What's New List Serve Post Display

ARB Newsclips for June 17, 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.

AIR POLLUTION

Valley air officials to consider putting $4M into program to
repair cars to pass smog test.  Valley air officials this week
will consider pumping $4 million into a program that helps
residents of Stockton and other communities repair their cars to
pass a smog test. "Tune In and Tune Up" holds periodic drive-up
testing events at the San Joaquin County Fairgrounds. Motorists
whose cars flunk the unofficial tests are eligible for waivers to
make repairs. Posted.
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20140616/A_NEWS/140619909/0/SEARCH


Chileans asked to stop World Cup barbecues as pollution rises. 
The governor of Santiago has asked Chileans to refrain from
lighting up their barbecue grills while they watch the World Cup
soccer tournament, as air pollution in the capital has worsened.
"We have air problems. Do not light a wood fire, no bonfires, no
barbecues," Governor Claudio Orrego said at the weekend, as the
local government issued an environmental alert, restricting
traffic and banning outdoor sports at schools. Posted.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/16/us-chile-worldcup-pollution-idUSKBN0ER2JM20140616

HIGH-SPEED RAIL

Long-term money a big boost for California's high-speed rail. 
Gov. Jerry Brown scored a big win for California's $68 billion
high-speed rail project by persuading fellow Democrats to
dedicate a steady future funding source for it in the state
budget.  The $108 billion, 2014-15 general fund budget approved
Sunday includes $250 million this year from the state's
cap-and-trade greenhouse gas emissions fund.  Posted. 
http://www.contracostatimes.com/News/ci_25975450/Longterm-money-a-big-boost-for
 
http://www.dailynews.com/article/20140616/NEWS/140619486 
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/jun/16/long-term-money-a-big-boost-for-high-speed-rail/


Cap-and-trade funds fuel bullet train.  Hundreds of millions of
dollars from California’s auctions of carbon emission credits are
being tapped by the Brown administration to help finance the $68
billion high-speed rail project.  The first-year installment,
$250 million contained in the 2014-15 budget approved Sunday by
the Legislature, will begin flowing to the bullet train beginning
July 1. In subsequent years, a fourth of the auction money will
go to the train. The budget requires the governor’s signature to
take effect.  Posted. 
http://capitolweekly.net/cap-trade-funds-fuel-bullet-train/ 

VEHICLES

DOE awards $20M to 10 hydrogen production and delivery
technologies projects.  The US Department of Energy (DOE) will
award $20 million to ten new research and development projects
that will advance hydrogen production and delivery technologies:
six on hydrogen production and four on hydrogen delivery.  The
six hydrogen production R&D projects selected aim to produce,
deliver, and dispense hydrogen at less than $4 per gallon
gasoline equivalent.  Posted. 
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2014/06/20140617-doe.html 

California-based Center for Sustainable Energy Selected To Manage
Massachusetts Electric Vehicle Rebate Program.  The Massachusetts
Department of Energy Resources has selected the nonprofit,
California-based Center for Sustainable Energy to administer a
new incentive program aimed at increasing the number of
zero-emission vehicles commonwealth residents own. The
Massachusetts Offers Rebates for Electric Vehicles (MOR-EV)
program will provide up to $2,500 for the purchase or lease of
plug-in hybrid or electric vehicles (EVs).  Posted. 
http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/1993546 

GREEN ENERGY

Cable TV boxes become 2nd biggest energy users in many homes.  In
the middle of the night, when most Americans are sound asleep,
their lights and appliances off, a power hog is wide awake and
running at nearly full throttle: the boxes that operate their
cable or satellite television service.  The seemingly innocuous
appliances — all 224 million of them across the nation — together
consume as much electricity as produced by four giant nuclear
reactors, running around the clock. They have become the biggest
single energy user in many homes, apart from air conditioning. 
Posted. 
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-power-hog-20140617-story.html#page=1


MISCELLANEOUS

Obama to create world's largest ocean preserve. Moving to protect
fragile marine life, President Barack Obama announced plans
Tuesday to create the largest ocean preserve in the world by
banning drilling, fishing and other activities in a massive
stretch of the Pacific Ocean. Using presidential authority that
doesn't require new action from Congress, Obama proposed to
expand the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, which
President George W. Bush designated to protect unique species and
rare geological formations. Posted.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_OBAMA_OCEANS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/jun/17/obama-to-create-worlds-largest-ocean-preserve/


OPINION

How the insurance industry sees climate change.  Twenty years
ago, I interviewed Frank Nutter, then and now president of the
Reinsurance Assn. of America, on the threat climate change posed
to the $2-trillion-plus global property and casualty insurance
industry.  "It is clear," he said back then, "that global warming
could bankrupt the industry."  Posted. 
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-linden-insurance-climate-change-20140617-story.html


Can the Port Authority Save the Planet? THIS has been a bad year
for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, with scandals
over a bridge closure and, most recently, a shady real estate
deal. But the authority has a chance at redemption, if it is
willing to move beyond its traditional mandate. Its model of
interstate cooperation could do much more than prevent traffic
jams; it could also play the leading role in managing the
ecological health of the Hudson River estuary, and serve as an
example for other coastal cities around the world facing complex
environmental problems in a time of climate change. Posted.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/17/opinion/can-the-port-authority-save-the-planet.html?hpw&rref=opinion&module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Ar

BLOGS

Budget Deal a Shot in the Arm for California Sustainable
Communities.  With less than 6 hours left before the
constitutional deadline, California lawmakers passed a budget
last night that includes substantial new revenues for
implementing California’s landmark Sustainable Communities and
Climate Protection Law (SB 375), both this year and into the
future.  Posted.  Posted. 
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/aeaken/budget_deal_a_shot_in_the_arm.html


Solar Tax Break Proves Budget Muscle of Powerful Interests.  In a
five hour session of the Legislature’s joint budget conference
committee last Thursday night, it all went down in less than
three minutes. A multi-year, multi-million dollar tax break —
inserted into the budget and never examined in the light of day —
was being fast-tracked as part of a state spending plan that was
only hours away from landing on the governor’s desk for an
all-but-certain signature.  Posted. 
http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/state+budget+surprise+solar+tax+break


How to get incredibly accurate information on your EV's charging
power.  One would think that paying about $300 to receive a bit
of bad news about electric-vehicle charging would be
counterproductive. But the fine folks at Teslarati believe that
truth is beauty, and they're willing to pay a little extra for
the straight dope. There are always losses when taking power from
the grid and shoving it into an EV's battery pack. The question
is how big are these losses. Posted.
http://green.autoblog.com/2014/06/17/how-to-get-incredibly-accurate-information-on-your-evs-charging/





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