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newsclips -- ARB Newsclips for March 16, 2015

Posted: 16 Mar 2015 15:45:03
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

Chinese Premier Vows Tougher Regulation on Air Pollution. 
Premier Li Keqiang of China said on Sunday that the government
was failing to satisfy public demands to stanch pollution and
would impose heavier punishments to cut the toxic smog that was
the subject of a popular documentary belatedly banned by censors.
The premier’s news conference at the end of the annual full
meeting of the National People’s Congress has become a fixture of
the Chinese political calendar, cast as a show of political
candor and accountability. 
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/16/world/asia/chinese-premier-li-keqiang-vows-tougher-regulation-on-air-pollution.html


China wants cleaner air — without an environmental movement. Even
by China’s standards, it has been a contradictory couple of weeks
on the environment. First, a powerful documentary on air
pollution, produced with official support, was released online
and swiftly went viral, garnering more than 200 million views
within days before being blocked by government censors.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/china-wants-cleaner-air--without-an-environmental-movement/2015/03/15/8e34c738-c8b6-11e4-bea5-b893e7ac3fb3_story.html

Exide’s troubled history: years of pollution violations but few
penalties.  For decades, inspectors from the California
Department of Toxic Substances Control dutifully recorded a long
list of environmental infractions at the Vernon battery recycling
facility now owned by Exide Technologies. They described fluid
gushing from a wastewater treatment system 10 years ago. 
http://graphics.latimes.com/exide-battery-plant/ 

Ozone limits remain tall order.  New air-quality rules being
considered by the federal government could put tighter shackles
on ozone, the invisible gas that chokes lungs, stops hearts and
ends lives prematurely. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
proposed the tougher regulations the day before Thanksgiving last
year, stating that recent health studies show that ozone is more
dangerous than previously believed. It plans to make a final
decision in October. Although San Diego County’s air quality has
consistently improved in recent decades, the region still
struggles to meet the existing federal threshold and the even
tougher state rules governing ozone.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/mar/13/environment-ozone-air-pollution-epa/

Is China Exporting Its Pollution?  China is in the midst of a
historic transformation, and the surprising progress the country
has made at energy efficiency has raised hopes that the world may
get a grip on global greenhouse gas emissions much sooner than
expected. As a result of the progress China is making in cleaning
up its industrial sector, global greenhouse gas emissions hit the
pause button in 2014, the first time that has happened in four
decades (absent a major economic contraction). The International
Energy Agency said on March 13 that global greenhouse gas
emissions hit 32.3 billion tons in 2014, the same level as the
year before.
http://www.nasdaq.com/article/is-china-exporting-its-pollution-cm455005


CLIMATE CHANGE

Carbon reduction program setting record prices, again. Prices for
a key carbon-reduction program, which forces businesses to pay to
pollute, have once again set a record high, even as the Cuomo
administration and State Senate look to divert some of the
program's proceeds from their intended use. The Regional
Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a carbon cap-and-trade program between
nine northeastern states that auctions off air pollution credits
to industry, reached a clearing price of $5.41 per short ton…
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/albany/2015/03/8564076/carbon-reduction-program-setting-record-prices-again?news-image

Chuck Chiang: China’s economy grows, but greenhouse gas emissions
edge down.  China may have finally started to turn the corner on
its air pollution problems. Bloomberg reported Friday that
China’s carbon emissions fell by two per cent last year, the
first time in more than a decade that the country posted a
reduction. Some experts have linked the decrease in emissions
with Chinas recent slowing economic growth as Beijing shifts the
economy from an export-driven model to a domestic consumer-based
one. China’s GDP growth in 2014 was 7.4 per cent, the slowest
pace since 1990, while energy consumption grew only 3.8 per cent
last year, the lowest rate since 1998.
http://www.vancouversun.com/Business/asia-pacific/Chuck+Chiang+China+economy+grows+greenhouse/10891516/story.html


Stable Emissions Show Growth and Mitigation Possible, Envoy Says.
A report showing that global emissions were unchanged last year
shows economic growth is possible amid the fight against climate
change, a World Bank official said. Carbon-dioxide emissions were
stable at 32.3 billion metric tons, even as the global economy
advanced 3 percent, the International Energy Agency said in a
statement on Friday.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-16/stable-emissions-show-growth-and-mitigation-possible-envoy-says


