What's New List Serve Post Display

CARB Newsclips for May 1, 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.

CARB BUSINESS

Staff from the California Department of Transportation, the
California Air Resources Board, the California Energy Commission,
and the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development
invite you to participate in workshops to discuss implementation
of the California Sustainable Freight Action Plan (Action Plan).

The workshops will be held at the locations and on the dates
noted below.  The agencies will follow the same format and show
the same presentation at each of the workshop locations.    

OAKLAND:          May 9, 2017 

LOS ANGELES:  May 30, 2017

SAN DIEGO:        May 31, 2017 

For more information on the California Sustainable Freight Action
Plan including upcoming workshops, please visit the webpage at
http://www.casustainablefreight.org/   
_________________________

David Cocker, PhD
University of California, Riverside. 

Tuesday, May 16, 2017 at 10:00 a.m., PDT (WEBCAST) Sierra Hearing
Room, 2nd Floor, CalEPA Building
1001 I Street, Sacramento, California

Low vapor pressure-volatile organic compounds (LVP-VOCs) are a
set of VOCs currently exempted for VOC content based on a
combination of boiling point, vapor pressure, and/or elution time
from a GC-column. This work explores evaporation rates and
secondary pollutant formation from a series of individual
LVP-VOCs associated with consumer products, select generic
consumer products that include these LVP-VOCs, and several
hydrocarbon solvents. For more go to the announcement at:
http://www.arb.ca.gov/research/seminars/cocker/cocker.htm   

May 8, 2017: Public Workshop to discuss ARB's Carbon Capture and
Sequestration (CCS) Program.

At this workshop, ARB staff will present an overview of
activities taken by the CCS program in 2016, and an initial
concept of a Quantification Methodology (QM) and Permanence
Protocol for CCS.
https://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/ccs/meetings/meetings.htm        

Air Resources Board staff have posted a white paper on the health
benefits of physical activity and air pollution exposure while
walking and bicycling for transportation.  
Download the White Paper:
https://www.arb.ca.gov/research/vprp/physical_activity_and_health_final_161216.pdf
                     

For more information, including the White Paper and other
resources, visit our Built Environment webpage:
https://www.arb.ca.gov/research/vprp/vprp.htm                    


A fact sheet summarizing this document can be found here:
https://www.arb.ca.gov/html/fact_sheets/physical_activity_fact_sheet.pdf
   

CAP AND TRADE

Companies would face tighter environmental restrictions in
California under new cap-and-trade proposal. State Senate
Democrats on Monday will announce a new proposal to toughen
California's cap-and-trade program in hopes of providing a more
dependable revenue stream and greater incentives for industries
to clean up their operations. The legislation, Senate Bill 775,
would set a higher price for the permits companies…
http://www.latimes.com/politics/essential/la-pol-ca-essential-politics-updates-1493579947-htmlstory.html

http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article147530089.html


Canada’s climate minister talks jobs, California cap-and-trade.
Canada and California are partners in the fight against global
warming. And Canada’s top climate official, Catherine McKenna,
hopes the Trump administration doesn’t entirely abandon the
cause. McKenna, minister of Environment and Climate Change, met
with Gov. Jerry Brown last month in San Francisco to enlist
Canada…
http://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Canada-s-climate-minister-talks-jobs-11107925.php?cmpid=gsa-sfgate-result

AIR POLLUTION

Air quality improves, but Sacramento still among nation’s most
polluted cities. Every two weeks, we gather some of the most
interesting and intriguing studies from health researchers around
the world. Here are the latest: Despite improvements in pollution
levels, the Sacramento area remains eighth in the nation for
unhealthy air, according to the latest American Lung Association
report.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/health-and-medicine/article147514699.html#storylink=cpy


Southern California Farmers are Eligible for Technical and
Financial Air Quality Assistance. Technical and financial
assistance is available through USDA's Natural Resources
Conservation Service (NRCS) to help farmers and ranchers in
Southern California to make improvements in their operations that
can lead to improved air quality. Assistance is made available
through NRCS's Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP).
http://www.smobserved.com/story/2017/05/01/business/southern-california-farmers-are-eligible-for-technical-and-financial-air-quality-assistance/2838.html


