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newsclips -- ARB Newsclips for November 14, 2013

Posted: 14 Nov 2013 12:16:28
ARB Newsclips for November 14, 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

RPT-California issues first forestry offset credits for CO2
market. California businesses covered by the state's
cap-and-trade program will soon be able to use forest
conservation projects to offset the carbon emissions from their
plants and factories after the state issued the first batch of
credits on Wednesday. The state issued 1.2 million offset credits
to the 19,000-acre Willits Woods project, which was developed by
Coastal Ridges LLC. The project is located in Mendocino County,
about 150 miles north of San Francisco. Posted.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/14/california-carbon-market-idUSL2N0IY2HG20131114

http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1059990448/print  BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY 

UN Seeks Carbon Market Revamp as Green-Project Backers Bolt. 
Climate negotiators meeting in Warsaw have until the end of the
year to overhaul the United Nation’s 16-year-old carbon credit
system or risk exacerbating a record plunge in funding for
clean-technology projects. Investment in UN Clean Development
Mechanism projects registered this year slumped to $15 billion in
the 10 months through October from $198 billion in all of
2012…Posted.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-14/un-seeks-carbon-overhaul-to-avert-clean-energy-investment-slump.html
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-11-14/un-seeks-carbon-overhaul-to-avert-clean-energy-investment-slump


State approves wave of “offsets” to ease compliance with carbon
rules.  To the oil refiners, cement makers and hundreds of other
California companies laboring under the state’s strict limits on
greenhouse gas emissions, state regulators served up some relief
Wednesday. The California Air Resources Board said it has
approved a major batch of carbon “offset” credits that will make
it easier for companies to comply with the emission rules.
Posted.
http://www.modbee.com/2013/11/13/3028714/state-approves-first-wave-of-offsets.html#storylink=cpy
 

UN carbon emissions reduction system awash in cash as it claims
to face hard times. EXCLUSIVE: The United Nations-administered
cap-and-trade system for reducing greenhouse gases is sitting on
a cash hoard of close to $200 million, even as it warns of hard
times ahead that could impede its mission. The cash cushion for
the Geneva-based organization known as the Clean Development
Mechanism, or CDM, amounts to more than 400 percent of the $45
million reserve that it considers a normal set-aside for rainy
days…Posted.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/11/14/un-carbon-emissions-reduction-system-awash-in-cash-as-it-claims-to-face-hard/


UC Berkeley Campus Reduces Carbon Emissions Ahead Of Schedule. UC
Berkeley, leading the charge in reducing its carbon footprint,
announced on Tuesday that it reached its emission reduction
target—two years ahead of schedule. UC Berkeley Sustainability
Manager Kira Stoll said the school made a pledge in 2007 to
reduce its carbon footprint to 1990 levels by 2014 and according
to last year’s data, that goal already has been reached. Posted.
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2013/11/13/uc-berkeley-campus-reduces-carbon-emissions-ahead-of-schedule/


AIR POLLUTION

China Faults Japan, Europe on Pollution Cuts at UN Warming Talks.
China singled out Japan and the European Union for failing to
take more dramatic action against carbon pollution, signaling a
rift at United Nations talks for a global treaty limiting fossil
fuel emissions. Su Wei, who is China’s lead climate negotiator at
the UN talks in Warsaw today, said reports that Japan will scale
back its ambitions to cut greenhouse gases are deeply concerning.
Posted.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2013-11-14/china-faults-japan-europe-on-pollution-cuts-at-un-warming-talks.html


Merced’s air pollution in a tie for worst in U.S., Time magazine
says.  A recently published report by Time magazine ranks
Merced’s air pollution as the worst in the country, but local air
pollution control officials say the report is flawed and based on
incomplete data, and that the situation is not as bad as it
seems. On its Science and Space website, Time cites an American
Lung Association report that has Merced and Bakersfield tied for
tops in most persistent air pollution in the nation. Posted.
http://www.modbee.com/2013/11/13/3029141/merceds-air-pollution-in-a-tie.html#storylink=cpy

http://www.sacbee.com/2013/11/13/5909382/merceds-air-pollution-in-a-tie.html

http://www.fresnobee.com/2013/11/13/3607488/merceds-air-pollution-in-a-tie.html


Air district: Valley reaches long-awaited ozone standard.  Local
air leaders are poised Thursday to announce the Valley has
attained a federal ozone standard, a health landmark and a new
symbol of hope in a region notorious for bad air. The
announcement at the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control
District also will touch on a $29 million annual fee related to
the one-hour federal ozone standard. Posted.
http://www.modbee.com/2013/11/13/3028961/air-district-valley-reaches-long.html#storylink=cpy


