What's New List Serve Post Display

ARB Newsclips for February 24, 2014. 

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

Supreme Court seems divided in climate case.  The Supreme Court
appeared divided on Monday over the sole Obama administration
program already in place to limit power plant and factory
emissions of gases blamed for global warming.  Posted. 
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SUPREME_COURT_GREENHOUSE_GASES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


Industry Challenges EPA's Greenhouse Gas Rules In High Court. 
The Supreme Court will hear arguments Monday about the
Environmental Protection Agency's first-ever greenhouse gas
regulations for the biggest polluting facilities.  The case
focuses on a 3-year-old that companies get permits anytime they
construct new plants or modify existing ones that will emit a lot
of greenhouse gases.  Posted. 
http://www.npr.org/2014/02/24/280944702/industry-challenges-epas-greenhouse-gas-rules-in-high-court


EPA's greenhouse-gas rule heats up at Supreme Court.  The Supreme
Court's hottest environmental case of the year pits Texas against
California on Monday, and that's just for starters.  More than
half of the nation's states have taken sides in a dispute over
federal authority to regulate stationary greenhouse gas
emissions.  Posted. 
http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/EPA-s-greenhouse-gas-rule-heats-up-at-Supreme-5259484.php


Justices question Obama climate change regulations.  The Supreme
Court appeared closely divided on Monday over whether the
administration of President Barack Obama exceeded its authority
in trying to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.  Justice Anthony
Kennedy would seem to hold the swing vote on the nine-member high
court, with conservative justices skeptical of the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency's approach and liberal justices
generally supportive.  Posted. 
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/24/us-usa-court-climate-idUSBREA1N06Q20140224

High court climate case looks at EPA's power.  Industry groups
and Republican-led states are heading an attack at the Supreme
Court against the Obama administration's sole means of trying to
limit power-plant and factory emissions of gases blamed for
global warming. As President Barack Obama pledges to act on
environmental and other matters when Congress doesn't, or won't,
opponents of regulating carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping
gases cast the rule as a power grab of historic proportions.
Posted.
http://www.vcstar.com/news/2014/feb/23/high-court-climate-case-looks-at-epas-power/

AIR POLLUTION

China Strengthens Monitoring as Beijing’s Air Pollution Persists.
 Beijing’s air pollution reached eight times World Health
Organization-recommended levels as smog in the city persisted for
a fourth day, prompting China’s environmental protection
regulator to send inspection teams to the capital and surrounding
areas. The concentration of PM2.5, fine particulates that pose
the greatest risk to human health, was 198 micrograms per cubic
meter near the Tiananmen Square in China’s capital at 11 a.m, the
Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Center said on its
website. Posted.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-22/beijing-air-pollution-reaches-11-times-who-recommended-levels.html


China dispatches pollution inspectors amid bad air.  China's
environment ministry said Sunday that it had sent inspectors to
Beijing and other areas of the country to inspect polluting
industries and check construction sites amid a spell of severe
air pollution. Twelve teams will inspect factories, including
those producing steel, coal, glass and cement, in Beijing, nearby
Tianjin city and neighboring Hebei province, as well as their
surrounding areas, the ministry said. Posted.
http://www.vcstar.com/news/2014/feb/23/china-dispatches-pollution-inspectors-amid-bad/#ixzz2uGE36HMB


Truck rules spark debate.  Jurupa Valley leaders on Thursday
night, Feb. 20, got a taste of what lies ahead as they continue
efforts to get a handle on the flood of trucks that rumble into
the city every day. City Council members gave preliminary
approval to an ordinance establishing truck routes in Jurupa
Valley, but only after assuring residents that more study is
needed before actual routes are finalized. Posted.
http://www.pe.com/local-news/riverside-county/riverside/riverside-headlines-index/20140221-jurupa-valley-truck-rules-spark-debate.ece


Federal wood burning rule prompts rural backlash.  A federal
proposal to clean up the smoke wafting from wood-burning stoves
has sparked a backlash from some rural residents, lawmakers and
manufacturers who fear it could close the damper on one of the
oldest ways of warming homes on cold winter days.  Posted. 
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_WOOD_STOVE_REGULATIONS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

