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newsclips -- ARB Newsclips for August 17, 2015.

Posted: 17 Aug 2015 14:15:46
ARB Newsclips for August 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

Sacramento heat rises while air quality falters under smoky
assault. The summer heat made its comeback this weekend, as
temperatures hovered around 100 degrees on Saturday and Sunday
and are expected to stay sizzling Monday. In addition, smoke from
wildfires is contributing to poor air quality.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/weather/article31255163.html#storylink=cpy


Record high of 104 breaks Napa record; air quality alert
extended. The heat was on for Napans on Sunday, as never before
in mid-August. Afternoon temperatures soared to 104 degrees to
break the Aug. 16 record of 100 set in 1950, the National Weather
Service reported. The daytime peak tied for second highest in the
Bay Area on a day filled with triple-digit figures in Northern
California…
http://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/record-high-of-breaks-napa-record-air-quality-alert-extended/article_b873f147-6bdf-55e2-baeb-e5dd4bbc07e2.html


Grimy city buildings release smog-forming air pollutant through
sunlight exposure. Sunlight has been found to trigger the release
of smog-forming compounds from the grime that builds up on city
buildings. Scientists say they still do not know just to what
extent this process is occurring, but it could be a significant
contributor to air pollution in urban areas.
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/grimy-city-buildings-release-smog-forming-air-pollutant-through-sunlight-exposure-1515784


CLIMATE CHANGE

EPA tightens rules for greenhouse gas emissions at landfills. The
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has tightened standards for
the nation's landfills to reduce emissions of methane and other
harmful air pollutants. EPA estimates the new rules announced
Friday as part of President Obama's Climate Action Plan will
reduce methane from decomposing household waste by about 480,000
tons a year by 2025.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_LANDFILL_METHANE_RULES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


As seas rise, saltwater plants offer hope farms will survive. On
a sun-scorched wasteland near India's southern tip, an unlikely
garden filled with spiky shrubs and spindly greens is growing,
seemingly against all odds. The plants are living on saltwater,
coping with drought and possibly offering viable farming
alternatives for a future in which rising seas have inundated
countless coastal farmlands.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_INDIA_SALTWATER_GARDEN?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


Critics of carbon regulations using mine spill to skewer EPA.
Authorities say rivers tainted by last week's massive spill from
an abandoned Colorado gold mine are starting to recover, but for
the Environmental Protection Agency the political fallout from
the disaster could linger. The federal agency's critics are
already seeking to use its much-maligned handling of the mine
spill to undercut…
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_MINE_WASTE_LEAK_POLITICAL_FALLOUT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


Red Pandas Are Adorable and in Trouble. The red panda is loved
but vulnerable to habitat loss and climate change. The five red
panda cubs in large boxlike cribs at the Smithsonian Conservation
Biology Institute here are bottle-fed, sleepy and wobbly on their
legs. They have bandit masks and thick, rich fur, and they make
soft squealing noises and something called a huff-quack…
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/18/science/red-pandas-are-adorable-and-in-trouble.html


What grows after natural disasters? U.S. plants new idea to
restore landscapes.  Peggy Olwell has seen her share of forest
fires, hurricanes and other natural disasters. She knows all too
well what errant Mother Nature can do. The career botanist has
watched Western wildfires scorch the earth and scary-high winds
wipe coastal landscapes clean. She also has seen what happens to
native plants.
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-blm-seed-program-20150817-story.html


Fiorina, Cruz and Walker respond to Jerry Brown on climate
change. California Gov. Jerry Brown, blaming climate change for
hot weather that has exacerbated the state’s historic drought,
has pressed Republican presidential candidates in recent weeks to
address the issue in their campaigns, first scolding them in a
letter and then telling reporters…
http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article31237517.html#storylink=cpy


Obama’s climate change proposals face stiff legal challenges this
fall. President Barack Obama’s climate change plan will be
challenged in in the courts this fall, when lawyers for at least
15 states join the coal and power industries to block the
carbon-reducing rules before they take effect. They will argue
that the Clean Air Act does not authorize a national attack on
greenhouse gases and that states…
http://www.fresnobee.com/news/nation-world/national/article31252778.html#storylink=cpy


Sen. Fran Pavley: A quiet force in the climate storm. In a small
hearing room decorated with paintings of birds and flowers, Sen.
Fran Pavley -- the great-granddaughter of a three-time
presidential candidate -- sat down to present the bill that will
likely cement her legacy as the California Legislature's most
accomplished environmentalist. 
http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_28650595/sen-fran-pavley-quiet-force-climate-storm


