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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

EPA begins testing air in homes near South Bay Superfund sites. 
Nearly 15 years after crews dug up and replaced contaminated soil
from Cynthia Medina's frontyard, federal officials have placed
dart-sized air quality samplers in her South Bay home. The tests
will reveal whether dangerous vapors are seeping inside from
polluted groundwater below her house. The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency last month began testing the air inside dozens
of homes near two of the nation's worst chemical dumping sites
for trichloroethylene, benzene and chlorobenzene. 
http://www.latimes.com/science/la-me-del-amo-20150309-story.html#page=1


Some states fight to keep their wood fires burning.  Smoke
wafting from wood fires has long provided a familiar winter smell
in many parts of the country - and, in some cases, a foggy haze
that has filled people's lungs with fine particles that can cause
coughing and wheezing. Citing health concerns, the Environmental
Protection Agency now is pressing ahead with regulations to
significantly limit the pollution from newly manufactured
residential wood heaters. 
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_WOOD_STOVE_RULES_FIGHTING_BACK?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


Air quality board OKs lower pollution limits for battery
recyclers.  Air quality officials imposed stricter emissions
limits on two Los Angeles County battery recycling plants Friday,
attempting to protect surrounding communities from lead pollution
released by Exide Technologies in Vernon. The rules, approved on
an 11-to-1 vote by the South Coast Air Quality Management
District governing board, come in response to tests since 2013
that found elevated levels of lead in the soil near Exide and in
surrounding homes and yards. Lead is a powerful neurotoxin for
which there is no known safe level of exposure.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-lower-pollution-limits-20150306-story.html

LUMBER LIQUIDATORS/FORMALDEHYDE

What To Make Of Lumber Liquidators -- Should We Believe Anderson
Cooper and Whitney Tilson?  Back in late 2013, flooring retailer
Lumber Liquidators was the classic American success story.
Founder and Chairman Tom Sullivan had taken the business from one
location and turned it into the country's largest retailer of
wood and wood laminate flooring in about 20 years. Investors who
bought shares after the IPO in late 2007 saw 10-fold returns by
November of that year.
http://www.sfgate.com/business/fool/article/What-To-Make-Of-Lumber-Liquidators-Should-We-6122030.php


East Peoria couple asks local retailer to pay for tests to see if
Chinese-made flooring is safe.  Nicole and Ed Black were thrilled
with the new bamboo laminate floor in the living room of their
East Peoria home until Nicole’s mother, Joann Bailey, watched “60
Minutes” last Sunday. “They had a piece on Lumber Liquidators,”
said Bailey, who purchased the flooring at the chain’s East
Peoria store as a Christmas present for the young couple. “They
went into this whole thing about how this could be detrimental to
your health because of the high levels of formaldehyde, and I’m
like, ‘Oh my gosh, we just installed this in their house.’”
http://www.pjstar.com/article/20150306/NEWS/150309443/11669/NEWS

CLIMATE CHANGE

Florida Reportedly Bans Environment Officials From Mentioning
Climate Change.  Underscoring the divisiveness of climate change
in American politics, government officials at Florida’s main
environment agency have reportedly been asked to refrain from
mentioning it. Officials from the state’s Department of
Environmental Protection (DEP) were given an unwritten order not
to use the words climate change or global warming in any official
communication or reports, the Florida Center for Investigative
Reporting (FCIR) claimed on Sunday.
http://time.com/3736862/florida-department-environmental-protection-climate-change-ban-rick-scott/


Other related articles:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/03/09/florida-state-most-affected-by-climate-change-reportedly-bans-term-climate-change/
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/florida-officials-barred-mentioning-climate-change
http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/09/politics/florida-officials-climate-change-banned/
http://fcir.org/2015/03/08/in-florida-officials-ban-term-climate-change/

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/09/usa-florida-climatechange-idUSL1N0WB18620150309


California, China join forces to tackle climate change.  World
leaders fighting to limit climate change should look to the
partnership between California and China for inspiration,
according to a new report co-authored by the Annenberg Foundation
Trust at Sunnylands in Rancho Mirage. The report, released
Wednesday at a San Francisco event attended by Gov. Jerry Brown,
says California has "helped create something of a state model for
subnational international cooperation on climate change and
energy issues." The New York-based Asia Society wrote the report
with help from the Annenberg Foundation Trust, which operates the
famed Sunnylands estate.
http://www.desertsun.com/story/news/2015/03/04/sunnylands-report-california-china-model-partners-climate/24372651/


Residents Call For Permanent Shutdown Of Exide Plant At AQMD
Meeting.  Hundreds of protesters were on hand for a meeting
Friday in Long Beach to demand the shutdown of a battery
recycling plant blamed for contaminating a Boyle Heights
neighborhood with lead. KNX 1070’s Ron Kilgore reports residents
from Cudahy, Bell, Bell Gardens and other cities surrounding the
Exide plant in Vernon showed up at a meeting of the South Coast
Air Quality Management District (AQMD) as the Board gathered
determine whether Exide will be allowed to continue to operate.
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2015/03/06/protesters-call-for-permanent-shutdown-of-exide-plant-at-aqmd-meeting/