Bay Area Air Quality District Under Fire. Critics blame weak
regulation and lack of enforcement Air district regulators are
under fire from critics who blame regulators for using outdated
standards to assess the toxic harm from industrial fires,
including the fire at Sims Metal Management's scrap metal yard in
Redwood City that ignited Sunday around 1:20 p.m. “People have to
be aware of the fact they are not being protected,” said air
quality expert Dr. Thomas Cahill. “This fire is a good example.”
Posted.
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/investigations/Bay-Area-Air-Quality-District-Under-Fire--231833511.html


CLIMATE CHANGE

Rich nations must pay up if U.N. climate talks to succeed: China.
Slow-moving U.N. negotiations on fighting climate change can
advance only if rich nations fulfill their promise to provide
billions of dollars in finance to developing countries, China's
chief climate negotiator Su Wei said Thursday. He told reporters
in Warsaw that developed nations should make good on pledges made
in 2010 and immediately pay the promised $30 billion to help poor
countries cope with the effects of climate change. Posted.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/14/us-climate-talks-china-idUSBRE9AD0WZ20131114


UPDATE 1-2013 is seventh hottest year, rising seas worsen
typhoon.This year is the seventh warmest since records began in
1850 and rising sea levels caused by climate change are
aggravating the impact of storms such as Typhoon Haiyan in the
Philippines, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on
Wednesday.
More greenhouse gases in the atmosphere meant a warmer future,
and more extreme weather, was inevitable, WMO Secretary-General
Michel Jarraud said in a statement during Nov. 11-22 climate
talks among almost 200 nations in Warsaw. Posted.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/13/climate-talks-idUSL5N0IY29G20131113


One Senator’s War Against Climate Change. Every week, Senator
Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat, heads to the floor
of the Senate, sets up an easel and some poster board, and
delivers a speech. He works hard on these speeches. They’re
deeply researched and beautifully crafted. He delivers them with
passion -- to a mostly empty room. His colleagues figure they
have better things to do than listen. But 100 years from now,
when our grandchildren look back and try to understand what we
were doing while the world burned…Posted.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2013-11-13/one-senator-s-war-against-climate-change.html


Ozone treaty, world wars slowed global warming, study says.
Society has slowed down global warming several times over the
last century without even trying, new research says. A study
found that the rate of global warming has ratcheted down in
response to major world events, including the two world wars, the
Great Depression and, most recently, a global ban on
ozone-depleting substances. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-ozone-global-warming-montreal-protocol-20131113,0,7913286.story#axzz2kSjSjncy


Scientists warn of hot, sour, breathless oceans. Greenhouse gases
are making the world's oceans hot, sour and breathless, and the
way those changes work together is creating a grimmer outlook for
global waters, according to a new report Wednesday from 540
international scientists. The world's oceans are getting more
acidic at an unprecedented rate, faster than at any time in the
past 300 million years, the report said. But it's how this
interacts with other global warming impacts to waters that
scientists say is getting them even more worried. Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/science/article/Scientists-warn-of-hot-sour-breathless-oceans-4981452.php


McCarthy asks tribes to help with climate crackdown. U.S. EPA
chief Gina McCarthy wants representatives of American Indian
tribes to help the Obama administration push its climate change
agenda. McCarthy invited tribal leaders this afternoon to voice
their opinions about pending agency rules for power plant
emissions, insisting that their communities have a lot to lose
from the effects of climate change, which the EPA administrator
called "the most challenging public health issue of our time."
Posted. http://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/stories/1059990412/print
BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

DIESEL EMISSIONS

Logue not surprised by CARB lawsuit. Assembly Dan Logue, R-Loma
Rica, was not surprised that a lawsuit has been brought over
truck and bus regulations from the California Air Resources
Board.  It was discussed in March when Logue and CARB
representatives held a town hall meeting in Chico. Reached
Wednesday, Logue said it was a complicated issue, but California
businesses are suffering because of it. "I understand why they're
doing it. I don't blame them. The whole process is flawed."
Posted.
http://www.chicoer.com/news/ci_24521135/logue-not-surprised-by-carb-lawsuit
 