CLIMATE CHANGE

Obama to Propose Shift in Wildfire Funding.  President Obama’s
annual budget request to Congress will propose a significant
change in how the government pays to fight wildfires,
administration officials said, a move that they say reflects the
ways in which climate change is increasing the risk for and cost
of those fires. The wildfire funding shift is one in a series of
recent White House actions related to climate change as Mr. Obama
tries to highlight the issue and build political support for his
administration’s more muscular policies, like curbing carbon
emissions from coal-fired power plants. Posted.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/23/us/obama-to-propose-shift-in-wildfire-funding.html?hpw&rref=us&_r=0


DROUGHT

California Farmers Told Not to Expect U.S. Water.  Without a lot
more rain and snow, many farmers caught in California’s drought
can expect to receive no irrigation water this year from a vast
federally controlled system of rivers, canals and reservoirs
interlacing the state, federal officials say. The federal Bureau
of Reclamation released its first outlook of the year on Friday,
saying the agency would continue to monitor rain and snowfall,
but current levels confirmed that the state was in one of its
driest periods in recorded history. Posted.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/23/us/california-farmers-told-not-to-expect-us-water.html?ref=earth


Severe drought? California has been here before.  The skinny
rings of ancient giant sequoias and foxtail pines hold a lesson
that Californians are learning once again this winter: It can get
very dry, sometimes for a single parched year, sometimes for
withering decades. Drought has settled over the state like a
dusty blanket, leaving much of the landscape a dreary brown.
Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/science/la-me-drought-weakness-20140223,0,6503044.story#ixzz2uGgap1yJ


DIESEL EMISSIONS

Shore power station unveiled Monday.  A ribbon-cutting ceremony
is set for Monday for a four-million-dollar shore power station
at the Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal.  The equipment will allow
ships to plug in to get power so they won't have to run their
air-polluting diesel engines while docked.  Posted. 
http://www.10news.com/news/shore-power-station-unveiled-monday

FUELS

Climate policy veers toward the gas pump.  California’s
faith-based experiment in combating climate change is heading
straight for the wallets of gasoline consumers in 2015. That’s
when a “cap-and-trade” market system designed to limit
greenhouse-gas emissions is scheduled to expand from big
industrial companies into the state’s vast gasoline market.
Posted.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/feb/22/climate-policy-veers-toward-gas-pump/


GREEN ENERGY

SOLAR POWER: Toll on birds needs scrutiny, state says.  As three
major solar plants in Southern California begin to provide homes
with carbon-free electricity, state energy officials face
escalating concerns about the toll on birds. "A wide variety of
birds, from hummingbirds to pelicans, have been injured or killed
at renewable energy projects in the desert. Posted.
http://www.pe.com/local-news/topics/topics-environment-headlines/20140221-solar-power-toll-on-birds-needs-scrutiny-state-says.ece


REGION: Water agencies turning to small hydropower.  A Fontana
utility that once had to tamp down water pressure in its pipeline
system is now harnessing the force to produce electricity and run
its treatment plant. Excess power is sold to Southern California
Edison. The operation at Fontana Water Co.’s Sandhill plant in
Rialto is a renewable technology with a smaller footprint and
lower cost than solar and wind operations, officials said Friday,
Feb. 21. Posted.
http://www.pe.com/local-news/local-news-headlines/20140221-region-water-agencies-turning-to-small-hydropower.ece


The Truth Behind the Solar Tariff Debate.  The potential
U.S.-China trade war over solar panels picked up steam again last
week when Slate's article titled "The World's Dumbest Trade War"
got play from outlets like Marketwatch and others across the
Internet. It's easy to say that slapping additional tariffs on
imported Chinese solar panels would be terrible for the U.S.,
making it more costly to install solar, raising costs for the
likes of SolarCity , while helping manufacturers like SunPower
and First Solar. Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/The-Truth-Behind-the-Solar-Tariff-Debate-5262653.php


Environmentalists say solar projects will endanger desert
tortoises.  Federal officials announced the approval of two solar
energy plants on public lands in California and Nevada, angering
environmentalists who say the facilities will endanger desert
tortoises.  The plants were expected to supply 550 megawatts of
renewable energy, enough to power about 170,000 homes, Secretary
of Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said in a release Wednesday.
More than 700 jobs will be created through construction and
operations, she said.  Posted. 
http://www.mydesert.com/viewart/20140223/BUSINESS/302230014/Solar-projects-endanger-desert-tortoises

