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newsclips -- ARB Newsclips for December 23, 2015.

Posted: 23 Dec 2015 14:48:53
ARB Newsclips for December 23, 2015. 

This is a service of the California Air Resources Board’s Office
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individual websites to view some of the following news articles.

CAP AND TRADE

Japan considering cap and trade under climate deal. Japanese
officials are considering launching an emissions trading program
as a way to reduce the nation's carbon pollution.  Bloomberg News
reported Tuesday that a cap-and-trade market is one of a handful
of proposals the Japanese are contemplating after the country
committed to cutting its greenhouse gases as part of an
international climate deal …
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/264038-japan-considering-cap-and-trade-under-climate-deal


AIR POLLUTION

Court order seeks to hasten relocation of residents near Porter
Ranch gas leak. Los Angeles city officials on Tuesday filed a
restraining order against Southern California Gas Co. over its
leaking well above Porter Ranch that has forced more than 2,000
residents to flee their homes because of ill effects from the
escaping natural gas.
http://www.dailynews.com/general-news/20151222/court-order-seeks-to-hasten-relocation-of-residents-near-porter-ranch-gas-leak

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2015/12/23/la-city-attorney-seeks-court-order-against-socal-gas-company-in-response-to-porter-ranch-leak/


Manufacturers, businesses sue over ozone rule. The industry
groups most critical of new smog rules from the Obama
administration are suing over those standards. The National
Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce filed lawsuits against the Environmental Protection
Agency’s (EPA) limits on surface level ozone on Wednesday.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/264089-manufacturers-businesses-sue-over-ozone-rule


CLIMATE CHANGE

Cities join defense of EPA's key carbon rule. The National League
of Cities, which represents over 19,000 U.S. cities, filed a
motion in a federal court Tuesday to support the Obama
administration's push to curb carbon emissions against legal
challenges.
The NLC joined the U.S. Conference of Mayors, as well as 13
cities from Baltimore…
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-climatechange-usa-cleanpowerplan-idUSKBN0U520H20151222


The Home Depot Exceeds 2015 Carbon Reduction Goals.  The Home
Depot has reduced its supply chain carbon emissions by 35 percent
in 2015 over 2008 levels, significantly surpassing the 20 percent
reduction goal it set in 2010, according to the company’s 2015
Sustainability Report. The Home Depot also reported that its
stores have reduced energy use by 30 percent over 2004 levels…
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2015/12/23/the-home-depot-exceeds-2015-carbon-reduction-goals/#ixzz3vA7DSYXq


Palo Alto: Summit planned to update climate action plan. Now that
the city has assembled a 100 percent carbon-neutral electricity
portfolio, officials want input from the public about what
environmental goals they should target next.  Residents can help
update the city's Climate Action Plan at the Sustainability and
Climate Action Plan Summit on Jan. 24.
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/general-news/20151223/palo-alto-summit-planned-to-update-climate-action-plan


Weather Not Warming GOP Lawmakers to Climate Change. Now that
it's pushing 70 degrees in the Northeast in December, some
congressmen are staying fairly silent. It's been 10 months since
scientists around the world nearly had a collective aneurism
after the head of the Senate environment committee hefted a
snowball on TV to demonstrate that "very unseasonable" cold
temperatures…
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015-12-22/remember-the-congressmen-who-said-global-warming-doesnt-exist-because-its-cold


Brazil declares emergency after 2,400 babies are born with brain
damage, possibly due to mosquito-borne virus. Brazilian health
auth orities are sounding the alarm about a mosquito-borne virus
that they believe may be the cause of thousands of infants being
born with damaged brains.The pathogen, known as Zika and first
discovered in forest monkeys in Africa over 70 years ago, is the
new West Nile -- a virus that causes mild symptoms in most but
can lead to serious neurological complications or even death in
others.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2015/12/23/brazil-declares-emergency-after-2400-babies-are-born-with-brain-damage-possibly-due-to-mosquito-borne-virus/
Building Energy Codes in 2015:  A Foundation of Cutting Climate
Pollution. The Paris climate talks gave strong impetus to the
world's determination to curtail climate pollution through
policies that create jobs and economic growth while
simultaneously cutting emissions. While they may be a lower
profile solution, improved building codes are a cornerstone of a
successful climate policy.
http://www.theenergycollective.com/nrdcswitchboard/2304592/building-energy-codes-2015-foundation-cutting-climate-pollution


