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ARB Newsclips for June 26, 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.

CAP AND TRADE

Calif. regulators OK carbon-offset protocol for rice farming. The
California Air Resources Board has approved a method for letting
rice growers generate carbon offsets for the state's
cap-and-trade system, the first of its kind. The agency approved
the protocol last night, finalizing an eight-year process to
create standards that quantify methane emissions avoided from
changing rice-cultivation practices and translate those savings
into tradeable carbon credits.
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1060020978/search?keyword=california


Alberta puts pressure on oil sands with plan to double carbon
fee. The top environmental official in Alberta -- home to the
Canadian oil patch that would be the point of origin for the
proposed Keystone XL pipeline -- announced yesterday that the
province will raise its carbon price next year. Shannon Phillips,
Alberta's minister of environment and parks, said the exiting fee
of $15 per metric ton will climb to $20 per metric ton in 2016
and $30 per ton in 2017.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2015/06/26/stories/1060020959 

Benefits of $1.6T carbon tax outweigh challenges, report says. A
nationwide carbon tax -- though difficult to implement for
practical and political reasons -- could significantly reduce
greenhouse emissions while funding priorities on both sides of
the aisle, according to a new report from the Tax Policy Center.
The paper seeks to lay out options for policymakers considering a
carbon tax…
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2015/06/26/stories/1060020953 

AIR POLLUTION

Valero to pay $122,500 for Benicia air pollution violations. The
Valero Refining. Co. has agreed to pay a $122,500 fine to settle
air pollution violations at its plant in Benicia, officials in
charge of regulating the Bay Area’s air quality said Thursday.
The settlement covers 25 violations that the Bay Area Air Quality
Management District issued to Valero for various incidents in
2011, including one for causing odors at the refinery’s…
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Valero-to-pay-122-500-for-Benicia-air-pollution-6350400.php
http://www.contracostatimes.com/breaking-news/ci_28382161/valero-refinery-benicia-pay-122-500-air-pollution

 http://www.timesheraldonline.com/general-news/20150625/valero-refinery-in-benicia-to-pay-for-air-quality-violations


LAKE FIRE: Despite growing acreage, air quality holding up.
Although more than 23,000 acres have been scorched in the Lake
fire and the smoke plume can be seen from space, officials said
the region’s air quality hasn’t been deemed unhealthy. The air
quality map from the South Coast Air Quality Management District
did not show any unhealthy quality areas in the Inland region…
http://www.pe.com/articles/air-771627-quality-fire.html 

Canada oil sands have more emissions than those in US. Gasoline
and diesel fuel extracted and refined from Canadian oil sands
will release about 20 percent more carbon into the atmosphere
over its lifetime than fuel from conventional domestic crude
sources, according to a study by the U.S. Department of Energy’s
Argonne National Laboratory, UC Davis and Stanford University.
http://www.dailydemocrat.com/environment-and-nature/20150625/canada-oil-sands-have-more-emissions-than-those-in-us


Neighbors air asphalt plant fears to Planning Commission.
Neighbors of a proposed asphalt plant near Valley Springs today
told the Calaveras County Planning Commission they fear the odor
from the plant will disrupt their lives and depress property
values. “I was planning to sell my house,” said Jan Hamaker, a
resident of Huckleberry Lane not far from the Hogan Quarry below
New Hogan Dam.
http://www.calaverasenterprise.com/news/article_e5f10e4e-1b7e-11e5-9d2e-13f28ed9ff72.html



China Drafting Maritime Emissions Regulations. Ships would be
required to use shore-based power while berthed at ports, with
all ports required to install shore land-based power services.
China's government is moving forward with plans to bring in
legislation to control emissions from ships as the country looks
to reduce air pollution, state media reports.
http://shipandbunker.com/news/apac/723269-china-drafting-maritime-emissions-regulations


