What's New List Serve Post Display
Below is the List Serve Post you selected to display.
newsclips -- CARB Newsclips for August 28, 2017.
Posted: 28 Aug 2017 15:52:10
CARB Newsclips for August 28, 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 The Air Resources Board (ARB or Board) will conduct a public meeting at the time and place noted below to consider updates to ARB’s Enforcement Policy. DATE: September 28, 2017 TIME: 9:00 a.m. LOCATION: California Environmental Protection Agency Air Resources Board Byron Sher Auditorium, 2nd Floor 1001 I Street Sacramento, California 95814 The draft Enforcement Policy may also be obtained from ARB’s website at: https://www.arb.ca.gov/enf/policy2017.htm ____________________________________ The Air Resources Board (ARB or Board) will conduct a public hearing at the time and place noted below to consider approving for adoption the proposed amendments to California Evaluation Procedures for New Aftermarket Catalytic Converters. DATE: September 28, 2017 TIME: 9:00 A.M. LOCATION: California Environmental Protection Agency Air Resources Board Byron Sher Auditorium 1001 I Street Sacramento, California 95814 Electronic submittal: http://www.arb.ca.gov/lispub/comm/bclist.php ______________________________ The California Air Resources Board (CARB) invites you to participate in a public workshop to begin discussing concepts for minimizing community health impacts from seaports, railyards, and warehouses/distribution centers. Workshops will be held at the locations and dates shown below. Both workshops will follow the same format and present the same material. LOS ANGELES Tuesday, August 29, 2017, (1:00 – 3:00 pm) Junipero Serra Building 320 West 4th Street, Los Angeles, California 90013 SACRAMENTO (also webcast) Wednesday, September 6, 2017, (1:00 – 3:00 pm) California Environmental Protection Agency Headquarters, Sierra Hearing Room 1001 I Street, Sacramento, California 95814 For more information on this workshop, please see the meeting notice at: https://www.arb.ca.gov/gmp/sfti/FreightFacility.htm ______________________________ Northern California Truck Owners and Operators -- You’re invited to attend a One-Stop Truck event in Santa Rosa on Wednesday, August 30. At this event, you’ll be able to get help with all of your CARB compliance questions, get up-to-date info on truck rules, learn about financial incentives to help purchase new trucks, visit with vendors, and check out the latest clean trucks. Here's what you will find at this One-Stop event: • One-on-one compliance assistance (Asistencia en español disponible) • Enforcement inspection demo • Truck and bus and off-road regulation overview • New technology options for compliance • Funding options for on-road trucks • CHP Inspection update • Industry vendors & local agency booths • Clean vehicle/technology displays For more information and to sign up to attend, please visit our One Stop Truck Event webpage: www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/truckstop/azregs/onestop.htm or call the Diesel Hotline at 866-634-3735 ______________________________ CAP AND TRADE Gold Line extension to Montclair could get cap-and-trade funding. The project has a $280 million funding gap. A group of Los Angeles area officials requested last week that $280 million in state cap-and-trade dollars be used to complete Metro’s Gold Line extension to Montclair. Work on the 12.3-mile rail project is expected to get underway in October, but it faces a significant funding gap. https://la.curbed.com/2017/8/27/16212436/gold-line-extension-funding-montclair-claremont http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/general-news/20170827/legislators-believe-they-found-a-way-to-close-gap-in-glendora-to-montclair-gold-line-extension Climate change program at center of GOP feud raises hundreds of millions more. While Republican leaders were working to sack Assembly member Chad Mayes for his role in passing landmark climate change legislation, California businesses were snapping up greenhouse-gas pollution permits in the state's quarterly auction. http://www.desertsun.com/story/news/politics/2017/08/25/climate-change-program-center-gop-leathat-removed-mayes-leadership-post-raised-nearly-1-billion-stat/600283001/ AIR POLLUTION ‘Excessive’ heat anticipated Sunday, Monday in much of Bay Area; air quality advisory issued. The National Weather Service is warning of “excessive heat” Sunday and Monday in most parts of the Bay Area that aren’t adjacent to the coast, officials said Saturday. Temperatures along the shoreline are expected to reach between 85 and 95 degrees Fahrenheit, with the East Bay valleys… http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/08/26/excessive-heat-anticipated-sunday-monday-in-much-of-bay-area-air-quality-advisory-issued/ Spare the Air Alert in effect on Monday. A Spare the Air Alert is in effect for the Bay Area on Monday. What are Spare the Air days? Air quality in the Bay Area can be unhealthy at times throughout the year. During the summer months, ozone pollution can become a health problem in the Bay Area. The