What's New List Serve Post Display

ARB Newsclips for October 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.

AIR POLLUTION

States reliant on fossil fuels sue over new clean air rules.
States and industry groups dependent on fossil fuels began filing
court challenges Friday to President Barack Obama's Clean Power
Plan, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Opponents of
the plan were expected to file a flurry of lawsuits at the U.S.
Court of Appeals as the…
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AP_US_CLEAN_AIR_LAWSUITS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


Avalanche of Lawsuits to Be Triggered by Carbon Rule Publication.
Lawyers are expected to unleash a flood of lawsuits Friday when
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency publishes regulations on
power-plant pollution, challenging everything from the timing to
the constitutionality of President Barack Obama’s signature
climate initiative.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-23/avalanche-of-lawsuits-to-be-triggered-by-carbon-rule-publication


Vapor cloud from Exxon refinery in California triggers alarm. The
unexplained release of a large vapor cloud on Friday from an
Exxon Mobil Corp refinery near Los Angeles prompted authorities
to sound public safety sirens, but no toxic fumes were detected
and no one was hurt, a fire official said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/24/us-refinery-operations-exxon-torrance-idUSKCN0SI03O20151024


UPDATE 3-U.S. states, business groups challenge Obama's carbon
rules in court. Twenty-five states and several business groups on
Friday launched legal challenges seeking to block the Obama
administration's proposal to curb carbon dioxide emissions from
power plants, the centerpiece of its high-profile climate change
strategy. West Virginia, Texas, Florida and Ohio are among the
states challenging…
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/23/usa-climatechange-lawsuit-idUSL1N12N0ZQ20151023


Shell settles with Bay Area Air Quality Management District.
Shell Oil has agreed to pay $208,000 in air pollution penalties
to settle complaints of 12 violations in 2013 at the Shell
Martinez Refinery, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District
announced Monday. The refinery violations included discharging
excessive quantities of nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide…
http://martinezgazette.com/archives/23395 

California Approves New Mobile Scrubbing Technology. AMECS is
said to use specialised barges to attach scrubbers to the exhaust
ports of container ships.
The California Air Resource Board (CARB) has approved the use of
an Advanced Environmental Group, LLC (AEG) exhaust gas scrubber
alternative to shore power, known as the Advanced Maritime
Emissions Control System (AMECS)…
http://shipandbunker.com/news/am/828834-california-approves-new-mobile-scrubbing-technology


As legal onslaught begins, EPA tells states how to buy time on
climate rule. As expected, the publication of the final Clean
Power Plan in the Federal Register on Friday brought on a swarm
of lawsuits from opponents of the U.S. EPA rule. On Friday
morning, West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton jointly announced a 24-state
lawsuit challenging EPA's rule.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2015/10/26/stories/1060026874 

As Obama meets with Indonesia's president, activists push for
action on forests and climate change. With the backdrop of
massive peat land fires sending carbon into the atmosphere and
the fast-approaching U.N. climate talks, environmental advocates
expect today's visit between Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi"
Widodo and President Obama to touch on climate change and
deforestation challenges.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2015/10/26/stories/1060026868 

CLIMATE CHANGE

Why did Hurricane Patricia become a monster so quickly? Hurricane
Patricia zoomed from tropical storm to record-beater in 30 hours
flat like a jet-fueled sports car. Why? The Pacific storm had
just the right ingredients. Plenty of warm water provided the
energy for what meteorologists call explosive intensification.
The air was much moister than usual, adding yet more fuel.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SCI_TROPICAL_WEATHER_STRENGTH?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


One of the strongest hurricanes ever recorded is fueled by El
Niño, scientists say. Hurricane Patricia, one of the strongest
hurricanes ever recorded, is being fueled by El Niño, a weather
phenomenon that continues to gain strength in the Pacific Ocean,
scientists say. Scientists say the powerful hurricane offers…
http://www.latimes.com/local/weather/la-me-ln-hurricane-patricia-an-el-nino-fueled-hurricane-scientist-says-20151023-story.html


