What's New List Serve Post Display

ARB Newsclips for September 5, 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

Carbon Jumps to Five-Month High as EU Unveils Permit Allocation.
Carbon permits advanced to the highest in almost five months
after the benchmark contract breached a technical resistance
level, power prices climbed and the European Union announced its
allocation of allowances to polluters. December permits rose as
much as 9.9 percent to 5.02 euros ($6.61) a metric ton on
London’s ICE Futures Europe exchange, the highest since April 9.
Posted.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-05/eu-carbon-price-advances-most-in-two-months-on-technical-breach.html


UN Carbon Credit Program Reports $82 Million Surplus to June. The
trust for the United Nations Clean Development Mechanism, the
operator of the world’s biggest greenhouse gas credit program,
had an operating surplus of $82 million in the 18 months through
June 30, as offset supply increased. Fees and other income
amounted to $141 million in the period, compared with expenses of
$59.2 million…Posted.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-04/un-carbon-credit-program-reports-82-million-surplus-to-june.html


AIR POLLUTION

Safeway to pay $600,000 fine, trim emissions at stores. Safeway
has agreed to reduce air pollution caused by its refrigeration
equipment at 659 stores and pay a $600,000 fine as part of a
settlement reached Wednesday in the federal court in San
Francisco.  The settlement follows allegations by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency that the Pleasanton grocery-store
chain, the nation's second largest…Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/Safeway-to-pay-600-000-fine-trim-emissions-at-4787523.php
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/sep/04/safeway-to-pay-600k-fine-for-clean-air-violations/
http://www.contracostatimes.com/business/ci_24017190/safeway-agrees-stop-leaks-refrigerant-chemical-at-stores?IADID=Search-www.contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com
  
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1059986739/print BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

CLIMATE CHANGE

Half of 2012 wild weather linked to climate change. A study of a
dozen of last year's wildest weather events finds that in about
half the cases, manmade global warming increased the likelihood
of their occurrence. Researchers with the United States and
British governments concluded Thursday that the other cases
reflected the random freakiness of weather. They said climate
change had made these events more likely: U.S. heat waves,
Superstorm Sandy flooding…Posted.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SCI_EXTREME_WEATHER?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


OTHER RELATED STORIES
http://www.sfgate.com/news/science/article/Half-of-2012-wild-weather-linked-to-climate-change-4789205.php
 
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/09/05/5709799/half-of-2012-wild-weather-linked.html

http://www.modbee.com/2013/09/05/2903202/half-of-2012-wild-weather-linked.html#storylink=cpy

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/study-finds-global-warming-raised-likelihood-of-about-half-of-last-years-weirdest-weather/2013/09/05/f817df5e-163e-11e3-961c-f22d3aaf19ab_story.html
 
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/09/05/climate-change-hot-summers-sandy-like-flooding/2767965/


Climate Talks Should Encourage New Carbon-Trade Tests, IETA Says.
 Emissions traders want United Nations climate talks in November
to set rules on a trial system of globally linked carbon markets,
according to their Geneva-based lobby group. A market framework
recognized by the UN would allow member countries to pursue their
own carbon-cutting programs, while providing a “large” pool of
tradable emission-reduction credits, Dirk Forrister, president of
the International Emissions Trading Association, said yesterday
by phone. Posted. 
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-05/climate-talks-should-encourage-new-carbon-trade-tests-ieta-says.html


Climate change to bring more sizzling summers, study says. Does
climate change contribute to extreme weather such as last year's
record heat in the USA? New research suggests that, yes, it
increases the likelihood these disasters will re-occur. Brace
yourself for more hot summers ahead. Extreme weather researchers
report on Thursday that climate change makes the searing summer
that the struck the United States last year much more likely.
Posted.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/09/05/climate-change-hot-summers-sandy-like-flooding/2767965/


DIESEL EMISSIONS

Carnival to cut pollution from cruise ships. The world's largest
cruise ship company will adopt technology from power plants and
automobiles to reduce air pollution from the massive diesel
engines powering its ships. In a tentative agreement reached
Thursday with the Environmental Protection Agency, Carnival Corp.
will deploy scrubbers to reduce sulfur dioxide and filters to
trap soot on as many as 32 ships over the next three years. At
port, the ships will plug into the electrical grid, rather than
idle, to reduce pollution. Posted.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/carnival-cut-pollution-cruise-ships
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-05/carnival-agrees-to-spend-180-million-to-cut-pollution.html


