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This is a service of the California Air Resources Board’s Office
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individual websites to view some of the following news articles.

AIR POLLUTION

Addressing Health Concerns Over the 710 Freeway Corridor.  The
I-710 Corridor Project, considered the largest infrastructure
project in the nation, is a modernization of the freeway
stretching from the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles to the 60
Freeway. With the expanding global economy and growing impact of
truck traffic on an aging freeway system, the need to improve
existing infrastructure is crucial. 
http://www.kcet.org/socal/departures/710-corridor/addressing-health-concerns-over-the-710-freeway-corridor.html


Study finds methane leaks from three large US natural gas fields
in line with EPA estimates.  Tens of thousands of pounds of
methane leak per hour from equipment in three major natural gas
basins that span Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Pennsylvania,
according to airborne measurements, but the overall leak rate
from those basins is only about 1% of gas production there——lower
than leak rates measured in other gas fields, and in line with
EPA estimates. The analysis appears in an open access paper in
the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, published by
the American Geophysical Union.
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2015/02/20150220-methane.html 

CLIMATE CHANGE

China firms must cut CO2 intensity by 2.7pc/yr.  Chinese
companies have to cut their emissions intensity by up to 2.7pc/yr
if the country is to deliver the level of action required to keep
global warming below 2°C, says think-tank Ecofys. The emissions
intensity — greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per unit of output —
of the electricity sector must fall by about 8pc/yr for China to
fully decarbonise its power supply by mid-century, Ecofys said.
To achieve this, companies will have to implement a combination
of management and behavioural changes, boost energy efficiency
and increase their use of renewable energy, according to Ecofys
It's Time to Peak report, published on 17 February.
http://www.argusmedia.com/pages/NewsBody.aspx?id=995618&menu=yes


Is 'Net-Zero' Carbon Goal to Rescue the Climate Plausible?  he
most striking recent development to emerge from UN climate
negotiations is the growing consensus that within a generation
the whole world will have to stop spewing carbon dioxide into the
air from energy use. This means that within the lifetimes of
today's toddlers we would entirely eliminate CO2 emissions,
unless they are offset by subtractions.
http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20022015/net-zero-carbon-goal-rescue-climate-plausible


NY Speaker creates climate change working group.  The speaker of
the New York state Assembly has created a working group to review
the state's response to climate change.  Speaker Carl Heastie
announced the formation of the panel on Thursday. It will consist
of 10 lawmakers charged with examining possible ways to reduce
greenhouse emissions as well as measures that could help the
state prepare for future extreme weather.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/science/article/NY-Speaker-creates-climate-change-working-group-6091385.php


Global Warming Could Make the Super-Rich Jealous of Rowhouse
Residents.  As you went spelunking through snowdrifts in recent
days, pondering the moral necessity of pet-friendly ice melt and
perhaps noting in horror the story of a Manhattan woman who froze
to death hiking in subzero New Hampshire temperatures over the
weekend, you were thinking about the future, defined in the
moment as July. City functionaries were looking further ahead to
a potentially more “Hunger Games” epoch.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/22/nyregion/global-warming-could-make-the-super-rich-jealous-of-rowhouse-residents.html?_r=0


DROUGHT

California drought: Northern California getting much more rain
than Southern.  Lots of issues divide Southern and Northern
California: The Dodgers vs. the Giants. Hollywood vs. Silicon
Valley. Southern Californians say "the" before naming a freeway;
northerners don't. Now, after this past weekend's soaking storms,
there's a new difference emerging: the drought.
http://www.montereyherald.com/general-news/20150209/california-drought-northern-california-getting-much-more-rain-than-southern


DIESEL ACTIVITIES

Study: natural gas heavy-duty trucking fleet could benefit
economy, but has mixed environmental effects.  Switching from
diesel fuel to natural gas may hold advantages for the US
heavy-duty trucking fleet, but more needs to be done to reach the
full environmental benefits, according to a new white paper
released by the Institute of Transportation Studies at the
University of California, Davis, and Rice University.  The recent
shale-driven emergence of natural gas as an abundant, inexpensive
fuel in the US has raised the possibility of a “momentous shift”
in the level of natural gas used in transportation.
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2015/02/20150220-jaffe.html 

LOW CARBON FUEL STANDARD

Oil industry takes aim at California’s war on carbon. 
California’s effort to combat climate change was subjected to a
fresh round of scrutiny Thursday as oil-industry representatives
urged regulators to ease off on the state’s “low carbon fuel
standard,” a centerpiece of the effort to rein in greenhouse
gases.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/business/article10703354.html 

