What's New List Serve Post Display

ARB Newsclips for September 19, 2016. 

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

Canada will impose nationwide carbon price: minister. Canada will
impose a carbon price on provinces that do not adequately
regulate emissions by themselves, Environment Minister Catherine
McKenna said on Sunday without giving details on how the Liberal
government will do so. Speaking on the CTV broadcaster's
"Question Period," a national politics talk show, McKenna said
the new emissions regime…
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-canada-climatechange-idUSKCN11O0Q3

Canada Adopts Carbon Pricing — Possible N. American Hat Trick?
Canada’s federal environment minister Catherine McKenna made a
huge announcement Sunday on Canadian television’s Question
Period. The central government in Ottawa has come out for
nationwide carbon pricing. It will soon levy a minimum national
carbon price on any province that lacks adequate plans to reduce
its own greenhouse gas emissions.
http://cleantechnica.com/2016/09/19/canada-adopts-carbon-pricing-possible-n-american-hat-trick/


AIR POLLUTION

Study estimates 100,000 premature deaths from Indonesia haze.
Indonesian forest fires that choked a swath of Southeast Asia
with a smoky haze for weeks last year may have caused more than
100,000 premature deaths, according to new research that will add
to pressure on Indonesia's government to tackle the annual
crisis.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_SOUTHEAST_ASIA_HAZE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


Most states on track to meet emissions targets they call burden.
The 27 states challenging Obama’s Clean Power Plan in court say
the lower emissions levels it would impose are an undue burden.
But most are likely to hit them anyway. Already, Arkansas, North
Carolina, Oklahoma and South Dakota appear to be meeting the
CPP's early targets. And changes in the power market, along with
policies favoring clean generation …
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-climatechange-lawsuit-insight-idUSKCN11O0E1


Southeast Asia Blazes May Have Led to Deaths of Over 100,000,
Study Says. The forest fire and haze disaster in Southeast Asia
last year may have led to the deaths of more than 100,000 people,
according to a study released Monday by researchers from two
United States universities. The vast majority of the cases were
in Indonesia, where fires were deliberately set to clear land for
agriculture.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/20/world/asia/indonesia-haze-smog-health.html?_r=0


CLIMATE CHANGE

California governor backs rules on cow, landfill emissions. Gov.
Jerry Brown has signed legislation that regulates emissions from
dairy cows and landfills for the first time as California
broadens its efforts to fight climate change beyond carbon-based
greenhouse gases. Brown's move Monday targets a category of gases
known as short-lived climate pollutants, which have an outsize
effect on global warming despite their…
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_XGR_CALIFORNIA_CLIMATE_CHANGE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


EU Lawmaker Gerbrandy to Oversee Emissions Effort-Sharing Law.
Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy, a Dutch member of the European Parliament,
was chosen to steer through the assembly a draft law on emissions
outside the carbon market. Gerbrandy, who belongs to the Alliance
of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, will be responsible for
drafting a report on the proposed
law…http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-09-19/eu-lawmaker-gerbrandy-to-oversee-emissions-effort-sharing-law


DiCaprio's 'Before The Flood' a wake-up call on climate change:
director. Turning a blind eye to climate change will come at a
price the world can no longer afford to pay, the director of a
documentary produced by Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio said on
Monday. "We can no longer turn a blind eye to the issue of
climate change. We are at a crucial moment where if we don't act
now, we will forever pay the price," Fisher Stevens said in a
statement.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-climatechange-film-dicaprio-idUSKCN11P1I4


More are willing to pay to fight climate change, survey says. How
much would you pay on your electric bill to combat climate
change? Is $10 or $20 a month reasonable? $50 too much? Or, maybe
you’re unwilling to shell out anything at all. A new survey
offers some insight regarding the extent to which Americans
consider climate change a legitimate threat and how much they’re
willing to pay for government policies that would…
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/columnist/2016/09/18/more-willing-pay-fight-climate-change-survey-says/90507024/


Washington state implements rule to combat climate change. State
Department of Ecology unveils initiative to cap and reduce the
carbon pollution. Between record-setting temperatures, shrinking
snowpack, rampant wildfires, and acidifying waters, the threats
of carbon pollution have become increasingly conspicuous since
2008, when the Washington State Legislature set targets for
reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
https://www.hcn.org/articles/washington-climate-change-plan-rules

http://www.utilitydive.com/news/washington-adopts-rule-to-cap-emissions-from-large-polluters/426524/
  

High-level climate talks begin in New York. Presidents and prime
ministers, environmental advocates and entrepreneurs have
descended on the Big Apple to help the landmark Paris climate
deal take force and discuss new ways of reducing greenhouse
gases. The annual event, known as Climate Week, is in its eighth
year and coincides with the opening of the U.N. General Assembly.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2016/09/19/stories/1060043024 

Soil holds lots of carbon, but can it reduce warming?  As
researchers scramble to develop new technologies to capture
carbon emissions from the atmosphere, a possible solution is
right under their feet. Long before scientists began testing
artificial methods of carbon capture and storage, nature had
developed its own type of carbon sink in soil.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2016/09/19/stories/1060043020 

DROUGHT

Think California’s current drought is bad? Past incarnations have
lasted hundreds of years. California is now five years deep into
one of its most severe droughts on record, and scientists are
continually probing the different factors that affect the state’s
climate, and how much those are related to the overall warming of
the globe. Increasingly, this means looking back into the past
for clues about how the region has changed over…
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/09/19/californias-current-drought-may-seem-bad-but-past-versions-have-lasted-hundreds-of-years/?utm_term=.dd4f3af9ef56


