What's New List Serve Post Display

CARB Newsclips for June 27, 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

Do you own or operate forklifts, sweeps/scrubbers, industrial tow
tractors, or airport ground support equipment? If so, this
regulation may apply to your business.
For more information please go to the ARB Rulemaking webpage:
https://www.arb.ca.gov/regact/2016/sparkignition2016/sparkignition2016.htm
 
--------------------------------------------------
The Large Spark-Ignition Engine Fleet Requirements Regulation
(LSI Regulation) requires specific equipment be initially
reported to the California Air Resources Board (CARB or Board) by
June 30, 2017 and labeled by July 30, 2017. The LSI Regulation
reporting user guides, importing equipment guides, the amended
regulation language, and other useful LSI regulation information
are available at https://www.arb.ca.gov/ls i    

The Air Resources Board (ARB) announces the launch of its new
California Dairy and Livestock GHG Reduction Working Group (Dairy
Working Group) and Subgroup list serves that will provide
interested stakeholders with up-to-date information about current
activities and processes.  Sign-up for the main Dairy Working
Group process List Serve:
https://www.arb.ca.gov/listserv/listserv_ind.php?listname=dairy  
   

CAP AND TRADE

Deadline looms for major cap-and-trade vote. Negotiations over
the future of California's cap-and-trade system for greenhouse
gases are coming down to the wire, with Gov. Jerry Brown (D)
seeking consensus among industry, business and all stripes of
environmentalists. Bill language currently taking shape in
Sacramento would extend the system through 2030, but it would
significantly adjust the program with a firm price ceiling and
limits on carbon offsets.
https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2017/06/27/stories/1060056630

AIR POLLUTION

U.S., Colorado sue PDC Energy, claiming Clean Air Act violations.
The Trump administration and the state of Colorado sued PDC
Energy Inc. on Monday, claiming the company violated the federal
Clean Air Act by allowing unlawful emissions from storage tanks.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Colorado by the
Department of Justice, Environmental Protection Agency and the
state, seeks civil penalties…
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-pdc-energy-cleanair-idUSKBN19H26A


China aims to reduce pollution with new 'Forest City' It’s a drop
in the bucket, but at least a move in the right direction. China
has broken ground on a new “forest city,” meant to curb the
effects of air pollution in the region. The city’s buildings and
structures will all be covered in nearly 1 million plants and
40,000 trees. The project aims to use the greenery to absorb
almost 10,000 tons of CO2…
http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/china-aims-reduce-pollution-new-forest-city-article-1.3279561

China to build straddling buses on highways to avoid t
Court deals a blow to Kern County oil train terminal. The San
Joaquin Valley Air Pollution District violated the California
Environmental Quality Act when it approved permits for the
Bakersfield Crude Terminal in Taft, the California 5th District
Court of Appeals says in a unpublished ruling.
http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com/stories/001/?ID=32852 
http://www.4-traders.com/news/Earthjustice-California-Court-Overturns-Permit-Approval-For-Bakersfield-Oil-Train-Terminal--24661479/


Superfund demolition brings more questions than answers.
Residents living in the U.S.S. Lead Superfund Site in East
Chicago left a Monday public hearing by the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development about the demolition of the West
Calumet Housing Complex confounded by a lack of answers.
Residents peppered officials with questions about the plan…
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/news/ct-ptb-east-chicago-lead-raze-st-0628-20170627-story.html


Justices decline mine spill, air pollution cases. The Supreme
Court today declined to add two environmental cases to its docket
for the fall term. Justices denied New Mexico's attempt to bring
a lawsuit against Colorado over U.S. EPA's 2015 Gold King
abandoned mine spill. The court also declined to review a case
over EPA authority to apply emissions standards during industrial
equipment malfunctions. https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060056592


European cities ban diesels to curb emissions cheating. Large
cities across Europe — including Munich, London, Paris, Oslo and
Madrid — are banning or limiting diesel vehicles over emissions
concerns. While national governments have been slow to respond to
emissions scandals from BMW AG and others, cities are cracking
down.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/06/27/stories/1060056633

CLIMATE CHANGE

Carbon in Atmosphere Is Rising, Even as Emissions Stabilize. On
the best days, the wind howling across this rugged promontory has
not touched land for thousands of miles, and the arriving air
seems as if it should be the cleanest in the world.
But on a cliff above the sea, inside a low-slung government
building, a bank of sophisticated machines sniffs that air day
and night…
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/26/climate/carbon-in-atmosphere-is-rising-even-as-emissions-stabilize.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fclimate&action=click&contentCollection=climate®ion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0