Getting to Net-Zero Emissions. It is looking increasingly likely,
but not a given, that a reference to global net-zero emissions or
even a specific goal to achieve net-zero emissions by a certain
date (e.g. end of the century) will appear in the climate deal
that is expected to emerge from the Paris COP at the end of this
year. But like many such goals, it is both open to interpretation
and raises questions as to how it might actually be achieved.
http://theenergycollective.com/davidhone/2204016/getting-net-zero-emissions


EPA listens as states, utilities brainstorm interstate trading
for carbon rule. A platoon of U.S. EPA officials and three dozen
stakeholders with skin in the game got together last week to
figure out how an interstate trading market might aid compliance
with the proposed Clean Power Plan to slash greenhouse gas
emissions.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1060015059/print 

IEA says energy emissions held steady last year as the global
economy grew -- a first in 40 years. The world's energy-related
carbon dioxide emissions stopped rising in 2014, even as the
economy grew, according to early data released by the
International Energy Agency (IEA). Researchers said the early
numbers showing that CO2 emissions remained steady at 32.3
billion metric tons in 2014 -- marking the first time in 40
years…
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1060015093/print

Officials blame climate change as Vanuatu picks up the pieces
after ‘monster’ storm. Two days after the vicious Cyclone Pam
lashed the tiny island country of Vanuatu, residents are
beginning the brutal business of accounting for its causes and
costs. In Port Vila, the capital, homes were flattened like so
many cardboard boxes. Bridges collapsed and power lines are down,
possibly for days or even weeks. “It looks like the town center
has been hit by a bomb,” one aid worker told the Australian
Broadcasting Corp.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/03/16/officials-blame-climate-change-as-vanuatu-picks-up-the-pieces-after-monster-storm/?tid=hpModule_9d3add6c-8a79-11e2-98d9-3012c1cd8d1e

Case could set climate change precedent.  Two major lawsuits over
how to address climate change while managing San Diego County’s
growth and development are poised to pave statewide precedents
because of the California Supreme Court’s decision this week to
review one case and dismiss the other. The state’s high court
declined to review the Fourth District Court of Appeal’s decision
in a Sierra Club lawsuit, which means the county government must
now set tangible targets for dealing with the effects of climate
change.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/mar/13/climate-change-sandag-san-diego-county-sierra-club/

Marin Clean Energy signs new contract that cuts carbon emissions.
 Marin Clean Energy has signed a new $20 million contract with
Calpine Corp. that will further reduce the carbon emissions
produced by the electricity it sells to its customers. Under the
33-month agreement, Marin Clean Energy has the option of buying
between 10 megawatts and 15 megawatts of electricity from
Houston-based Calpine.
http://www.marinij.com/business/20150314/marin-clean-energy-signs-new-contract-that-cuts-carbon-emissions


Clean air agency proposes new rules to cut and track oil-refinery
emissions.  The Bay Area's clean air agency has proposed two new
rules to measure, track and reduce oil refinery air pollution as
part of a new approach toward curbing oil-industry emissions. The
Bay Area Air Quality Management District will hold four public
workshops this week on the rules. Political pressure for the
tougher rules mounted after a 2012 fire at Chevron's Richmond oil
refinery sent thousands to hospitals with eye, throat and lung
irritation.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/breaking-news/ci_27709531/clean-air-agency-proposes-new-rules-cut-and


Gallagher talks CEQA, CARB in Chico.  From CEQA to CARB, new 3rd
District Assemblyman James Gallagher broached issues on water,
air quality and crime before an audience Thursday assembled
through a Chico Chamber of Commerce program.  Open to the public,
the meeting was a chance for Gallagher, R-Nicolaus, to introduce
himself, talk about his “almost 100 days” in office, plus allowed
a free-form question-and-answer period. 
http://www.chicoer.com/general-news/20150313/gallagher-talks-ceqa-carb-in-chico