FUELS

Next generation of biofuels is still years away. The first
trickle of fuels made from agricultural waste is finally winding
its way into the nation's energy supply, after years of broken
promises and hype promoting a next-generation fuel source cleaner
than oil. But as refineries churn out this so-called cellulosic
fuel, it has become clear, even to the industry's allies, that
the benefits remain, as ever, years away. Posted. 
http://www.vcstar.com/news/2013/nov/14/next-generation-of-biofuels-is-still-years-away/#ixzz2kdi2RRoj

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/business/ci_24522671/next-generation-biofuels-remains-many-years-away


Experts pitch E85 as a 'blend wall' solution. On first
impression, it may sound like a proposal from the Marie
Antoinette of renewable fuels: If the oil industry doesn't want
to sell E15, a 15 percent blend of ethanol in gasoline, let it
use an even higher blend, 85 percent ethanol. But in a series of
economic papers released last week, Iowa State University
economist Bruce Babcock found that if oil companies choose to
invest in infrastructure for the higher blend, E85…Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1059990443/print BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

Could cheap natural gas pave the way for more ethanol? The U.S.
shale gas boom could bring more ethanol to refueling stations
nationwide, according to panelists at a seminar yesterday hosted
by the think tank Resources for the Future. Richard Morgenstern,
co-author of a recent RFF study on finding cheaper fuels for
light-duty vehicles, said ethanol emerged as the most feasible
alternative among the four potential natural gas-based fuels his
group analyzed. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/energywire/stories/1059990449/print BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

VEHICLES

Coalition plans push for 1M electric vehicles with help for
lower-income drivers. A coalition of environmental and community
groups today will launch a push to put 1 million electric
vehicles on California roads by 2023, with an emphasis on getting
lower-income and ethnic minority residents behind the wheel. An
alliance that includes the Natural Resources Defense Council
(NRDC), Communities for a Better Environment and the Greenlining
Institute plans to lobby the state Legislature for incentives to
get more plug-ins on the street. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1059990444/print BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

Tesla plans to offer pickup truck within 5 years. Electric car
company Tesla Motors Inc. plans to introduce a pickup truck in
the next five years modeled on Ford Motor Co.'s best-selling
F-Series vehicles, the news website Business Insider reported
yesterday. CEO Elon Musk made the comment on the sidelines of an
event this week in New York City. A Tesla truck would likely
mimic the F-Series because of its immense popularity, he said.
The Ford F-150 pickup is the best-selling vehicle in the United
States. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1059990440/print BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

GREEN ENERGY

Nat-gas plant soups up with solar. How do you soup up a natural
gas power plant? Add solar heat. Solar-heated steam would help
spin turbines at an existing natural gas power plant in Northern
California, under a plan from the customer-owned Sacramento
Municipal Utility District. The U.S. Department of Energy
announced this month that it would invest $10 million in the
project -- about one-fifth of its estimated cost. Posted.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/nov/13/solar-supercharger-natgas-plant/


Calif. leads way in tackling instability tied to renewables.
California is leading what could become a nationwide charge to
manage instability in the aging U.S. electric grid brought on by
large penetrations of wind and solar power as it combats climate
change. The Golden State's grid operator, the California
Independent System Operator (ISO), in a report laid out solutions
for challenges that could crop up during the integration of an
anticipated 11,000 megawatts of new wind and solar -- equal to
the amount of 22 midsized coal plants -- during the next eight
years. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1059990471/print BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

OPINIONS

A New Alliance on Climate Change. In an effort to compensate for
the failure of central governments to address the dangers of
climate change with comprehensive national policies, cities,
states and regions have developed their own strategies to rein in
emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Posted.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/14/opinion/a-new-alliance-on-climate-change.html?_r=0
 