World's Catholic bishops issue appeal to Paris climate talks.
Catholic patriarchs, cardinals and bishops representing five
continents appealed to climate negotiators on Monday to approve a
"transformative" and fair, legally binding agreement that sets
global temperature limits and goals for eliminating fossil-fuel
emissions.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_REL_VATICAN_CLIMATE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


OTHER RELATED STORIES
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/26/climatechange-summit-vatican-idUSL8N12Q2F620151026


Talks on climate deal heat up over bill for global warming. The
trillion-dollar question of who should pay for global warming is
coming to a head in talks on an international climate pact, as
developing countries worry they won't get enough money to tackle
the problem. With just five weeks left before a U.N. climate
summit in Paris, developing countries…
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CLIMATE_COUNTDOWN_UN_TALKS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


Turkey's plan to help farmers adapt to climate change? Ask a
tablet. Ahmed Kinavkates has a problem. The farmer in the Kazan
district of the Turkish capital usually starts ploughing his
fields now, to prepare them for his winter crops of potato and
cabbage. But he needs rain and the erratic weather in the region
makes it impossible for him to predict when it will come.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/26/turkey-climatechange-technology-idUSL8N12P08R20151026


Plankton poo clue could aid climate predictions. Scientists from
the UK's National Oceanography Center (NOC) have set their sights
on unmasking the ocean's 'twilight zone' - the area between 100
and 1000 meters deep where a small amount of the sun's light can
still penetrate. This area has proved particularly troublesome
for researchers to study, as scientific instruments are typically
designed to either sink to the ocean floor or…
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/26/us-planktonpoo-climate-idUSKCN0SK1NJ20151026


Developing Nations Push for Tougher Target in Climate Change
Talks.  African countries, low-lying nations fear bearing brunt
of global warming. Developing nations facing some of the biggest
threats from climate change are pressing rich countries to make a
goal that has underpinned years of negotiations even tougher,
highlighting the difficulty of reaching a new global agreement
this year.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/developing-nations-push-for-tougher-target-in-climate-change-talks-1445625743


New York lawmakers to discuss climate change. Members of New
York's state Assembly will meet to discuss the state's response
to climate change. The Assembly Committee on Environmental
Conservation and the chamber's Climate Change Work Group will
hold a joint gathering Monday in Albany. The Work Group was
created earlier this year by Speaker Carl Heastie to discuss ways
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions…
http://www.wsj.com/articles/APfab83fb7472e4d13b5fbd2a481559446 

How Exxon went from leader to skeptic on climate change research.
Throughout much of the 1980s, Exxon earned a public reputation as
a pioneer in climate change research. It sponsored workshops,
funded academic research and conducted its own high-tech
experiments exploring the science behind global warming. But by
1990, the company, in public, took a different posture.
http://graphics.latimes.com/exxon-research/ 
http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/environment/article41314959.html


Coal mine expansion stalls in lawsuit citing climate change. The
U.S. Interior Department should not have approved the expansion
of a southeastern Montana coal mine before taking a closer look
at its effect on the environment, a federal judge said about a
lawsuit arguing the government ignored coal's contributions to
climate change.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/business/article41440002.html#storylink=cpy


UN’s Bonn Climate Talks End Up Better Than They Started. Friday
marked the end of the week-long October international climate
meeting (11th part of the second session of the Ad Hoc Working
Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action) in Bonn, a
runup to the first global climate change agreement in 18 years
this December.
http://cleantechnica.com/2015/10/26/uns-bonn-climate-talks-end-better-started/


DROUGHT

California’s Growers Bear Brunt of Drought Woes. Even as water
costs mount, farmers find it difficult to raise prices for
fruits, vegetables. California’s historic drought is forcing
farmers in the dominant produce-growing state to fallow hundreds
of thousands of acres and spend millions of dollars to access
water. Yet U.S. grocery shoppers are barely feeling an impact.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/californias-growers-bear-brunt-of-drought-woes-1445765403


