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ARB Newsclips for April 17, 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.

AIR POLLUTION

Nashik tea-sellers become unlikely heroes battling indoor air
pollution. Armed with clean energy biomass stoves, tea-sellers in
Nashik are becoming unlikely heroes in the country's battle
against indoor air pollution by not only using the wood-fuelled
stoves for their trade but also selling them. The World Health
Organization says 3 billion people globally cook using solid
fuels such as charcoal and coal on open fires or traditional
stoves…
http://in.reuters.com/article/2015/04/17/india-pollution-stoves-idINKBN0N80X820150417


City Council passes regulations for cleaner air. Tighter anti-air
pollution laws — including a ban on new wood-burning fireplaces —
passed the City Council on Thursday. The legislation will also
ban new wood stoves and require any newly built fireplaces to use
natural gas or renewable fuels. The rules, the first major update
to the city’s air code since 1970, require restaurant char
broilers to install filters to reduce pollution.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/city-council-passes-regulations-cleaner-air-article-1.2188464


Top oil-producing nations, companies pledge to curb flaring, a
major source of CO2. Top oil-producing nations, including the
Russian Federation, Kazakhstan and Angola, as well as Royal Dutch
Shell PLC and other companies say they will stop flaring natural
gas by 2030 as part of a landmark agreement with the World Bank.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1060016961/print 

CLIMATE CHANGE

The globe's record heat keeps on broiling into this year. There's
been no break from the globe's record heat - the first three
months of 2015 have set new high temperature marks. The National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said last month's average
temperature of 56.4 degrees (13.6 degrees Celsius) was the
hottest March on record, averaging 1.5 degrees above the average
for the 20th century.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SCI_HOT_2015?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


Big U.S. investors push SEC for oil industry to detail risks of
climate change. 
Calpers, the largest American public pension fund, and nearly 60
other institutional investors will ask the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission on Friday to require oil and natural gas
companies to publish detailed analysis of the risks posed by
climate change to their business models. The letter, also signed
several U.S. state treasurers, asks SEC Chair Mary Jo White to
require oil producers to publish "meaningful, substantive carbon
asset risk disclosures," …
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/17/us-energy-climatechange-idUSKBN0N808220150417


Climate plans put world on track for warming above agreed limits.
Plans by 34 nations for fighting climate change beyond 2020 would
leave the world on track for warming well above the limits agreed
with the U.N., and Moscow's strategy is especially weak because
it lets Russia's greenhouse gas emissions rise, experts said on
Friday.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/17/us-climatechange-cuts-idUSKBN0N81OA20150417?virtualBrandChannel=11563


UPDATE 1-BP shareholders back more disclosure on climate change
risks. BP shareholders voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to
publish regular updates on how its strategies were affecting
climate change from next year, making it one of the first global
oil companies to disclose such details.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/16/bp-shareholders-climatechange-idUSL5N0XD4A020150416


Australia’s AGL to Close Coal Plants by 2050. Power company says
it will shut all of its existing coal-fired power plants to curb
greenhouse gas emissions. One of Australia’s biggest electricity
generators said Friday it will shut all of its existing
coal-fired power plants by 2050 to curb greenhouse gas emissions,
adding to a global slide in the fossil fuel’s popularity.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/australias-agl-to-close-coal-plants-by-2050-1429255984


The Arctic is ‘unraveling’ due to global warming, and the
consequences will be global. We often hear that climate change is
radically reshaping the Arctic, a place many of us have never
visited. As a result, it can be pretty hard to feel directly
affected by what’s happening up in a distant land of polar bears,
ice floes and something odd called permafrost.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/04/16/the-arctic-is-unraveling-due-to-global-warming-and-the-consequences-will-be-global/


Judges Skeptical of Challenge to Proposed E.P.A. Rule on Climate
Change. A panel of federal judges appeared inclined on Thursday
to dismiss the first legal challenge to President Obama’s most
far-reaching regulation to slow climate change. But in the
arguments before the United States Court of Appeals for the
District of Columbia Circuit, lawyers for the nation’s two
largest coal companies, more than two dozen states…
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/17/us/legal-battle-begins-over-obama-bid-to-curb-greenhouse-gases.html?ref=energy-environment&_r=1