State prepares to readopt low-carbon fuel standard as oil
companies say the target can't be met.  Oil companies continue to
protest California's carbon policies as state regulators complete
changes to their low-carbon fuel standard. Proposed amendments to
the first-in-the-nation regulation would tweak the compliance
targets through 2020 and adjust emissions scores for various
fuels, as well as set the program on course to extend to 2030.
That raised industry's ire at a California Air Resources Board
hearing yesterday in Sacramento.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1060013738/feed 

FUELS

California refinery unit was down with problems before blast.  A
California oil refinery unit that was damaged by an explosion was
already offline for unplanned maintenance when the fire occurred,
industry analysts said Thursday. The so-called fluid catalytic
cracker unit refines gasoline and is critical to producing
California-grade fuel.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_REFINERY_EXPLOSION?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


http://www.times-standard.com/general-news/20150220/california-refinery-unit-was-down-with-problems-before-blast


No easy fixes for California's isolated fuel market.  The
explosion that shut a major Los Angeles oil refinery on Wednesday
sent shockwaves through the local gasoline market, sparking
higher prices, largely because California's fuel infrastructure
is isolated by geography and environmental rules. Despite the
shortage of easy fixes for a state that is seeing fewer
refineries provide gasoline for millions, analysts believe pump
prices will remain steady due to healthy stockpiles.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/20/refinery-blast-california-idUSL1N0VT0FH20150220


Focus tightens on 2016 US biofuel mandates.  egulators and the
biofuel industry have turned their focus to 2016 ahead of a
three-year package of mandates setting minimum US biofuel
consumption levels expected by June 22. The mid-2015 target for
biofuel mandates would make 2016 the more likely year to address
difficult questions on how to drive increased US biofuels
consumption that have bedeviled the federal program for two
years, Environmental Protection Agency director of the office of
transportation and air quality Chris Grundler said. 
http://www.argusmedia.com/pages/NewsBody.aspx?id=995535&menu=yes


VEHICLES

Gas Prices Don't Affect Electric-Car Sales: Finally The Word Gets
Out.  When it comes to electric cars, conventional wisdom states
that sales will inevitably decrease alongside gas prices. After
all, the argument goes, if buyers can't expect to save as much by
cutting fuel costs, they'll be less inclined to buy a plug-in,
right? Not exactly. In fact, not at all: The conventional wisdom
is simply wrong. Many more factors influence the decision to buy
an electric car than gas prices at any given moment. 
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1096878_gas-prices-dont-affect-electric-car-sales-finally-the-word-gets-out


GREEN ENERGY

Appraising Solar Energy’s Value.  New research sponsored by the
Department of Energy shows that buyers are willing to pay more
for homes with rooftop solar panels — a finding that may
strengthen the case for factoring the value of sustainable
features into home appraisals. The study, conducted by the
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, examined
sales data for almost 23,000 homes in eight states from 2002 to
2013.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/22/realestate/solar-panels-and-home-values.html


MISCELLANEOUS

Harvard’s Star Alumni Urge Week of Protests Against Fossil Fuels.
 Actress Natalie Portman, environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy,
Jr., and other high-profile Harvard University alumni are calling
for demonstrations to urge divestment from fossil fuels.
Organizers of “Harvard Heat Week” are planning events of “highly
civil civil disobedience,” including daily sit-ins for the week
of April 13, according to a letter released Friday asking alumni
to come to the campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to join the
effort. 
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-20/harvard-s-star-alumni-urge-week-of-protests-against-fossil-fuels


OPINIONS

What If We Lost the Sky?  What is the sky worth? This sounds like
a philosophical question, but it might become a more concrete
one. A report released last week by the National Research Council
called for research into reversing climate change through a
process called albedo modification: reflecting sunlight away from
earth by, for instance, spraying aerosols into the atmosphere.
Such a process could, some say, change the appearance of the sky
— and that in turn could affect everything from our physical
health to the way we see ourselves.
http://op-talk.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/20/what-if-we-lost-the-sky/


State must spend smarter on roads and ‘fix it first’.  Potholed
roads, crumbling bridges, crowded buses and trains, collisions
between cars and bicyclists. In short, California’s
transportation infrastructure is in dire need of improvement.
Every year, the state, regional agencies and local governments
spend about $28 billion. But are we spending that money
effectively? 
http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/soapbox/article10706075.html


BLOGS

E-bikes: Inspiring new commuters and changing how we move.  How
do we know the dawn of e-bikes is upon us? Well there’s always
the numbers (and I’ll get to those in a sec). But the ubiquity of
a product may also be measured by its many iterations and
imitations. Since we’re now seeing wonders like the world’s
tiniest e-bike, wooden e-bikes, and “the 1987 Honda Civic” of
e-bikes, I think it’s safe to call it: E-bikes have arrived.
http://blog.sfgate.com/bicycle/2015/02/19/e-bikes-inspiring-new-commuters-and-changing-how-we-move/




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