Cirrus pays air emissions penalty. Cirrus Design Corp. and Cirrus
Aircraft Corp. have agreed to pay a $50,000 penalty and complete
three compliance actions as part of a settlement agreement on
alleged air emissions regulation violations by the Minnesota
Pollution Control Agency. The PCA said Monday that Cirrus "failed
to obtain necessary air-emissions permits prior to new
construction of…
http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/news/4259684-cirrus-pays-air-emissions-penalty


CLIMATE CHANGE

Oil and gas group says U.S. can cut emissions without Paris
climate deal, urges withdrawal. A prominent oil and gas industry
group said Monday the U.S. has dramatically reduced
greenhouse-gas emissions without burdensome regulations and
international deals, urging President Trump to withdraw from the
landmark Paris climate agreement and allow market forces to drive
energy policy.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/may/1/oil-gas-group-us-can-cut-emissions-without-paris/


California coast ocean level could rise 10 feet in 70 years.
Addressing sea-level rise would cost a staggering amount of
public and private money. A slow-moving emergency is lapping at
California’s shores – climate-driven sea-level rise that experts
now predict could elevate the water in coastal areas up to 10
feet in just 70 years, gobbling up beach front and overwhelming
low-lying cities.
http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/04/30/oceans-rising-faster-than-scientific-forecasts/


EPA website removes climate science site from public view after
two decades. The Environmental Protection Agency announced Friday
evening that its website would be "undergoing changes" to better
represent the new direction the agency is taking, triggering the
removal of several agency websites containing detailed climate
data and scientific information.
http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/EPA-website-removes-climate-science-site-from-11109007.php
 http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1110197_epa-website-removes-climate-change-pages-because-science-contradicts-pruitt-policy-goals


DROUGHT

Drought’s over, rules aren’t: How local water providers are
responding. With the drought officially over, and a modest spring
heat wave expected this week, it might seem like a reasonable
time to rediscover your sprinkler control box and crank up
outdoor irrigation. But be warned: Government doesn’t always
change as fast as the weather. And some of the conservation
lessons we were taught during the drought are here to stay.
http://www.recordnet.com/news/20170430/droughts-over-rules-arent-how-local-water-providers-are-responding


DIESEL ACTIVITIES

OOIDA v. CARB: Ninth Court upholds district court dismissal.
OOIDA’s tenacious lawsuit against the California Air Resources
Board added another chapter to its long chronicle in mid-April.
OOIDA told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San
Francisco that after being bounced from court to court, the case
should move forward. The court’s opinion was quick, and a
disappointment to truckers.
http://www.landlinemag.com/Story.aspx?StoryID=33274#.WQeSQU2guUl


GREEN ENERGY

How Batteries Could Revolutionize Renewable Energy. All over
California, there's evidence of the state's goal to lead the
country in renewable energy. Enormous farms of shiny solar panels
have popped up across southern California, and gigantic wind
turbines dot the landscape outside nearly all the major cities.
There are less flashy—and less visible—investments in renewables
going on, too.
http://time.com/4756648/batteries-clean-energy-renewables/ 

MISCELLANEOUS

Emissions expert to be inducted into Inventors Hall of Fame. On
May 4, former West Bloomfield resident Dr. Haren Gandhi will be
posthumously inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in
Washington, D.C., in honor of his contributions to reducing
emissions and improving air quality for millions around the
world. During his time with Ford Motor Co., Gandhi revolutionized
the automotive industry through his work with automotive exhaust
catalysts…
http://www.hometownlife.com/story/money/business/2017/05/01/emissions-expert-inducted-into-inventors-hall-fame/101022120/


OPINIONS

The problem with calling Bret Stephens a climate change ‘denier’.
In his New York Times debut last week, conservative columnist
Bret Stephens wrote that Earth's warming over the past
century-plus “is indisputable, as is the human influence on that
warming.” Not everyone agrees. In a Gallup poll published in
March, 29 percent of U.S. adults said the rise in the planet's
average temperature is primarily caused by “natural changes in
the environment that are not due to human activities.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/05/01/the-problem-with-calling-bret-stephens-a-climate-change-denier/?utm_term=.7e01c971ca16

Climate of Complete Certainty. In the final stretch of last
year’s presidential race, Hillary Clinton and her team thought
they were, if not 100 percent right, then very close. Right on
the merits. Confident in their methods. Sure of their chances.
When Bill Clinton suggested to his wife’s advisers that,
considering Brexit, they might be underestimating the strength of
the populist tide…
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/28/opinion/climate-of-complete-certainty.html?_r=2


