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newsclips -- ARB Newsclips for June 24, 2015.
Posted: 24 Jun 2015 13:38:32
ARB Newsclips for June 24, 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 New Mexico coal plant owners settle Clean Air Act violations. The owners of a coal-fired power plant on the Navajo Nation reached a settlement Wednesday with federal agencies over complaints they flouted rules for permits and violated the Clean Air Act, leading to further pollution control upgrades that will cost millions of dollars. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_FOUR_CORNERS_POWER_PLANT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT Germany to decide between coal levy and alternative on July 1. German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Wednesday he was considering an alternative to a proposed levy on coal-fired power plants and would decide on July 1. Germany is wrestling with how to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the energy sector to stop it from falling short of its ambitious climate targets, while safeguarding jobs and securing its energy supply. http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/24/us-germany-coal-levy-idUSKBN0P40P220150624 Air pollution could kill 57,000 Americans by 2100. Climate change is already wreaking havoc on human health, and worsening air quality alone could kill 57,000 Americans by the end of the century, doctors and federal officials said Tuesday at a White House summit. Scientists have long known that climate change is more than an environmental problem: It's an unprecedented human health threat. http://www.desertsun.com/story/news/environment/2015/06/23/air-quality-will-get-worse-climate-changes/29191799/ CLIMATE CHANGE Landmark Dutch ruling: Cut emissions to protect citizens. A Dutch court ordered the government Wednesday to slash greenhouse gas emissions to help fight global warming, a landmark ruling in a case brought by hundreds of concerned citizens that could pave the way for similar legal battles around the world. Climate activists in a packed courtroom in The Hague erupted into cheers as Presiding Judge Hans Hofhuis told Dutch authorities to cut the country's greenhouse gas emissions by at least 25 percent… http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_NETHERLANDS_CLIMATE_CASE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT OTHER RELATED STORIES http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/24/netherlands-carbon-court-idUSL8N0ZA1LA20150624 http://www.fresnobee.com/news/nation-world/world/article25387198.html#storylink=cpy Study: Weather patterns that bring heatwaves happening more. Daily weather patterns have changed in recent decades, making eastern North America, Europe and western Asia more prone to nastier summer heatwaves that go beyond global warming, a new study finds. A team of climate scientists at Stanford University looked at weather patterns since 1979 and found changes in frequency and strength in parts of the world, according to a study published in the journal Nature on Wednesday. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SCI_HEATWAVE_TRIGGERS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT ADB: Climate change makes poor poorer in Asia-Pacific. Climate change has been making the poor in the Asia-Pacific region even poorer and is also setting back efforts to haul them out of poverty, the Asian Development Bank said in a report Wednesday. Combined with rising inequality, the two forces could make the more equal distribution of the fruits of economic growth a "distant goal" for the world's most populous region… http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_ASIA_CLIMATE_CHANGE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT El Nino Gains Strength as Pacific Warms Just Like It’s 1997. The El Nino developing across the Pacific strengthened further, according to Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology, which again highlighted patterns shown by the data that are similar to the record 1997-1998 event. Sea-surface temperature indexes for the central and eastern tropical Pacific are more than 1 degree Celsius above average for a sixth week, the bureau said. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-23/el-nino-seen-strengthening-as-pacific-warms-just-like-it-s-1997 DOE Study Finds Elevated Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Canadian Crude. Findings add ammunition to critics of country’s surging production, opponents of Keystone pipeline. A new peer-reviewed study funded by the U.S. Department of Energy says oil extracted from Canada’s oil sands produces greenhouse-gas emissions that are an average 20% higher than for conventional U.S. crude. http://www.wsj.com/articles/doe-study-finds-elevated-greenhouse-gas-emissions-from-canadian-crude-1435094434 Alaska Entering New Era for Wildfires. Alaska, the great northern frontier of America, is being reshaped by climate change. While rising temperatures are altering its character and landscape, they are also bringing the ravages of wildfires. In the past 60 years, Alaska has warmed more than twice as fast as the rest of the country, with average temperatures up by nearly 3°F. By 2050, temperatures are projected to climb an additional 2-4 degrees… http://www.climatecentral.org/news/alaska-entering-new-era-for-wildfires-19146 DROUGHT Troubled Delta System Is California’s Water Battleground. Fighting over water is a tradition in California, but nowhere are the lines of dispute more sharply drawn than here in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, a 720,000-acre network of islands and canals that is the hub of the state’s water system. Giant pumps pull in water flowing to the delta from the mountainous north of the state… http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/25/science/troubled-delta-system-is-californias-water-battleground.html?