Climate Change May Get Its Own Museum.  New York City may add
another museum, this one exploring global warming.  American
museums get about 850 million visits annually, nearly double the
attendance of all major league sporting events and theme parks
combined, according to the American Alliance of Museums.  Massie
expects that the climate change museum…
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/climate-change-may-get-its-own-museum/


‘Godzilla El Niño’ Plus Carbon Pollution Equals Global Warming
Speed-Up.  NASA oceanographer Bill Patzert called the
intensifying El Niño, “Godzilla.” A NOAA research scientist
called it “Bruce Lee” in July, and, by August, she said that
what’s coming is “Supercalifragilisticexpealidocious.” Whatever
you call it, the short-term burst of regional warming in the
tropical Pacific…
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/08/17/3691712/godzilla-el-nino-global-warming/


APP to Retire Commercial Plantations to Cut Carbon Emissions. 
Asia Pulp and Paper Group has committing to retire around 7,000
hectares of commercial plantation areas to protect threatened
carbon-rich peatlands. The company says this is the first time
that plantations on tropical peatland have been retired for
conservation purposes worldwide.
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2015/08/17/app-to-retire-commercial-plantations-to-cut-carbon-emissions/#ixzz3j6I3ZuTm


Top 10 cities facing the most “danger days” due to climate
change. Chances are you’ve never heard the phrase “danger day”
when it comes to weather. That’s because they’re rare. You’ll
want to get to know it, though, because climate change is about
to make them a lot more common over the next 15 years.
http://grist.org/climate-energy/top-10-cities-facing-the-most-danger-days-due-to-climate-change/

Turning CO2 emissions into plastic with algae? It may not be as
crazy as it sounds. From polyester shirts, plastic milk jugs and
PVC pipes to the production of high-grade industrial ethanol, the
contribution of the chemical feedstock ethylene can be found just
about everywhere around the globe. But ethylene's ubiquity as a
building block in plastics and chemicals masks an underlying
environmental cost. http://www.eenews.net/stories/1060023524 

Wash. Gov. Inslee pushes forward carbon cap. In a move that
mirrors President Obama's recent executive action on climate
change, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) is pushing forward a cap
on carbon emissions under the state's Clean Air Act after failing
to convince the Legislature to approve a market-based program
last year.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2015/08/17/stories/1060023526 

Strong winds are driving erosion on the melting Greenland ice
sheet – study. Strong winds off the Greenland ice sheet are
blowing patches of the surrounding tundra bare of the plants that
cycle nutrients, store carbon and feed wildlife, found
researchers characterizing soil erosion and its ecological
impacts in a new study.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2015/08/17/stories/1060023525 

Global temperatures continue to spike, despite disagreement on
the 'pause'. There continues to be some disagreement among
climate scientists about the global warming "hiatus" that some
believe occurred between 1998 and 2013. Meanwhile, starting in
2014, there seems to be a marked uptick in temperatures, with
some scientists predicting that 2015 could well emerge as the
hottest year on record.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2015/08/17/stories/1060023511 

DROUGHT

California Town, United by Drought, Is Split Over New Water Park.
On a typical hard-hat tour of a major municipal construction
project, city officials extol the venture’s expansiveness and
rave about how many citizens will benefit. But this city has
taken a different approach to a nearly $44 million recreational
complex underway: Officials boast how small it is and how few
people are expected to use it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/us/california-town-united-by-drought-is-split-over-new-water-park.html?_r=0


The next drought: Water officials endorse a 'less is more'
strategy for the future. Glimpses of California's water future: 
A sprawl of sewage treatment plants, recharge basins and
desalination facilities, stretching out across an industrial
backlot near Rancho Cucamonga. A collection of slender,
solar-powered telemetry towers rising from an almond orchard in
the San Joaquin Valley to bring high-tech efficiency to
irrigation.
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-next-drought-20150816-story.html


Crews begin work on drought fix at Folsom Lake. As water
regulators continue to rapidly drain Folsom Lake to bolster
supplies downstream, crews have begun construction of a floating
barge that could keep water flowing to the city of Folsom this
fall. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which operates the
reservoir, has allowed roughly 42 billion gallons to flow from
Folsom Lake in the last 30 days.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/water-and-drought/article31164809.html#storylink=cpy


