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newsclips -- ARB Newsclips for July 24, 2015.
Posted: 24 Jul 2015 12:59:36
ARB Newsclips for July 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. CAP AND TRADE Calif. launches EV-sharing for disadvantaged residents. An electric vehicle-sharing program for lower income and other disadvantaged California residents launches today in Los Angeles, driven by a state law mandating expanded access to clean cars. The effort is funded by $1.6 million in revenue from the Golden State's cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions. It auctions permits to businesses with high greenhouse gas releases. http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2015/07/24/stories/1060022373 AIR POLLUTION U.S. proposes voluntary oil and gas company cuts in methane emissions. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed a program for oil and gas companies to make voluntary pledges to cut and track emissions of methane, one component of its wider strategy to target the potent greenhouse gas and combat climate change, the agency said Thursday. http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFL1N1033J420150723 Nation's top 100 power plants cut carbon emissions 12%. The nation’s top 100 power plants, including those run by power companies in the Los Angeles region, reduced their collective carbon emissions 12% from 2008 to 2013, according to a report released Thursday. Though emissions have fallen in recent years, carbon produced by the largest power plants was 14% higher than in 1990, the report by Ceres said. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-plants-cut-emissions-20150723-story.html When is a tree a tree, when is it 'waste' and why does it matter for the Clean Power Plan? When presenting the case for wood energy use under the Obama administration's proposed Clean Power Plan, the Biomass Power Association created a simple diagram to answer a complicated question: When is a tree a tree and when is it "waste biomass"? http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2015/07/24/stories/1060022317 Scientists sharply lower methane emissions from growing rice. Rice is one of the world's most widely consumed staple foods, but its prevalence comes with an environmental price tag. Rice paddies account for between 7 and 17 percent of the methane in the atmosphere, making them the world's largest source of man-made methane emissions. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2015/07/24/stories/1060022338 CLIMATE CHANGE Menlo Park: Officials look to shore up creek ahead of El Niño. With El Nio conditions continuing to grow, officials met Thursday to discuss ways to prevent the kind of flooding that has occurred in previous years along San Francisquito Creek. "Even though we're in the middle of a drought, this is real," said Nai Hsueh, a Santa Clara Valley Water District board member… http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/general-news/20150724/menlo-park-officials-look-to-shore-up-creek-ahead-of-el-ni241o Stagnant Summer Days on the Rise in U.S. Those long, hot, sultry days of summer, the ones where the air seems so still it wouldn’t disturb a leaf, are also days where air quality can take a nosedive. With winds barely above a whisper and atmosphere-scouring rains nowhere in sight, pollutants can build up in the air we breathe, with potentially serious health consequences. http://www.climatecentral.org/news/stagnant-summer-days-on-rise-19280 GAO Report Sees Climate Risks to Army Corps Projects. Thousands of dams, levees, hurricane barriers and flood walls built across the country by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers may be at risk from extreme weather and sea level rise driven by climate change, but the Army Corps has only just begun to assess how vulnerable they are and suffers from a lack of funding... http://www.climatecentral.org/news/gao-climate-risks-army-corps-projects-19282 In Swing States, Voters Want Action On Climate Change. If Republican presidential candidates are looking to win votes in key swing states, they may want to change their tone on climate change. A poll released Thursday by Quinnipiac University found that a majority of voters in Colorado, Iowa, and Virginia agree with Pope Francis that the world should increase efforts to combat the phenomenon… http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/07/24/3684195/swing-state-climate-poll/ 'Abrupt' climate changes may have helped kill mammoth and other prehistoric species – study. Even as the buzz around bringing the woolly mammoth back by cloning its DNA gets louder, a recent study in Science Express was a gentle reminder that scientists are still piecing together the mystery of their disappearance. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2015/07/24/stories/1060022351 China is urged to lead the world by tightening its pledge to lower CO2 emissions. China is at a clean energy tipping point and can bend the scales in favor of global decarbonization by putting an aggressive cap on coal and peaking its own greenhouse gas emissions earlier than promised, a new study finds. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2015/07/24/stories/1060022333 DROUGHT Feinstein to unveil bill before August recess. California Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D) is preparing to release her much-anticipated drought measure before lawmakers leave town for August recess. In an interview this morning, Feinstein said she expects to unveil the legislation as soon as next week. http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2015/07/24/stories/1060022383 FUELS California Coastal Commission to weigh in on fracking off Long Beach. The California Coastal Commission will insist that Long Beach officials and their corporate partners running the city’s oil islands obtain an additional permit before following through on proposals to “frack” 13 local oil wells. At this point, Long Beach officials and managers of the California Resources Corp. subsidiary in charge of oil extraction… http://www.presstelegram.com/environment-and-nature/20150723/california-coastal-commission-to-weigh-in-on-fracking-off-long-beach Jeb Bush Calls For End to Fossil-Fuel Subsidies. The 2016 contender says tax credits for the oil and gas sector should be eliminated. Jeb Bush wants to get rid of tax credits for the oil and gas industry. "I think we should phase out, through tax reform, the tax credits for wind, for solar, for the oil and gas sector, for all that stuff… http://www.nationaljournal.com/2016-elections/jeb-bush-fossil-fuel-subsidies-oil-gas-20150723 Efficient one-pot process to convert bio-oil fractions to gasoline-range hydrocarbons. A team at South China University of Technology has developed a one-pot process to convert the diesel distillate and residual oil fractions in bio-oil into high-quality fuels by catalytic hydrocracking with combined CoMoS/Al2O3 and HZSM-5 catalysts. A paper on their process is published in the journal Fuel. http://www.greencarcongress.com/2015/07/20150724-scut.html