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newsclips -- Newsclips for August 30, 2012
Posted: 30 Aug 2012 11:43:44
ARB Newsclips for August 30, 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. CLIMATE CHANGE California's cap-and-trade program to cut emissions starts trial run. The eyes of the world are on California as it prepares to roll out the nation's first comprehensive cap-and-trade program, a cornerstone of the state's efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and shift to an environmentally sustainable economy. So on Thursday, the state will stage a trial run of the online auction of emissions permits for roughly 150 major emitters of greenhouse gases to give the state time to work out any glitches before the official Nov. 14 launch of the program. Posted. http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_21428079/dress-rehearsal-thursday-californias-cap-and-trade-program http://www.siliconvalley.com/news/ci_21428079/trial-run-california-cap-trade-program-thursday-cut-emissions EU, Australia plan carbon market link. The proposed linking of the European Union and Australian greenhouse-gas-reduction programs will demonstrate to policymakers worldwide that carbon markets can help address climate change, said Andrei Marcu. "Those who say there is no urgency are being contradicted on the ground," Marcu, head of the Center for European Policy Studies' Carbon Market Forum in Brussels, said Wednesday in an interview from United Nations climate talks in Bangkok. "This is a very good signal. This is not theory anymore." Posted. http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/EU-Australia-plan-carbon-market-link-3826135.php Greenhouse gases could lurk beneath Antarctic ice sheet. Enormous reservoirs of the potent greenhouse gas methane could lurk beneath the Antarctic ice sheet, hastening the rate of global warming if portions of the sheet collapse, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Nature. Methane, a byproduct of dead and decaying organic matter, probably exists within the sediments below the ice sheet, according to study authors. Though scientists have attempted to calculate the amount of greenhouse-gas-generating substances in Arctic permafrost, they have not previously considered reservoirs of methane beneath the Antarctic ice sheet. Posted. http://www.latimes.com/news/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-methane-reservoirs-20120829,0,5490124.story Heat waves will change breezy Calif. coast – study. Climate change already is altering California's coastal areas, spawning more intense and frequent heat waves, a new study said. Research from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and University of California, San Diego, found that residents who live near the Golden State's beaches no longer can rely on ocean breezes to moderate hot weather. The type of heat wave now seen includes temperatures that do not drop significantly at night. There also is more humidity, which previously was rare. Posted. http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/2012/08/30/18 SUBSCRIPTION ONLY DIESEL EMISSIONS Truckers at Oakland's port undergo pollution inspections. Truckers at the Port of Oakland were met this week by inspectors from the state Air Resources Board conducting spot checks of diesel emissions on rigs traveling to and from the docks. The inspections, which began Tuesday and will be conducted at the port through Thursday, are part of a monthlong statewide effort meant to ensure owners of trucks using state roadways are in compliance with air pollution regulations designed to reduce the amount of cancer-causing emissions that spew from big rigs. Posted. http://www.insidebayarea.com/breaking-news/ci_21429199/truckers-at-oaklands-port-undergo-pollution-inspections http://www.mercurynews.com/top-stories/ci_21429198/truckers-at-oaklands-port-undergo-pollution-inspections http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_21429199/truckers-at-oaklands-port-undergo-pollution-inspections?IADID=Search-www.contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com Trucks Inspected For Violations At Port Of Oakland. The California Air Resources Board and the California Highway Patrol were both inspecting trucks at the Port of Oakland on Wednesday, as part of a month-long campaign to ensure compliance with California’s air pollution laws. CHP officers are making sure truck drivers have the correct license, along with valid registration. The state’s Air Resources Board is making sure truckers are complying with state air pollution laws. “If we see what looks to be the right model year range, we’ll pull those over. If we see black smoke, we’ll pull those over. If they just look like an older truck, we’ll pull those over,” said Beth White with the California Air Resources Board. “Some of it’s random but some of it isn’t.” Posted. http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2012/08/29/trucks-inspected-for-violations-at-port-of-oakland/ California Reaches $100 million Milestone in Loan Assistance to Truckers. The California Air Resources Board and the California Pollution Control Financing Authority, part of the State Treasurer's Office, hit the $100 million mark in financial assistance to small-business truckers so they can buy cleaner-burning vehicles. The funding is provided through a program that provides small businesses with financial assistance to obtain