Ruling on SANDAG Transportation Plan to Get State Supreme Court
Review.  The California Supreme Court has agreed to review an
appellate court’s decision calling on the San Diego Association
of Governments (SANDAG) to make long-term transportation plans
better comply with revised state pollution-reduction goals. At
issue is whether the environmental impact report for SANDAG’s
2050 Regional Transportation Plan must include an analysis of the
plan’s consistency with greenhouse gas emission reduction goals
of a 2005 executive order signed by then-Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger, as part of the California Environmental Quality
Act.
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Ruling-on-SANDAG-Transportation-Plan-to-Get-State-Supreme-Court-Review-296436231.html


This documentary went viral in China. Then it was censored. It
won’t be forgotten.  Every so often a seminal book or powerful
movie alters the way we see the world around us. In the past
three weeks, an online documentary about air pollution in China
called “Under the Dome” has done exactly that for the peoples’
republic. Made by a well-known China Central Television
newscaster Chai Jing, the film drew more than 150 million viewers
in the first days after Chai posted it online. In the film, Chai,
dressed casually in jeans and a white blouse, paces back and
forth on a stage in what is essentially a 143-minute TED talk –
with devastating effect.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/03/16/this-documentary-went-viral-in-china-then-it-was-censored-it-wont-be-forgotten/


LUMBER LIQUIDATORS/FORMALDEHYDE

Lumber Liquidators Defends Its Products After '60 Minutes'
Report. Earlier this month, the flooring retailer Lumber
Liquidators got the kind of attention companies dread. CBS' 60
Minutes did a story saying the company's products have unsafe
levels of formaldehyde, a known carcinogen. The news sent Lumber
Liquidators' stock price into a free fall, down more than 50
percent, though it has since rebounded a bit. Now the company is
attempting to salvage its reputation by attacking the testing
method used by the program.
http://www.npr.org/2015/03/13/392765887/lumber-liquidators-defends-its-products-after-60-minutes-report


DROUGHT

California has one year of water left; No contingency plan in
place.  The wet season is coming to a close in California but the
rain and snowfall totals were far from enough to help alleviate
the state's water crisis. In an Op-Ed in the LA Times
(http://lat.ms/1wC1Lqs), Jay Famiglietti, a senior water
scientist at NASA says California's water supply in its
reservoirs will only last about one more year and the strategic
backup supply and ground water are disappearing rapidly.
http://www.khq.com/story/28524766/california-has-one-year-of-water-left-no-contingency-plan-in-place


DIESEL ACTIVITIES

CARB now to allow retrofits for reefer rule compliance.  It isn’t
every day that a California Air Resources Board staff member can
tell truck owners they may be able to spend less money than
expected to comply with a state emissions regulation.  The good
news explains the excitement coming through the phone line from
CARB Staff Air Pollution Specialist Rod Hill concerning
Transportation Refrigeration Units, or reefers.
http://www.landlinemag.com/Story.aspx?StoryID=28667#.VQcJYhYpmdw


FUELS

What Happens to the Average American if Cheap Gas is Here to
Stay?  Who doesn't love cheap gas? In early 2012, the average
American was shelling out almost $4 per gallon. For someone with
a 14-gallon tank, that meant paying nearly $56 for every trip to
fill up at the pump. But in January of this year, the price of
gas had fallen by nearly 50% to an average of $2.03.
http://www.sfgate.com/business/fool/article/What-Happens-to-the-Average-American-if-Cheap-Gas-6135272.php


Norway's sovereign wealth fund drops over 50 coal companies.  The
world’s richest sovereign wealth fund divested from over 50 coal
companies in 2014, new analysis has revealed.  Norway’s
Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG), founded on the nation’s
oil and gas resources and worth now £580bn in total, is being
targeted by fossil fuel divestment campaigners. 
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/mar/16/norways-sovereign-wealth-fund-drops-over-50-coal-companies


First-Ever Climate Oil Index Reveals Worst Fuels for the Planet. 
Most people think about oil very generally—it’s the fuel that
heats homes and powers cars, and most of the changes seen are the
yo-yoing prices at the pump. But with ever dwindling supplies and
the hunt for crude reaching further corners and deeper pockets of
the Earth, oil is changing. What gets pulled out can look
anything from a gassy oil to a thick sludge, and can devastate
the environment in completely different ways, driving climate
change.
https://ecowatch.com/2015/03/16/climate-oil-index-carnegie-endowment/


