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newsclips -- Newsclips for August 2, 2013
Posted: 02 Aug 2013 10:53:08
ARB Newsclips for August 2, 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 Climate Change Policy and the Importance of Getting it Right in California. Why should sub-national climate policies exist? In the case of California’s Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32), the answer flows directly from the very nature of the problem — global climate change, the ultimate global commons problem. Greenhouse gases (GHGs) uniformly mix in the atmosphere. Therefore, any jurisdiction taking action — whether a nation, a state, or a city — will incur the costs of its actions, but the benefits of its actions (reduced risk of climate change damages) will be distributed globally. Posted. http://theenergycollective.com/robertstavins/255296/importance-getting-it-right-california California calling: Australia isn't alone on carbon action. Australia will not be linking its emissions trading scheme to California any time soon. But Australia will have to increase its emissions reduction targets to between 15-25 per cent below 2000 levels by 2020, following climate action by the European Union, US, Canada, and China. At a public seminar hosted by Grattan Institute earlier this week, the chairman of the California Air Resources Board destroyed two myths. Mary Nichols, one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people, demonstrated that the world is moving on climate change and that cap-and-trade emissions trading schemes are well and truly alive. Posted. http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2013/8/2/carbon-markets/california-calling-australia-isnt-alone-carbon-action AIR POLLUTION Chevron's Richmond refinery pays $192,000 in air pollution penalties. The Chevron oil refinery in Richmond has agreed to pay $192,000 in fines to settle 19 air quality violations that occurred over a two-year period and are unrelated to the big fire at the plant on Aug. 6 last year. The infractions covered a range of problems, from inadequate record keeping and maintenance to excessive emissions from plant flares, according to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. Posted. http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_23778753/chevrons-richmond-refinery-pays-192-000-air-pollution?IADID=Search-www.contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com http://www.insidebayarea.com/news/ci_23778753/chevrons-richmond-refinery-pays-192-000-air-pollution?IADID=Search-www.insidebayarea.com-www.insidebayarea.com http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_23778752/chevrons-richmond-refinery-pays-192-000-air-pollution?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com Wildfires top Californians’ climate-change fears, survey shows. California residents’ No. 1 fear about climate change is that it will cause more severe wildfires, according to a survey released Wednesday, July 31. A majority of residents also say state government should act right away to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, rather than wait until the economy improves, found the report by the Public Policy Institute of California, a nonpartisan research group based in San Francisco. Posted. http://www.pe.com/local-news/topics/topics-environment-headlines/20130731-region-wildfires-top-californians-climate-change-fears-survey-shows.ece APCD won’t apply permanent monitors fee to temporary sites. A $4,080 fee for oversight of two permanent air pollution monitors will not be applied to 22 temporary monitors that track dust from the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area. An article about the San Luis Obispo County Air Pollution Control District’s proposed Rule 302 published in the July 19 issue incorrectly indicated the $4,080 fee would be assessed on the temporary monitors. Posted. http://www.timespressrecorder.com/articles/2013/08/01/news/news56.txt Houseplants Natural filters for indoor air pollution. We all know the air outdoors is not without pollution but how many of us really think about air pollution indoors? According to the book “How to Grow Fresh Air” by Dr. B.C. Wolverton, it is becoming more and more of a concern as the newer, “greener” houses are being built to reduce fuel and energy consumption by adding more insulation, caulking, weather stripping, etc. Posted. http://www.vvdailypress.com/articles/pollution-41612-air-indoor.html CLIMATE CHANGE Sediment behind dams creates greenhouse gas 'hot spots,' study finds. Hydroelectric dams may be known as a relatively clean and low-cost energy source, but a new study says that the sediment trapped behind them makes them hot spots for greenhouse gas emissions. A team of European scientists found that methane, which is produced by organic matter in the sediment that collects behind the impoundments, bubbles up through the water and contributes more of the greenhouse gases driving climate change than previously thought. Posted. http://www.latimes.com/news/science/sciencenow/la-dams-greenhouse-gas-hot-spots-20130801,0,6075254.story Study: Hotter temperatures lead to hotter tempers. As the world gets warmer, people are more likely to get hot under the collar, scientists say. A massive new study finds that aggressive acts like committing violent crimes and waging war become more likely with each added degree. Researchers analyzed 60 studies on historic empire collapses, recent wars, violent crime rates in the United States, lab simulations that tested police decisions on when to shoot and even cases where pitchers threw deliberately at batters in baseball. Posted. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SCI_WARMING_TEMPERS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT Other related stories: http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-climate-change-conflict-20130802,0,3466600.story http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/01/climate-change-and-violence_n_3692023.html http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/01/us/climate-change-violence/index.html Report: Climate change and California's rising sea levels. More Californians than ever say the state should take action immediately on climate change, according to a new poll from the Public Policy Institute of California. Many of those surveyed believe the effects of climate change are already here, with a quarter of Californians saying their biggest weather worry is flooding or rising seas. Scientists studying sea level rising are working hard to get the rest of society to pay more attention to the issue. Posted. http://www.scpr.org/programs/take-two/2013/08/01/33012/report-climate-change-and-california-s-rising-sea/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+893KpccSouthernCaliforniaNews+%28KPCC%3A+News%29 DIESEL EMISSIONS Calif. issues statement clarifying renewable diesel questions. California Air Resources Board and the State Water Resources Control Board issued a joint statement July 31 to clarify questions raised over the status of renewable diesel, including storing the biomass-based diesel in underground storage tanks. “We consider renewable diesel to be a ‘drop-in’ fuel that can be blended with conventional CARB diesel in any amount and used with existing infrastructure and diesel engines,” the statement said. Posted. http://www.biodieselmagazine.com/articles/9251/calif-issues-statement-clarifying-renewable-diesel-questions FUELS How a company found a business in measuring leaking methane. A few weeks ago, a strange-looking vehicle could be seen meandering through the natural gas wells and compressor stations in Bakersfield, Calif. The car, a Toyota SUV outfitted with instruments by the Santa Clara, Calif., company Picarro Inc., looked a bit odd. It had a 12-foot rod attached to its front that stuck straight into the air and another smaller rod mounted on its top. As the car drove past the oil and gas fields, the front rod swept through the air. It was "sniffing" for methane, a potent greenhouse gas with a warming potential about 25 times greater than carbon dioxide. BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY. Posted. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1059985507 NY manufacturer to make fuel from Crayola castoffs. All those markers being bought up for the new school year will eventually run dry, but a Niagara Falls company says that doesn't have to be the end of their usefulness. The company, JBI Inc., announced a deal with Crayola this week to take in the castoffs from schools and the crayon-maker and convert them to fuel. Posted. http://www.modbee.com/2013/08/02/2841654/ny-manufacturer-to-make-fuel-from.html HIGH-SPEED RAIL State high-speed rail seeks to reassure on safety. California high-speed rail officials sought Thursday to reassure the public about safety in the wake of deadly European train crashes this summer. An eight-car train that crashed in northern Spain last week, killing 79 passengers, was not operating on a system like the one planned for California, and it was not part of the country's high-speed rail network, members of the board that oversees the California project said at their meeting Thursday. Posted. http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130801/A_NEWS/130809993 GREEN ENERGY Sonoma Clean Power board maps out agency's future. With five newly seated city representatives, an expanded board of directors for Sonoma County’s startup public power agency got to work Thursday, reviewing a preliminary first-year budget and a timeline geared toward a power purchase deal, plus various staffing and financial decisions looming over the next four months. Posted. http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20130801/articles/130809939 MISCELLANEOUS 1980 Century City smog. Oct. 1, 1980: The towers of Century City peek through the murk at 4:15 p.m. in aerial photo looking toward the northwest. Staff writer Ted Thackrey Jr. reported in the next morning’s Los Angeles Times: Smog set a new record for the year in Southern California Wednesday, but the Air Quality Management District said it could have been a lot worse. Posted. http://framework.latimes.com/2013/08/02/1980-century-city-smog/ Interactive web app lets users map forest carbon emissions activities. A new online portal for monitoring, reporting and verifying (MRV) carbon emissions allows researchers and practitioners to better manage forest inventories, its creators say. The Forest Carbon Database (FCDB) can be used to share measurements of carbon pools — reservoirs with the capacity to store and release carbon, the chemical basis of all known life and climate warming gases. Posted. http://www.trust.org/item/20130802052754-plavb/?source=hppartner Cap and Trade board game explains California's greenhouse gas reduction plan. California’s cap and trade program creates a market place to buy and sell the rights to pollute. The system sounds simple, but there are some complex rules that must be followed. San Francisco Public Press have taken it upon themselves to break it all down and simplify what cap and trade means and how it really works. And what better way to simplify a complex system than turn it into a board game? Posted. http://www.kalw.org/post/cap-and-trade-board-game-explains-californias-greenhouse-gas-reduction-plan BLOGS Two Climate Analysts Fault Gas Leaks, but Not as a Big Warming Threat. Two prominent analysts of human-driven global warming have offered fresh criticisms of the way Anthony Ingraffea, a Cornell University engineering professor, has been portraying the contribution of natural gas leaks to climate change. The researchers are Raymond Pierrehumbert, a climate scientist at the University of Chicago, and Richard A. Muller, a physics professor at the University of California, Berkeley who is best known of late for his research corroborating the extent of recent climate warming. Posted. http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/01/two-climate-analysts-fault-gas-leaks-but-not-as-a-big-warming-threat/?_r=0 Don’t let the mustache fool you: That’s just an unregulated cab. They’ve been around since 2010, but over the last year, “ridesharing” services such as Uber, Lyft, and Sidecar have established themselves as serious transportation players in major American cities. But the road has been a bumpy one — and so far, this part of the “sharing economy” looks less like an altruistic act, and more like a shadow service industry with few consumer or worker protections. Posted. http://grist.org/cities/dont-let-the-mustache-fool-you-thats-just-an-unregulated-cab/