California Drought: Marin tule elk have sufficient water supply,
federal park says. Tule elk are being closely watched in the
Point Reyes National Seashore this summer after the population
fell off amid concerns of a dearth of water supplies.  Earlier
this year, park service officials revealed that more than 250
Tule elk died inside a 2,600 acre fenced-in preserve on Tomales
Point over a two-year period.
http://www.mercurynews.com/drought/ci_28653558/california-drought-marin-tule-elk-have-sufficient-water


California drought: ‘Emergency situation’ for state’s trees. The
rush to save water is claiming legions of unintended casualties —
California’s trees. Specimens that have stood tall and strong for
decades are stressed and dying because of the drought, as
Californians turn off spigots to comply with Gov. Jerry Brown’s
mandatory conservation measures.
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/environment-and-nature/20150816/california-drought-emergency-situation-for-states-trees


Orange County has led the way as a model for recycling water, but
here's what's being done to do more. In the 1960s, when most of
Irvine was farm fields, planners realized the value of recycling
water. In a remarkable act of foresight, they built an extra set
of pipes into plans for the master-planned city to carry treated
wastewater to those fields. “We could work with developers to put
in main distribution lines as development was happening…
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/water-677812-recycled-recycling.html

FUELS

Low Oil Prices Pose Threat to Texas Fracking Bonanza. No place in
Texas produces more oil than Karnes County, but suddenly the
roaring economy here is cooling fast, chilled by the plunging
price of crude. Workers who migrated from far and wide to find
work here, chasing newfound oil riches, are being laid off,
deserting their recreational vehicle parks and going home.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/15/business/energy-environment/low-oil-prices-pose-threat-to-texas-fracking-bonanza.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0


Oil Prices Drop on Shrinking Japan Economy, More US Drill Rigs. 
Oil prices fell to near six-year lows on Monday as Japan's
economy contracted and producers in the United States added
drilling rigs for a fourth straight week despite a recent rout in
prices.  Japan's economy, the second biggest in Asia and No.3 in
the world…
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2015/08/16/business/16reuters-markets-oil.html


South L.A. residents resist oil firm's plans to burn gas at
drilling site. In South Los Angeles, residents are battling an
oil company that has been a longtime neighbor, resisting its
plans to burn off excess gas at its West Adams Boulevard drilling
site. Freeport-McMoRan, which operates the site, says an enclosed
burner is needed as a backup method to dispose of unused gas that
is pulled from the earth along with the oil.
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-gas-flare-20150817-story.html


Researchers Modify Oilseed To Lower Viscosity For Use As
Biodiesel Fuel. Heading into another U.S. presidential election
year, getting more biofuels into the U.S. gasoline supply
continues to pose both political and logistical hurdles.  But
researchers, regulators, and entrepreneurs increasingly see
promise in synthetic diesel created from a variety of non-fossil
fuel sources.
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1099609_researchers-modify-oilseed-to-lower-viscosity-for-use-as-biodiesel-fuel


Judge rebuffs latest challenge to Calif. fuel standards.  A
federal judge last week largely upheld one of California's
primary efforts to address climate change in a challenge from
crude oil producers. The judge largely granted the state's
motions to dismiss the litigation on California's low-carbon fuel
standard, holding that previous lawsuits had already resolved
most of the issues in the case. 
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2015/08/17/stories/1060023549  

VEHICLES

Morgan Stanley Thinks Tesla's Real Battle Might Be With Apple,
Uber And Google. What if Tesla Motors TSLA +3.95%‘ real
competition in the future is more likely to come from the likes
of Uber and Google GOOGL +0.43% than the entrenched automakers
it’s challenging today? That’s a question Morgan Stanley MS
+0.00% analyst Adam Jonas ponders in a note to clients Monday and
he thinks Elon Musk’s automaker…
http://www.forbes.com/sites/steveschaefer/2015/08/17/forget-the-automakers-teslas-real-battle-might-be-with-uber-and-google/


Immortus Electric-Car Concept Claims Solar Running Up To 35 MPH.
Many electric-car owners use solar panels to generate power that
they can use in home charging stations. But what if they could
actually put those panels directly on their electric cars
instead? Solar-car racing is nothing new, and solar panels have
been used to a very limited extent to supplement battery power in
a few production cars.
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1099606_immortus-electric-car-concept-claims-solar-running-up-to-35-mph