Industry fears growing pains as producers begin to scale up. As
the United States seeks to reduce its carbon footprint, one of
the most visible targets for increased efficiency is
transportation fuel. Today, most U.S. drivers fill their tanks
with gasoline blended with 10 percent ethanol that is primarily
derived from corn and other grains. However, critics of corn
ethanol say its large-scale production is taking over land that
could be better used for food production…
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1060015092/print

GREEN ENERGY

SolarCity, a Vocal Critic of the Utility Industry, Joins It.  As
SolarCity, the rooftop solar system provider, has rapidly
expanded its reach over the last few years, its executives have
pushed hard against the utility industry, criticizing it as a
hidebound monopoly standing in the way of change. Now, SolarCity
officials are trying a different tactic: moving into that
business themselves.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/17/business/solarcity-a-vocal-critic-of-the-utility-industry-joins-it.html?ref=energy-environment&_r=1


As developing world struggles to meet energy demand, prospects
brighten for low-cost solar lamps. Breakthroughs in solar
technology are making solar lamps more accessible than ever for
the world's poorest people, say experts from the International
Financial Corp. (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group. More
than 1.3 billion people worldwide -- 18 percent of the global
population -- live without electricity, according to the
International Energy Agency (IEA).
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1060015094/print

OPINIONS

Invisible threat to maternal and child health.  It's hardly news
to state that air pollution is bad for people's health. What
might be more surprising to learn, though, is that air pollution
is bad for the health of an unborn child, long before his or her
lungs ever take their first breath. A growing body of research
indicates that various forms of air pollution have a measurable
impact on the health of babies, both in utero and after birth. 
http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/16/opinions/mccabe-edelman-ozone-threat-to-child-health/


In our opinion: Could Utah's air quality benefit by learning from
results of USC's Children Health Study? Air pollution in the
state of Utah is a serious problem, especially along the Wasatch
Front, when inversions generate some of the worst air quality in
the nation. The good news, however, is that improving air quality
can produce substantive, positive results in public health.
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865624324/Could-Utahs-air-quality-benefit-by-learning-from-results-of-USCs-Children-Health-Study.html

Understanding science of climate change and recognizing
misinformation.  A man walks into a room carrying a snowball.
Although it sounds like the start to a joke, no one should be
laughing when that man is Sen. James Inhofe and he is exhibiting
the snowball on the floor of the U.S. Senate as “evidence” that
global climate change is not occurring. The Republican senator
from Oklahoma is infamous for denying well-established climate
change science, a frightening reality considering he is chairman
of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, and
charged with the responsibility of dealing with matters related
to the environment.
http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/the-conversation/article13626452.html#storylink=cpy

Yes, The US EPA Can – And Should – Allow Offsets Under The Clean
Power Plan.  The US Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA)
proposed Clean Power Plan, the agency's attempt to regulate
existing sources of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the
electricity-generating sector under its Clean Air Act authority,
may be the most controversial rule proposed by the agency.
Weighing in at around 670 pages (with a 750-page technical
support document,) it is certainly one of the most complex
regulations ever attempted by the agency.
http://www.ecosystemmarketplace.com/pages/dynamic/article.page.php?page_id=10855§ion=news_articles&eod=1


Stronger ozone standards are more than a moral and legal
imperative.  Decades after scientists described the ways in which
air pollution scars and shrivels young lungs, groundbreaking
research out of USC has delivered the good news that clean-air
regulations are making a difference. In a longitudinal study that
measured reductions in pollution in various neighborhoods around
Los Angeles and then measured the lungs of children in those
areas, researchers found that as air quality improved, the lungs
of school-age children were bigger and healthier.
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-ozone-20150316-story.html


Globe? Warm? Who, Me?  This is the time of year when we start to
think about global warming. Because the weather is about to get
warmer. Please God. A new angle comes up almost every day. A
Harvard professor recently reported that 7,000-year-old mummies
in Chile are turning into “black ooze” because the air around
them is getting more humid. In California, baby sea lions are in
trouble because the ocean is heating up. Meanwhile, in Florida,
there’s a report that state employees have been barred from using
the term “climate change.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/14/opinion/gail-collins-globe-warm-who-me.html