summertime Spare the Air program notifies residents when air quality is forecast to be unhealthy… http://abc7news.com/weather/spare-the-air-alert-in-effect-on-sunday/54306/ High heat, smog hold sway for 3rd straight day across East Bay, valley regions. Triple-digit temperatures and dirty, stagnant air prompted officials Saturday to issue the eighth air pollution alert of the summer for Sunday across the greater Bay Area. The primary culprit is ozone – or smog. It’s the second such pollution alert in as many days from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and includes a large swath of… http://www.dailyrepublic.com/solano-news/fairfield/air-pollution-alert-extends-to-2nd-day-for-southern-solano-as-heat-wave-builds/ Air pollution could spike with back to school traffic. The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District is hoping motorists can undertake some practices that will help keep air pollution levels from rising during the back to school period. With school back in session the Valley Air District is asking the public to reduce vehicle emissions by carpooling or walking their children… http://www.turlockjournal.com/archives/36478/ Air quality ‘Unhealthy’ during day. With fires raging to the north and winds driving smoke to the south, the Lake County Air Quality Management District issued an air quality alert on Thursday. District director Douglas Gearhart graded air in the county Unhealthy to Hazardous for several hours before upgrading it to Moderate in the afternoon. The momentary downgrade results from ultra-fine particulates… http://www.record-bee.com/article/NQ/20170825/NEWS/170829893 American Heart Association reports Air pollution linked to Cardiovascular Disease; Air Purifiers may lessen impact. Exposure to high levels of air pollution increased stress hormone levels and negative metabolic changes in otherwise healthy, young adults in a recent study conducted in China. Air purifiers appeared to lessen the negative effects… http://www.clarksvilleonline.com/2017/08/28/american-heart-association-reports-air-pollution-linked-cardiovascular-disease-air-purifiers-may-lessen-impact/ Reducing the Mon Valley "stink". The Pittsburgh region too often still has an oily, sulfuric, industrial “stink,” and tougher regulation is needed to reign in the unhealthy malodors, said Mark Dixon, who testified at an Allegheny County Health Department hearing last week on permit changes at coke and steel making facilities in the Mon Valley. http://powersource.post-gazette.com/news/environment/2017/08/28/air-pollution-sulfur-Mon-Valley-stink/stories/201708250214 The European Union is Losing Its Way on Climate Change. New EU rules agreed on 31 July mean Europe’s 3000 large combustion power plants – coal burning for the most part – will have to cut pollutants such as nitrogen oxide, mercury and particulate matter by 2021. But this is not as good news as it seems. Eighty-two per cent of the EU’s coal-fired plants are estimated to be non-compliant, emitting excessive levels of pollutants. http://www.theenergycollective.com/david-k-thorpe/2411704/european-union-losing-way-climate-change ALISO CANYON SoCal Gas twice emitted too much methane since reopening Aliso Canyon. In the month since Southern California Gas Company got the green light to refill its underground gas storage field near Porter Ranch, it has put unacceptable levels of gas into the atmosphere on at least two separate occasions, state regulators said. The Aliso Canyon Natural Gas Storage Facility was the site… http://www.scpr.org/news/2017/08/28/75042/socal-gas-field-still-emits-too-much-methane-state/ CLIMATE CHANGE Key senator vows to block California climate deal that would aid polluters. An irritated chairman of a state Senate Budget subcommittee says he intends to thwart a recent move by the state Air Resources Board that could give California’s biggest polluters a cushion of more than $300 million. In a sharp rebuke of the board, Sen. Bob Wieckowski Thursday hearing that he’ll insert language... http://www.dailynews.com/government-and-politics/20170827/key-senator-vows-to-block-california-climate-deal-that-would-aid-polluters Insurers count cost of Harvey and growing risk from climate change. Damages from Hurricane Harvey's ravaging of Houston and the Texas Gulf Coast are estimated to be well below those from the major storms that hit New Orleans and New York in recent years, insurance executives have said. Though insurers should swallow the claims easily, given that there have been relatively few natural disasters… https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/28/reuters-america-insurers-count-cost-of-harvey-and-growing-risk-from-climate-change.html Climate change seen as cause for mudslide in Switzerland. The effects of climate change are partially to blame for a mudslide through a southeastern village that left eight people missing after a massive chunk of rock broke off an Alpine mountainside, Switzerland's environmental protection office said Monday. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-climate-change-switzerland-mudslide-20170828-story.html US Energy Agency Asked Scientists to Scrub References to Climate Change. Researchers were told to censor descriptions of projects funded by a Department of Energy laboratory. Multiple researchers who received grants from the US Department of Energy (DOE) have been asked to remove references to “climate change” and “global warming” from the descriptions of their projects. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/us-energy-agency-asked-scientists-to-scrub-references-to-climate-change/ Researchers study ice to learn about wildfire. With the recent occurrence of wildfires on the rise, researchers at the Desert Research Institute in Reno may have uncovered important data in understanding how human-caused climate change compares with what the Earth was like thousands of years ago. http://www.sierrasun.com/news/environment/researchers-study-ice-to-learn-about-wildfire/ Boomtown, Flood Town. Climate change will bring more frequent and fierce rainstorms to cities like Houston. But unchecked development remains a priority in the famously un-zoned city, creating short-term economic gains for some while increasing flood risks for everyone. For the third time in eight years, water gushed into Virginia Hammond’s northwest Houston home. It was 2 a.m. on April 18. https://www.texastribune.org/boomtown-floodtown/ DROUGHT CAP-California water deal that Arizona nixed provokes ongoing conflict. A newly disclosed memo from that year, written by a CAP attorney, characterized the proposal as a sale of some of Arizona’s Colorado River water to the giant, six-county Metropolitan Water District in Southern California. Such a sale would be controversial in Arizona… http://tucson.com/news/local/cap-california-water-deal-that-arizona-nixed-provokes-ongoing-conflict/article_2b73013e-220f-56f6-a02b-cf328abfedbb.html DIESEL ACTIVITIES POLB Sets New Records in Pollution Reductions. The Port of Long Beach (POLB) informed it notched clean air records in its latest study of air pollution emissions, including an 88 percent reduction in diesel particulate matter, continuing more than a decade of air quality improvements. The inventory, conducted by an independent consultant, found the port’s actions to cut pollution have decreased diesel particulate… http://worldmaritimenews.com/archives/228262/polb-sets-new-records-in-pollution-reductions/ https://www.ajot.com/news/port-of-long-beach-achieves-record-pollution-reductions VEHICLES Audi, shaken by emissions scandal, reshuffles management board. Volkswagen’s (VOWG_p.DE) premium carmaker Audi (NSUG.DE) announced its biggest management reshuffle in years on Monday as it seeks a fresh start in the aftermath of the diesel emissions scandal. Audi, which is the biggest contributor of profits to VW, said it was replacing finance Chief Axel Strotbek… https://www.reuters.com/article/us-audi-management-idUSKCN1B81BQ http://www.foxbusiness.com/features/2017/08/28/audi-reshuffles-management-board-amid-emissions-scandal.html Should California spend $3 billion to help people buy electric cars? Over seven years, the state of California has spent $449 million on consumer rebates to boost sales of zero-emission vehicles. So far, the subsidies haven’t moved the needle much. In 2016, of the just over 2 million cars sold in the state, only 75,000 were pure-electric and plug-in hybrid cars. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hy-electric-vehicle-subsidies-20170828-htmlstory.html Audi diesel: another shoe drops as top VW Group execs implicated. It has been nearly two years since Volkswagen came clean and admitted its "clean diesel" engines were actually quite dirty. In 2015, a VW engineer admitted the TDI diesel cars sold in the U.S. since 2009 were outfitted with "defeat device" software that let them pass emission tests… http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1112350_audi-diesel-another-shoe-drops-as-top-vw-group-execs-implicated OPINIONS How farmers convinced scientists to take climate change seriously. Rural Americans once led the fight to link extreme weather like Hurricane Harvey and human activity. What changed? The path of Harvey’s destruction cut through some of the rural communities least likely to believe in human-caused climate change. But not long ago, these very same rural communities contained the most fervent believers… https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/made-by-history/wp/2017/08/27/how-farmers-convinced-scientists-to-take-climate-change-seriously/?utm_term=.020e1dbdc73e States Dare to Think Big on Climate Change. The one bright spot amid the generally gloomy news about climate change, and the Trump administration’s resistance to doing anything about it, is the determination of a number of state governments to take action on their own. California, as usual, has commanded the headlines on this score, having just strengthened its commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/28/opinion/climate-change-states-trump.html Cap-and-trade + Confederate statues + Housing + Parkway + Homeless + Poetry. Clean diesel. Re “What California