Which oil and gas companies are leaking the most methane?  Over
the years, ConocoPhillips -- an energy company so rich that it
earns as much in a year as Croatia -- has positioned itself as a
good guy among its peers when it comes to greenhouse gas
pollution. It is a member of a U.N.-led initiative to reduce
emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that is the primary
component of natural gas.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2015/06/26/stories/1060020954 

CLIMATE CHANGE

USAID backs how-to course to help Asia cope with climate change.
The U.S. government is setting up a course to train officials in
the Asia-Pacific region in the basics of preparing and financing
projects to help communities weather climate change, experts from
the USAID development agency said on Friday. Financing needs for
climate change adaptation - efforts to adjust to extreme weather
and rising seas…
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/26/us-climatechange-funds-aid-idUSKBN0P61WA20150626


EU ministers seek ambitious, binding deal at Paris climate talks
–draft. European Union ministers are seeking an ambitious,
durable and legally binding deal to curb global warming, enforced
through five-yearly reviews, a draft of their position statement
for U.N. climate talks shows.  EU environment ministers meet on
Sept. 18 in Brussels to iron out their joint position ahead of
the U.N. talks in Paris in December.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/25/eu-climatechange-paris-idUSL8N0ZB38Q20150625


Obama and Brazilian President Rousseff to talk climate change
next week. When the president of the western hemisphere’s most
populous country meets with the president of its second most
populous — Dilma Rousseff of Brazil — next week, climate change
will be a focal point of discussion, a White House spokesman said
Thursday. “I would fully expect that climate and the environment
would be an important part of the agenda…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/06/25/obama-and-brazilian-president-rousseff-to-talk-climate-change-next-week/


UN Climate Chief to Big Oil: Talk Isn’t Enough. The official
trying to shepherd a new global climate pact tells six companies
that the world ‘wants to be proud of your actions.’ The United
Nations official who is convening international climate change
talks has a message for big oil-and-gas companies that claim to
support tougher carbon-pollution policies: prove it.
http://www.nationaljournal.com/energy/climate-change-bp-shell-big-oil-paris-19691231
  

DROUGHT

Downpours and Drought Send Wheat to Biggest Gain in Three Years.
Too much rain in the U.S. and not enough in Europe and Canada
sparked the biggest weekly rally in wheat and corn prices in
three years. Wheat futures jumped 14 percent in Chicago this
week, and are poised to enter a bull market. Corn climbed 8.3
percent and milling wheat added 8.2 percent in Paris. The
advances are the largest since 2012. Soybeans heading for the
biggest gain since October.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-26/downpours-and-drought-send-wheat-to-biggest-gain-in-three-years


In California, Water Restrictions Above Ground and Leaks Below.
Californians have been ordered to save water because of the
drought. But one of the best ways to save it is to not lose it in
the first place. That is why many cities in this thirsty state
have declared a war on leaks. Here on Whitsett Avenue in the San
Fernando Valley — or rather about 20 feet below it…
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/30/science/california-turns-to-stopping-water-leaks.html?hpw&rref=science&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=1
 

World’s Aquifers Losing Replenishment Race, Researchers Say. From
the Arabian Peninsula to northern India to California’s Central
Valley, nearly a third of the world’s 37 largest aquifers are
being drained faster than they are being replenished, according
to a recent study led by scientists at the University of
California, Irvine. The aquifers are concentrated in
food-producing regions that support up to two billion people.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/26/science/worlds-aquifers-losing-replenishment-race-researchers-say.html?ref=energy-environment&_r=1


GOP introduces drought relief bill, key step in reopening water
debate in Congress. California House Republicans introduced a
drought-relief bill Thursday afternoon that they said would pump
more water to struggling farmers in the Central Valley without
compromising protections for endangered fish. The 170-page bill,
though unlikely to reach President Obama's desk in its current
form, is a significant step in laying out the GOP position…
http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/politicsnow/la-gop-drought-relief-bill-20150625-story.html