GREEN ENERGY

AP EXCLUSIVE: California measure fails to create green jobs.
Three years after California voters passed a ballot measure to
raise taxes on corporations and generate clean energy jobs by
funding energy-efficiency projects in schools, barely one-tenth
of the promised jobs have been created, and the state has no
comprehensive list to show how much work has been done or how
much energy has been saved.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_GREEN_ENERGY_PROMISES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


MISCELLANEOUS

States raising taxes, fees and debt to pay for road repairs.
While Congress remains stalled on a long-term plan for funding
highways, state lawmakers and governors aren't waiting around.
Nearly one-third of the states have approved measures this year
that could collectively raise billions of dollars through higher
fuel taxes, vehicle fees and bonds to repair old bridges…
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_HIGHWAY_FUNDING_STATES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


OPINIONS

India Finally Faces Up to an Ugly Reality. Every society has its
articles of faith: “This is a free country”; “Islam is a religion
of peace.” The strength of a society depends on the extent to
which its articles of faith match the reality on the ground. In
the India I grew up in, one such article of faith was: “India is
a beautiful country.” It was what we said about ourselves; it was
what others said about us, too. It seemed unassailable.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/17/opinion/india-finally-faces-up-to-an-ugly-reality.html


Climate Change Is the Defining Story of Our Time.  Voters in 2016
must understand that climate change is very real and dangerous,
not distant and irrelevant. Younger people should be especially
vigilant about each candidate’s stance on the issue because we
will inherit a planet that the next president can either redeem
or ignore.
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2015/08/17/what-college-students-care-about-in-this-presidential-election/climate-change-is-the-defining-story-of-our-time


Get ready for the new normal: dry and drier.  California in the
Great Drought is a living diorama of how the future is going to
look across much of the United States as climate change sets in.
Like hippies and "dude," wine bars and hot tubs, mega-churches
and gay rights, what gets big in California goes national soon
enough.
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-debuys-drought-foretells-future-20150817-story.html


State response to drinking water editorial. Regarding the
editorial “State needs to step up response to water emergencies”
(Aug. 2): California is in a fourth year of extreme drought, and
a number of communities are running out of water, creating
uncertainty for some of our most economically vulnerable Central
Valley residents.
http://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article31124147.html#storylink=cpy


New carbon rules can propel innovation, jobs.  With President
Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan, the U.S. has taken its biggest
step yet to combat climate change. But equally important is how
this plan provides an unprecedented opportunity to strengthen the
American economy and usher our energy system into the 21st
Century. Some climate-change deniers in Congress are trying to
paint these environmental…
http://www.freep.com/story/opinion/contributors/2015/08/17/obama-carbon-plan/31859815/


Trucking with better fuel economy, lower emissions: Guest
commentary. Undoubtedly, at some point in your day, you pass by a
Waste Management truck, perhaps collecting recycling in your
neighborhood or driving down one of California’s highways. What
you may not know is that the Waste Management fleet is one of the
greenest on the road, having committed early to reducing carbon
emissions…
http://www.presstelegram.com/opinion/20150815/trucking-with-better-fuel-economy-lower-emissions-guest-commentary


BLOGS

California First: As Both Climate Victim and Responder, the
National Style-Setter Leads the Way. Long ago, I lived in a cheap
flat in San Francisco and worked as the lone straight man in a
gay construction company. Strangely enough, the drought now
strangling California brings back memories of those days. It was
the 1970s.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-debuys/california-first-climate-change_b_7995954.html


Carbon Fees are Not the Best Solution to Climate Pollution.
Several prominent articles this year that have taken a position
against energy efficiency have attracted enough press attention
to require formal refutations, which you can find here and here
and here and here. But these articles all have something in
common: an ideological belief that markets work best
unconditionally and therefore that a carbon pollution fee…
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/dgoldstein/carbon_fees_are_not_the_best_s.html


Study Indicates Bulk Energy Storage Would Increase Total U.S.
Electricity System. Because renewable energy technologies like
wind and solar don’t always produce energy when we want them to,
it’s often argued that we’ll have to store wind and solar energy
in giant batteries or other forms of grid energy storage before
we can fully transition the electricity system toward renewable
sources.
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/plugged-in/study-indicates-bulk-energy-storage-would-increase-total-u-s-electricity-system-emissions/


Wikipedia wars are harming politically charged science.
Politically controversial scientific topics like global warming
and evolution are being ransacked on Wikipedia, leading to
"egregious errors" that must be monitored. This was the finding
of the first investigation into Wikipedia science edits of its
kind, published in PLOS One…
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2015-08/17/wikipedia-wars-are-killing-politically-charged-science




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

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