In Drought-Ridden California, the Classic Lawn Loses Ground. With
help from public rebates, yards are being redefined as grass
gives way to less thirsty materials, including decomposed
granite. Just a year ago, the Carmel Mountain Ranch Country Club
— which bills itself as having an “exquisitely manicured,
visually breathtaking” golf course — featured the same
traditional rolling hills of grass found at golf clubs around the
country.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/27/us/in-drought-ridden-california-the-classic-lawn-loses-ground.html?_r=0


Big water users, take note: DWP is considering outing you.
Decades before someone coined the Twitter hashtag #droughtshaming
and people began posting YouTube videos of their neighbors'
drowning lawns, California water suppliers encouraged
conservation by releasing the names of their biggest water hogs.
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-water-bill-secrecy-20151025-story.html

Essential Politics: Learning tough lessons from Australia's
drought. California lawmakers who visited the driest inhabited
continent on the planet are bringing home lessons learned from
crippling drought. The 10-day fact-finding mission to Australia
included a meeting with the Victoria Minister for Environment,
Climate Change and Water…
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-essential-politics-html-20151026-htmlstory.html


South state storms show no easy remedies for California drought.
An epic rainstorm brought mudslides, flooding and road closures
to Southern California recently, but it did little to ease the
state’s four-year drought. The fierce squalls that struck north
of Los Angeles on Oct. 15 and 16 delivered a likely preview of
what’s shaping up as a very wet winter in much of California. 
http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/water-and-drought/article41406858.html#storylink=cpy


DIESEL ACTIVITIES

DIESEL EMISSIONS: State cites air-quality violators. Air quality
officials and CHP officers team up for spot diesel truck
inspections.  A truck driver from Merced didn't expect to be
handed a $300 citation from state air-quality officials after
dropping off load of cheese in Ontario. “This an older truck, but
it’s alright.
http://www.pe.com/articles/air-784150-state-truck.html 

TruStar builds CNG station for Advanced Disposal. TruStar Energy
opened a new time-fill fueling station designed and built for
Advanced Disposal in Hartland, WI. TruStar Energy and Advanced
Disposal have partnered on 11 stations nationwide. “We are on
track to meet our goal to increase our CNG fleet to 15% by the
end of 2015,” said Advanced Disposal CEO Richard Burke.
http://fleetowner.com/fuel/trustar-builds-cng-station-advanced-disposal

 
FUELS

Green Plains Inc buys idled ethanol plant in Virginia. Green
Plains Inc has paid $18.25 million for the sole ethanol plant in
Virginia, it said on Monday, the latest in a string of
consolidations as vast supplies and low crude oil prices squeeze
industry profits. Green Plains said it planned to spend another
$6 million to $7 million for a corn oil extractor…
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/26/green-plains-inc-plant-idUSL1N12Q16W20151026?type=companyNews


Winter is coming – expect to pay less at the gas pump as
refineries switch to cheaper blend. Winter-blend gasoline, the
historically less-costly sibling of the summer blend, officially
arrives Nov. 1 – and drivers in the Inland Empire and Orange
County can look forward to paying a little less at the gas pump.
“The transition from summer to winter gas is always good news for
consumers because refiners are able to process more gas for every
barrel of crude…
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/california-688987-gas-gasoline.html


Alaska gets sales guarantees for LNG project. The long road to
commercializing Alaska's North Slope natural gas became a little
smoother last week when Alaska Gov. Bill Walker (I) and the
state's three industry partners reached a tentative agreement
guaranteeing that the companies' gas would be available for a
state-industry liquefied natural gas export project.
http://www.eenews.net/energywire/2015/10/26/stories/1060026890 

VEHICLES

Toyota at top in global vehicle sales for first 9 months. Toyota
was the world's top-selling automaker for the first nine months
of this year, selling nearly 7.5 million vehicles, and overtaking
Volkswagen which was in the No. 1 spot for the half year. Toyota
Motor Corp.'s global sales for the first three quarters totaled
7.498 million vehicles…
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_JAPAN_TOYOTA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