Obama's climate change policy appears to survive early court
challenge. President Obama’s ambitious plan to battle climate
change by forcing power plants to reduce their greenhouse gases
appeared to survive its first court challenge Thursday, but only
because the formal rules are still pending at the Environmental
Protection Agency. Obama’s Clean Power Plan, which calls for a
30% reduction in carbon pollution by 2030…
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-obama-climate-court-challenge-20150416-story.html


US Greenhouse Gas Emissions Drop 9% Since 2005. The US saw a 2
percent increase in greenhouse gas emissions in 2013 from 2012
levels, but a 9 percent drop in emissions since 2005, according
to the EPA’s 20th Inventory of US Greenhouse Gas Emissions and
Sinks. Total US greenhouse emissions were 6,673 million metric
tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2013.
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2015/04/17/us-greenhouse-gas-emissions-drop-9-since-2005/#ixzz3XaO7dT3p


Republican Senators Lag Behind Voters on Climate Change. As many
lawmakers deny the science on global warming, Yale researchers
find a majority of the public accept the scientific consensus and
favor action. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida—a candidate for the
Republican presidential nomination—voted no on a recent amendment
recognizing that climate change real and caused by human
activity.
http://insideclimatenews.org/news/17042015/republican-senators-lag-behind-voters-climate-change


U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Spiked 2 Percent in 2013. After two
years of decline, total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions released
into the atmosphere because of human activity increased 2 percent
in 2013 over the previous year. That surge was fueled, in large
part, because of a growing economy, falling coal prices and a
cold winter…
http://www.climatecentral.org/news/u.s.-emissions-spiked-2-percent-18893

http://www.greenbiz.com/article/good-economy-bad-news-us-climate-emissions-spiked-2013


Florida Secretary Of Environmental Protection: There Is No Rule
Against Discussing Climate Change. During a confirmation hearing
Wednesday, a top official for the Florida Department of
Environmental Protection disputed claims that the department
banned employees from discussing climate change. “Climate change.
Climate change. Climate change,” Jonathan Steverson, who Governor
Rick Scott (R) appointed in December to head up the DEP as
secretary…
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/04/16/3647780/florida-official-denies-climate-change-ban/


Preemptive strike on EPA emissions rules: Can it derail Obama
climate plan? (+video). An unexpected legal challenge could put
an end to the EPA's new rules to reduce greenhouses gases before
they come into effect. The Obama administration has an ambitious
plan to battle climate change: reduce greenhouse gases by 30
percent over the next two decades.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/USA-Update/2015/0416/Preemptive-strike-on-EPA-emissions-rules-Can-it-derail-Obama-climate-plan-video


Carly Fiorina: Fix climate change with innovation, not
regulation. Likely 2016 GOP candidate Carly Fiorina says
regulation to curb climate change won't be as effective as
innovation, especially if the developing world is reluctant to
scale back carbon pollution from high-emission sources like coal.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/Energy/2015/0416/Carly-Fiorina-Fix-climate-change-with-innovation-not-regulation


DROUGHT

California Governor Brown hears business concerns about drought
plan. California Governor Jerry Brown on Thursday promised to
consider the concerns of businesses affected by his order to cut
urban water use by 25 percent as the prolonged drought in the
most populous U.S. state drags into its fourth year.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/17/us-usa-california-drought-idUSKBN0N805A20150417


Jerry Brown argues against ‘Big Brother’ picking crops in
drought. With almonds and alfalfa coming in for criticism amid
California’s drought, Gov. Jerry Brown argued Thursday against
any “Big Brother” effort to curtail production of water-heavy
crops. “That’s a ‘Big Brother’ move, and we’re not in that
position,” Brown told reporters after a drought-related meeting
at the Capitol. According to the Public Policy Institute of
California, about 9 million acres of farmland in California are
irrigated…
http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article18725088.html#storylink=cpy


Prohibit lawn irrigation. Re “Area water agencies push back
against level of cuts” (Page A1, April 15): Local water agencies’
response to the State Water Resources Control Board’s directive
to cut water use by 35 percent displays an arrogance bordering on
criminality. To argue that their customers should be exempt
because they have large lots ignores the reality of the
situation. It’s time to get real about the drought.
http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article18706557.html#storylink=cpy


