-honda-joint-venture-to-make-fuel-cells-in-michigan-1485792001

Toyota Still Biggest Car Maker by Measures that Matter.
Volkswagen stole Toyota’s crown, but investors may not care. Car
buffs, journalists and economists pay a lot of attention to
unit-car statistics, but investors shouldn’t—just look at
Volkswagen’s rise to the top of the official league table of
manufacturers. Toyota, which overtook General Motors in the
International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers’…
http://www.wsj.com/articles/toyota-still-biggest-car-maker-by-measures-that-matter-1485784526


2017 Ram, Jeep diesels should be certified by EPA shortly,
company says. Fiat Chrysler may have a plan to address EPA
complaints regarding software in its 3.0-liter EcoDiesel V-6,
according to comments by CEO Sergio Marchionne. The EPA announced
earlier this month that Fiat Chrysler Automobiles had failed to
disclose eight separate software routines that affect the
engine's emissions, each of which is a violation of the Clean Air
Act.
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1108598_2017-ram-jeep-diesels-should-be-certified-by-epa-shortly-company-says


VW RECALL

Germany Names Former Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn as Suspect.
Investigation relates to Volkswagen’s long-running emissions
scandal. German prosecutors on Friday named Volkswagen AG’s
former chief executive, Martin Winterkorn, as a suspect in a
fraud investigation stemming from the auto maker’s
emissions-cheating scandal, alleging that Mr. Winterkorn may have
known about the issue earlier than he acknowledged.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/volkswagens-ex-ceo-martin-winterkorn-probed-on-suspicion-of-fraud-1485518259


GREEN ENERGY

Where are the trees? Not Paris, new 'Green View Index' finds. A
Massachusetts Institute of Technology project that maps trees in
the world's major cities is making it easier for city officials
and citizens to figure out where more green is needed. The
project, called Treepedia, uses Google Street View to create what
the MIT team calls the Green View Index. Carlo Ratti, director of
MIT's Senseable City Lab, says trees play a critical role in
urban environments.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/APf0903a7af3664d418e17e5cb6bd83a45 

MISCELLANEOUS

Allaying concerns, EPA lifts temporary freeze on grants to
states. The Environmental Protection Agency has resumed issuing
grants following a brief pause that alarmed state regulators,
environmental advocates and congressional lawmakers already
concerned the Trump administration would rein in the EPA’s reach
and scope. But the tight control on how the agency communicates
with the public…
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/01/26/allaying-concerns-epa-lifts-temporary-freeze-grants-states/97103198/?utm_source=Inside+Climate+News&utm_campaign=e9bc8c3360-Today_s_Climate12_10_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_29c928ffb5-e9bc8c3360-327747457

How Trump’s travel ban could hurt science. Ubadah Sabbagh felt
goose bumps rise on his skin Saturday morning as he scrolled
through the reports that immigrants from the Middle East — people
just like him — were no longer being allowed into the United
States. Sabbagh, 23, is a student at Virginia Tech, working on
his PhD in neuroscience. He's also a green-card holder, and a
citizen of Syria — one of the seven countries named…
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/01/29/how-trumps-travel-ban-could-hurt-science/?utm_campaign=e9bc8c3360-Today_s_Climate12_10_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Inside
Climate News&utm_term=.1814179bc795  

OPINIONS

In California, ‘Paper or Plastic?’ Is Against the Law.
Supermarkets can no longer give out shopping bags, though the
claimed benefits are dubious. There’s no such thing as a free
bag—at least not anymore in California. Voters in November
approved, 53% to 47%, a law outright banning single-use,
carry-out plastic bags. Grocery and convenience stores can offer
paper or reusable bags, but the law requires them to charge at
least 10 cents a pop.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/in-california-paper-or-plastic-is-against-the-law-1485560488