OTHER RELATED STORIES
http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-hy-toyota-tops-volkswagen-sales-20151026-story.html
http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/In-Gear/2015/1026/Toyota-regains-top-spot-as-world-s-largest-automaker-from-Volkswagen
http://www.autoevolution.com/news/volkswagen-loses-sales-crown-to-toyota-and-it-s-not-really-down-to-dieselgate-101344.html


Tech companies face rocky road on the way to making cars. Silicon
Valley may think it can build a better car. But should it?  As
tech giants like Google and Apple look to automobiles as the next
frontier for innovation, they face a looming reality: Cars are a
lot harder to manufacture and sell than smartphones.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TECH_INDUSTRY_AUTOMAKERS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


Tesla Aims to Build Its Electric Cars in China. CEO Elon Musk
says local production could cut price of its cars by a third in
that country. Luxury electric-car maker Tesla Motors Inc. is in
discussions with state and national government officials about
producing its $76,000 and up vehicles in China…
http://www.wsj.com/articles/tesla-plans-to-produce-electric-vehicles-in-china-within-two-years-1445602222


Tesla's most absurd-sounding feature will actually help it sell a
ton of cars in China. Tesla Motors' $100,000 cars are hitting a
sweet spot in China, offering the country's elite exclusivity and
luxury. But Tesla's newest feature is going to give those wealthy
Chinese customers an entirely different reason to own a Tesla.
Sales in China are ramping up fast.
http://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-bio-weapon-mode-china-2015-10


Diesel scandal opens door for other technologies. The Volkswagen
diesel scandal has drawn fresh attention to automakers’ drive
toward alternate fuels and clean engine technology. It won’t be
the end of diesel engines, but it could sharpen the focus on
other technologies. “Automakers have made great progress”
improving fuel efficiency…
http://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/mark-phelan/2015/10/24/auto-energy-emissions-vw-toyota-gm-diesel-fuel-cell-electric-vehicle-hybrid/74239880/


Honda's Tokyo Fuel-Cell Vehicle May Be Its Electric Car And
Plug-In Hybrid Too. In less than two days, Honda will officially
reveal the production version of its hydrogen fuel-cell sedan at
the Tokyo Motor Show. The company released two photos late last
month that show the car and its interior, following its FCEV and
FCV Concepts over the past two years.
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1100634_hondas-tokyo-fuel-cell-vehicle-may-be-its-electric-car-and-plug-in-hybrid-too


Both Electric And Gas Cars Lose Range In The Cold; Electrics Just
Lose More. When it comes to electric cars, one of the biggest
fears for potential customers is range anxiety in general--but
for many, it's specifically their cold-weather range. Batteries
lose efficiency in colder temperatures, something that only
heightens the range anxiety many potential buyers feel acutely.
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1100629_both-electric-and-gas-cars-lose-range-in-the-cold-electrics-just-lose-more


2016 Green Car of the Year Finalists Announced. The Los Angeles
Auto Show is coming up next month and, as activity starts ramping
up, news is starting to break on the new models that will be
announced and other juicy tidbits. This past week, the five
finalists for the Green Car Journal’s 2016 Green Car of the Year
award were shared.
http://cleantechnica.com/2015/10/26/2016-green-car-year-finalists-announced/


Cars To Vanish From Downtown Oslo Before 2020. Norway has firmly
established itself as the most friendly country in the world for
electric cars. Cars with plugs account for a higher percentage of
sales there than anywhere else. But the Scandinavian country may
soon take even more aggressive steps to reduce its
transportation-related carbon emissions. Norway's capital, Oslo,
may ban most people from driving their cars--electric or
otherwise--into the city center by 2020, according to The
Independent.
VW RECALL

Scandal-hit Volkswagen hires Opel exec as strategy chief.
Volkswagen is hiring a top strategy executive from competitor
Opel as it seeks to recover from a scandal over its cheating on
U.S. diesel emissions tests. Taking on Thomas Sedran as
Volkswagen's new chief of corporate strategy brings another
outside voice to the company as it…
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/V/VOLKSWAGEN?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


OTHER RELATED STORIES
http://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/Scandal-hit-Volkswagen-hires-Opel-exec-as-6590531.php