Why a changing climate could destroy the world’s oldest mummies. 
Some seven millennia ago or more, a group of people called the
Chinchorro lived along the coasts of northern Chile and southern
Peru. Their lives revolved around fishing from the rich Pacific
waters, even as a uniquely arid desert — the Atacama — lay inland
behind them. The Chinchorro were unique in many ways, but perhaps
most of all in their burial practices. Several thousands of years
before the Egyptians, they were mummifying their dead — creating
the oldest known mummies on Earth — and doing so in a truly equal
fashion.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/03/09/why-a-changing-climate-could-destroy-some-of-the-worlds-oldest-mummies/


Biden: Denying climate change ‘almost like denying gravity.’ 
Vice President Joe Biden slammed those who question climate
change, saying that ignoring the scientific evidence is “almost
like denying gravity now.” “I think it’s close to mindless,” Mr.
Biden said in a preview clip for the upcoming season of HBO’s
Vice. The vice president pointed specifically to 2012’s Hurricane
Sandy as an example of how climate change is making the world’s
weather patterns more severe.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/mar/7/joe-biden-denying-climate-change-almost-denying-gr/


DIESEL ACTIVITIES

CCTA Will Appeal CARB Decision to Supreme Court.  The California
Construction Trucking Association has stated it will appeal the
decision handed down by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth
Circuit that rejected CCTA's lawsuit  challenging the legality of
truck and bus regulations implemented by the California Air
Resources Board. This is the second time CCTA has lost a legal
decision over this suit. The association originally filed suit in
2011 in state district court to stop the regulations from taking
effect. In its argument, CCTA cited the Supremacy Clause of the
U.S. Constitution and the Federal Aviation Administration
Authorization Act.
http://www.truckinginfo.com/news/story/2015/03/ccta-will-appeal-carb-lawsuit-to-supreme-court.aspx


DROUGHT

Droughts can expose quirks, create confusion in California water
management.  In the withering California drought, 15 water
districts will deliver precious irrigation supplies to Kern
County growers while 15,000 farmers face summer without their
Millerton Lake allotments — a confusing repeat of last year. How
does the south San Joaquin Valley get some water in back-to-back
drought years while the east side goes without? And, by the way,
vast tracts of farmland on the Valley’s west side also will be
shut out.
http://www.fresnobee.com/2015/03/07/4412759_dried-and-confused-some-get-water.html?rh=1


California drought: Big water rate hikes considered by Bay Area
agencies.  During the first three years of drought, Bay Area
residents have endured brown lawns, shorter showers and dirty
cars. Now, as the crisis stretches into the fourth year, they are
about to feel it in their wallets. Three of the largest Bay Area
water agencies -- the Santa Clara Valley Water District, the East
Bay Municipal Utility District and the San Francisco Public
Utilities Commission, which runs the Hetch Hetchy system -- all
are considering water rate hikes of up to 30 percent this year.
http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_27668436/california-drought-bay-area-water-agencies-considering-big


VEHICLES

Public Electric-Car Charging: Business Models, Profits Still In
Debate.  Expanding the network of public charging stations makes
driving an electric car far more convenient--and thus more
attractive to more consumers. That's why carmakers, businesses,
and governments are working to open more stations worldwide.
These stations cost something to operate, of course, but often
provide charging for free.
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1097160_public-electric-car-charging-business-models-profits-still-in-debate


GREEN ENERGY

Utilities wage campaign against rooftop solar.  Three years ago,
the nation’s top utility executives gathered at a Colorado resort
to hear warnings about a grave new threat to operators of
America’s electric grid: not superstorms or cyberattacks, but
rooftop solar panels. If demand for residential solar continued
to soar, traditional utilities could soon face serious problems,
from “declining retail sales” and a “loss of customers” to
“potential obsolescence,” according to a presentation prepared
for the group. “Industry must prepare an action plan to address
the challenges,” it said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/utilities-sensing-threat-put-squeeze-on-booming-solar-roof-industry/2015/03/07/2d916f88-c1c9-11e4-ad5c-3b8ce89f1b89_story.html

State officials to lock horns on the Clean Power Plan.  The
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will hear this week
from states weighing how -- and whether -- to implement U.S.
EPA's Clean Power Plan. The five officials who will address the
panel Wednesday are from state agencies and public utility
commissions tasked with writing and advising on state
implementation plans for the draft existing power plant rule for
carbon dioxide.
http://www.eenews.net/eedaily/stories/1060014668 

New concept in solar energy poised to catch on across US.  A new
concept in renewable energy is catching fire across the country,
allowing customers who might find solar panels too expensive or
impractical to buy green energy anyway. Community solar gardens
first took off in Colorado a few years ago, and the model — also
known as community or shared solar — has spread to Minnesota,
California, Massachusetts and several other states. Capacity is
expected to grow sharply this year, and interest is up among both
residential customers who just like the idea and large companies
that want to cut their carbon footprints.
http://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2015/03/07/new-concept-in-solar-energy-poised-to-catch-on-across-us

http://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/article12923456.html 

