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ARB Newsclips for July 17, 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.

CAP AND TRADE

Australia Carbon Link May Spur EU Panel, Accenture Says. Linking
with Australia’s carbon market may spur the European Union to set
up an independent panel to help manage demand and supply in its
own program, improving governance, according to Accenture Plc.
(ACN) The structure would need to be independent of nations while
including input from governments and national or European
agencies, Mauricio Bermudez Neubauer, a London-based lead
consultant on carbon markets at Accenture, said July 15 in a
phone interview. Posted.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-17/australia-emissions-link-may-spur-eu-carbon-bank-accenture-says.html


AIR POLLUTION

EPA air and CO2 rules for utilities likely to cluster in 2 years.
The year 2015 is likely to be a pivotal time for utilities as
they prepare to comply with existing rules and prepare for
expected standards from greenhouse gases to ozone, industry
officials have said. Environmentalists are eager to see Gina
McCarthy finally lead U.S. EPA as administrator for a good
reason: She has a lot of work ahead. Many utilities are expected
to enter compliance with the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards
(MATS) rule in 2015…Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1059984536/print BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

CLIMATE CHANGE

World Bank approves landmark coal restrictions. The World Bank
board of directors yesterday embraced strict limitations on
financing new coal plants, effectively closing the door on an
issue that has vexed the global development lender for years as
it struggled to balance its mission of eradicating poverty with a
growing concern for climate change. The new policy endorsed by
the United States, China, India and others instructs the World
Bank Group to provide financial support for new coal projects
"only in rare circumstances." Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1059984538/print BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

FUELS

Swift approval sought for Midwest oil pipeline. A Canadian
company's plan to build an oil pipeline that will stretch for
hundreds of miles through the Midwest, including through many
sensitive waterways, is quietly on the fast-track to approval —
just not the one you're thinking of. As the Keystone XL pipeline
remains mired in the national debate over environmental safety
and climate change, another company, Enbridge Inc. of Calgary,
Alberta, is hoping to begin construction…Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/07/17/5572129/swift-approval-sought-for-midwest.html

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/jul/17/swift-approval-sought-for-midwest-oil-pipeline/


Delaware panel dismisses appeal of refinery permit. 
Environmental groups on Tuesday lost an appeal of a state-issued
permit for a new crude oil transfer station at the Delaware City
refinery. Members of Delaware's Coastal Zone Industrial Control
Board voted unanimously to dismiss the appeal by the Sierra Club
and the Delaware Audubon Society, ruling that they had no
standing to challenge an air quality permit granted to PBF Energy
in May. Posted. 
http://www.vcstar.com/news/2013/jul/16/delaware-panel-hears-appeal-of-refinery-permit/#ixzz2ZJkRE6eq
 

State Dept. approves ND-to-Alberta gas pipeline.  The U.S. State
Department has approved construction of the North Dakota portion
of a gas pipeline from Tioga into the Canadian province of
Alberta, Sen. John Hoeven said Tuesday. The proposed $300
million, 430-mile Vantage Pipeline is slated to supply ethane
from North Dakota's oil patch for Alberta's petrochemical
industry beginning later this year, the Republican lawmaker said
in a news release. Posted.
http://www.vcstar.com/news/2013/jul/16/state-dept-approves-nd-to-alberta-gas-pipeline/#ixzz2ZJknVhhG
 

Americans Support the Keystone XL Pipeline by Wide Margin. While
the Obama administration mulls whether to approve the
controversial Keystone XL pipeline, Americans are already
decided. They support the project by a wide margin, prioritizing
potential economic benefits over possible environmental
consequences. The latest United Technologies/National Journal
Congressional Connection Poll finds that more than two-thirds of
respondents…Posted.
http://www.nationaljournal.com/congressional-connection/coverage/americans-support-the-keystone-xl-pipeline-by-wide-margin-20130716


Refining reports fuel questions on oil-gasoline price ties.
Midwestern refiners reaped upward of 50 percent more profits per
barrel of oil last year compared with their Eastern and Gulf
Coast counterparts thanks to cheaper crude that was "not
proportionally reflected" in lower pump prices, according to a
recent Congressional Research Service analysis. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/energywire/stories/1059984541/print BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