German business optimism resilient after VW scandal. Germany's
Ifo index of business optimism fell by less than expected in
October, as executives' outlooks for Europe's largest economy
remained relatively strong despite worries about a scandal at
Volkswagen and troubles in emerging markets.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_GERMANY_ECONOMY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


Is Volkswagen so complicated only insiders can fix it?
Volkswagen's effort to fix its emissions scandal will be largely
led by company insiders. Some experts say it's the only way,
given the German carmaker's unusually complicated structure and
power groups. Others, however, argue the company is just
compounding its risks if it does not bring an outsider to change
its ways.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/V/VOLKSWAGEN_CULTURE_CHANGE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


EU Set for Fight Over New Car-Emission Tests After VW Deception.
The European Union’s industrial-policy chief faces a clash with
EU governments over car pollution this week as the political
stakes from Volkswagen AG’s cheating rise.  Elzbieta Bienkowska,
the European commissioner for industrial policy, wants to give
automakers less leeway than do many EU nations in a move to a
tougher system of emission tests…
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-26/eu-set-for-fight-over-new-car-emission-tests-after-vw-deception


Volkswagen Suspends More Employees. Law firm Jones Day urges the
action to prevent tampering with emissions probe. Volkswagen AG
has suspended a larger number of engineers than previously
acknowledged, following a recommendation from the law firm
conducting an internal investigation into the auto maker’s
emissions cheating scandal, according to a person familiar with
the matter.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/volkswagen-widens-suspensions-in-emissions-scandal-1445791586


Volkswagen Inquiry’s Focus to Include Managers Who Turned a Blind
Eye. A widening internal investigation at Volkswagen is focusing
not only on who was responsible for installing illegal software
designed to fool emissions testers, but also on which managers
may have learned of the deception and failed to take appropriate
action…
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/26/business/international/volkswagen-investigation-focus-to-include-managers-who-turned-a-blind-eye.html?_r=2


Volkswagen loses sales top spot to Toyota after emissions
scandal. Toyota is back as world’s bestselling carmaker just
three months after surrendering its long-held status to
Volkswagen. Volkswagen has been knocked off the top spot for
global car sales by Toyota after taking it from its rival earlier
this year…
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/oct/26/volkswagen-top-spot-toyota-vw-emissions-scandal


Volkswagen May Offer Discounts To German Owners Of Cars With
Illicit Software: DPA. Volkswagen AG may offer VW owners in
Germany discounts on new cars if they turn in certain old models
affected by the emissions scandal that has rocked Europe's
biggest carmaker, the German news agency DPA reported Sunday.
Volkswagen is battling the biggest business crisis in its 78-year
history after admitting last month it installed software…
http://www.ibtimes.com/volkswagen-may-offer-discounts-german-owners-cars-illicit-software-dpa-2155404


Peugeot Says It Never Cheated on Emissions as Car Sales Rise PSA
Peugeot Citroen said it has never duped consumers about its
diesel vehicles, taking a swipe at Volkswagen AG as the German
rival reels in the aftermath of a cheating scandal. Peugeot
promised new measures to make its vehicles cleaner and said it
will also soon publish real-world fuel economy figures vetted by
an independent body.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-26/peugeot-says-it-never-cheated-on-emissions-as-its-car-sales-rise

HIGH-SPEED RAIL

Special Report $68-billion California bullet train project likely
to overshoot budget and deadline targets. The monumental task of
building California's bullet train will require punching 36 miles
of tunnels through the geologically complex mountains north of
Los Angeles. Crews will have to cross the tectonic boundary that
separates the North American and Pacific plates…
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-bullet-train-cost-final-20151025-story.html


GREEN ENERGY

Duke Energy buying Piedmont Natural Gas $4.9B. Multimedia	a. Duke
Energy will spend about $4.9 billion in cash to acquire Piedmont
Natural Gas, adding about a million new customers in the
Carolinas and Tennessee. The Charlotte, North Carolina, companies
are key partners in the $5 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline…
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_DUKE_ENERGY_ACQUISITION?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