_r=1 California symbolic of global groundwater crisis, scientist says. Drought-stricken California might be the current-day poster child of water rationing, but it's only one of more than two dozen emerging water-stress pressure points around the world, according to the latest satellite measurement studies conducted by NASA. " http://www.sacbee.com/news/news-services/article25386367.html#storylink=cpy California Drought: Support grows in Bay Area for toilet to tap water. Bay Area residents consider California's historic drought so dire that a majority say they would be willing to drink purified toilet water. That's not the only finding in a Bay Area Council poll released Wednesday that used to be considered hard to swallow. Many Bay Area residents appear to be putting aside some long-held notions about the environment… http://www.mercurynews.com/drought/ci_28372207/california-drought-support-grows-bay-area-toilet-tap DIESEL ACTIVITIES Alphabet Energy introduces PowerModules for modular thermoelectric waste heat recovery; partnership with Borla for heavy-duty trucks. Alphabet Energy, founded in 2009 at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, announced the availability of its thermoelectric generator PowerModule as a standalone product, available to meet the specific application needs of a range of industries, including transportation. http://www.greencarcongress.com/2015/06/20150624-alphabet.html FUELS U.S. judge temporarily blocks new fracking rules on public lands. A U.S. judge in Wyoming on Tuesday granted a request by four states and several energy industry groups to temporarily stop new federal rules on hydraulic fracturing on public lands from taking effect on Wednesday. The Interior Department rules would require companies to provide data on chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking… http://www.businessinsider.com/r-us-judge-temporarily-blocks-new-fracking-rules-on-public-lands-2015-6#ixzz3dzlUwKyD How to stop Shell's Arctic drilling? With walruses, green groups say. Walruses may stop Royal Dutch Shell's Arctic drilling plan. Two exploratory wells Shell wants to drill in the Chukchi Sea near Alaska violate regulations designed to avoid disturbing walruses and other marine mammals, a coalition of environmental groups led by Earthjustice contended Tuesday. http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/how-to-stop-shells-arctic-drilling-with-walruses-green-groups-say/article/2566858 SwRI, UTSA partner on biofuel project. Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) and The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) Office of the Vice President for Research have selected a new biofuel project to receive $125,000 through the Connecting through Research Partnerships (Connect) Program. Funding 1 begins September 2015. http://www.greencarcongress.com/2015/06/swri-utsa-partner-on-biofuel-project.html Court delays federal fracking rule. The Obama administration's long-awaited hydraulic fracturing rule will not take effect as scheduled today, thanks to a federal judge's eleventh-hour decision to stay the rule until August. Judge Scott Skavdahl, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming, issued the decision after more than six hours of courtroom arguments yesterday in Casper… http://www.eenews.net/energywire/2015/06/24/stories/1060020788 SANTA BARBARA OIL SPILL ExxonMobil temporarily halts oil production off Santa Barbara after oil spill. ExxonMobil has shut down oil production at its three platforms off the Santa Barbara County coast a month after a corroded pipeline owned by Texas company Plains All American Pipeline burst, effectively cutting off the flow of Exxon’s crude. http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-exxon-platforms-20150623-story.html VEHICLES China-US workshop emphasizes cooperation on EV standardization. More than 75 experts from China and the U.S. convened in Beijing on 9 June for a discussion of their respective standardization work programs related to electric vehicles (EVs). The overarching focus of the workshop was cooperation on standards, conformance, and training programs among industry and government stakeholders to facilitate the growth of the EV market. http://www.greencarcongress.com/2015/06/china-us-workshop-emphasizes-cooperation-on-ev-standardization.html ChargePoint Launches Small DC Quick-Charging Station For Electric Cars. ChargePoint hopes to increase the availability of public DC fast charging for electric cars by offering a smaller charging station. The charging network's new Express 100 station is aimed at businesses that may want to offer fast charging to customers. That includes retail stores, restaurants… http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1098855_chargepoint-launches-small-dc-quick-charging-station-for-electric-cars NREL: battery second use offsets EV expense, improves grid stability; recommendations. Researchers at the US Department of Energy (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are identifying battery second use (B2U) strategies capable of offsetting vehicle expenses while improving utility grid stability. http://www.greencarcongress.com/2015/06/20150624-nrel.html Renault-Nissan Alliance sells its 250,000th EV. The Renault-Nissan Alliance has sold its 250,000th electric vehicle: a white Renault ZOE sold to a French engineer. The Alliance reached the milestone in early June, 4½ years after the launch of the Nissan LEAF. The Alliance today accounts for half of the electric vehicles sold worldwide. http://www.greencarcongress.com/2015/06/renault-nissan-alliance-sells-its-250000th-ev.html Seven Barriers To Alt-Fuel Vehicles: Can Hydrogen Fuel Cells Overcome Them? Among owners and advocates