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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/