VEHICLES

Nissan Holds Off on First Luxury Electric Car. Auto Maker Bets
More Advanced, Cheaper Technology Soon Will Be Available. NEW
DELHI—Nissan Motor Co. temporarily halted development of the
first electric car for the Infiniti luxury brand, a bet that more
advanced and cheaper technology soon will be available, company
executives said. The Japanese auto maker showed the
battery-powered Infiniti LE concept at the New York International
Auto Show in April 2012…Posted.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323394504578609614137298372.html#printMode


Ford Offers Fix After Hybrid Mileage Comes Up Short. Ford Motor
Co. (F) is offering free software upgrades to owners of its 2013
model-year hybrid vehicles intended to improve fuel economy after
the models fell short of projected mileage levels. Ford is
sending notices about the voluntary upgrades to owners of the
C-Max, Fusion and Lincoln MKZ hybrids, Group Vice President Raj
Nair, the company’s product-development chief, told reporters
yesterday in Dearborn, Michigan. Posted.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-16/ford-says-it-s-boosting-fuel-economy-of-2013-hybrids.html


APNewsbreak: Andretti to run electric car series. Andretti
Autosport announced Wednesday it has signed on as the third team
to compete in the environmentally friendly FIA Formula E
championship, which will feature electric cars racing in 10
cities around the world beginning in 2014. Michael Andretti's
two-car operation will join China Racing and British-based
Drayson Racing as organizations already committed to a field that
will have 10 two-car teams competing in each e-Prix. Posted.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/jul/17/apnewsbreak-andretti-to-run-electric-car-series/
 

Tesla stock falls sharply on lower sales forecast. The soaring
stock price of Tesla Motors Inc. tumbled yesterday as a financial
analyst suggested that the electric vehicle maker is overvalued.
Share cost for the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company skidded 14.3
percent to $109.05, the biggest one-day decline since January
2012, when it fell nearly 20 percent. The stock even after the
latest drop has more than tripled in price in a year. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1059984535/print BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

GREEN ENERGY

Battery Seen as Way to Cut Heat-Related Power Losses. As
scorching weather envelops the Northeast and the Midwest,
electric utilities are scrambling to keep the power on while
air-conditioners strain utilities’ capacity. By Tuesday afternoon
in New York City and Westchester County, for instance,
Consolidated Edison had logged nearly 7,700 interruptions since
the heat arrived on Sunday, and it had dispatched crews to
restore almost all of the power. Posted.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/17/business/energy-environment/battery-seen-as-way-to-cut-heat-related-power-losses.html


CA Signs Off On Controversial Project Next to Joshua Tree Nat'l
Park. A giant energy project that would turn an abandoned open
pit mine near Joshua Tree National Park into two hydroelectric
storage reservoirs got a thumbs-up from California's main water
quality agency this week. The Eagle Mountain Pumped Storage
Project, which would use off-peak electrical power to pump water
to an upper reservoir, then generate electricity by letting the
water flow through turbines during peak demand times, would
generate a maximum of 1,300 megawatts of power. Posted.
http://www.kcet.org/news/rewire/the-grid/hydroelectric-energy-joshua-tree-national-park-eagle-mountain.html


Groups attempt to move energy-efficient buildings into mass
markets. To rapidly scale up the construction of green buildings
in emerging markets and help mitigate climate change pollution,
the World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) and the International
Finance Corp. (IFC) yesterday announced a new strategic
partnership. Through the collaboration, WorldGBC's regional
councils will apply the new "IFC EDGE" online tool that can
identify ways to reduce the water, energy…Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1059984539/print BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

MISCELLANEOUS

S.F. experiment to create parking for car sharing. As many as 900
on-street parking spaces in San Francisco will be reserved for
car-sharing vehicles as soon as January under a two-year
experiment approved Tuesday by the Municipal Transportation
Agency. The test, which aims to increase the number of people
using car sharing and expand it to all neighborhoods of the
city…Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/S-F-experiment-to-create-parking-for-car-sharing-4669388.php


Dole, Gerber Don’t Have to Warn of Lead Under California Law (1).
Dole Food Co. (DOLE:US) and Nestle SA (NESN)’s Gerber unit don’t
have to warn consumers about lead contained in their baby food,
packaged fruit and juices, a state court judge said in a
tentative ruling. Judge Stephen Brick in California Superior
Court in Oakland said that the companies, and other food makers
facing a state lawsuit…Posted.
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-07-16/dole-gerber-don-t-have-to-warn-of-lead-under-california-law-1


