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newsclips -- ARB Newsclips for May 10, 2013.
Posted: 10 May 2013 12:19:50
ARB Newsclips for May 10, 2013. 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 Air Pollution Raises Risk of Diabetes Precursor in Kids. Exposure to air pollution raises the risk of resistance to insulin, a typical warning sign of diabetes, according to a study of almost 400 German children. Insulin resistance climbed by 17 percent for every 10.6 micrograms per cubic meter increase in ambient nitrogen dioxide and by 19 percent for every 6 micrograms per cubic meter increase in particulate matter in the study of 10-year-olds. The findings were published today in Diabetologia, the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes. Posted. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-09/air-pollution-raises-risk-of-diabetes-precursor-in-kids.html http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-05-09/air-pollution-raises-risk-of-diabetes-warning-sign-in-children Carbon Dioxide Level Passes Long-Feared Milestone. The level of the most important heat-trapping gas in the atmosphere, carbon dioxide, has passed a long-feared milestone, scientists reported on Friday, reaching a concentration not seen on the earth for millions of years. Scientific monitors reported that the gas had reached an average daily level that surpassed 400 parts per million — just an odometer moment in one sense, but also a sobering reminder that decades of efforts to bring human-produced emissions under control are faltering. Posted. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/11/science/earth/carbon-dioxide-level-passes-long-feared-milestone.html?ref=global-home China struggles with choking air pollution. Early on in Beijing's winter of pollution-wracked discontent, one of China's biggest power companies, Huadian, turned off the coal scrubbers at its Datong plants and let emissions of sulfur dioxide, a leading cause of acid rain and respiratory illness, soar to more than four times government standards. Huadian saved money by turning off the scrubbers, which suck up power. Twice. Posted. http://www.sbsun.com/ci_23215129/china-struggles-choking-air-pollution#ixzz2SuAlBq68 http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/china-wrestles-with-stubborn-air-polluters/2013/05/09/627e9870-b13f-11e2-9fb1-62de9581c946_story.html http://www.insidebayarea.com/nation-world/ci_23215130/china-struggles-choking-air-pollution?IADID=Search-www.insidebayarea.com-www.insidebayarea.com Ventura County air, while still polluted, starting to improve. Despite being one of the most smog-polluted counties in the nation, Ventura County continues to make progress in improving its air quality. Last month, the American Lung Association released its 2013 State of the Air report, which measures the levels of ozone and particle pollution in counties throughout the United States. In a list of the most ozone-polluted counties, where each region was graded based on the average number of unhealthy days caused by smog, Ventura County ranks 20th in the nation. Los Angeles County ranks No. 4 on the list. Posted. http://www.simivalleyacorn.com/news/2013-05-10/Community/Ventura_County_air_while_still_polluted_starting_t.html CLIMATE CHANGE Carbon Champions Undeterred by Kyoto Dead-End, EU Envoy Says. Carbon-market supporters from China to California will push for emissions trading even as they prepare for the end of the United Nations Kyoto Protocol in seven years, Europe’s top climate negotiator said. Nations including China and New Zealand and some U.S. states have formed an informal group, “kind of the champions of the carbon market,” Artur Runge-Metzger said in a May 2 interview in Bonn, Germany. Posted. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-08/carbon-market-champions-undeterred-by-kyoto-dead-end-eu-says.html GREEN ENERGY Sonoma County power agency plan scrambles political allegiances. Plans for a public power agency and the renewable energy projects that could sprout with it appear to have scrambled politics in Sonoma County. Shifting alliances, particularly among agricultural and environmental advocates, have emerged over a key land-use question tangential to the power proposal: where to allow energy projects on the county's croplands, ranches and forested properties? Posted. http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20130509/ARTICLES/130509492/0/SEARCH MISCELLANEOUS Cycling fans celebrate pedal power at Capitol. Evan Kersnar, above, holds up a sign for friends taking his photo Thursday as he works the bicycle valet parking area at the annual BikeFest at the state Capitol. The event promotes cycling and other clean-air transportation. Lorena Medina of Sacramento, left, rode 6 1/2 miles to the rally with her dog Itztli riding in a special basket. Seth Koen arrived with his children Otto, 2, and Fern, 4, on a long-wheelbase cargo cycle. Posted. http://www.sacbee.com/2013/05/10/5409697/cycling-fans-celebrate-pedal-power.html#storylink=cpy Senate Republicans Block Committee Vote on Obama’s Nominee to Lead E.P.A. Senate Republicans continued a campaign to delay confirmation of President Obama’s second-term cabinet nominees on Thursday, blocking a committee vote on Gina McCarthy, the president’s pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. The action came a day after Republicans on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee threw a wrench in the nomination of Thomas E. Perez to be labor secretary, delaying it for at least a week. Posted. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/10/us/politics/republicans-block-vote-on-nominee-to-lead-epa.html?ref=earth Stepping up to do right by the environment: More than 1,000 sign up for 'Sustainability Challenge'. If one Contra Costa County home gardener fights "peach curl" with enviro-safe fungicide once a year, a tree is saved. And if one Alameda County resident chooses reusable beverage containers over throwaway plastic bottles, cash piles up and garbage in landfills doesn't. That's the point of Sustainable Contra Costa's second annual "Sustainability Challenge," a two-county community project culminating in powerful earth-saving acts all happening close to or completed by the weekend of May 18-19. Posted. http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_23208573/stepping-up-do-right-by-environment-more-than OPINIONS Letters: No free money for Tesla. Re "Tesla drives state credits to the bank," May 6 Tesla Motors is an example of an innovative, homegrown California industry. It is building ultra-clean cars and providing employment for 2,800 people in a formerly abandoned car factory. This success is not being subsidized by other car companies. Car manufacturers are not required to purchase credits (which Tesla can sell to its competitors), nor does the state's Air Resources Board establish a price. Posted. http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/letters/la-le-0510-friday-tesla-credits-20130510,0,6011984,print.story Oh, Lord, won't you buy me a Tesla Model S. It’s been a very good week for Tesla Motors Inc., the little electric car company that can -- with a little boost from the state of California and other automakers, that is. On Wednesday, Tesla reported a quarterly profit, the first in its 10-year history. And on Thursday, The Times reported that Consumer Reports magazine had given the company’s Model S its highest score: 99 out of 100. In fact, the staid folks at Consumer Reports went, for them, absolutely bonkers in praising the car…Posted. http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-tesla-model-s-good-week-20130509,0,4149368.story Solar Subsidy Recipient Suing Treasury for More. I didn’t see this one coming. According to the Wall Street Journal, the largest installer of residential solar panels, a company called SolarCity, is suing the federal government for underpayment of green-energy subsidies. A look at the Department of Treasury Section 1603 data shows that SolarCity received 27 awards across 15 states amounting to $95.6 million in cash from a long-standing tax credit for renewable-energy investment turned into a direct grant in the stimulus bill. Posted. http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/347621/solar-subsidy-recipient-suing-treasury-more BLOGS The World Bank wants to fight climate change. Here are four ways it can help. World Bank President Jim Yong Kim says he is determined to make a difference in the world’s response to global warming. In a major report last year, the bank warned that the globally agreed-upon goal of limiting the planet’s temperature increase to 2 degrees Celsius was slipping away, and that the more likely 4-degree rise would devastate some countries and plunge more people into poverty. But what can the bank do about it? Posted. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/05/10/the-world-bank-wants-to-fight-climate-change-here-are-four-ways-it-can-help/ SOLAR POWER: Photovoltaic panels beating other technologies. Photovoltaic panels appears to be the winning technology among large-scale solar energy developers. I came to that conclusion last week after visiting the Genesis solar project being built 25 miles west of Blythe by NextEra Energy Resources using mirrored troughs to collect thermal energy, and the Desert Sunlight project, north of Desert Center, a photovoltaic development by First Solar. Posted. http://blog.pe.com/environment/2013/05/10/solar-power-photovoltaic-panels-beating-other-technologies/ ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION: Cal State system, EPA team up. The California State University system and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are teaming up to increase environmental opportunities, such as internships and service learning, for college students. Under a recent agreement, students from the 23 Cal State campuses will be allowed to study independently to earn credit for completion of EPA projects, lectures or curriculum; and the EPA will help the university system develop environmental curriculum. Posted. http://blog.pe.com/environment/2013/05/10/environmental-education-cal-state-system-epa-team-up/