OTHER RELATED STORIES
http://www.wsj.com/articles/duke-energy-to-buy-piedmont-natural-gas-for-4-9-billion-1445858176


Solar panels empower indigenous people in Canada's north. Daniel
T'seleie, an indigenous activist in Canada's far north, is
campaigning to help his people wean themselves from a worrying
dependence on imported fuel and food, recover old traditions and
win greater autonomy from the government.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/26/us-climatechange-canada-solar-idUSKCN0SK0G120151026


MISCELLANEOUS

This Is Your Office, If Ex-Goldman Twins Get Their Way. 'Healthy
buildings' make happy workers, they say. The pitch could make
them a fortune, if their bet on wellness in real estate pans out.
Last October a New York startup called Delos, founded by twin
brothers who were once partners at Goldman Sachs, published what
may be the most marketable proposition in real estate…
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-23/your-office-building-might-save-your-life


PlugShare.com steers electric car owners to charging stations.
Take charge — here's a website and app that make life easier for
owners of electric vehicles. Name: PlugShare.com and app  What it
does: A searchable website and app that shows more than 26,000
charging stations, shared residential chargers and high-power
stations in the United States and Canada. It also includes more
than 60,000 stations across the globe.
http://www.latimes.com/travel/deals/la-tr-webbuzz-20151025-story.html


OPINIONS

Diesel prices pressured by poor demand, high stocks: Kemp.
Reported stocks of crude and refined fuels continue to climb in
the United States, pressuring on oil prices, but the stock build
is concentrated in specific parts of the complex. Most of the
stock build has occurred in crude petroleum and the middle
distillates used for road diesel and home heating oil, while
gasoline stocks have remained relatively normal.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/26/us-usa-oil-kemp-idUSKCN0SK15120151026


Where's the urgency in cleaning up the Exide battery plant mess?
State environmental regulators knew for decades that the Exide
battery recycling plant in Vernon was spewing deadly substances
into its surroundings, but revelations about the extent of the
damage have continued even after the company agreed to shutter
the plant. Six months ago, state officials discovered dangerously
high levels of toxic lead dust…
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-adv-exide-20151026-story.html


Don't dismiss the link between wildfires and climate change,
scientists say. Was Gov. Jerry Brown wrong to blame this year's
epic California wildfires on climate change? An Oct. 18 Times
article said he was; scientists and activists responding to that
article say it's a lot more complicated.
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/readersreact/la-le-1024-saturday-wildfires-climate-change-20151024-story.html


Don’t give PG&E a monopoly on electric vehicle charging stations.
Buried deep within a highly technical filing with the California
Public Utilities Commission, PG&E put forward an audacious
proposal – giving itself monopoly power to deploy thousands of
electric vehicle charging stations and getting ratepayers to foot
the bill at triple the cost of private vendors.
http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/soapbox/article41395416.html#storylink=cpy


Drought-stressed California forests face a radical shift.
Biologist Greg Asner first heard the numbers in April, but they
did little to prepare him for what he saw. The Forest Service had
estimated that nearly 12.5 million trees in California’s southern
and central forests were dead. But as Asner peered down upon the
same forests from his airplane at 6,000 feet, he saw something
far worse. California’s drought-parched landscape was poised for
a radical transformation.
http://azdailysun.com/news/opinion/columnists/drought-stressed-california-forests-face-a-radical-shift/article_cef81d84-2ccd-5eb2-aa5e-efa44dd82265.html


CHRIS HILGER: Republican climate heroes in Congress unlock
gridlock. The Onion recently ran the satirical headline,
“Congress gets in a solid 12 hours of gridlocking before calling
it a day.” Stories from the press come out daily bemoaning the
gridlock afflicting Congress. The stories almost write
themselves. Mention a serious problem. Then mention gridlock. End
of story. One such serious problem is climate change.
http://www.pe.com/articles/climate-784313-congress-gibson.html 