Another DWP bill? No: 'You are in the top 1% of all residential
water users'. Warren Dern thought he was doing his part to
conserve water amid California's unflagging drought. He was
following the city's rules and only watering his
7,000-square-foot lawn in Sherman Oaks twice per week. Then, last
month, he got a letter from the Los Angeles Department of Water
and Power, and it dawned on him: That simply wasn't enough.
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-0624-water-letters-20150626-story.html


Infographic 183 drought maps reveal just how thirsty California
has become. It doesn't take much to understand why California is
so worried about drought. Reservoirs are ever-dwindling. Rainfall
is sporadic at best. It's so bad, Governor Jerry Brown imposed
mandatory water restrictions throughout the state. The majority
of California is experiencing extreme to exceptional drought…
http://www.latimes.com/science/la-me-g-california-drought-map-htmlstory.html


Los Angeles' transportation agency is cutting its water use by 20
percent because of California's historic drought. The Los Angeles
County transportation agency, facing a catastrophic drought that
has led the state to issue its first ever mandatory cutbacks in
urban water use, has decided to reduce its water consumption by
20 percent by 2017.
http://www.businessinsider.com/r-los-angeles-transportation-agency-to-cut-water-use-by-20-percent-2015-6#ixzz3eC5ImdsK


Republicans Introduce Bill Based On The Idea That
Environmentalists Caused California’s Drought. A new bill
introduced in the House of Representatives is pushing for new
ways to combat California’s epic drought. But it’s doing so based
on the premise that environmental policy — not climate change —
is making the drought so bad in the state.
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/06/26/3674326/house-bill-california-drought-environmentalists/



House Republicans unveil new drought relief legislation. A group
of House Republicans today introduced new legislation to address
the drought in California and other parts of the West, the latest
move in a yearslong effort to find a legislative fix for the
region's ongoing water crisis. The California-specific provisions
in H.R. 2898, the "Western Water and American Food Security Act,"
focus on boosting water transfers…
http://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/stories/1060020923/search?keyword=california


DIESEL ACTIVITIES

McGuire secures $5 million for rural district school bus
replacement.  Earlier this year, Sen. Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg)
introduced The Rural Safety and Clean Air Act (SB 523), which
would invest $5 million per year to replace aging school buses in
rural school districts. Working collaboratively with the
California Air Resources Board, the $5 million was approved on
Thursday and will be allocated to rural school districts to
replace old and polluting school buses through a grant process
starting in mid-2016.
http://www.lakeconews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=42341:mcguire-secures-5-million-for-rural-district-school-bus-replacement&catid=43:education&Itemid=324


‘No Idling’ Regs Coming to Commerce. Diesel burning trucks idling
for long periods is a problem in the City of Commerce. On
Tuesday, city officials, residents and local environmental groups
unveiled the city’s latest effort to try to curtail the practice:
20 new “No Idling” signs to be installed in areas where truck
drivers tend to stop off for a while but keep their engines
running.
http://egpnews.com/2015/06/no-idling-regs-coming-to-commerce/ 

FUELS

Here’s Which States Are Leaking The Most Natural Gas At The
Expense Of Their Taxpayers. Oil and gas operations located on
federal and tribal lands leaked $360 million worth of fuel in
2013, money which would have gone in part to taxpayers and tribes
in the form of royalties, according to a new report.  Tuesday’s
report was commissioned by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF)
to track fugitive methane emissions…
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/06/25/3674036/methane-leaks-report-edf/


VEHICLES

California gives low-income drivers a break on electric cars.
Electric cars aren’t cheap — one of the main reasons Americans
have been slow to try them. But a vote Thursday by California
regulators will make plug-in cars slightly more affordable to
low-income drivers. Ever since the current wave of electric cars
hit the market in 2010, the state has been handing out rebates to
buyers, more than 110,000 so far.
http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/California-gives-low-income-drivers-a-break-on-6350231.php