Human nature makes it easier to deny climate change than to
confront it. A t one point in the Senate hearing to confirm
Oklahoma Atty. Gen. Scott Pruitt as head of the Environmental
Protection Agency, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders asked the nominee
to share his personal views about climate change. Pruitt, a
longtime ally of the oil industry and bane of the EPA, repeatedly
evaded the question, saying policy and law..
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/topoftheticket/la-na-tt-deny-climate-20170126-story.html


Silencing the EPA will make America unhealthy again. In June
2003, a former lobbyist for the petroleum industry edited climate
change out of a report on the environment from the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency. Philip Cooney, who served as
chief of staff of George W. Bush’s Council on Environmental
Quality after serving as a lawyer for the American Petroleum
Institute…
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/column-silencing-the-epa-will-make-america-unhealthy-again/


Are Climate Policies Really an Economic Boon to the San Joaquin
Valley?  “Time has a wonderful way of showing us what really
matters.” – Margaret Peters State climate policies are boosting
the San Joaquin Valley’s economy. At least that’s the basic
message that the authors of a recent study are trying to convey.
On January 19 the Bay Area organization Next 10 released a
commissioned report entitled…
http://www.foxandhoundsdaily.com/2017/01/climate-policies-really-economic-boon-san-joaquin-valley/


The Implications of the Paris Climate Deal. Rational people want
a clean environment. Usually it has been western, wealthy nations
leading the environmental movement with California and the
California Air Resources Board (CARB) leading the way. California
can afford to clean up their air, water and be concerned about
carbon emissions; now that their economies are mature enough
since Maslow’s hierarchy…
http://www.foxandhoundsdaily.com/2017/01/implications-paris-climate-deal/

EPA under fire. Environmental agency is dealing with critical
issues. The Trump administration has, thankfully, lifted the
freeze it imposed on grants administered by the Environmental
Protection Agency. Oregon, for example, had about $1 million
worth of grants in the pipeline. About one-third of the grants
were for oversight and assistance for public drinking water
systems across the state.
http://registerguard.com/rg/opinion/35222208-78/epa-under-fire.html.csp


BLOGS

EPA-Funded Scientists Share Their Concerns About the Trump Era.
Four researchers on how their work will be affected. Several news
agencies, including Reuters, are reporting that the EPA lifted
its freeze on grants and contracts on Friday. At least one of the
scientists below, Tamma Carleton, reports that she has already
received her normal stipend check. This doesn’t necessarily mean
that EPA-funded scientists are in the clear, however.
https://psmag.com/epa-funded-scientists-share-their-concerns-about-the-trump-era-597f0cc0d929#.yr8u85knf


Plastics scientists using nanomaterials to fight carbon
emissions.  A project to use nanomaterials to capture carbon
dioxide is underway at the Plastics Technology Centre AIMPLAS in
Valencia.  Project Gramaphon will advance technologies that have
successfully reduced industrial carbon emissions by 90 per cent,
to reduce costs and increase efficiency gains.
http://www.eppm.com/industry-news/plastics-scientists-using-nanomaterials-to-fight-carbon-emis/


A Vulnerable Community Braces for the Impacts of Sea Level Rise.
Experts warn that the flooding exacerbated by climate change will
disproportionately impact low-lying, low-income communities. In
the Wilmington, Delaware neighborhood of Southbridge, residents
are determined to build up their flood defenses and to stand
their ground. 
Wilmington, Delaware’s Southbridge neighborhood is an enclave of
South Wilmington, a low-lying peninsula separated from the city’s
main…
http://e360.yale.edu/features/a-vulnerable-community-braces-for-the-impacts-of-sea-level-rise


Donald Trump may ditch ‘onerous’ US fuel economy laws. The new US
president is indicating a shake-up in emissions and fuel economy
regulations. President Donald Trump looks set to pull the plug on
plans for “onerous” US fuel economy laws as his administration
embarks on its promised ‘business first’ policy drive and seeks
to massively reduce the number of regulations in US law.
http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/industry/donald-trump-may-ditch-%E2%80%98onerous%E2%80%99-us-fuel-economy-laws





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