Editorial: Air quality rules. Anyone living or spending much time
in western Pinal County knows the air often is dusty, especially
during summer storms. Federal, state and county authorities have
been grappling with the issue, although it is nothing new and
generally has been taken for granted.
http://www.trivalleycentral.com/opinion/our_view/editorial-air-quality-rules/article_e2a08640-7bfd-11e5-a7f4-bbb0aefe68fc.html


Will hacking nature protect us from climate change? To avoid a
global warming catastrophe by the end of the century, humans may
need to actually hack the climate. Whether you call it hacking,
or "fiddling with the knobs in the climate system," or the
less-imaginative "geoengineering," it revolves around this
question: Can humans game the system by using science to reverse
global warming?
http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/26/tech/pioneers-carbon-sink-geoengineering-climate-hack/index.html


Body Blows to the High-Speed Rail. Like a punch-drunk fighter,
the High Speed Rail Authority must be reeling from the blows
landed by Ralph Vartabedian’s Special Report in the Los Angeles
Times asserting with expert testimony that the project is likely
over cost and behind schedule. And, an even bigger blow could
come from the courts removing the rail’s one steady income
stream.
http://www.foxandhoundsdaily.com/2015/10/body-blows-to-the-high-speed-rail/


BLOGS

How diesel-mad EU laid seeds of VW scandal. The fierce response
of U.S. regulators to Volkswagen’s emissions manipulation shows
how lax European peers have been on a core public health issue.
Legal limits for harmful diesel emissions are too high, test
procedures are weak, and early evidence of non-compliance in real
life was ignored. Clean diesel is possible, but this will dent
automakers’ profits.
http://blogs.reuters.com/breakingviews/2015/10/26/how-diesel-mad-eu-laid-seeds-of-vw-scandal/


Place some limits on new pumping till drought ends. As he manages
the terrible drought, Gov. Jerry Brown has persuaded Californians
to reduce their water use by more than 25 percent and led the
campaign to persuade voters to approve a $7.5 billion water bond,
which will help us get through future droughts with less economic
and environmental damage.
http://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/article41234982.html#storylink=cpy


Smoky September clouds San Joaquin Valley clean-air record. San
Joaquin Valley folks breathed the healthiest air on record most
of the 2015 summer, but a smoky September made this year a
brutally memorable tale of two seasons. For the record, the
25,000-square-mile Valley has had only 80 exceedances of the
federal eight-hour ozone standard – easily the lowest total ever.
http://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/earth-log/article41252997.html#storylink=cpy
 

Businesses that owe the most in pollution fines are revealed.
Jefferson County's manufacturing base and coal-fired electricity
led it to be ranked fourth in the country for industrial toxic
air pollution in 2014, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
says, and the American Lung Association ranks Louisville as the
28th most polluted city for ozone.
http://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/blog/morning_call/2015/10/businesses-that-owe-the-most-in-pollution-fines.html


The White House Pushes Clean Energy While Coal States Push the
Past. In an article appearing in The Hill last week, Timothy Cama
reported that: A coalition of 24 states and a coal mining company
filed lawsuits Friday to challenge the most significant piece of
President Obama's environmental agenda, his signature climate
change rule for power plants.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steven-cohen/the-white-house-pushes-cl_b_8389004.html


World Bank-IMF Pushes “Carbon Pricing” Global Tax-&-Spend Scheme.
Carbon budget. Carbon regime. Carbon pricing. Carbon trading.
These are code words for the colossal UN grab for money and power
at the upcoming global Climate Summit in December in Paris. With
the United Nations’ world summit on global warming now only weeks
away, the propaganda war is ratcheting up — at a furious pace.
http://www.thenewamerican.com/tech/environment/item/21822-world-bank-imf-pushes-carbon-pricing-global-tax-spend-scheme

Is The Future of Transport All-Electric? The future of
transportation was a hot topic at last week’s Future of Energy
Summit in London hosted by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF).
In particular, discussions were built around the question of what
transportation will look like as the sector tries to balance 1)
meeting demand and 2) compliance with air pollution standards.
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/plugged-in/transportation-cities-and-air-quality-is-the-future-of-transport-all-electric/




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