We don’t need utilities, cars monitoring our behavior: Susan
Shelley.  In 1933, humorist James Thurber wrote that his
grandmother lived the latter years of her life in the horrible
suspicion that electricity was leaking all over the house. The
woman was ahead of her time. Utility companies are installing new
meters on our homes that leak the juicy details of our lives. Did
you get a notice from the Southern California Gas Co. about the
installation of Advanced Meters? The devices provide daily
monitoring to help teach customers to have “better control” over
their energy usage.
http://www.dailynews.com/opinion/20150313/we-dont-need-utilities-cars-monitoring-our-behavior-susan-shelley


BLOGS

GOP states’ choice on carbon emissions: negligence or logic.  The
Environmental Protection Agency will soon demand that states cut
their greenhouse-gas emissions. You would think that state
leaders, particularly Republicans warning of an EPA regulatory
apocalypse, would be frantically reaching for the least onerous
strategies to comply. But so far many have shown more interest in
lambasting the EPA than in accepting the sorts of policies that
would make new carbon regulations easiest on people. Their
citizens will pay if they don’t change course.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2015/03/15/gop-states-choice-on-carbon-emissions-negligence-or-logic/


The True Link Between Carbon-Based Fuels and Quality of Life.
Quick…what’s the most critical problem in the world? No, not
that…it’s something far more tangible, present day, and
life-shortening but has no lobbying group: poverty enabled by a
lack of energy. Perhaps for some in the rich West, where all the
energy we need is at our fingertips, “too much energy” is a very
convenient problem to claim.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/judeclemente/2015/03/15/the-true-link-between-carbon-based-fuels-and-quality-of-life/


The Divestment Distraction and a Positive Vision of
Sustainability. The environmental community has long needed to
stop bad things from happening and over time has developed the
mindset that the job of environmental protection is to avert
damage and destruction. Emerging naturally from that mindset is
the tactic that to prevent damage we must scare people about the
potential impact of ecological destruction.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steven-cohen/the-divestment-distractio_b_6877070.html


Get Carbon Offsets for Using New Biodegradable Credit Card. Many
people find global warming an overwhelming issue, and have no
idea how to contribute to a solution. But now, combating climate
change can be as easy as a credit card purchase. Every time a
Sustain:Green biodegradable card is used, a tangible contribution
to the fight against global warming is made through carbon
offsets, and applied to reforestation projects in Brazil’s Mata
no Peito rainforest initiative.
http://planetsave.com/2015/03/16/carbon-offsets-biodegradable-credit-card/

Sick and Tired of Pollution, Latino Kids Fight Back Armed With
Courage and Wit.  Just like Lupita, Selene, Elijah and 100 other
students at Desert Mirage HS said enough is enough, and in
February, they all traveled for nine hours to Sacramento to
testify at the EPA hearings about the improvement of the federal
smog standards. Smog, a toxic gas generated by the burning of
fossil fuels, can have the same effects on lung tissue as sunburn
on the skin. "I demanded for them to bring the ppb down to 60
because it is a human right to have fresh air to breathe," says
Lupita. "It got very emotional when we all shared our stories
about how the air pollution is affecting us. And some
representatives of the EPA were getting teary-eyed just by
listening to us," remembers Selene.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/javier-sierra/sick-tired-of-pollution_b_6864000.html

Here Comes the Sun: How California is Bringing More Renewables to
the Grid.  Ask most people what the Beatles and California have
in common and they might very well be at a loss. However, the
answer is pretty simple: they are both unabashed trendsetters in
the face of resistance – the former in their musical style and
the latter in its clean energy policies. Not content with setting
a Renewable Portfolio Standard that ends at 2020, Governor Jerry
Brown and state legislators are pushing for the Golden State to
get 50 percent of its energy from renewable resources by 2030.
http://theenergycollective.com/edfenergyex/2203436/here-comes-sun-how-california-bringing-more-renewables-grid


Conscious Decoupling: Divorcing Economy and Emissions.  As
Gwyneth Paltrow tried to express last year, divorce doesn't have
to be a bad thing. And although she's sort of backtracked on the
widely mocked concept of "conscious uncoupling," it serves as a
useful introduction for a topic that's not near as likely to
invade the public sphere as easily as her divorce from Coldplay
frontman Chris Martin.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/climate-nexus/conscious-decoupling-divorcing-economy-and-emissions_b_6866556.html




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

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