The race to save Florida’s devastated coral reef from global
warming. Twenty feet under water, Nature Conservancy biologist
Jennifer Stein swims over to several large corals and pulls
several laminated cards from her dive belt. “Disease,” reads one,
as she gestures to a coral that exhibits white splotches. “Recent
mortality,” reads another card. Along the miles of coral reef off
the Florida Keys…
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/business/environment/florida-reef/?utm_term=.0e209c37f794

Fires rise in Arctic as 'lightning follows the warming' Climate
change is driving up the number of forest fires ignited by
lightning, and it's pushing them farther north, to the edges of
the Arctic tundra, researchers say. Lightning-caused fires have
risen 2 to 5 percent a year for the last four decades, according
to a paper published yesterday in the…
https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2017/06/27/stories/1060056631

DIESEL ACTIVITIES

Germany moves to crack down on vehicle emissions. Germany will
discuss a national plan to cut pollution from diesel engines and
set up a new organization to test vehicles to try to restore
consumer confidence after Volkswagen's emissions scandal,
ministers said on Tuesday. The moves - almost two years after the
Volkswagen scandal broke - come as the German government faces
growing pressure…
http://www.nydailynews.com/newswires/news/business/germany-moves-crack-vehicle-emissions-article-1.3280834


FUELS

Mexico approves increasing ethanol content in gasoline to 10
percent. Mexico's energy regulator, CRE, gave the go-ahead on
Monday to an increase in the ethanol content in gasoline for
domestic consumption to as much as 10 percent, from 5.8 percent
currently, even as environmental groups warned the action would
worsen pollution. With the change, gasoline imported and sold in
Mexico will be more similar to that sold in the United States.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mexico-oil-ethanol-idUSKBN19H2HF


VEHICLES

UPS Updates Sustainability Goals for More Alt-Fuel Vehicles by
2025. In its latest release, UPS has announced new sustainability
goals to add more alternative fuel and advanced technology
vehicles to its fleet while increasing its reliance on renewable
energy sources. The goals, available in the company’s 2016
Corporate Sustainability Report…
https://ngtnews.com/ups-commits-alt-fuel-vehicles-emissions-reduction


Transport Sector Primed for the Growth of Electric Vehicles. When
it comes to reducing the greenhouse gas emissions, the
electricity sector gets much of the attention, considering that
it is responsible for 29% of those releases. But the
transportation sector makes up 26% of them. If that is going to
change, the electric car will have to make significant inroads.
Is that possible?
https://www.environmentalleader.com/2017/06/transport-sector-primed-growth-electric-vehicles/


GREEN ENERGY

PermaCity Completes World’s Largest Solar Rooftop Project. L.A.
solar developer PermaCity Inc. has completed the world’s most
powerful solar rooftop generating project in San Pedro, company
and L.A. city officials announced Monday while touring the
facility. The Westmont Solar Energy Project, near the end of the
110 Freeway, includes more than 50,000 solar panels covering 50
acres of roof space…
homeshttp://labusinessjournal.com/news/2017/jun/27/permacity-completes-worlds-largest-solar-rooftop-p/


N.Y. gets a new lead on renewable energy. New York has selected a
new administrator for its far-reaching nuclear and renewable
energy programs. Alicia Barton was announced yesterday as the new
president and CEO of the New York State Energy Research and
Development Authority, or NYSERDA. Barton replaces John Rhodes,
who had headed NYSERDA since 2013 but moved to become chairman of
the state's…
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2017/06/27/stories/1060056626 

OPINIONS

Dr. Arambula should lead way to healthy Valley air. This month,
California missed a vital opportunity to significantly improve
the quality of life for residents in some of our state’s most
vulnerable and underserved communities. By not passing Assembly
Bill 378, which would have required new emissions standards for
criteria and toxic-air pollutants at facilities covered under cap
and trade…
http://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/readers-opinion/article158274089.html#storylink=cpy
 

It’s pollution as usual unless vulnerable communities’ leaders
act: Guest commentary. California is a recognized leader on
climate issues. But right now this reputation is on the line. The
next phase of our climate innovation must be clearly linked to
addressing environmental-justice concerns in communities that are
disproportionately affected by pollution and on the front lines
of climate change.
http://www.dailynews.com/opinion/20170627/its-pollution-as-usual-unless-vulnerable-communities-leaders-act-guest-commentary