CARB OKs Beefed-Up Budget Plan for Clean Vehicle Programs. The
California Air Resources Board (CARB) has approved a $373 million
funding plan that covers all investments in advanced technologies
for fiscal-year 2015-16, from zero-emission heavy-duty trucks and
buses to rebates for low- and zero-emission passenger vehicles.
CARB says the budget for the annual Funding Plan for Low Carbon
Transportation Investments…
http://ngtnews.com/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.10885#.VY2lzk2D6Um


European automakers call for CO2 emissions delay. European
automakers are seeking a five-year delay on tougher CO2 emissions
targets for new cars sold in the EU. The automakers’ lobby group,
ACEA, has asked the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm,
to postpone a 2025 target that is currently being worked on by
officials, according to a position paper drawn up by the group
and seen by Automotive News Europe.
http://europe.autonews.com/article/20150626/ANE/150629984/european-automakers-call-for-co2-emissions-delay


Volkswagen AG coordinating new €6M EU research project on drop-in
biocatalytic solar fuels.  Volkswagen AG is coordinating a new
€6-million (US$6.7-million) research project, selected for
funding under the Horizon 2020 Programme, to advance the
biocatalytic production of drop-in liquid hydrocarbon
transportation fuels, requiring only sunlight, CO2 and water. 
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2015/06/20150626-photofuel.html 

Is Next Battery Advance Not In Chemistry But Fabrication?
Electric cars today are hampered by relatively short ranges, long
charging times, and higher costs than comparable
internal-combustion models--all problems that stem from their
battery packs. Legions of researchers are trying to improve on
the currently-dominant lithium-ion chemistry, hoping to increase
energy density and lower cost.
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1098867_is-next-battery-advance-not-in-chemistry-but-fabrication


GREEN ENERGY

GE invests in $348 million windfarm after Australian subsidy
deadlock ends. 
General Electric Co (GE.N) said it will help fund a $348 million
Australian windfarm, the country's third largest, after political
leaders ended a deadlock over state subsidies that had stalled
the $13 billion industry for over a year. GE, Swiss private
equity firm Partners Group Holding AG (PGHN.S), Canadian pension
fund…
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/26/us-australia-renewables-windfarms-idUSKBN0P60LZ20150626


MISCELLANEOUS

Cummins CTO John Wall receives California’s premier air quality
award. Dr. John Wall, Vice President and Chief Technical Officer
of diesel engine manufacturer Cummins Inc., is one of the three
recipients of the 2014 Haagen-Smit Clean Air Awards, California’s
premier award recognizing individuals who have made outstanding
contributions to improving air quality. Haagen-Smit Clean Air
Awards are given annually to individuals who have made
significant lifetime contributions toward improving air quality…
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2015/06/20150626-wall.html 

Legacy Trail project wins clean-air grant. The Apple Valley
Legacy Trail project has landed a clean-air grant in its bid to
establish a cultural icon and destination point that includes an
educational component. The multi-faceted project was awarded
$155,850 from the Mojave Desert Air Quality Management District
for trail signs and educational aspects that promote healthy and
non-polluting alternatives to motor vehicles.
http://www.vvdailypress.com/article/20150625/NEWS/150629816 

Barack Obama Interviews David Attenborough In Unique White House
Interaction. Not many people can claim to have been interviewed
by a sitting United States president. But not many people are
like Sir David Attenborough, the celebrated British naturalist,
environmentalist, and the creator and host of a plethora of
widely watched nature documentaries for the BBC for over half a
century.
http://www.ibtimes.com/barack-obama-interviews-david-attenborough-unique-white-house-interaction-1985029


OPINIONS

COLUMN-Fuel demand stabilises in the United States: Kemp. The
initial consumption stimulus from lower oil prices may be fading,
at least in the United States, according to the latest round of
official data on traffic volumes and fuel sales. Traffic on
California's highway network was 2.6 percent higher in May than a
year earlier, the state transportation department said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/26/usa-fuel-kemp-idUSL8N0ZC1KJ20150626