should really do with cap-and-trade windfall,” Editorials, Aug. 23): The Sacramento Bee editorial board’s endorsement of carbon cap-and-trade funds for transportation is diminished by antiquated perceptions of diesel technology. http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article169466622.html Power of Choice - Size matters in energy business. Is it too late to stop global warming? We’re not sure, but this is not a drill. Our climate and our planet are too important for us to simply stand by as atmospheric warming poses ever-greater risks. We need a carbon-free future sustained by clean and renewable energy from solar, wind and geothermal farms — not coal mines and oil wells… http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/opinion/commentary/sd-utbg-energy-community-choice-20170825-story.html Our view: Cap and trade program shows power of markets. California’s experiment with a market-based solution to reduce carbon emissions took a step toward becoming a reality Aug. 22, when the latest round of bidding for cap-and-trade permits went off without a hitch. In fact, the permit auction drew close to $1 billion, creating perhaps as much as $640 million in revenue for the state. https://www.pacbiztimes.com/2017/08/25/our-view-cap-and-trade-program-shows-power-of-markets/ Did Climate Change Intensify Hurricane Harvey? “The human contribution can be up to 30 percent or so of the total rainfall coming out of the storm.” Every so often, the worst-case scenario comes to pass. As of Sunday afternoon, the remnants of Hurricane Harvey seem likely to exceed the worst forecasts that preceded the storm. https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/08/did-climate-change-intensify-hurricane-harvey/538158/ A Hotter Climate Could Make You Sick. The health effects of a warming planet are already being felt. Leaving aside the debate over who or what is to blame, 16 of the 17 hottest years on record have occurred since 2001 – and 2016 was the hottest ever. While the consequences of melting ice caps or vanishing species may seem remote, the health effects of a warming planet… http://health.usnews.com/health-care/patient-advice/articles/2017-08-28/a-hotter-climate-could-make-you-sick Trump’s climate change denial will be tested by Houston’s devastation. Hurricanes are nothing new but the US has seen two of its worst storms ever in a little over a decade. Images of America's fourth largest city under several feet of water are a reminder that not even the richest country on earth is immune to the effects of extreme weather. Nearly half a million of Houston's residents have been directly affected… http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/editorials/trump-climate-change-denial-tested-by-houston-s-devastation-a7916961.html Hurricane Harvey is America's climate future. Hurricane Harvey pummeled southern Texas all weekend, causing apocalyptic flooding. Worse, several more days of torrential rainfall are in the cards, as Harvey is predicted to slowly wander slightly back out to sea and then make landfall again in a day or two. Several deaths have already been confirmed, and forecasters estimate there will be up to 50 inches of rain in the worst-hit areas. http://theweek.com/articles/720740/hurricane-harvey-americas-climate-future This Is What Climate Change Sounds Like. One of the best instruments scientists can use to map climate change is roughly the size of a thumb—and adorable. The humble tree frog (genus Hyla) has proliferated from Florida to Alaska, yet it’s a delicate critter. Its disappearance from a habitat is an early warning that the place is becoming deforested, drier, or simply hotter. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-24/this-is-what-climate-change-sounds-like Tiny pests eating New Jersey's pines march north as climate changes, report says. Love the warmer winters we’ve been enjoying? So does the southern pine beetle, a rice-grain-sized pest that has munched through New Jersey’s pine forests and could be a harbinger of climate change, according to a new study. Using the Garden State as a barometer, researchers from Columbia University... http://www.philly.com/philly/health/tiny-southern-pine-beetle-pests-eating-new-jerseys-pines-could-be-harbinger-of-climate-change-study-says-pinelands-pine-barrens-20170828.html NIH Institute Purges References To Climate Change, But Not Very Well. Last week, one of NIH's institutes, the National Institute for Environmental and Health Sciences (NIEHS), did something rather mysterious. The institute purged references to climate change on its website by replacing the phrase "climate change" with "climate." https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensalzberg/2017/08/28/nih-institute-purges-references-to-climate-change-but-not-very-well/#66dcda2e389d Stop blaming the Sun for global warming. The Earth is getting warmer and warmer, and scientists are now essentially unanimous in their opinion that humans are to blame, but could other factors also be contributing? A new study looked closely at whether or not our sun could also