Letter: Scorching temperatures show need for alternative energy.
The main section of The Tribune on June 21 contained the article,
"First day of summer scorches Southwest." The article correctly
ties the heat wave to climate change and warns of the dangers of
severe injuries and even death to people and pets. The article
speaks of "straining the power grid," and the operator of
California's power grid…
http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/5429117-155/letter-scorching-temperatures-show-need-for


BLOGS

Good and bad options for changing California’s cap-and-trade
program. California has been an environmental leader for decades,
but still numerous cities in the state struggle with air quality.
As state lawmakers debate the future of the cap-and-trade program
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, can they also find ways to
reduce other air pollutants…
https://www.c2es.org/blog/lawsona/good-bad-options-changing-california%E2%80%99s-cap-trade-program


California is Reaping Economic Benefits from Climate Action.
California's efforts to combat climate change serve both human
and planetary health but such action also pays lucrative economic
dividends.  California is a working example of a climate focused
economy that crushes Trump's assertion that the Paris Agreement
is bad for the economy.
http://www.thegreenmarketoracle.com/2017/06/california-is-reaping-economic-benefits.html


Texas should listen to its own scientific task force about
methane. A new report from the Academy of Medicine, Engineering
and Science of Texas (TAMEST) Shale Task Force underscores the
problem of methane emissions from Texas’ oil and gas industry.
When burned, natural gas has about half the CO2 emissions of coal
(that’s good!), but the release of methane into the atmosphere
can greatly erode that benefit.
http://blogs.edf.org/energyexchange/2017/06/27/texas-should-listen-to-its-own-scientific-task-force-about-methane/


A Vast Chinese Province Just Went a Week Without Fossil Fuels.
Six million people got all their electricity from solar, wind,
and hydro. A vast Chinese province of nearly 6 million people has
generated all the power it needed for an entire week without
using any fossil fuels, according to state-run Chinese media.
Qinghai, a Tibetan plateau province in the country’s northwest,
derived all of its power from…
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/06/a-vast-chinese-province-just-went-a-week-without-fossil-fuels/


Reducing Fossil Fuel Emissions Isn't Stopping CO2 Rise.
Scientists worry that we may have saturated the Earth's natural
carbon sinks. Over the past few years, many nations have made a
strong effort to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide they emit
into the atmosphere. By replacing fossil fuel plants with
renewable energy sources…
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/news/a27096/reducing-fossil-fuel-emissions-isnt-stopping-co2-rise/


Global Warming: The Imminent Crisis That Never Arrives. The grand
storyteller. It’s summer 2017 and the Arctic was supposed to be
ice-free, hurricanes were going to be more frequent and more
deadly, and sea levels should be rising alarmingly. Al Gore swore
in his 2006 science fiction movie, “An Inconvenient Truth,” that
within a decade there would be a “true planetary emergency.”
http://climatechangedispatch.com/global-warming-the-imminent-crisis-that-never-arrives/


$4.4 Million Is Being Spent to Protect the Global Seed Vault From
Global Warming
In Brief. A melting permafrost caused by global warming has
raised concerns over the security of the global seed vault. To
ensure its integrity, the Norwegian government has pledge to
spend $4.4 million on improvements to the structure.
https://futurism.com/4-4-million-is-being-spent-to-protect-the-global-seed-vault-from-global-warming/


Dust, particulate matter in air reducing solar energy output by
25 per cent: study. Global solar energy production is taking a
major hit due to dust and atmospheric particulate matter,
according to a new study. The airborne particles and their
accumulation on solar cells are cutting energy output by more
than 25 per cent in certain parts of the world.
http://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/dust-particulate-matter-reducing-solar-energy-output-by-25-per-cent-study-58159
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2017/06/20170627-duke.html  

High-tech CityTree cleans as much pollution as 275 trees (Video).
Urban pollution is an enormous problem in many cities around the
world, and poor air quality can mean an increase in chronic
conditions like asthma, while also making it difficult for people
to walk, bike or enjoy the outdoors. One obvious solution is to
plant more green spaces, as plants can help to significantly
improve air quality and reduce particulate matter…
https://www.treehugger.com/sustainable-product-design/citytree-purifies-polluted-air-green-city-solutions.html