Australia's Politics of Global Warming.  Huge clumps of strange,
pink-stringed jellyfish drifted into the protected bay near my
home in Sydney last year. Thousands swarmed under the surface,
stinging indiscriminately. I swam through them in a full-body wet
suit for several long months with my swimming group, wondering if
warmer currents had changed the habitat patterns. Scientists are
now talking about a peculiar “jellification” of the sea, prompted
by climate change. Posted.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/15/opinion/baird-australias-politics-of-global-warming.html?hpw&rref=


A flaw in California's cap-and-trade plan. Cap-and-trade offsets
with out-of-state or even foreign interests won't help the state
meet its goals. California has made clear its intention to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions. But is it taking the right steps to do
so?
The state has set a goal of returning to 1990 emissions levels by
2020. It has adopted renewable energy standards, driven the
national trend in controlling automobile emissions and instituted
a cap-and-trade program…Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/commentary/la-oe-ramo-cap-and-trade-california-20131114,0,7441135.story#axzz2ke5aROHV


Typhoon Haiyan's havoc will not impress climate change deniers.
Typhoon Haiyan, the monster storm that set a Hiroshima-level
standard for natural devastation when it hit the Philippines on
Friday, was so big that its spiral image laid over a map of the
United States stretches nearly from sea to shining sea. With
winds hitting sustained peaks of 195 mph and gusts up to 235 mph,
it may well be the most powerful storm ever recorded. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/topoftheticket/la-na-tt-typhoon-haiyans-20131113,0,921020.story#axzz2kSjSjncy
 

Corn Ethanol: Poster Child For Crony Environmentalism. Boy, it
hasn’t been a very good week if you’re fan of massive subsidies
for corn-based ethanol here in the United States.  The folks at
the Associated Press finally woke up a few days ago to the
ecological disaster this bizarre policy has produced in recent
years, publishing a 4,000 word report titled “The Secret, Dirty
Cost of Obama’s Green Power Push”. Posted.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidblackmon/2013/11/13/corn-ethanol-poster-child-for-crony-environmentalism/


Renewables Get 25 Times The Subsidy That Fossil Fuels Do. There
are various ways that you can look at the various subsidies that
go to different types of fuels and of course people will pick the
one that best supports the case they want to make. For example,
various green types would point to the fact that globally the
subsidies to fossil FOSL -0.53% fuels are far higher than those
to renewables. I, desiring to make a rather different case, might
point to the fact (yes, both are indeed facts) that renewables in
the US receive 25 times the subsidy that fossil fuels do. Posted.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2013/11/13/renewables-get-25-times-the-subsidy-that-fossil-fuels-do/


BLOGS

This map shows why the Philippines is so vulnerable to climate
change. The Philippines is extremely vulnerable to the effects of
climate change for two main reasons: geography and development.
As my colleague Brad Plumer points out in an excellent piece on
what the Philippines' experience with Typhoon Haiyan tells us
about global efforts to adapt to climate change, a recent United
Nations report identified the country as the third-most at-risk
from climate change in the world…Posted.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/11/12/this-map-shows-why-the-philippines-is-so-vulnerable-to-climate-change/


Global Warming, College and Partisanship.  It’s well known that
Democrats and political independents are more likely than
Republicans to believe that global warming is mainly due to human
activity. But here’s something from the latest Pew poll on
climate change: College has a significantly larger effect on
Democrats’ understanding of the issue than on Republicans’.
Posted.
http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/13/global-warming-college-and-partisanship/?_r=0
 

SOLAR POWER: Concerns mount about bird deaths.  Last year, I was
part of a group that toured a proposed solar energy site on 12
square miles of  desert plateau near Blythe. BrightSource Energy
Co., the developer, hosted the event. The company’s technology
uses thousands of mirrors to focus the sun’s energy on 750-foot
towers, creating steam to generate electricity. Posted.
http://blog.pe.com/environment/2013/11/13/solar-power-concerns-mount-about-bird-deaths/


Walmart’s carbon emissions soar despite all that green talk.
Walmart’s flagrant labor abuses have been well-documented, as
have the effects of its sprawling big-box stores on town centers
and small retailers. But less well-known is how much the
mega-retailer is doing to wreak havoc with the world’s climate.
In greenwashing on an epic scale, the company has been making a
lot of noise in the press over its pledges and occasional
projects to reduce carbon emissions. Posted.
http://grist.org/news/walmarts-carbon-emissions-soar-despite-all-that-green-talk/


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