VEHICLES ICCT: ongoing cost reductions in full- and mild-hybrid systems could bring them into consumer mainstream by 2025. According to a new technology briefing paper on hybrid system technologies by John German at the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), the costs of full-function hybrid systems are likely to drop to half the cost of their 2010 counterparts before 2025. http://www.greencarcongress.com/2015/07/20150724-icct.html GREEN ENERGY Kenya vows to cut emissions 30 per cent by 2030, but subject to conditions. African nation submits INDC that commits it to mobilizing increased investment in clean technologies and afforestation. Kenya has become the latest country to submit a climate action plan to the UN ahead of this year's Paris Climate Summit, pledging to cut emissions by 30 per cent by 2030 against business-as-usual levels. http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2419181/kenya-vows-to-cut-emissions-30-per-cent-by-2030-but-subject-to-conditions Obama Thinks Solar Power Will Boost Kenya; Kenyans Aren't So Sure. When Jackline Mumbua decided to go solar, she knew the cost would be steep. The 35-year-old housewife in Machakos, Kenya, can barely cover the expenses of raising three school-age children on the little money her husband earns driving a motorcycle taxi. They have no savings. http://www.capradio.org/news/npr/story?storyid=425376544 Red tape cut for home solar. Installing solar energy systems will get easier and cheaper in San Diego under a new law unanimously approved this week by the City Council. The goal of the new law is to accelerate the number of homes switching to solar, which will help the city meet some of the goals in its climate action plan. http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2015/jul/23/solar-home-install-law-cheap-streamline/?st Wind industry sees strong Q2 growth but remains wary of boom-and-bust incentives. The U.S. wind industry is entering cautiously optimistic ground after a slow start to the year (ClimateWire, May 1) with its best second quarter ever and Senate approval of an on-again, off-again tax credit. Wind companies added about 1,660 megawatts of new power to the U.S. grid this quarter… http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2015/07/24/stories/1060022332 MISCELLANEOUS California’s Worst-in-Nation Roads Face $5.7 Billion Funding Gap. The dilemma that California and other U.S. states face is that their main road-funding source—gasoline taxes—is shrinking as engines improve and electric vehicles become more common. California’s streets are some of the most potholed and rutted in the U.S., with three-fourths in Los Angeles and San Francisco rated poor in a new national study calling on lawmakers to boost road funding. http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-07-24/california-s-worst-in-nation-roads-face-5-7-billion-funding-gap OPINIONS Brown and pope are kindred spirits on climate change. Brown began his speech at the Vatican by misappropriating St. Paul – the apostle, not the Minnesota city – and ended by invoking Italian Communist Party founder Antonio Gramsci. “God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap,” the governor said Tuesday, quoting from the apostle’s famous letter to the Galatians. http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/ben-boychuk/article28443196.html#storylink=cpy A glaring omission in summit. Re “Brown’s climate alarm” (Page 1A, July 22): I scoured the article searching for the smallest hint that Pope Francis and Gov. Jerry Brown would address one of the big causes of global warming, the overpopulation of human beings on this little planet we call Earth. http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article28438216.html#storylink=cpy Green lawns in Land Park, too. Re “Curtis Park lawns spark debate during drought” (Local, July 22): Kudos to Michael Feliciano for taking action and bringing attention to neighbors who care more about their green lawns than helping with California’s water crisis. In the neighborhood I live, Land Park, I witness the same thing. http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article28438216.html#storylink=cpy BLOGS Drought and climate change fuel high-elevation California fires, study finds. Wildfires in California’s fabled Sierra Nevada mountain range are increasingly burning high-elevation forests, which historically have seldom burned, reports a team of researchers led by the John Muir Institute of the Environment at the University of California, Davis. The phenomenon — likely driven by climate change, forest-management practices and other factors… http://news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=11268 US Missed An Opportunity To Cut Carbon At Lower Cost. The United States missed an opportunity to fuel its renewables revolution at a fraction of the cost when it failed to put a price on carbon, John Rowe, former CEO and chairman emeritus of Exelon Corp, said Wednesday in Chicago. “As far as I’m concerned the renewables industry is built on the proposition that we should always do the most expensive thing first… http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2015/07/23/renewables-cost-twice-what-carbon-cuts-might-have-rowe/ The California drought is killing almond trees, too. Salted almonds are essentially God’s gift to snack food, salads, and ice cream. But when it comes to growing almonds, salt can really screw things up. Unfortunately for California’s almond orchards, salty groundwater has become a huge problem and it’s killing trees across the state. http://grist.org/list/the-california-drought-is-killing-almond-trees-too/ A look at California’s ambitious climate plans. Nearly a decade ago, California policymakers, facing a frightening future of shriveling snow packs and rising seas, created the nation’s most aggressive program to combat global warming. The 2006 law mandated broad reductions of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. http://grist.org/climate-energy/a-look-at-californias-ambitious-climate-plans/ Pope’s climate encyclical divides American opinion. A clear-cut majority of swing-state voters agreed in a recent Quinnipiac poll: Pope Francis was right to call on the world to do more to address climate change. There is, however, a deep divide along party lines – Democrats and Republicans split on the topic by a margin of more than 40 percent in every state polled. http://grist.org/news/popes-climate-encyclical-divides-american-opinion/ Whiplash Warning When Climate Science is Publicized Before Peer Review and Publication. Who wins when a scary, but edge-pushing new climate study led by one of the world’s most prominent climate scientists makes headlines before it is either peer reviewed or published? Everybody, and nobody. Let me explain what I mean. http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/07/23/whiplash-warning-when-climate-science-is-publicized-before-peer-review-and-publication/?_r=1 California is in a drought emergency. Visit www.SaveOurH2O.org for water conservation tips.