Answering Bret Stephens on Climate Science. To the Editor: Re
“Climate of Complete Certainty” (column, April 29): Bret Stephens
does not deny the reality of climate change, but he uses a
familiar strategy from the skeptical playbook: misdirection.
Rather than acknowledging the role of climate change denial, he
blames scientists and their allies for alleged certitude. In
fact, the scientific community has taken great pains to analyze
and communicate the uncertainties related to climate change.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/01/opinion/answering-bret-stephens-on-climate-science.html?_r=0


What If Climate Scientists Are Guessing Wrong? Newest New York
Times columnist Bret Stephens, a conservative refugee from the
increasingly Trumpist Wall Street Journal editorial page, uses
his first column to imply, without quite stating outright, that
somebody (the world? America? liberals?) overrates the certainty
of climate science. Stephens concedes that the reality of global
warming is “indisputable…
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/05/what-if-climate-scientists-are-guessing-wrong.html


A California Republican shows his colleagues the way on climate
change. To the editor: Assembly Republican leader Chad Mayes’
(Yucca Valley) leadership on climate change is the best news in
weeks. When Republicans in the largest state speak up and support
measures that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it’s a clear sign
that Californians of all political persuasions are not accepting
the environmental rollbacks and rhetoric coming from Washington.
(“The fight against climate change in California gains an
unlikely ally: Republicans,” April 27)
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/readersreact/la-ol-le-chad-mayes-climate-change-20170501-story.html


Environmentalists, Coal Companies Rally Around Technology To
Clean Up Coal. Coal has long had a grip on American politics.
That's why politicians worry about its fate. They tout the fossil
fuel's contribution to the U.S. economy, but lately they've also
been trying to find a way to clean up coal's image. President
George W. Bush said in his 2008 State of the Union address, "Let
us fund new technologies that can generate coal power while
capturing carbon emissions"…
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/05/01/524764617/environmentalists-coal-companies-rally-around-technology-to-clean-up-coal



BLOGS

Four Issues Impacting Public Companies’ Climate Change
Disclosures. As President Trump’s administration attempts to
dismantle President Obama’s Climate Action Plan, one action may
be removing funding from the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC)
for enforcement of the 2010 Commission Guidance Regarding
Disclosure Related to Climate Change.
http://www.natlawreview.com/article/four-issues-impacting-public-companies-climate-change-disclosures


Appeals court delay on Clean Power Plan may freeze it for good.
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has halted the battle over the
Clean Power Plan for at least two months — and perhaps for good.
Last week, the appellate judges ordered that the Clean Power Plan
be held “in abeyance” for 60 days while the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency reviews the regulatory edict and sends back
status reports.
http://www.elp.com/articles/2017/05/appeals-court-delay-on-clean-power-plan-may-freeze-it-for-good.html


Why long-term investors are killing fossil fuels. Remember the
date April 26, 2017: it will go down as an important day in the
history of solving climate change. That’s because Moody’s
Investor’s Service released a research paper titled "Oil and Gas
Industry Faces Significant Credit Risks from Carbon Transition."
That’s a headline all of us building business-led solutions to
climate change have been waiting for. Increased assessed risk
from rating agencies has the potential to really move the needle
on institutional investors’ decisions about where they put their…
https://www.greenbiz.com/article/why-long-term-investors-are-killing-fossil-fuels


Bank of America Joins Energy Commission Calling for $15 Trillion
in Energy Cuts.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Saint-Gobain are two of the
companies that have joined – and are funding – the new Energy
Transitions Commission; the group, made up mostly of energy
companies and equipment suppliers, has released a report that
calls for countries worldwide to spend close to $750 billion a
year…
https://www.energymanagertoday.com/al-gore-global-group-need-15-trillion-fight-global-warming-0169665/
 

California Drivers Fuel Up for a Dollar as Propel Fuels Launches
105 Octane Tour. Propel Fuels is launching the "105 Octane Tour"
this week in California, offering Flex Fuel E85 for $1.05 per
gallon at several retail locations to drive awareness of the
fuel's high octane rating which provides increased power and
acceleration, while reducing emissions and air pollution.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/california-drivers-fuel-dollar-propel-151500653.html