Governor Jerry Brown says no relaxing on conservation mandates.
As California inches closer to implementing its first mandatory
statewide limits on water use, Gov. Jerry Brown on Thursday said
he won't relax the new rules following complaints from some
cities that they're too tough. The State Water Resources Control
Board has received letters from more than 200 water agencies on
Brown's mandate to cut urban…
http://www.mercurynews.com/drought/ci_27930896/california-drought-governor-jerry-brown-says-no-relaxing


Walnut Creek and Lamorinda letters to the editor. The Times April
5 headline (Water wasters vs. water savers), pitted city against
city, landscape against landscape in an attempt to highlight
discrepancies in residential water consumption. While somewhat
unfortunately targeting California agriculture, a far more
relevant article was penned and published the same day by a Cal
Poly emeritus professor…
http://www.mercurynews.com/my-town/ci_27928933/walnut-creek-and-lamorinda-letters-editor


Reducing carbon use. This month we will celebrate Earth Day, a
day that has never been as vitally important to every person on
Earth as it is this year. Although we have observed it for 45
years, our progress in protecting the Earth from catastrophic
warming has been regrettably slow. The United States government
is predicting that climate change disasters could soon be costing
us more than one trillion dollars annually.
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2015/04/17/3590880_reducing-carbon-use.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy


California Assembly members push to speed up water storage
construction. Amid a crippling state drought, several state
Assembly members are pushing a bill intended to speed up
construction of water storage facilities by changing the
state-mandated environmental review process. Introduced last
month, AB 311 creates a window to resolve litigation over
environmental reviews of new water storage facilities.
http://www.dailynews.com/general-news/20150416/california-assembly-members-push-to-speed-up-water-storage-construction

Political temperatures rise over conflicts between urban and
rural water use in Calif.  As California's drought persists, a
growing awareness of scarcity in the state's urban regions has
put agricultural water use under the political microscope. At the
beginning of April, Gov. Jerry Brown ordered cities to cut their
water use 25 percent, at the same time further exposing the
tensions between competing demands (Greenwire, April 2).
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2015/04/17/stories/1060016956 

DIESEL ACTIVITIES

Carrier Transicold Marks 75 Years of Road Transport
Refrigeration. Carrier Transicold says it is celebrating a double
anniversary this year: 75 years since Carrier entered the road
transport refrigeration business and the 45th anniversary of the
Carrier Transicold name. The company now builds and sells reefer
equipment for trucks, trailers and containers, and is a part of
United Technologies Corp. “Carrier’s history encompasses more
than a century of innovation …
http://www.truckinginfo.com/channel/equipment/news/story/2015/04/carrier-transicold-marks-75-years-of-road-transport-refrigeration.aspx

Banning old diesel vehicles right decision, say environmental
activists. As the National Capital Region prepares to come to
terms with The National Green Tribunal's (NGT) order of banning
diesel vehicles more than 10 years old from plying in the NCR -
the Tribunal has stayed its own order for two weeks - it has been
hailed as a welcome step by environmental activists.
http://businesstoday.intoday.in/story/banning-old-diesel-vehicles-right-step-say-environmental-activists/1/218262.html


FUELS

UPDATE 1-Australian energy firm AGL to shut all coal power
stations by 2050. AGL Energy Ltd, Australia's No.2 power retailer
and its biggest carbon polluter, said on Friday it would not buy
any more coal-fired power stations and would close all its
existing coal-fired power plants by 2050. The company, which
became Australia's biggest owner of coal-fired power stations
when it bought two plants…
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/17/agl-energy-coal-idUSL4N0XE1Q320150417

OPEC Joins Downbeat Forecasts for U.S. Oil Output. Oil cartel
cites cutback to the number of drilling rigs. The boom in U.S.
oil supplies will end in 2015, the Organization of the Petroleum
Exporting Countries said Thursday, joining other major energy
forecasters this week in pointing to an imminent fall in American
production.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/opec-sees-booming-growth-in-u-s-oil-supplies-to-end-in-2015-1429180187?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection

Fueled by gas prices, inflation edges up in March for second
straight month. Inflation edged up in March for the second
straight month as gas prices continued to rebound after their
steep drop. The consumer price index increased 0.2%, the same as
in February, the Labor Department said Friday. February's
increase was the first in four months as a sharp drop in crude
oil prices pushed down energy costs across the board.
http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-83321297/ 
 
Propel Renewable Diesel: Usable By Any Vehicle, Going Beyond
'Biodiesel'. Fuels produced using plant-based materials can offer
a promising way to reduce the carbon emitted by road vehicles.
That's because their plant feedstocks absorb carbon dioxide from
the air, bringing them far closer to a carbon-neutral footprint
than any fuel refined from crude oil.
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1097856_propel-renewable-diesel-usable-by-any-vehicle-going-beyond-biodiesel


Interior Secretary Defends Government’s New Rules For Fracking On
Public Lands. Department of Interior Secretary Sally Jewell hit
back against criticism to her department’s recently announced
rules on hydraulic fracturing on public lands Thursday, saying
that the rules were a needed update to the former set of
regulations. 
Speaking to press after an event at the Center for American
Progress…
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/04/17/3648064/sally-jewell-speaks-at-cap/


(This goes with an earlier article on CalPERS)
Major investment groups ask SEC to require disclosure of climate
risks of fossil fuel producers. A coalition of institutional
investors managing more than $1.9 trillion in assets sent a
letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission early this
morning, requesting that the regulator to review financial
reporting practices of oil and gas companies to require
disclosure of the financial risks they pose to shareholders,
pensions…
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2015/04/17/stories/1060016959 

VEHICLES

Automakers to Eliminate Smog-Forming Emissions by 2030. As Earth
Day approaches on April 22, the Alliance of Automobile
Manufacturers says automakers are on track to “virtually
eliminate” smog-forming emissions from passenger vehicles in the
next decade – even with more cars on the road and people
travelling more miles.
http://ens-newswire.com/2015/04/16/automakers-to-eliminate-smog-forming-emissions-by-2030/


Electric Police Cars? Seattle Uses Nissan Leafs For Traffic
Enforcement. They may not have the most intimidating presence,
but electric cars can play an important role in law enforcement.
Police vehicles spend a lot of time idling or negotiating
traffic, particularly in urban areas. With adequate charging
infrastructure, electric cars can be perfectly suited to certain
tasks…
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1097866_electric-police-cars-seattle-uses-nissan-leafs-for-traffic-enforcement


GREEN ENERGY

Apple digs in on green with China solar, US forest projects. In a
quest to be more green, Apple says it is investing in Chinese
solar power and preserving forests that make environmentally
friendly paper. The initiatives come as the tech giant this year
met a self-imposed goal of powering all its U.S. operations with
renewable energy to reduce carbon emissions - initiatives that
have won high marks from environmental groups.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TEC_APPLES_FORESTS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


EU approves German aid to support construction of 20 offshore
wind farms. The European Commission on Thursday gave Germany the
green light to support the construction of 20 offshore wind farms
by paying operators a premium on top of the market price for
electricity, it said in a statement. The Commission concluded
that the projects would contribute to reaching Germany's 2020
targets for renewable energy without distorting competition.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/16/us-germany-windpower-eu-idUSKBN0N70XU20150416?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
 
Harvard economist slams rules for renewable fuels, lays out plan
for reforming them. U.S. renewable fuels policy has meant
additional costs for drivers without the rapid transformation to
second-generation low-carbon fuels envisioned by federal
legislation passed last decade, economist James Stock argues in a
new report.
http://www.eenews.net/energywire/2015/04/17/stories/1060016936 

With new installation, Stanford runs on 65% renewable energy.
Stanford University today announced a partnership with SunPower
Corp. to build a new solar generating station that will provide
half its campus electricity and will help transform the
institution into one of the most sustainable campuses in the
world. The 68-megawatt solar plant consisting of 150,000 SunPower
solar panels is being combined with Stanford's "first of its
kind" electrified heat recovery heating system… 
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2015/04/17/stories/1060016985 