of zero-emission vehicles, few topics generate as much back-and-forth debate (to put it politely) as those cars powered by hydrogen fuel cells. Discussions of wells-to-wheels carbon footprint, the presently nonexistent hydrogen fueling infrastructure… http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1098821_seven-barriers-to-alt-fuel-vehicles-can-hydrogen-fuel-cells-overcome-them GREEN ENERGY Home efficiency upgrades fall short, don't pay: Study. Home efficiency measures such as installing new windows or replacing insulation deliver such a small fraction of their promised energy savings that they may not save any money over the long run, according to the surprising conclusion of a University of Chicago study. The study, which used data from a random sample of 30,000 low-income Michigan households that were eligible for an Energy Department home weatherization program… http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_ENERGY_EFFICIENCY_LITTLE_PAYOFF?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT The Way Humans Get Electricity Is About to Change Forever. These six shifts will transform markets over the next 25 years. The renewable-energy boom is here. Trillions of dollars will be invested over the next 25 years, driving some of the most profound changes yet in how humans get their electricity. That's according to a new forecast by Bloomberg New Energy Finance that plots out global power markets to 20401increase click area. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-23/the-way-humans-get-electricity-is-about-to-change-forever GAO report: Feds losing track of renewable energy bonds. The agency charged with overseeing renewable energy infrastructure on federal lands is inconsistent in collecting and overseeing the bonds it holds for those projects, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) concluded in a report released Tuesday. The Bureau of Land Management requires operators of solar and wind projects on federal land to… http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/245897-gao-report-feds-losing-track-of-renewable-energy-bonds Debate over California’s renewable energy expansion goes through the roof. A political fight over California’s renewable energy industry is playing out in the corridors of power, but it deals with something closer to home: your rooftop. Capitol policymakers are advancing an ambitious proposal to have renewable sources generate half of the state’s electricity by 2030, up from the 33 percent benchmark already in law. http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article25356493.html#storylink=cpy Renewable energy target: Senate sits late to pass bill without amendment. Chamber of commerce says deal surmounts ‘major hurdle’ as Greens and environmentalists attack Coalition pledge to create a windfarm commissioner. Legislation to reduce the renewable energy target from 41,000 gigawatt hours to 33,000gWh has passed both houses of parliament. The Senate sat late on Tuesday to pass the bill. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/24/renewable-energy-target-senate-sits-late-to-pass-bill-without-amendment Calif. market grows with Shell purchase, national lab agreements. The California energy storage market got a boost this week with two new developments. The San Francisco Bay Area startup Advanced Microgrid Solutions announced Monday that it has signed a deal with Shell Energy North America to install up to 20 megawatts of batteries at Shell sites throughout California. http://www.eenews.net/energywire/2015/06/24/stories/1060020785 OPINIONS Opinion: Reforming CEQA still vital work. The California Environmental Quality Act, signed into law more than 40 years ago, is a perfect example of how a political decree meant to do one thing can transmogrify into something else entirely. CEQA was meant to compel state and local officials to catalog, and mitigate where possible, the adverse environmental effects of public works and private developments. http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/dan-walters/article25352200.html#storylink=cpy Lawn replacement: mixed bag of good, bad effects. Listen to water officials from Gov. Jerry Brown down to local officials and you'd think replacing lawns with drought-resistant plants or artificial turf is a pure good, no negatives involved. They know lawn replacement, often called "xeriscaping" because it can use cacti and other desert plants, generally leads to at least a 30 percent cut in household water use. http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/story/opinion/2015/06/24/lawn-replacement-mixed-bag-good-bad-effects/29183775/ Another View: Valley rivers aren’t being singled out. Assemblyman Adam Gray misrepresents his legislation and the State Water Resources Control Board’s efforts to restore the health of San Francisco Bay, the West Coast’s largest estuary, and the rivers that feed into it (“State is unfairly taking water,” Viewpoints, June 10). The water board is updating water-quality standards for the Bay Delta estuary and all of the rivers that flow into it… http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/soapbox/article25350550.html#storylink=cpy BLOGS Having a Smaller Carbon Footprint in Ramadan. We are blessed to welcome Ramadan again this year. It is a time for fasting, spiritual fulfillment, emotional rebalancing, mental reflection and physical purification. Ramadan is the ideal time for balancing the spirit, the mind and the body. Fasting is a universal exercise of patience, self-control and altruism, but it is only one among many important aspects of Ramadan. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/zaher-sahloul/having-a-smaller-carbon-f_b_7640516.html?utm_hp_ref=islam California is in a drought emergency. Visit www.SaveOurH2O.org for water conservation tips.