Solar-Power Plane Airborne on Historic Round-The-World Trip. With
its wings stretched wide to catch the sun's energy, a Swiss-made
solar-powered aircraft took off from Abu Dhabi just after
daybreak Monday in a historic first attempt to fly around the
world without a drop of fossil fuel. Solar Impulse founder André
Borschberg was at the controls of the single-seat aircraft when
it lumbered into the air at the Al Bateen Executive Airport.
Borschberg will trade off piloting with Solar Impulse co-founder
Bertrand Piccard during layovers on a 35,000-kilometer
(21,700-mile) journey.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/03/09/world/middleeast/ap-solar-plane.html

Other related articles:
http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-solar-plane-20150308-story.html

http://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/Solar-powered-plane-takes-off-for-flight-around-6122831.php


Harnessing the Power of Human Waste to Survive.  In the field of
industrial ecology, the mantra is that, in nature, there is no
waste. And we are a part of nature. Everything we produce is a
material. We produce energy and matter and it comes back around
and is transformed into something else.
http://www.newsweek.com/harnessing-power-human-waste-survive-311465


MISCELLANEOUS

Drones are latest tool in conservation science.  When the rain
finally came to Sacramento in early February, Nature Conservancy
scientist Chris McColl needed to quickly assess whether water had
overflowed the banks of the Cosumnes River and filled a
floodplain the organization is trying to restore. Planes are
expensive, and it takes hours to hire one and get it in the air.
So McColl deployed a drone instead.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/environment/article12964940.html


8 ways you are killing the environment that you probably didn’t
even realize.  You know an invention has its drawbacks when even
the guy who invented it says he’s sorry he did so. That would be
John Sylvan, inventor of the easy-to-use Keurig coffee maker — an
invention deemed “the most wasteful form of coffee” on the
planet. Sylan says he regrets the creation largely due to its
severe ecological impact. The Keurig uses disposable plastic
coffee pods, called “K-Cups,” which are not easily recyclable or
biodegradable.
http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/environment-and-nature/20150309/8-ways-you-are-killing-the-environment-that-you-probably-didnt-even-realize


OPINIONS

Kevin de Léon: Valley is poised for green energy economic boom. 
California’s great middle is a land set apart. No valley is more
vast, no soil is more fertile, and tragically, no air is more
polluted. As a landscape of paradox, the San Joaquin Valley is a
region where poverty and bounty sit side by side. This situation
has been aggravated by state and federal investments that have
historically focused elsewhere. The unique challenges of the
Valley have been too often overlooked in Sacramento and
Washington.
http://www.fresnobee.com/2015/03/07/4412708_kevin-de-leon-valley-is-poised.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy

Magna Carta vs. Cap and Trade.  Cue the candles and cake: One of
the great documents of liberty hits the big Eight-0-0 this year.
Eight centuries ago, at Runnymede, England’s barons forced a
resentful King John to accept landmark limits on royal power.
Magna Carta – the “Great Charter” – set precedents that undergird
our freedoms to this day: protections for property rights;
guarantees of trial by jury; and safeguards against taxation
without representation.
http://www.foxandhoundsdaily.com/2015/03/magna-carta-vs-cap-and-trade/


Reducing food waste: Good for restaurants, diners and the
environment.  Americans are more environmentally aware than ever,
and the demand for sustainability has even made its way to our
tables. If you’re among those seeking dining options that feature
locally sourced and sustainably harvested ingredients, you’re
part of a powerful movement. But are you as aware of where
leftover food ends up when it leaves your table? Or where
unpurchased, unused foods go?
http://www.sfgate.com/sponsoredarticles/lifestyle/community/article/Reducing-food-waste-Good-for-restaurants-diners-6119584.php


BLOGS

How climate change may be producing more blockbuster snowstorms. 
After another extreme winter in the eastern United States –
symbolized by Boston’s historic snow blitz of 90 inches in just
over three weeks – scientists, the media and the public are
asking once again: Is climate change causing more extreme
snowfall events? The argument that climate change is leading to
greater snowfalls is based on a very simple law of physics – a
warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture. But on the other hand,
snowfall is dependent on sub-freezing temperatures, so what does
it mean for places like the eastern United States, where climate
change might make it too warm for snowfall?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2015/03/09/how-climate-change-may-be-producing-more-blockbuster-snowstorms/


10 Nations Reduce Pollution Deaths.  Pollution in the air, soil
and water has become the largest cause of death in the world,
according to the World Health Organization (WHO), but a new
report has hailed 10 countries for taking steps to reduce those
death rates.  The report -- the Top Ten Countries Turning the
Corner on Toxic Pollution 2014 -- marks a change from previous
years in which the report focused on the ten worst polluters. The
report authors include the New York non-profit group Pure Earth
(formerly Blacksmith Institute), the Global Alliance for Health
and Pollution (GAHP) and the organization Green Cross
Switzerland.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ben-barber/10-nations-reduce-polluti_b_6812696.html




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