loans or lease-to-own arrangements so they can purchase newer, cleaner trucks ahead of schedule for state clean truck and bus regulations. "The success of this program means that truck owners are serious about using the financing options available to them to prepare for the truck regulations we have in place," said CARB chairman Mary D. Nichols. "California residents get to enjoy cleaner air and more hardworking truckers are prepared to comply with CARB's clean air regulations." Posted. http://www.truckinginfo.com/news/news-detail.asp?news_id=77860&news_category_id=3 Study finds clear trend of increasing NOx with higher biodiesel blends with CARB diesel; NOx neutrality achieved by blending in renewable or GTL diesel. A study by researchers at the University of California, Riverside’s College of Engineering – Center for Environmental Research and Technology (CE-CERT) and colleagues at the California Air Resources Board (ARB) found a relatively clear trend of increasing NOx emissions with increasing biodiesel blend level at levels of B20 and above for CARB-like/high cetane diesel fuels. The study is published in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology. They also found that increasing renewable diesel (Neste Oil’s NExBTL) and gas-to-liquids (GTL) diesel blends showed NOx reductions with rising blend level. Posted. http://www.greencarcongress.com/2012/08/durbin-20120830.html FUELS UC Riverside developing biofuel formulations for California. Researchers at the University of California, Riverside's College of Engineering – Center for Environmental Research and Technology (CE-CERT) are working with the state of California to develop diesel formulations with higher levels of renewable biofuels. This research supports several California legislative measures and regulations that aim to increase the use of renewable fuels and reduce greenhouse gases. These include AB 32, which requires the state to develop regulations that will reduce carbon dioxide-equivalent greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, and the California Air Resources Board's (CARB's) Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS). Posted. http://phys.org/news/2012-08-uc-riverside-biofuel-california.html U.S. new fuel economy standards: Overview and Analysis. "These fuel standards represent the single most important step we've ever taken to reduce our dependence on foreign oil,'' President Barack Obama said in the midst of his election campaign. The new standards will reportedly cut greenhouse gas emissions from cars and light-duty trucks by half by 2025. A midterm review will be conducted in 2018 to ensure rules are achievable. The new standards also plan to give automakers "credits" towards meeting the new standards if they build EVs, plug-in hybrids and vehicles that run on compressed natural gas. Posted. http://cars21.com/news/view/4894 GREEN ENERGY BIOTECH: Carlsbad firm uses yeast for 'green' chemicals. Vegetable oils are versatile substances. They're used not only for cooking, but also for making soaps and for biofuels. If Carlsbad-based Verdezyne Inc. is successful, you may soon be wearing them, in a manner of speaking. Verdezyne, a "green" industrial chemical company, has just received a patent for a method of making adipic acid, a key component of a rugged form of nylon. Called nylon 6,6, the nylon is used in clothes, carpets and industrial applications. Posted. http://www.nctimes.com/business/biotech-carlsbad-firm-uses-yeast-for-green-chemicals/article_2da6d6eb-197d-5d5b-bf6b-9da751eff2ea.html OPINION No Need for Carbon Auction Says California’s Most Independent Voice. Last week the most independent voice in California policy analysis said the following in a letter: a cap-and-trade “allowance auction is not necessary to meet the AB 32 goal of reducing GHG emissions statewide to 1990 levels by 2020.” The impartial Legislative Analyst (LAO) responded in a decisive letter to Sen. Henry Perea who had asked three formal, basic and highly appropriate questions: Is a cap and trade allowance auction necessary? What are the advantages and disadvantages? What are the steps the California Legislature would have to take to stop the November auction? Posted. http://www.foxandhoundsdaily.com/2012/08/no-need-for-carbon-auction-says-californias-most-independent-voice/ BLOGS Economists Voice Support for California Cap-and-Trade Auction. This week, nearly 60 renowned economists and other experts around the country sent a letter to Governor Jerry Brown emphatically voicing their strong support for the design of California’s groundbreaking cap-and-trade program, a key element of the Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32). Sent just days before the expected simulated auction of greenhouse gas allowances, the letter to Brown commended his leadership “in implementing the world’s most comprehensive climate law” and his commitment to auction allowances – rather than give them away free – “as part of the crucial launch phase” of the cap-and-trade program, one of the critical strategies California is pursuing to achieve AB 32’s mandate to reduce California’s carbon pollution to 1990 levels by the year 2020. Posted. http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/kgrenfell/economists_voice_support_for_c.html What Will It Take? Two years ago, at a Washington symposium observing the 40th anniversary of the Clean Air Act, much of the discussion centered