JURUPA VALLEY: Council eyes truck idling enforcement. The Jurupa
Valley City Council on Thursday, Sept. 5, is expected to take its
first step in trying to lessen the impact of hundreds of big rig
trucks that pour into Jurupa Valley every day. Council members
are set to discuss and possibly approve a program to enforce a
statewide regulation by the Air Resources Board barring truck
drivers from idling their engines for longer than five minutes at
any location. Posted. 
http://www.pe.com/local-news/riverside-county/riverside/riverside-headlines-index/20130904-jurupa-valley-council-eyes-truck-idling-enforcement.ece


Trucking companies wary about switch to natural gas. Small and
medium-sized trucking companies remain worried about switching
from diesel to natural gas despite cheap gas prices that industry
groups say won't go up anytime soon. Large trucking companies are
making the capital-intensive switch as more natural gas pumps pop
up at filling stations around the country. In June, UPS announced
it would only buy natural gas trucks for its small-package
business starting next year. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1059986754/print BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY
 
FUELS

L.A. City Council members, activists call for ban on 'fracking'.
The environmental risks of "fracking," or fracturing underground
rock formations to reach oil reserves, are too great and should
be banned, two Los Angeles City Council members said Wednesday.
Oil companies in recent years have used fracking in the Inglewood
Oil Field between Baldwin Hills and Century City to extract
hard-to-reach oil from idled wells. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-fracking-council-20130904,0,5667175.story?track=rss

Time is running out for sensible action on fracking regulations.
With an oil boom in the making, California has among the weakest
hydraulic fracturing regulations in the nation. Fuel is crucial;
so is safeguarding water quality. California may be on the brink
of another great oil boom. It consequently could be heading into
an environmental disaster. A state senator from Agoura Hills is
trying to allow the first while heading off the second. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-cap-fracking-20130905,0,3666358.column


2 L.A. City Council members propose ban on fracking for oil.
Council members Paul Koretz and Mike Bonin propose changing city
zoning laws to stop fracking and related oil extraction methods.
The environmental risks of fracking, or fracturing underground
rock formations to reach oil reserves, are too great and should
be banned, two Los Angeles City Council members said Wednesday.
Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-council-fracking-20130905,0,1960280.story


Study: New gas development boom unlikely in Mich. Michigan may
have large reserves of natural gas thousands of feet below the
earth's surface but they probably won't be developed on a large
scale for many years, if ever, giving policymakers time to deal
with the environmental and public health concerns associated with
the extraction process known as fracking, according to a study
released Thursday. Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/09/05/5709591/study-new-gas-development-boom.html#storylink=cpy


TEP to shed part of part of coal-fired plant. Tucson Electric
Power says it's diversifying its energy portfolio by getting less
power from a coal-fired plant in eastern Arizona while moving to
expand its purchases of power generated by natural gas. The
utility says it's trying to take advantage of low natural gas
prices by entering into talks with Entegra Power Group LLC to
purchase a gas-fired generating unit at the Gila Bend Generating
Station in Gila Bend. Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/09/05/5709696/tep-to-shed-part-of-part-of-coal.html#storylink=cpy


Dianne Feinstein supports fracking regulation bill. U.S. Sen.
Dianne Feinstein on Wednesday endorsed a controversial state bill
that would regulate but allow “fracking” and another new means of
extracting oil and gas. “The discovery that fracking and
acidization of oil and gas formations could produce approximately
23.9 billion barrels of petroleum in the continental United
States...Posted.
http://www.ibabuzz.com/politics/2013/09/04/dianne-feinstein-supports-fracking-regulation-bill/


Coal-fired power, hit hard by natural gas, could see further
market erosion from regulations – report. As the largest power
grid in North America, the Eastern Interconnection encompasses 39
U.S. states, eight Canadian provinces and the District of
Columbia. Some 84 percent of all U.S. coal-fired capacity falls
within its jurisdiction. Given the Eastern Interconnection's
lion-sized role in hosting the flow of coal-fired electrons in
the United States…Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1059986741/print BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

VEHICLES

Lawmakers extend carpool perk for clean vehicles. The state
Senate has approved two bills designed to encourage motorists to
buy low-polluting vehicles. Both extend existing programs that
allow solo drivers to use carpool lanes as an incentive. SB286 by
Democratic Sen. Leland Yee of San Francisco passed the Senate
Wednesday on a 30-8 vote. It would extend through 2018 the white
sticker program that applies to plug-in hybrid vehicles and
others that qualify as "inherently low emission" and "traditional
zero emission" vehicles. Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/Lawmakers-extend-carpool-perk-for-clean-vehicles-4787761.php
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/09/04/5708199/lawmakers-extend-carpool-perk.html
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/sep/04/lawmakers-extend-carpool-perk-for-clean-vehicles/
http://www.fresnobee.com/2013/09/04/3479211/lawmakers-extend-carpool-perk.html
 
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1086720_california-extends-electric-car-hov-lane-access-to-2019
 