U.S. Bread Basket Shifts Thanks to Climate Change. Farming across
the Midwest will be challenged by a shifting climate and may
struggle to keep up crop production. In September 2014, a group
of leading plant and agricultural researchers sat down at
Washington University in St. Louis to discuss a looming question
-- how will agriculture in the Midwest be affected by climate
change? This wasn't just an academic exercise.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/u-s-bread-basket-shifts-thanks-to-climate-change/

DROUGHT

California snowpack exceeds average for first time in years. A
series of powerful snowstorms in the Sierra Nevada has resulted
in a small milestone in drought-stricken California: The snowpack
is now higher than average for this time of year. The storms,
which are likely to continue into Friday, have fattened the
mountain snowpack to levels California hasn't seen for two years…
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-snowpack-20151222-story.html

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_29298325/bay-area-storm-heavy-rain-departs-heavy-winds


The drought plus El Nino increases the threat of mudslides.  A n
intense October rainstorm that pounded the Grapevine's barren
hillsides offered a sober preview of what El Niño might unleash
in the rest of drought-stricken Southern California. The rain hit
the dry, hardened terrain where the drought had shriveled
vegetation. The topsoil easily gave way, with mudflows cascading
onto Interstate 5…
http://www.latimes.com/local/weather/la-me-el-nino-drought-20151223-story.html


Wet Storms Making Positive Impact On California Drought. Storms
have consistently rolled through our region recently, but the
question we’ve gotten over and over is are they really making a
dent on our drought? This is the winter Bill Proffit has been
waiting for.
http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2015/12/23/wet-storms-making-positive-impact-on-california-drought/

Tahoe gets 6.4 billion gallons of water in 24 hrs. More than 6
billion gallons of water have poured into Lake Tahoe in less than
two days, helping the lake begin to recover from four years of
crushing drought. Since midnight Monday, the lake has gone up
1.92 inches, the equivalent of 6.39 billion gallons of water.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Tahoe-gets-6-4-billion-gallons-of-water-in-24-hrs-6715363.php?cmpid=brknow


No surprise to Washington residents: Our drought is over. The
state’s drought declaration, which was declared back in early
March, will be allowed to expire thanks to a series of favorable
snowstorms. But officials also warn that it’s too early to
celebrate. The snowpack is at or above normal across the
Cascades, eliminating drought in Western Washington and reducing
drought from extreme to moderate…
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/weather/no-surprise-to-washingtonians-our-drought-is-over/


FUELS

FuelCell Energy pathway for hydrogen from digester gas has
negative carbon intensity for CA LCFS.  Connecticut-based
FuelCell Energy (FCE) has applied for a prospective pathway for
California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) for the production
of hydrogen fuel produced from biogas derived from the mesophilic
anaerobic digestion of wastewater sludge at a publicly owned
treatment works (POTW).
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2015/12/20151223-fce.html 

VEHICLES

When Electric-Car Drivers Learn How Gas Cars Work: Video. One of
the major tasks of electric-car advocates is getting people used
to the idea of cars with plugs. For some people, driving around
in near silence and plugging in at charging stations can take
some getting used to. But what if someone has driven only
electric cars, and decided to see what an "old-fashioned"
internal-combustion car was like?
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1101554_when-electric-car-drivers-learn-how-gas-cars-work-video


VW RECALL

VW Sales In U.S., Europe Slammed By Diesel Emission Scandal. It's
been a little more than three months since the Volkswagen diesel
emission scandal erupted into the public eye. Over that time, VW
has revealed multiple violations of emissions rules across the
globe for roughly 11 million of its TDI diesel cars sold not only
by Volkswagen but also Audi and Porsche.
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1101538_vw-sales-in-u-s-europe-slammed-by-diesel-emission-scandal


GREEN ENERGY

Batteries Gaining Favor Over Gas Peaker Plants in California.
Southern California Edison is embracing energy-storage technology
over the natural gas-fired peaker plants that utilities have
traditionally relied upon to meet sudden shortfalls in
electricity. “If the requirement is just, ‘Hey we’re just short
energy or capacity,’ then yes, energy storage is going to be the
solution before probably a peaker,”…
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-22/batteries-gaining-favor-over-gas-peaker-plants-in-california