around the use of the landmark pollution law to try to address a problem its authors never anticipated – climate change caused by increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere.The meeting took place just a few months after the Senate refused to act on a bill passed by the House in 2009 that would have addressed climate change by creating a cap and trade system to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. Posted. http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/30/what-will-it-take/ Yoko Ono and Sean Lennon Organize Artists Against Fracking. Yoko Ono said it was not hard to recruit more than 180 artists to help convince Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York not to allow natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale through the hydraulic fracturing process known as fracking. She reached out to some friends and soon, dozens of artists, many of them with homes in New York, agreed to publicly join the campaign. Ms. Ono said she was leaving it up to the artists to design their own advocacy. “When people say, “What can I do?” I say, “think creatively,”” she said during an interview at The New York Times. “I’m thinking about spirit and brains. We have the brains and the spirit.” Posted. http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/29/yoko-ono-and-sean-lennon-organize-artists-against-fracking/ California Air Board Relents on College Carbon Credits. California universities appear to be in line for some relief from the state’s imminent carbon pollution fees. Implementation of California’s controversial cap-and-trade program for greenhouse gases is only four months away, meaning it’s crunch time for the state’s Air Resources Board. On Thursday, the board will stage a dry run offering likely participants an opportunity to practice bidding on California carbon allowances — and allowing the ARB a chance to test its platform. Not like it doesn’t already have its hands full. For months, cap-and-trade-eligible emitters including private businesses, military bases, universities, and waste-to-energy power-plant operators have been crying for exemptions under AB 32, arguing that they would suffer undue financial hardships. Posted. http://blogs.kqed.org/climatewatch/2012/08/29/california-air-board-relents-on-college-carbon-credits/ The carbon tax, demystified. “Carbon tax”: There’s something in that term for everyone to hate. For lefties and climate hawks, carbon — as in carbon dioxide, the largest contributor to climate change — is public enemy No. 1. And we all know what folks on the right thinks of taxes. Yet the notion of creating a carbon tax in the U.S. refuses to die — maybe because it’s a creative idea that also holds some appeal across the ideological spectrum. It’s a practical scheme to alleviate global warming — and it’s market-based! Here are some answers to the carbon-tax questions we know you have. Posted. http://grist.org/climate-energy/the-carbon-tax-demystified/ The cultural divide over climate change. I have published over 950 blogs, the vast majority of which have focused on the science related to human-caused climate change. Since I began in August of 2009, I have struggled to find a way to elevate the discussion to a level of discourse that is consistent with the noble, respectful and dignified nature of scientific research, reports and papers published every day all over the planet. I have failed. Utterly. And I think I know why. I read a recent article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review that helps explain what we are all up against with this issue. Posted. http://blogs.redding.com/dcraig/archives/2012/08/the-cultural-di.html Study: Climate change threatens Atlantic seashores. Climate change is already hurting seven national seashores on the Atlantic Coast and threatens to submerge some of their land within a century, according to a report Wednesday by environmental groups. In five of the seven parks, more than half of the land lies low enough (less than 3.3 feet) to risk becoming submerged by the year 2100, says the report by the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization and the Natural Resources Defense Council. Those parks include Fire Island in New York, Assateague Island in Maryland and Virginia, Cape Hatteras and Cape Lookout in North Carolina, and Canaveral in Florida. Posted. http://content.usatoday.com/communities/greenhouse/post/2012/08/study-climate-change-threatening-atlantic-seashores/1#.UD-cC9UVN30 Are battery makers due for a "Ghosn shock"? Battery makers in the Japanese auto market are quite nervous, with concern that "Ghosn shock" may return in the wake of low-selling lithium-ion powered electric vehicles. In 1999, Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn put the squeeze on steel materials suppliers, pressuring them to reduce prices as part of his corporate rehabilitation agenda. That's when the term "Ghosn shock" was invented, and it's believed to have triggered the steel industry's reorganization in Japan. While Nissan has established a joint company with NEC Group producing lithium-ion batteries, the automaker wants to have access to lower prices from Hitachi. Nissan wants to add li-ion batteries produced by Hitachi to its next-generation, eco-friendly Altima and Pathfinder models, slated to be sold in the U.S. in 2013. Posted. http://green.autoblog.com/2012/08/30/are-battery-makers-due-for-a-ghosn-shock/