US transit chief to tour upstate NY bus plant. The Obama
administration's top transit official will be at a bus
manufacturing plant in upstate New York to announce the latest
round of federal grants to boost the production of fuel cell
buses for the public transit industry. Federal Transit
Administrator Peter Rogoff will be joined by state and local
officials when he tours the BAE Systems plant in Endicott on
Thursday morning. Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/US-transit-chief-to-tour-upstate-NY-bus-plant-4788354.php


Program introduces electric rental cars in Orlando. Visitors to
Orlando often try new things while on vacation: thrilling roller
coasters, luxury hotels, different cuisines. Now they can try out
a fully electric car — and not have to pay for gas during their
vacation.
Under a new program announced Thursday called Drive Electric
Orlando, anyone who rents one of 15 Nissan Leaf cars from
Enterprise Rent-A-Car will be able to charge the car for free.
Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/science/article/Program-introduces-electric-rental-cars-in-Orlando-4788428.php

http://www.sacbee.com/2013/09/05/5709715/program-introduces-electric-rental.html


Plan would create new vehicle testing facility. The site of the
former Willow Run powertrain plant in Michigan would be
transformed into a high-tech vehicle research, development and
testing facility under plans unveiled Thursday. The trust set up
to oversee properties owned by a pre-bankruptcy General Motors
announced plans for the "connected vehicle research center" in
Washtenaw County's Ypsilanti Township along with Devon Industrial
Group and Walbridge Development LLC. Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Plan-would-create-new-vehicle-testing-facility-4789355.php
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/09/05/5709686/plan-would-create-new-vehicle.html
 

GREEN ENERGY

Va. utility top bidder for offshore wind leases. Virginia
Dominion Power submitted a successful $1.6 million bid Wednesday
to lease nearly 113,000 offshore acres for the development of
wind turbines that could power 700,000 homes. Virginia's largest
utility beat out one other bidder, Apex Virginia Offshore Wind
LLC of Charlottesville, in the nation's second lease sale of
ocean bottom dedicated to the development of huge wind turbines.
Eight energy companies were qualified to bid on the Virginia
lease. Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/Va-utility-top-bidder-for-offshore-wind-leases-4786302.php


Group trying to build eastern Nebraska wind farm. A grass-roots
group in eastern Nebraska's Burt County has been trying to get
its wind farm off the ground and into the air, generating
electricity. County Wind LLC has been working on the project
since 2010 and has raised about $176,000 to hire a developer, an
attorney and consultants and erect a tower to monitor wind
speeds. Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/Group-trying-to-build-eastern-Nebraska-wind-farm-4789217.php


Boost from the sun could help gas power plants generate more
electricity, run more cleanly. Solar power remains a hard sell in
the United States, but researchers in Washington have developed a
way to harness the heat of the sun to boost the efficiency of
conventional power plants. The new technology allows a natural
gas-fired plant to generate 25 percent more electricity from the
same amount of fuel. Posted.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/09/05/201253/boost-from-the-sun-could-help.html#storylink=cpy
http://www.lodinews.com/ap/nation/article_0370d530-1627-11e3-9050-10604b9f0f42.html


Renewable energy creates new jobs in the US.  As the U.S.
continues to pursue renewable energy, the effort may be having a
healthy impact on the nation’s economy. The Obama administration
has adopted an “all of the above” energy policy, which has the
country pursuing all forms of power, including renewable energy
and fossil-fuels. Posted. 
http://www.hydrogenfuelnews.com/renewable-energy-creates-new-jobs-us/8513756/
 

MISCELLANEOUS

Edison releases documents on San Onofre steam generator. Southern
California Edison, owner of the now-defunct San Onofre nuclear
plant, has made documents available on a website relating to the
ill-fated steam generator replacement that prompted the plant's
closure. The documents, some of which had not been previously
released, include correspondence and minutes of meetings between
staff from Edison and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries …Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-san-onofre-documents-20130904,0,2109896.story


Architecture in Tune With the Climate.  Building “green” is
nothing new. For decades, many architects have tried to adapt
their designs to forestall a new normal, choosing materials that
will be less damaging to the environment and arranging rooms to
be heated or cooled by the sun and wind, not the grid. As well
they might: Buildings, and the industries that make and assemble
the materials that become buildings, are among the biggest
contributors to the greenhouse gas emissions that are warming the
planet. Posted.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/08/arts/design/a-crop-of-projects-with-green-bonafides.html?_r=0


OPINIONS

It Was a Dark and Stormy Climate Study . . . Longer growing
seasons, a year-round trade route through the Arctic, fewer
people freezing to death: These are just a few of the boons that
global warming could have in store for humanity, assuming the
planet is in fact warming. We can now report one more happy
possibility: fewer Sandy-like superstorms likely to hit land in
the eastern U.S. …Posted.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324886704579052630510445894.html?KEYWORDS=climate+change