OPINIONS

How Do You Keep Your Kids Healthy in Smog-Choked China? On a
recent morning in Arizona, my two young sons padded out into
their grandparents’ garden to marvel at the flowers of a hedgehog
cactus. The spectacular pink and yellow blossoms of this
particular plant burst open once a year and last for only a day.
The boys seemed a bit like those flowers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/16/magazine/how-do-you-keep-your-kids-healthy-in-smog-choked-china.html?_r=0


Let voters shift high-speed rail money to schools. Buyer’s
remorse is bad enough after selecting the wrong car, but it’s
even worse when it comes to the largest public works project in
U.S. history – the $68 billion high-speed rail project. In 2008,
voters narrowly approved Proposition 1A providing $8 billion in
general obligation bonds as a down payment for a high-speed rail
system…
http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/soapbox/article18703332.html#storylink=cpy


The world after global warming: Column. Fight against climate
change highlights catastrophic challenges of global-scale issues.
Stretch your imagination. Picture a world in which the elusive
goal of fully sustainable energy is achieved by the end of this
decade. Low-cost, high-capacity batteries make electric cars far
less expensive than their gasoline brethren. People buy them in
droves.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2015/04/17/global-warming-climate-change-whats-next-column/24655557/


World Economy Grew, but Carbon Emissions Didn't. In a sign that
low-carbon policies may finally be gaining traction, global
carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions leveled off last year even while
the world economy grew. Preliminary data from the International
Energy Agency (IEA) indicate that energy-related CO2 emissions
(from burning fossil fuels for electricity…
http://theenergycollective.com/dougvine/2217351/world-economy-grew-carbon-emissions-didnt


BLOGS

Former Obama Economic Adviser Calls for Shift in Biofuels
Mandate. A former White House economic adviser is calling for
changes to a 2005 law mandating increased use of alternative
fuels in the nation’s transportation supply, adding a key voice
to a growing chorus of people who say the policy is not working.
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2015/04/16/former-obama-economic-adviser-calls-for-shift-in-biofuels-mandate/


Oil and biofuels vehicles, check your mirror; the car behind you
might be electric…Time was when humanity seemed to take endless
leaps forward in terms of technology. There was a sense that
everyone was pushing forward at the same time and in the same
direction. In today’s world, when investing in the next big tech,
the great diaspora of ideas can be a challenge that divides
investment funds…
http://blogs.platts.com/2015/04/17/oil-biofuels-energy-electric-car/


Why We Need to Change How We Talk About Climate Change. The
scientific community has reached a resounding consensus on
climate change -- 97 percent of scientists worldwide agree that
the climate is warming, and that these warming trends have been
caused by human activities. Yet, despite this overwhelming
consensus, just over half of Americans (57 percent) believe that
global warming is caused by humans…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maguire-mealy/why-we-need-to-change-how_b_7063774.html?utm_hp_ref=green


California Needs a Strategy for Sustainable Natural Gas.
Combustion of natural gas is responsible for a quarter of
California's carbon emissions. If we are going to achieve the 80
percent reduction in emissions proposed by state legislators in
S.B. 32, we will need to think clearly about the role that
natural gas plays now and the role that we envision for it in the
future. 
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-levin/california-natural-gas_b_7083328.html?utm_hp_ref=san-francisco&ir=San%20Francisco


Polar bears weakened by pollution as well as warmth. Greenland’s
polar bears have a thyroid problem. Their endocrine systems, too,
are being disrupted. In both cases the culprit agency is
environmental pollution by a range of long-lived industrial
chemicals and pesticides.
http://www.climatenewsnetwork.net/polar-bears-weakened-by-pollution-as-well-as-warmth/?utm_source=Climate%20News%20Network&utm_campaign=e97fb0b2de-Polar_bear_pollutants4_17_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1198ea8936-e97fb0b2de-38771425


How fast is solar energy taking off? How fast is solar energy
taking off around the world? In 2007, China's planners set in
motion an ambitious plan to produce 1.8 gigawatts of
solar-generated electricity by 2020. Last year the country
produced 28 gigawatts – 15 times what it had hoped for by 2020.
Now, China is expected to more than triple even that production –
to 100 gigawatts – in three or four years.
http://www.trust.org/item/20150417160845-0dw5z/?source=search 
 



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