Canadian Solar Sells Second Project to Concord Green Energy.
Canadian Solar Inc. sold a 10-megawatt plant in Ontario to
Concord Green Energy Inc., the second deal between the two
companies this week. The Earthlight LP solar park in Georgina,
Ontario, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Toronto, was
valued at C$69.4 million ($50 million), according to a statement
today from Guelph…
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-23/canadian-solar-sells-second-project-to-concord-green-energy

China struggles to use wind power to avert toxic, 'red alert'
smog. Last year, when her relatives came to visit Beijing, Wang
Yuefei took them to photograph the Bird's Nest, a stadium built
for the 2008 Summer Olympics and one of the most popular tourist
attractions in the city. But if the visitors came this year, they
wouldn't have had the chance -- the stadium is now shrouded in
charcoal-gray smog and is barely visible.
http://www.eenews.net/stories/1060029923 

MISCELLANEOUS

Comcast to pay $26 million for mishandling hazardous waste [The
Philadelphia Inquirer]. Comcast Corp. has agreed to pay nearly
$26 million to settle a California investigation into improperly
disposing hazardous waste and failing to shred discarded customer
records. California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris said that
the Philadelpia cable giant's "careless and unlawful hazardous
waste…
http://www.bloomberg.com/research/markets/news/article.asp?docKey=600-201512230001KRTRIB__BUSNEWS_47728_32567-1


OPINIONS

Letters: Incentivize, don't scold, to cut carbon use. Re:
“Practice what you preach on climate” [Letters, Dec. 21]: John
Jaeger’s criticism of climate rallies is correct, but not in the
way he thinks. It’s true that many activists drive or even fly to
attend events. That’s a clear indication that we will never solve
the problem of reducing emissions by asking people to sacrifice
or give up their lifestyles.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/climate-697042-people-dec.html


Valley Voice: Look to California for biodiesel targets. The state
took a historic step earlier this year in its commitment to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions when the California Air Resources
Board (CARB) voted unanimously to finalize the state’s low carbon
fuels standard.
http://www.desertsun.com/story/opinion/2015/12/23/valley-voice-look-california-biodiesel-targets/77706414/


Tri-Valley letters: Climate change 'consensus' is anything but.
Climate change 'consensus' is anything but In a recent letter to
the editor from Jan Weiss, she bemoans climate deniers and asks
what "magical secrets" and sources they have that differ from her
so-called "consensus" of 30,000 scientists. Well, let's start
with the fact that these 30,000 (bogus number) are not all
climate scientists and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (which claims such consensus)…
http://www.insidebayarea.com/letters/ci_29299733/tri-valley-letters-climate-change-consensus-is-anything


BLOGS

Obama Has Been More Friend Than Foe to Oil Industry. When
President Barack Obama first took office in 2009, he was expected
to be an adversary of oil and gas companies, seen as polluters of
the environment. He hasn’t been. Last week, Mr. Obama gave the
oil and gas industry its biggest priority of the past two years:
lifting the 40-year-old ban on oil exports, which he signed into
law as part of broader spending and tax legislation.
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2015/12/23/obama-has-been-more-friend-than-foe-to-oil-industry/


What Went Wrong at Porter Ranch? Before she retired in 2014,
Anneliese Anderle was a field engineer for the Division of Oil,
Gas and Geothermic Resources, which regulates oil drilling. She
worked out of offices in Bakersfield, Cypress and Ventura, and
for a while she was responsible for monitoring the massive
natural gas storage field at Aliso Canyon.
http://www.laweekly.com/news/what-went-wrong-at-porter-ranch-6405804


The Year in Clean Vehicles - Saving Money and Cleaning the Air.
Part of NRDC's Year-End Series Reviewing 2015 Energy
Developments. In signing the Paris Agreement, nations across the
world are taking a much-needed step toward cutting carbon
pollution from fossil fuel use and fortunately, the United States
has a strong start--particularly in the traditionally
oil-dependent transportation sector. Strong fuel efficiency and
clean vehicle standards…
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/ltonachel/the_year_in_clean_vehicles_sav.html


Army on the front line of fight against climate change. From the
pope to the president to Paris, there is a growing national and
international discussion about the causes of climate change and
what actions, if any, should be taken by policymakers. The U.S.
Army, however, does not have the luxury of engaging in this
debate – instead, we must respond to the effects of climate
change that are already affecting our mission.
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/energy-environment/263944-army-on-the-front-line-of-fight-against-climate-change




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

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