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newsclips -- ARB Newsclips for January 7, 2015.
Posted: 07 Jan 2015 14:29:03
ARB Newsclips for January 7, 2015. 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 Drivers get global warming fee, plus tax. California’s sales tax on gasoline has long provoked grumbling from consumers and watchdog groups. Sales tax is calculated from the full retail price of gas, a figure that includes state and federal excise taxes. That makes the sales levy, at least in part, a tax on taxes. The state’s new “cap-and-trade” fee, which is designed to combat global warming, is no different. http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/jan/06/state-also-taxes-global-warming-fee/ Low Gas Prices Smooth Path for Carbon Add-On in California. Historic cap-and-trade program expands to cover gasoline and diesel but slumping prices hide the impact. California's landmark cap-and-trade program to limit carbon emissions just got bigger. Effective Jan. 1 it expanded to wrap in gasoline and diesel, a move oil companies have warned would trigger higher pump prices. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/low-gas-prices-smooth-path-for-carbon-add-on-in-california/ Cap and trade expands to cover gasoline, diesel, but slumping pump prices hide impact. California's landmark cap-and-trade program to limit carbon emissions just got bigger. Effective Jan. 1 it expanded to wrap in gasoline and diesel, a move oil companies have warned would trigger higher pump prices. Fuel distributors now must buy and submit permits covering greenhouse gas pollution… http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1060011157/print AIR POLLUTION China to Boost Support for NGOs That Sue Environment Polluters. China, the world’s biggest carbon emitter, will provide more support to non-governmental organizations that sue polluters. The nation will work to reduce court charges for NGOs in public non-profit environmental litigation, according to a statement on the website of China’s Supreme People’s Court. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2015-01-07/china-to-boost-support-for-ngos-that-sue-environment-polluters.html Wood burning ban extended through Wednesday in Bay Area. Wood burning will remain banned in the Bay Area on Wednesday as officials issue a Spare the Air alert for the sixth day in a row. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District issued the alert after its forecasters predicted unhealthy concentrations of smoke and other fine particles in the air. http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_27269464/wood-burning-ban-extended-through-wednesday-bay-area CLIMATE CHANGE Climatologists Balk as Brazil Picks Skeptic for Key Post. Calling Aldo Rebelo a climate-change skeptic would be putting it mildly. In his days as a fiery legislator in the Communist Party of Brazil, he railed against those who say human activity is warming the globe and called the international environmental movement “nothing less, in its geopolitical essence, than the bridgehead of imperialism.” http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/07/world/americas/climatologists-balk-as-brazil-picks-skeptic-for-key-post.html?_r=0 Alaska's record-warm year in 2014 worries observers. The biggest state in America, home to more ocean coastline than all others combined, has just set another record. This one, however, is nothing to cheer. For the first time in recorded history, temperatures in Anchorage did not drop below zero once in an entire calendar year. In comparison, Alaska's largest city had 14 days below zero in the 2013 calendar year and 32 days in 2012. http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/environment/article5537343.html#storylink=cpy Scientists: Weather plays big role in Lake Erie 'dead zones' Reducing phosphorus levels in Lake Erie is a worthy goal but not necessarily a cure-all for one of the lake's biggest environmental hazards: "dead zones" with oxygen levels so low that fish can't survive, scientists said Tuesday. Researchers with the Carnegie Institution for Science said Erie's biggest dead zone on record formed in summer 2012. http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/general-news/20150106/scientists-weather-plays-big-role-in-lake-erie-dead-zones Hot, Unfriendly Skies Could Alter Flights. You know those tube socks your grandmother air mails you on your birthday every year? Well, they could become another casualty of global warming. Or at least arrive a few days late. Hot weather is likely to increase the number of days with weight restrictions on cargo planes and even airliners, delaying gifts, air travel and slicing into airlines’ bottom lines… http://www.climatecentral.org/news/hot-unfriendly-skies-alter-flights-18458 EPA delays power plant rules, will write model reg for states. U.S. EPA will put off finalizing its greenhouse gas rules for new, modified and existing power plants until midsummer, acting EPA air chief Janet McCabe said today. The new schedule means deadlines will slip for all three regulations. McCabe also announced EPA will begin writing a federal model rule for the Clean Power Plan for existing power generators. http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1060011280/print DROUGHT Drought: California water use down 10%, still short of target. Wet weather at the end of last year helped Californians tame their insatiable demand for water, but consumption — particularly in Southern California — remains well above Gov. Jerry Brown’s target for the drought-stricken state. http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/California-water-use-down-10-but-still-short-of-5997673.php http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_27269399/california-drought-state-residents-increase-conservation-but-still?source=rss http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/jan/06/environment-water-use-november/ http://fox40.com/2015/01/06/sacramento-leads-state-in-reducing-water-use/ http://www.fresnobee.com/2015/01/06/4317173_capitol-hill-californians-will.html?rh=1 Southern California trails in saving water. Newly released state figures show that much of Southern California is lagging far behind Northern California in reducing water use during the drought. The latest monthly water conservation statistics, which were presented Tuesday by the State Water Resources Control Board, show that residential water use declined 9.8 percent on average across California… http://www.desertsun.com/story/news/environment/2015/01/06/california-water-conservation/21366155/ FUELS White House says it will veto bill to approve oil pipeline. The White House on Tuesday threatened to veto the first piece of legislation introduced in the Republican-controlled Senate, a bill approving the much-delayed Keystone XL oil pipeline, in what was expected to be the first of many confrontations over energy and environmental policy. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CONGRESS_KEYSTONE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT Cutting oil use by 50 percent difficult but doable, experts say. Gov. Jerry Brown’s goal of cutting California’s oil use in half may sound like an impossible task in a state famous for freeways and sprawl. But by one measure, we may be halfway there. Similarly, Brown’s call for California to get half of its electricity from the sun, the wind and other renewable sources by the year 2030 seems daunting… http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Cutting-oil-use-by-50-percent-difficult-but-5997877.php Fracking's Methane Leakage To Be Focus of Many Studies This Year. Series of studies under way to help clarify natural gas's overall impact on climate change. The early years of the shale boom came with a widely held assumption that the vast quantities of natural gas liberated through high-volume hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, would help slow climate change by displacing coal-fired power plants and speeding the transition to a clean-energy future. http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20150107/frackings-methane-leakage-be-focus-many-studies-year Peer reviewers question EPA emission estimates for palm oil. A U.S. EPA-commissioned panel of independent peer reviewers is questioning the agency's calculations of greenhouse gas emissions tied to palm oil biofuels. Two reviewers on the five-member panel say EPA may have significantly overestimated greenhouse gas emissions from palm oil biodiesel and renewable diesel production… http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1060011188/print State methane regs seen offering maps for EPA action. States that already regulate the oil and gas industry's methane emissions directly or indirectly may offer guides for U.S. EPA's own proposal for curbing the powerful greenhouse gas. Environmentalists are pointing to several recent state efforts as worthy models for a federal policy whose release is expected this month. http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1060011161/print Industry grows despite challenges – report. The advanced biofuels industry is slated to grow over the next few years but faces challenges due to the uncertainty over the direction of federal biofuel policies, according to a new report out today. Advanced biofuel capacity will grow from about 800 million gallons of gasoline equivalent in 2014 to more than 1.7 billion gallons in 2017 at the high end of estimates… http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1060011185/print New vehicle efficiency declined last month. The overall fuel efficiency of new cars, trucks and other light-duty vehicles sold in December dipped slightly from the preceding month in what could be a gauge of buyers' response to the fall in gasoline prices, the University of Michigan's Transportation Research Institute reported today. For December, the average fuel economy of new vehicles sold in the United States was 25.1 miles per gallons… http://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/stories/1060011200/print American Petroleum Institute shares spotlight with renewables in its annual report. The most noteworthy message from the American Petroleum Institute's 2015 annual report isn't its finding that the U.S. oil industry is experiencing a "petroleum renaissance" born of a drilling boom in domestic fields such as the North Dakota's Bakken and Texas' Eagle Ford shale formations. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1060011225/print Groups divide over divestment from fossil fuels. Universities, churches and other institutions are divided over the best strategy to send a message about climate change to the world's biggest energy companies: Divest their holdings in fossil fuels, or use them as leverage. Groups responsible for at least $50 billion of investment have said they will sell some or all of their oil, coal and gas holdings. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1060011213/print VEHICLES Toyota Fuel Cells, Pabst, Google, Dotcom: Intellectual Property. Toyota Motor Corp. (7203), maker of the Prius hybrid car, said it will make about 5,680 patents related to fuel cell technology available royalty-free through 2020. In a speech yesterday at the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show, Senior Vice President Bob Carter of Toyota Motor Sales said the company is making the patents available to “speed the development of new technologies… http://www.businessweek.com/news/2015-01-06/toyota-fuel-cells-pabst-google-dotcom-intellectual-property http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1060011214/print HIGH-SPEED RAIL To Gov. Jerry Brown, a Legacy Project; to Critics, a Runaway Train. One day after being sworn in to a final term as governor, Jerry Brown, a chief executive who tends to disdain the trappings of political ceremony, came to this Central Valley city on Tuesday for a decidedly ceremonial groundbreaking for his Los Angeles-to-San Francisco high-speed train…http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/07/us/to-brown-a-legacy-to-others-a-runaway-train.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=2 Construction Begins On California's $68 Billion High-Speed Rail Line. One of the biggest transportation projects the country has ever seen broke ground Monday in Fresno, Calif. In theory, building the much-delayed high speed rail line would allow a trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco in less than three hours, with speeds of over 200 miles an hour. The milestone comes six years after voters first approved an almost $10 billion bond act to fund the project. http://www.capradio.org/news/npr/story?storyid=375500902 GREEN ENERGY Californians on way to state’s new energy goals. Clean-energy programs initiated by Gov. Jerry Brown and governors before him have California already well on its way to meeting his new goals for reducing the use of climate-changing fossil fuels, industry experts and state officials said Tuesday. Pushing programs such as high-speed rail… http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/energy-environment/californians-on-way-to-states-new-energy-goals/2015/01/06/bf88e56a-9604-11e4-8385-866293322c2f_story.html Feds want ‘zero-energy’ building standards. The Department of Energy (DOE) wants regulators and the private sector to agree on standards for zero-energy buildings. In a notice due to be published Tuesday in the Federal Register, DOE asks the public for input on a variety of questions about standards. Specifically, DOE wants to know how the public feels about how to define zero-energy buildings … http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/228480-feds-want-zero-energy-building-standards Global Small & Medium Wind To Reach 3.2 GW. The market for small and medium wind energy installations through the next decade is expected to total more than 3.2 GW, according to new analysis from Navigant Research, but only if the market can reduce costs and survive post-government incentives. Small and medium wind energy is defined as turbines less than 500 kW in capacity… http://cleantechnica.com/2015/01/07/global-small-and-medium-wind/ MISCELLANEOUS Automakers on the road to self-driving cars at Consumer Electronics Show. Forget 80-inch televisions or Wi-Fi-connected blenders. At the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, it's the automakers who are dominating the conversation. Brands like Mercedes-Benz, Audi, BMW and Toyota used the annual show — expected to draw around 160,000 people this week — to highlight the rapidly approaching self-driving car… http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-ces-self-driving-cars-20150107-story.html 99 Cents Only Stores to pay $2.36 million for dumping retail waste. Discount retailer 99 Cents Only Stores became the latest company to agree to pay millions of dollars to counties and cities across the state to settle claims that its California locations illegally dumped toxic retail waste. The $2.36-million San Joaquin Superior Court judgment was announced Tuesday. http://www.sacbee.com/news/business/article5522292.html#storylink=cpy Valley’s poor towns need public help to drink healthy water, breathe clean air, EPA leader says. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sees a connection between cleaning up the air and water and helping the economy grow, says Gina McCarthy, who leads the federal government’s environmental guardian. As technology makes engines and water systems more efficient… http://www.fresnobee.com/2015/01/06/4317308_valleys-poor-towns-need-public.