being playing a role in how hot it’s getting here on our planet. http://bgr.com/2017/08/25/global-warming-sun-temperature/ BLOGS Californians benefit from continuous pollution monitoring at oil and gas sites. Since the 1892 discovery of oil in California, the oil and gas industry has been a major economic engine and energy supplier for the state. Although this oil and gas production may be broken down into dollars and barrels, it doesn’t tell the story of the potential impact of drilling activity on the lives of the people in Los Angeles and the Central Valley… http://blogs.edf.org/energyexchange/2017/08/28/californians-benefit-from-continuous-pollution-monitoring-at-oil-and-gas-sites/ Learning from Thirty Years of Experience with Cap-and-Trade Systems. “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” The implication of this famous line (often misquoted as “those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it”) from philosopher George Santayana’s 1905 book, The Life of Reason, Volume I – Reason in Common Sense, is that we are wise to learn from our mistakes. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/learning-from-thirty-years-of-experience-with-cap-and_us_59a4345fe4b0a62d0987b0f2 How much is climate change behind the Hurricane Harvey flooding in Houston? Over the past week we have seen two major tropical storms devastate different parts of the world. First Typhoon Hato struck Hong Kong and Southern China, killing at least a dozen people. And over the weekend Hurricane Harvey… http://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-much-is-climate-change-behind-the-hurricane-harvey-flooding-in-houston-2017-08-28 Scientists Identify Cheaper, Greener Catalyst for Biofuels Processing. Fuels that are made from non-petroleum-based biological sources could soon become greener and more affordable, as a result of the research performed at the University of Illinois’ Prairie Research Institute that analyzes the use of a processing catalyst created from palladium metal and bacteria. Biofuels are produced from renewable materials such as… https://www.azocleantech.com/news.aspx?newsID=24232 How global warming likely made Harvey much worse, explained by a climatologist. Here’s what the science can tell us. Did global warming make the Houston floods worse? It’s a question that a lot of people are asking after the devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey. Renowned climatologist Michael E. Mann on Sunday provided some answers. The short version: It’s unclear if global warming… https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/8/28/16214268/houston-floods-harvey-global-warming Is Global Warming Going To Create An Urban Rat Population Explosion? Of all of the possible impacts of a warming climate, one that’s probably not considered too often is the potential for an enormous explosion in the number of urban rats throughout many parts of the world. That’s unfortunate, though, as the potential is certainly there for urban rats to become an enormous problem… https://cleantechnica.com/2017/08/28/global-warming-going-create-urban-rat-population-explosion/ SF’s Muni was fined $220K by state for blowing off emissions requirements. It feels like Muni is under a cloud of late. One of its own making. This week Mission Local revealed that the agency’s new diesel-electric hybrid buses are operating without a pollution control program that has been par for the municipal transit course since the 1980s. http://blog.sfgate.com/inthemission/2017/08/25/sfs-muni-was-fined-220k-by-state-for-blowing-off-emissions-requirements/ CLEANING THE AIR, ONE VEHICLE AT A TIME. Environmental stewardship drives Opus Inspection to create technology for a cleaner, safer world. Auto industry vet Sandra McCulloch believes in the power of processes. “Some of the things you learn in the auto industry are the importance of robust processes, strong problem solving, the need for continuous improvement… http://thebossmagazine.com/opus-inspection/ Why We Need to Kick Our Foolish Ethanol Addiction. Corn-producing states love the federal mandate to add it to motor fuels, but it no longer makes sense — if it ever did. Bad news arrives slowly to some U.S. political circles. The failure of the federal Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program to achieve its policy goals over the past decade is one of the slowest awakenings in recent memory. http://www.governing.com/gov-institute/voices/col-renewable-fuel-standard-ethanol-mandate.html Substitution of gasoline for ethanol in dual-fuel vehicles increases level of polluting nanoparticles. When ethanol prices at the pump rise for whatever reason, it becomes economically advantageous for drivers of dual-fuel vehicles to fill up with gasoline. However, the health of the entire population pays a high price: substitution of gasoline for ethanol leads to a 30% increase in the atmospheric concentration of ultrafine particulate matter… https://www.news-medical.net/news/20170828/Substitution-of-gasoline-for-ethanol-in-dual-fuel-vehicles-increases-level-of-polluting-nanoparticles.aspx .