It’s time for conservatives to end the denial on climate change.
Reducing Pope Francis’s encyclical “Laudato Si” to a white paper
on global warming is, in George Weigel’s fitting analogy, “akin
to reading ‘Moby Dick’ as if it were a treatise on the
19th-century New England whaling industry.” The whole spirit and
story of the thing are missed. The pope’s sprawling, ambitious
statement…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/deniers-must-face-reality-on-climate-change/2015/06/25/f56ae6c2-1b5d-11e5-93b7-5eddc056ad8a_story.html


Drought flushes out old toilet rules. Low-flow toilets and
faucets are a high priority. Let’s talk toilets, shall we? You
know you want to. Or maybe you don’t know. In the deluge of
water-saving rules that followed Gov. Jerry Brown’s historic
statewide mandatory water reduction measures in April, perhaps
you missed this one.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/jun/26/california-drought-new-toilet-rules/


Drought fee takes effect for Glendale water users.  New charge is
aimed at recouping money needed to maintain utility as people
continue to save water. Glendale residents are seeing a new
drought charge when they open their water bills, a fee aimed at
recouping money needed to maintain the utility as people continue
to conserve. Last year, the City Council enacted the second phase
of a water-saving strategy in the face of one of the state’s
worst droughts.
http://www.glendalenewspress.com/news/tn-gnp-drought-fee-takes-effect-for-glendale-water-users-20150625,0,4978121.story


EDITORIAL: Anti-idling doesn't make sense. Air quality and global
warming are motherhood issues and obviously anything that helps
minimize those situations is welcome. However, at the same time
that carbon emissions are being targeted, reality also has to be
considered. http://www.bclocalnews.com/opinion/309902871.html 

BLOGS

It’s official! Rice farmers now eligible for carbon offset
payments. The door is officially open for crop-based farmers to
participate in carbon markets and earn new sources of revenue.
The California Air Resources Board (ARB) just approved a new
protocol for rice growers, representing the first ever carbon
offset protocol for crop-base agriculture in a compliance market.
http://blogs.edf.org/growingreturns/2015/06/24/its-official-rice-farmers-now-eligible-for-carbon-offset-payments/?utm_source=RobertEmail&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=cm


Urgency and Opportunity for Latino Leadership on Climate. When I
landed in Las Vegas last week, the weather was a broiling 108
degrees. Ouch. I braved the Las Vegas heat for one of the most
inspiring convenings of Latino leaders in the country, the Annual
Conference of the National Association of Latino Elected
Officials (NALEO).
http://blogs.edf.org/climate411/2015/06/26/urgency-and-opportunity-for-latino-leadership-on-climate/


California's Drought Is Part of a Much Bigger Water Crisis. The
problems are as much structural and systemic as they are natural.
 Why do I keep hearing about the California drought, if it's the
Colorado River that we're "killing"? Pretty much every state west
of the Rockies has been facing a water shortage of one kind or
another in recent years.  California's is a severe, but
relatively short-term, drought.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/california-s-drought-is-part-of-a-much-bigger-water-crisis/


Texas Leading Challenge to New Smog Standards. Intent on wringing
more smog from the nation's skies, the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency is just months away from imposing new ozone
standards meant to lessen pollution from the nation's cars,
factories and power plants widely believed to worsen asthma, lung
and heart disease.
http://www.texastribune.org/2015/06/26/texas-leading-fight-against-new-smog-standards/


Senator Kirk, If You Are Not Addressing Climate Change, You Are
Not Addressing the Health of the Great Lakes. That is what makes
a vote last week from Senator Mark Kirk so disappointing.
Throughout his time in Congress, he has cast himself as a
defender of the Great Lakes. But a decisive vote to prevent the
EPA from enforcing efforts to cut carbon pollution puts Senator
Kirk in the camp of folks trying to kill the most essential tool
to safeguard the Lakes over the long-term.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/henry-henderson/senator-kirk-if-you-are-n_b_7672694.html




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