VEHICLES

CA Bill Aims to Accelerate Number Of Electric Vehicles.  One
million electric vehicles in 10 years is the goal of a new bill
introduced in Sacramento. The "Charge Ahead California" bill is
geared toward improving air quality, especially in low-income
communities most impacted by pollution.  Posted. 
http://www.publicnewsservice.org/2014-02-24/climate-change-air-quality/ca-bill-aims-to-accelerate-number-of-electric-vehicles/a37735-1
 

Update on Honda/GM fuel cell partnership; “It’s about cost
reduction”.  In July 2013, General Motors and Honda announced a
long-term, definitive master agreement to co-develop
next-generation fuel cell system and hydrogen storage
technologies, aiming for the 2020 time frame. At the SAE 2014
Hybrid & Electric Vehicle Technologies Symposium, Mark Mathias,
Director, Fuel Cell R&D for GM, provided an update on the
collaboration, as well as a brief dive into the technical drivers
behind the ongoing automotive efforts on fuel cell propulsion
related to the scaling properties of batteries and fuel cells. 
Posted. 
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2014/02/20140221-mathias.html
MISCELLANEOUS

Volunteers plant 80 redwoods at Chabot Elementary to fight
pollution.  Armed with pickaxes, shovels and rakes, three dozen
volunteers showed up early this past Saturday morning at Chabot
Elementary School to plant 80 redwood trees along the school's
perimeter, where it abuts Highway 24.  The tree planting is part
of the Lorax Project, which aims to protect schoolchildren from
pollution from freeway traffic by planting a protective screen of
trees.  Posted.  http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_25184359


OPINION

Let the E.P.A. Do Its Job.  On Monday, for the third time in
seven years, the Supreme Court will consider the scope of the
federal government’s power to regulate the emission of greenhouse
gases, which are a major contributor to global climate change.
In two earlier cases, the court held that under the Clean Air
Act, the Environmental Protection Agency could regulate such
emissions, from both motor vehicles and stationary sources like
power plants. Posted.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/24/opinion/let-the-epa-do-its-job.html?_r=0


Cap-and-trade or a carbon tax: Which pain at the pump do you
prefer?  State Sen. Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) is in his
last year as a legislator, so it's now or never for the carbon
tax bill he outlined Thursday. Yet the proposal may have arrived
one year too early. Steinberg, the Senate president pro tem,
wants to change the state's approach to reducing carbon emissions
from fuel. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-steinberg-carbon-tax-cap-and-trade-20140221,0,7828382.story#ixzz2uGgxeQwM


Can car-happy L.A. learn to share the road?  September brought
sweet victory to the growing community of California cycling
advocates: Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law a bill that will
prohibit the driver of any motor vehicle from passing a bike
rider on the road unless there is 36 inches of space between
them. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-roadshare-20140224,0,1719000.story#ixzz2uGhBSKg1


Why are we still debating climate change?  There is no debate. 
Climate change is real. And, yes, we are, in part, to blame. 
There is a 97% consensus among scientific experts that humans are
causing global warming. Ninety-seven percent!  Yet some very
vocal Americans continue to debate what is surely fact.  Posted. 
http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/24/opinion/costello-debate-climate-change/


Joel Kotkin: Energy running out of California.  The recent
decision by Occidental Petroleum to move its headquarters to
Houston from Los Angeles, where it was founded over a
half-century ago, confirms the futility and delusion embodied in
California's ultragreen energy policies. By embracing solar and
wind as preferred sources of generating power, the state promotes
an ever-widening gap between its declining middle- and
working-class populations and a smaller, self-satisfied group of
environmental campaigners and their corporate backers.  Posted. 
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/california-602741-energy-state.html


BLOGS
 
Elio high-mpg trike hits 10,000 reservations.  Our math says that
there must be 71 people a day signing up for the Elio Motors
super-fuel-efficient three-wheeled vehicle. Michigan-based Elio
says it's surpassed the 10,000-reservation threshold for its car,
which is slated to start production next year. About 6,300 had
signed up as of the end of last year. Posted.
http://green.autoblog.com/2014/02/22/elio-high-mpg-trike-hits-10-000-reservations/






California is in a drought emergency.
Visit www.SaveOurH2O.org for water conservation tips.