Letters: Wasting water on fracking. Re "Going dry in a sea of
wine," Sept. 2. The article on the lack of drinking water for
residents of Paso Robles despite the abundance available to
nearby wine growers highlights why fracking (hydraulic
fracturing) should not be happening at all in California. How can
it be that untold millions of gallons of water are being wasted
to extract natural gas from the ground when residents don't have
water to drink or to irrigate with? Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/letters/la-le-0905-thursday-fracking-water-20130905,0,3742443,print.story


Feature: No fracking way! You may not have heard of Mainstreet
Moms or 350Marin, but you will feel the heat, and soon. The Moms,
along with 350.org and its associated nonprofits, are tangling
with big oil companies to ban fracking in California. You don't
know from fracking? Fracking allows oil companies to free oil
from sand and shale far below the earth's surface by using huge
amounts of water, sand and chemicals (often undisclosed), which
becomes "dirty water" and virtually unusable again. Posted.
http://www.pacificsun.com/news/environment/article_8c5d13f8-1597-11e3-8390-0019bb30f31a.html


Climate change — do we have all the answers? Abraham Lincoln is
famous for many things, including a speech in which he said, “...
a house divided against itself cannot stand ...” Climate change
is a topic that sometimes divides us. Without question, there is
harm done to the cohesiveness of our communities when those on
either side employ bombastic rhetoric, communicate in shrill
tones, and convey sanctimonious certainty about their particular
points of view. Posted.
http://santamariatimes.com/news/opinion/editorial/commentary/improving-north-county/climate-change-do-we-have-all-the-answers/article_210a43dc-15ec-11e3-90c1-0019bb2963f4.html?print=true&cid=print


Is Yosemite Rim fire air pollution? Some Californians could get
fined for it.  The Yosemite Rim fire was some 80 percent
contained as of Wednesday morning. But the fourth-largest fire in
California history is still sending air pollution   indexes
climbing to record levels, especially in regions of Nevada and
California unaccustomed to such heavy particulates in the air. 
Posted. 
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2013/0904/Is-Yosemite-Rim-fire-air-pollution-Some-Californians-could-get-fined-for-it.-video


How Polluted Is Your Air? 3 Easy Ways To Find Out. With the
enormous Yosemite Rim fire still raging this week (and expected
to burn for three more weeks) and four new wildfires now burning
in Montana and Idaho, people in the western United States are
understandably worried about how all this smoke is affecting
their air. And well they should be…Posted.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/melaniehaiken/2013/09/04/summer-wildfire-smoke-alert-how-bad-is-your-air-3-easy-ways-to-find-out/


BLOGS

August Was A Hot Month for Electric Cars. August was a hot month
for plug-in cars, proving, among other things, that big price
cuts can move both metal and lithium-ion batteries. U.S. sales of
 the Nissan7201.TO +0.59% Leaf electric car, the Chevrolet Volt
plug-in hybrid and the Toyota7203.TO +0.32% Prius plug-in model
hit their highest monthly totals ever last month, reflecting a
combination of well-publicized price cuts and a rising tide of
demand for all types of vehicles. Posted.
http://blogs.wsj.com/corporate-intelligence/2013/09/04/plugin/?KEYWORDS=emissions


Fixing Stove Hoods To Keep Pollution Out Of The Kitchen. Hot
summer days often mean air pollution warnings in big cities. But
the air inside your kitchen can sometimes be just as harmful.
Cooking fumes from your stove are supposed to be captured by a
hood over the range — but even some expensive models aren't that
effective. Jennifer Logue spends a lot of time thinking about
what happens when she cooks. Posted.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/09/04/219012757/kitchen-range-hoods-may-not-be-as-effective-as-they-claim


Can drastic new anti-pollution rules help clean up Beijing’s air?
 The air quality in Beijing has grown so bad that it’s begun to
produce its own catch-22s. All that smog is starting to keep
tourists away, but tourism is just the kind of less
energy-intensive industry that China needs to develop. The city
is hoping to ramp up its public bike-share system, in an effort
to shift a majority of trips through the city center onto public
transportation. Posted. 
http://grist.org/cities/can-drastic-new-anti-pollution-rules-help-clean-up-beijings-air/
  

Wind Farms And House Values: How Does The Renewable Energy Source
Affect Real Estate Prices?  A U.S. study has found that wind farm
developments do not lower house values, a concern often flagged
in objections to planning applications, but bigger less easily
measured concerns remain.  How, for instance, can you gauge the
impact of placing a group of steel turbines in what locals often
describe as familiar, treasured landscapes?  Posted. 
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/04/wind-farms-house-values_n_3865475.html?utm_hp_ref=green