OPINIONS

COLUMN-Australia's carbon mess a warning to the world: Clyde
Russell. Any government thinking of introducing policies to limit
carbon emissions should look at Australia for an example of how
not to do it. Australia's efforts to combat climate change have
been poison to politicians from all sides of the debate,
contributing so far to the demise of two prime ministers and an
opposition leader, and there may be more to come. Posted.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/17/column-russell-carbon-australia-idUSL4N0FN0ER20130717

COLUMN-Cutting the cost of more wind power: Gerard Wynn. Wind
power is one of most favoured and fastest growing sources of
electricity in Europe, and that creates a problem for grid
operators and policymakers who aim to keep the lights on. The
supply of wind power depends on the weather, varying from day to
day or even hour to hour, and that variability means its
reliability is less at any given moment than power from plants
that burn fossil fuels. Posted.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/17/column-wynn-eu-wind-idUSL6N0FM1SX20130717

 
California's Cap-and-Trade Program Has Learned From Europe.
Despite claims to the contrary, the European Union Emissions
Trading Scheme is not dead. It will survive, but in the meantime
the international community must keep moving forward with other
efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Fortunately,
California has been able to learn from the pioneering efforts in
Europe, and as a result the state is poised to be a major player
in the effort to fight climate change. Posted.
http://www.energybiz.com/print/320169

Judge a carbon market by its cap, not its prices. No one
questions the very existence of stock markets when prices rise or
fall. Not so for carbon markets. In April, prices in the EU’s
emissions trading scheme fell to record lows of below €3 a tonne
of carbon dioxide, after an unsuccessful vote in the European
parliament to prop up prices. Observers wrote obituaries. This
month, in its second vote, the parliament approved a plan to
“backload” carbon allowances and thus limit supply temporarily.
Posted. http://www.ft.com/home/us BY SUBCRIPTION ONLY

A mixed bag: Are California's bans on plastic bags working? An
employee gathering carts from the sunny parking lot at a Santa
Cruz Safeway said shoppers are warming up to Santa Cruz's ban on
single-use plastic bags. But some still miss the bags'
convenience. "I used to be able to carry so many at a time," a
senior woman remarked. "Wrong thing to do," said a middle-aged
man of the ban. Posted.
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_23474167/mixed-bag-are-californias-bans-plastic-bags-working?IADID=Search-www.santacruzsentinel.com-www.santacruzsentinel.com


BLOGS

AIR POLLUTION: Mountain fire adds to smog season woes. We were
already in the midst of an unrelenting smog season when the
Mountain Fire broke out Monday, July 15, near Idyllwild  and made
air quality even worse in some parts of Riverside County.
The smoke plume on Tuesday, July 16, was  moving to the north and
east and was falling in portions of the Coachella Valley. Posted.

http://blog.pe.com/2013/07/16/air-pollution-mountain-fire-adds-to-smog-season-woes/
 BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

So far in 2013, EVs beating plug-in hybrids in sales. During the
past two years, plug-in hybrid and extended range electric
vehicles like the Toyota Prius Plug-In and Chevy Volt were
beating battery electric vehicles like the Nissan Leaf and
Mitsubishi i-MiEV in sales volume. That changed for the first
time in the first half of 2013, with battery EVs beating plug-in
hybrids by thousands of units. Posted.
http://green.autoblog.com/2013/07/17/so-far-in-2013-evs-beating-plug-in-hybrids-in-sales/


Close to Home: Things Climate Change May Ruin. The evidence from
real-world observations, sophisticated computer models, and
analytical work in hundreds of different fields continues to pile
up: Human-caused climate change is already occurring and will
continue to get worse and worse as greenhouse-gas concentrations
continue to rise. Because the climate is connected to every major
geophysical, chemical, and biological system on the
planet…Posted.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-h-gleick/close-to-home-things-clim_b_3606163.html


Is This the Gas Station of the 21st Century? If you drive an
electric car, you’re probably familiar with ChargePoint. But even
if you're still driving an old-fashioned gas-guzzler, maybe it's
time you got to know the Campbell, Calif.-based startup.
ChargePoint is the largest operator of electric-vehicle charging
stations, with some 12,000 publicly accessible chargers across 14
countries, including about 70 percent of all U.S. chargers.
Posted.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/07/16/chargepoint_ct4000_ev_charger_the_gas_station_of_the_21st_century.html