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy OPINIONS A sharp contrast in visions for America’s transportation future. High-speed rail or Keystone XL? In Washington on Tuesday, President Barack Obama promised to veto legislation by the Republican-controlled Congress approving the long-delayed Keystone XL pipeline that would pipe tar sands oil from Canada to Gulf state refineries. http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/editorials/article5526696.html#storylink=cpy Opinion: Bullet train pep rally and reality. It was billed as a “groundbreaking,” but no ground was broken, even metaphorically. Rather, what happened on a dusty lot in downtown Fresno on Tuesday was more of a pep rally during which Gov. Jerry Brown and other advocates of building a north-south bullet train system extolled its supposed virtues to a handpicked audience. http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/dan-walters/article5525373.html#storylink=cpy http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_27271918/dan-walters-bullet-train-pep-rally-and-reality?source=rss Green policies cost plenty. Adrienne Alvord’s Jan. 4 article regarding gas prices is misleading, to put it politely. Ms. Alvord is not a scientist. The Union of Concerned Scientists counts some scientists as members, but most are activists, like Ms. Alvord. This very wealthy organization touts a four-star Charity Navigator rating as proof of its good work, but all that means is their accountants know how to please the IRS. http://www.fresnobee.com/2015/01/06/4317038/green-policies-cost-plenty.html?sp=%2f99%2f274%2f277%2f#storylink=cpy EDITORIAL: Gov. Brown has our back on high-speed rail. Fresno and other San Joaquin Valley communities are lucky to have Gov. Jerry Brown on their side and batting cleanup in the effort to build California’s first-in-the-nation high-speed rail system. Absent Brown’s leadership and mastery of political jiu-jitsu, high-speed rail opponents might have derailed http://www.fresnobee.com/2015/01/06/4317360/editorial-gov-brown-has-our-back.html#storylink=cpy BLOGS California’s experience proves Governor Inslee is right to pursue cap and trade. Governor Jay Inslee’s bold yet sensible step to bring Washington State into the growing North American cap and trade system is predictably generating opposition from Republicans. State Senator Curtis King, the Republican chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, took to the pages of the Seattle Times to denounce Governor Inslee’s plan. http://www.nwprogressive.org/weblog/2015/01/californias-experience-proves-governor-inslee-is-right-to-pursue-cap-and-trade.html '97% Of Climate Scientists Agree' Is 100% Wrong. If you’ve ever expressed the least bit of skepticism about environmentalist calls for making the vast majority of fossil fuel use illegal, you’ve probably heard the smug response: “97% of climate scientists agree with climate change” — which always carries the implication: Who are you to challenge them? http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexepstein/2015/01/06/97-of-climate-scientists-agree-is-100-wrong/ $2.4 Billion Subsidy Might Wake Up Germany's Feeble Electric Car Sales. Governments in Europe all want more electric cars on their roads in 2015 as part of the drive to cut fuel consumption and tame climate change. The trouble is, nobody wants to buy them, despite generous subsidies in some countries. Germany, Europe’s biggest economy and car market…http://www.forbes.com/sites/neilwinton/2015/01/06/2-4-billion-subsidy-might-wake-up-germanys-feeble-electric-car-sales/ Maybe your grandkids will live to ride California’s high-speed rail. In Fresno, Calif., there was a ceremonial groundbreaking Tuesday for California’s high-speed rail project. If everything goes according to plan, the new line will connect San Francisco to Los Angeles — in 2029. I voted to fund this rail project in 2008. I got married in 2009. I became a father in 2011. If there are no hitches, my daughter won’t be able to make this trip until she’s 18. http://grist.org/politics/maybe-your-grandkids-will-live-to-ride-californias-high-speed-rail/ The Top-Secret Food That Will Change the Way You Eat. More protein than beef. More omegas than salmon. Tons of calcium, antioxidants, and vitamin B. In their secret R&D lab, the scientists at Beyond Meat concocted a plant-protein-based performance burger that delivers the juicy flavor and texture of the real thing with none of the dietary and environmental downsides. http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/culinary/Replacing-Meat-Plant-Based-Meats-Vegetarian.html California Goal: Cut Petroleum Use For Cars In Half By 2030. California already leads the nation in policies advocating zero-emission vehicles. It's home to more electric cars than any other state, and its environmental regulations are among the toughest. But California's re-elected governor doesn't want to lose the momentum. Sworn in Monday for his fourth and final term, Governor Jerry Brown set some ambitious goals for his state to strive for in the years ahead. http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1096159_california-goal-cut-petroleum-use-for-cars-in-half-by-2030 BMW presents research application for inductive charging at CES. At CES, BMW is demonstrating a research application for inductive—i.e. wireless—battery charging using a BMW i8. Earlier this year, BMW and Daimler agreed jointly to develop and to implement one common technology for wireless recharging high-voltage batteries of electric drive and plug-in hybrid vehicles. http://www.greencarcongress.com/2015/01/20150107-bmw-inductive.html Conventional Gasoline Engines A Minority In 2 Years? Not So Fast... Progress must be coming at a much faster pace than we thought: Conventional gasoline engines will power only a minority of the new cars sold just two years hence, according to a new report. That means more than half the vehicles sold will have hybrid, diesel, natural gas, or plug-in electric powertrains, right? http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1096167_conventional-gasoline-engines-a-minority-in-2-years-not-so-fast California is in a drought emergency. Visit www.SaveOurH2O.org for water conservation tips.