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newsclips -- Newsclips for July 23, 2012
Posted: 23 Jul 2012 11:11:40
ARB News Clips for July 23, 2012. 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. AIR POLLUTION APNewsBreak: EPA reviewing rule on toxic air pollution; standards for future plants targeted. The Environmental Protection Agency is reviewing part of a controversial rule that sets the first federal standards to reduce toxic air pollution from power plants. The rule, issued in December, is aimed at curbing mercury and other toxic pollutants from coal- and oil-fired power plants. The Obama administration calls the rule a sensible step to reduce pollution, but Republicans have denounced it as a part of a “war on coal.” The rule could force hundreds of the nation’s oldest and dirtiest power plants to clean up or shut down. Posted. http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/apnewsbreak-epa-to-review-rule-on-toxic-air-pollution-standards-for-future-plants-targeted/2012/07/20/gJQA8BhUyW_story.html Spin cycle begins anew as EPA takes second look at mercury rule. Industry representatives and environmentalists are scrambling to make sense of U.S. EPA's announcement of a plan to take another look at portions of a mercury rule for new power plants. In a letter to petitioners Friday, EPA air chief Gina McCarthy painted the reconsideration as limited in scope. EPA would review some provisions of the mercury and air toxics rule that it finalized in December that deal with how toxics from new power plants would be measured, McCarthy wrote. The reconsideration may lead to changes in the rule, she said, but they will be "largely technical in nature"(Greenwire, July 20). Posted. SUBSCRIPTION ONLY. http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/2012/07/23/1 Department of Pesticide Regulation Air Monitoring Shows Pesticides Well Below Health Screening Levels. The California Department of Pesticide Regulation issued the following news release: Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) Director Brian R. Leahy announced today that air monitoring of nearly three dozen pesticides in California for the past year shows residues well below levels established to protect human health and the environment. "We're pleased the results indicate a low health risk to residents of the communities where monitoring stations are located," Leahy emphasized. "This information is essential to help us evaluate whether our restrictions on pesticide applications are protective over the long term." Posted. http://www.equities.com/news/headline-story?dt=2012-07-20&val=293560&cat=material Beijing's smog-cutting efforts significantly cut emissions. As the London Olympics near, lessons can be learned from 2008, when Beijing hosted the games, on how to cut the environmental footprint of the world's foremost international athletic event, a recent study suggests. Large numbers of trucks and cars were ordered to stay out of the city before Beijing hosted the Olympics four years ago. The city made the move largely in an effort to avoid tainting air that athletes would breathe and possibly to avoid negative press. Posted. SUBSCRIPTION ONLY. http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/2012/07/23/20 Where the breathing isn't easy. As the relentless wind stirs up piles of dust and dirt and creates a gigantic funnel of haze in the vast, sweltering Imperial Valley, children like Marco Cisneros battle to breathe. Marco wheezes and coughs and reaches desperately for his inhaler, but the medication doesn't always give him the relief he needs. Often, his mother has to call 911. Since being diagnosed with severe asthma six years ago, Marco, who lives in this border town east of San Diego, has visited the hospital nearly 50 times. He has been airlifted on several occasions. The illness has affected much of his childhood, preventing him from playing sports, going to friends' houses and attending school for days at a time. Posted. http://www.sacbee.com/2012/07/22/4648834/where-the-breathing-isnt-easy.html#storylink=misearch CLIMATE CHANGE For Ecuadorian village, a struggle to adapt to changing climate. Frosts aren't on time for the 960 people living in this tiny, remote village, hidden on a chilly, windswept mountain ridge in South America. A minor problem? Maybe for some. But in the Andean community, 8,800 feet above sea level, frosts - and their impact on crop cycles - are kind of a big deal. In this agricultural community, crops are planted during the full moon, a tradition meant to help ensure a full harvest. But these days, the harvests aren't as full. Village residents say it's the mark of climate change descending upon the Ayaloman people. Posted. http://www.fresnobee.com/2012/07/22/2917752/for-ecuadorian-village-a-struggle.html#storylink=misearch DIESEL EMISSIONS Driving on borrowed time: Nonprofits deal with new emission standards. New Beginnings Christian Church's 1979 Peterbilt only has a couple of years to live. Whether it will be sold for parts or left to rot in a junkyard isn't yet known, but one thing is certain: In 2015, the big shiny semi won't be on the road anymore. Most people don't think twice about the trucks used to haul goods, but nonprofit organizations in Bakersfield are coming to terms with the fact that come 2015, they may no longer be able to use the vehicles they have depended on for years. Posted. SUBSCRIPTION ONLY. http://www.bakersfieldcalifornian.com/business/x160346093/Driving-on-borrowed-time-Nonprofits-deal-with-new-emission-standards FUELS Experts: Some fracking critics use bad science. In the debate over natural gas drilling, the companies are often the ones accused of twisting the facts. But scientists say opponents sometimes mislead the public, too. Critics of fracking often raise alarms about groundwater pollution, air pollution, and cancer risks, and there are still many uncertainties. But some of the claims have little - or nothing- to back them. For example, reports that breast cancer rates rose in a region with heavy gas drilling are false, researchers told The Associated Press. Fears that natural radioactivity in drilling waste could contaminate drinking water aren't being confirmed by monitoring, either. And concerns about air pollution from the industry often don't acknowledge that natural gas is a far cleaner burning fuel than coal. Posted. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jCUQcMjaT-TJqizs7WRB1zIw8rzA?docId=cef00570f618477d8e9fcb53579af91c AP Newsbreak: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/doctors-scientists-say-fracking-critics-misrepresent-some-facts-to-make-their-point/2012/07/22/gJQAX1nO2W_story.html http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Experts-Some-fracking-critics-use-bad-science-3726159.php http://www.fresnobee.com/2012/07/22/2918032/experts-some-fracking-critics.html#storylink=misearch http://www.sacbee.com/2012/07/22/4649161/experts-some-fracking-critics.html#storylink=misearch VEHICLES Rowland Unified gets millions in grants for green school buses. Rowland Unified School District is taking steps to turn its big yellow school buses green. The district recently received $2.5 million in grants to buy cleaner buses. The new buses are fueled by compressed natural gas, known as CNG, eliminating the dirty diesel that powered the old buses. Rowland Unified sees the buses as one more step in its green initiative. Studies show CNG buses emit significantly less pollutants such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides. Posted. http://www.sgvtribune.com/news/ci_21132513/rowland-unified-gets-millions-grants-green-school-buses How to standardise EV charging payment systems? Despite the more than 10, 000 installed public charging stations, finding a charging station where you can actually plug-in can be challenging in the San Francisco Bay Area. Why? Because many different services currently exist for EV charging, and each has a different payment system. Below cars21.com reviews the most popular ones. Up until now the most common charging payment system was to subscribe to a charging company operating charging stations (such as Ecotality or ChargePoint). Using this system subscribers receive a Radio-frequency identification (RFID) card that works only at the charging points operated by the company with which they have a service contract. This means that if you drive to a city where your company has no charging point you might get stuck. Posted. http://cars21.com/news/view/4798 Why Do Zipcar Users Abuse the Cars? 4 Lessons For the Access Economy. The access economy could easily become a theme for a new season of In Treatment with its ongoing trust and behavioral issues. This week it lay on the couch while two researchers tried to figure out why consumers don’t take good care of their Zipcars. Ultimately Prof. Fleura Bardhi and Prof. Giana Eckhardt hoped to learn how consumer-object and consumer-to-consumer relationships work in the sharing economy overall. For starters, they found that although Zipcar attempts to build a brand community, consumers currently do not want this type of engagement. Posted. http://www.triplepundit.com/2012/07/zipcar-users-dont-good-care-cars-new-research-offers-4-lessons-access-economy/ GREEN ENERGY 'Green' homes sell for 9 percent more, study says. California homes that meet environmental standards, such as energy efficiency and proximity to public transportation, are selling at higher prices than homes that don't, according to a new report. The study, conducted by researchers at UC Berkeley and UCLA, looked at homes that were labeled green by LEED, GreenPoint Rated and Energy Star - rating systems that give green label certifications to homes. To be certified, each rating system has a list of criteria homes must meet, including well-insulated ceilings and walls and energy-efficient lighting. Posted. http://www.latimes.com/business/realestate/la-fi-harney-20120722,0,7849454.story http://www.fresnobee.com/2012/07/22/2918744/green-homes-sell-for-9-percent.html#storylink=misearch http://www.baycitizen.org/environment/story/green-homes-sell-9-percent-more-study/ County protects farmland from solar development. The Kern County Board of Supervisors approved a compromise plan Tuesday that will guide solar project developers who want to build large-scale sun farms on valley farmland. Some solar power developers and farming interests grudgingly supported the policy, developed by the Kern County Planning Department, which would set up a pathway for developers and planners to follow to determine what farmland is best to build solar power plants on. The "pathway," said Planning Director Lorelei Oviatt, would use Department of Conservation classifications of farmland in Kern County to determine whether a development would require stiff mitigation or could be developed without special consideration. Posted. SUBSCRIPTION ONLY. http://www.bakersfieldcalifornian.com/local/x920646520/County-protects-farmland-from-solar-development?utm_source=widget_63&utm_medium=latest_entries_widget&utm_campaign=synapse OPINIONS We’re All Climate-Change Idiots. CLIMATE CHANGE is staring us in the face. The science is clear, and the need to reduce planet-warming emissions has grown urgent. So why, collectively, are we doing so little about it? Yes, there are political and economic barriers, as well as some strong ideological opposition, to going green. But researchers in the burgeoning field of climate psychology have identified another obstacle, one rooted in the very ways our brains work. The mental habits that help us navigate the local, practical demands of day-to-day life, they say, make it difficult to engage with the more abstract, global dangers posed by climate change. Posted. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/22/opinion/sunday/were-all-climate-change-idiots.html AB32's downside. Two recent studies have confirmed that California’s Global Warming Solutions Act (AB32) will have devastating effects on the state’s economy. It was a big red flag when the California Air Resources Board, which enforces the law, estimated in 2010 that it would reduce the state’s economic output by 0.2 percent. Now, studies conclude the economic harm will be staggering from enforcement of the act. AB32 ironically threatens to worsen what it ostensibly was created to correct, fuel shortages and an increase in global emissions. Posted. http://www.vvdailypress.com/opinion/downside-35660-recent-studies.html Why is the U.S. government so bullish on coal predictions? U.S. energy policies prop up coal consumption in a variety of ways, some clear and some less so. For example, the Bureau of Land Management has lately come in for a drubbing for leasing public lands to coal mining companies at comically low rates, and to the detriment of taxpayers. Official bullishness on coal extends to other government agencies too, such as the Department of Energy, which produces the nation’s energy forecasts. If you sift through the new coal projections in the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Annual Energy Outlook 2012, you’ll find something rather curious: The U.S. government has a more favorable outlook for coal than virtually any other major forecasting institution. Posted. http://grist.org/climate-energy/why-is-the-u-s-government-so-bullish-on-coal-predictions/ Our View: How to choke California's economy. Two recent studies conform California's Global Warming Solutions Act will have devastating effects on the state's economy, and even be counterproductive in its goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It was a big red flag when the California Air Resources Board, which enforces the law, estimated in 2010 that it would reduce the state's economic output by 0.2 percent. It should have raised more eyebrows than it did when bureaucrats and regulators tasked with putting the best face on its consequences admitted it will have a negative economic effect. Posted. http://www.appeal-democrat.com/articles/california-117990-reduce-studies.html BLOGS Climate Change and the American Political Agenda. Just as the movie massacre in Colorado reminds us that the assault weapon ban has not been discussed in the presidential campaign, the intense storms and heat this summer remind us that climate change is a phrase that seems to have been banned on the campaign trail. The ability of powerful economic interests to control America's political agenda is not news, but the degree to which facts and science are willfully denied seems to be getting worse. Posted. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steven-cohen/climate-change-and-the-am_b_1694462.html E.P.A. to Consider Relaxing an Air Pollution Rule. The Environmental Protection Agency announced on Friday afternoon that it would review its new standards for mercury, soot and other emissions for a handful of proposed new coal-burning power plants. The review will delay the implementation of the regulation for the new plants for at least three months while experts determine whether the emissions limits may safely be relaxed. The agency said the action was a “routine” reconsideration of technical standards based on new information received after the adoption of the so-called mercury rule late last year. The review will affect five planned power plants in Georgia, Kansas, Texas and Utah. Posted. http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/20/e-p-a-to-consider-relaxing-an-air-pollution-rule/ When Beijing Cleared the Air. As the Olympic Games draw near in London and some fret about the environmental impact, it might be instructive to look back on the measures taken when Beijing played host in 2008. It’s not likely that the organizers in Beijing were thinking about climate change when they ordered large numbers of cars and trucks to stay out of the city before the games began. One suspects that they were more worried about harm to the country’s image, if the world watched athletes struggling to compete while inhaling dirty air. Posted. http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/22/remembering-beijings-accomplishment/ Solar Power: China Might Be Stepping Up Its Green Energy Game. China, it appears, might be ready to step up and do its part in deploying more of the vast solar photovoltaic capacity it is producing. Will it be enough to make everything OK in the beleaguered solar manufacturing sector? No, but it sure won’t hurt. Earlier this month, China’s renewable energy division put out word that the country would boost its target for solar energy installation to 21 gigawatts in the current five-year plan, which runs through 2015. Posted. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/21/solar-power-china-alternative-energy_n_1690464.html?utm_hp_ref=green Scalers Union Tells Clean Harbors to Clean Up its Act. ILWU Local 56 Scalers Union and other labor demonstrators held a press conference outside the Clean Harbors Environmental Services facilities in Gardena as a warning to clean up their act. A long history of environmental violations trail the Massachusetts based environmental services company, ranging from the Department of Toxic Substances Control, California Air Resources Board, and the state’s Water Resources Board. “We’re here to warn the harbor community that Clean Harbors has a spotty record when it comes to protecting workers and the public,” said Ruben Hurtado, Business Agent and Dispatcher at Local 56. Posted. http://www.randomlengthsnews.com/blogs/Notebook/tag/california-air-resources-board/