DIESEL ACTIVITIES

California's Zero Emissions Vehicle Dreams. With the 2010
Environmental Protection Agency emissions regulations behind, and
the trucking industry currently gearing up to integrate the first
phase of new greenhouse gas emissions regulations going into
effect in January, fleet managers may have thought they’d heard
the last from the California Air Resources Board for a while.
http://www.truckinginfo.com/channel/fuel-smarts/article/story/2016/09/california-s-zero-emissions-vehicle-dreams.aspx


FUELS

Swiss traders blame governments for dirty fuel in Africa. Swiss
commodity traders accused of deliberately blending toxic fuel and
dumping it in West Africa say African governments are to blame
for low standards and failure to invest in refineries and newer
vehicles to lower exhaust emissions that cause respiratory and
other diseases. "What is very clear is that the role of improving
fuel quality in Africa clearly rests…
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AF_WEST_AFRICA_DIRTY_DIESEL?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


JetBlue Makes Biofuels Deal to Curtail Greenhouse Gases. JetBlue,
seeking to get ahead of looming restrictions on airliners’
greenhouse gas pollution, has agreed to buy more than 330 million
gallons of renewable fuel over 10 years, the company said on
Monday. It is one of the largest such purchase agreements yet.
Under the agreement with the bioenergy company SG Preston…
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/20/business/energy-environment/jetblue-makes-biofuels-deal-to-curtail-greenhouse-gases.html


University of California team show new ways of boosting
bioethanol production. A porous metal-organic framework sorbent
could boost the efficiency of ethanol production from cellulosic
biomass by trapping compounds that inhibit fermentation,
according to a study from the University of California. Woody
plants and grasses hold enormous supplies of cellulose…
http://biofuels-news.com/display_news/11047/University_of_California_team_show_new_ways_of_boosting_bioethanol_production/


Why Africa gets filthiest diesel fuel: little regulation, global
traders. All countries have to deal with emissions from diesel
vehicles, but African nations have it worse than most. They often
have few emissions regulations, something Swiss trading firms
take advantage of by importing fuel that's too dirty for sale in
other regions. These firms often serve as both producer and
distributor for fuels in Africa…
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1106171_why-africa-gets-filthiest-diesel-fuel-little-regulation-global-traders


Los Angeles on track to dump fossil fuels. Los Angeles will chart
a path to get off fossil fuels and switch to 100 percent
renewable energy, the City Council voted unanimously Friday. The
council told the city's utility, the Los Angeles Department of
Water and Power, to form a collaborative that will identify steps
needed to generate all of LA's electricity from renewable
resources.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2016/09/19/stories/1060043028 

VEHICLES

Many car brands emit more pollution than Volkswagen, report
finds. Diesel cars by Fiat, Suzuki and Renault among makers
emitting up to fifteen times European standard for nitrogen
oxide. A year on from the “Dieselgate” scandal that engulfed
Volkswagen, damning new research reveals that all major diesel
car brands, including Fiat, Vauxhall and Suzuki…
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/sep/19/many-car-brands-emit-more-pollution-than-volkswagen-report-finds


California removes limit on carpool access for plug-in hybrids.
Of California's many incentives for green cars, one of the most
popular is solo access to the state's carpool lanes for drivers
of electric cars, plug-in hybrids, and certain other vehicles.
But while California will distribute an unlimited number of
"white stickers" for electric cars—as well as vehicles using
hydrogen fuel cells and compressed natural gas (CNG)—the number
of "green stickers" for plug-in hybrids is limited.
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1106179_california-removes-limit-on-carpool-access-for-plug-in-hybrids


Electric-Vehicle Mileage Record Set In California Thanks To The
Convenience Of True Zero Hydrogen-Fuel Network. Yesterday the
founders of True Zero completed a scenic drive throughout
California in a fuel-cell-electric Toyota Mirai, covering 1,438
miles in a 24-hour period, thus breaking the official Guinness
World Record for electric miles driven in 24 hours. The goal of
the drive was to demonstrate how a zero-emission electric
vehicle…
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/electric-vehicle-mileage-record-set-in-california-thanks-to-the-convenience-of-true-zero-hydrogen-fuel-network-300329336.html#continue-jump


Technical brief: transportation overtaking electricity generation
as the largest source of US CO2 emissions.  A technical brief by
Dr. John DeCicco at the University of Michigan Energy Institute
shows that transportation is overtaking electricity generation as
the largest source of US CO2. The average rate at which CO2 is
emitted from vehicle tailpipes and other mobile sources has
exceeded the rate of CO2 emissions from electric power plants
over seven of the past eight months.
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/09/20160919-decicco.html 

Kan. regulators slam the brakes on charging stations. Efforts to
jump-start sales of electric vehicles and reduce driver anxiety
about finding a place to fuel up by building charging stations
have suffered a setback. Regulators in Kansas have refused to
allow Kansas City Power and Light to pass on the costs of
building the stations to ratepayers.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2016/09/19/stories/1060043025 

VW RECALL

VW has fixed less than 10 percent of rigged European diesel cars.
Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) is making slow progress on fixing cars
equipped with illicit engine software in Europe, having repaired
less than 10 percent of the 8.5 million affected models, the
company said on Monday. Germany's KBA motor vehicle authority has
approved proposed fixes that would resolve the problem in about
5.1 million vehicles…
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-volkswagen-emissions-idUSKCN11P1FF

http://www.autonews.com/article/20160919/COPY01/309199908/vw-has-fixed-less-than-10-of-rigged-diesel-cars-in-europe


GREEN ENERGY

First wave-produced electricity in US goes online in Hawaii. In
the waters off the coast of Hawaii, a tall buoy bobs and sways in
the water, using the rise and fall of the waves to generate
electricity. The current travels through an undersea cable for a
mile to a military base, where it is fed into Oahu's power grid -
the first wave-produced electricity to go online in the U.S.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_WAVE_ENERGY_RACE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


Tesla’s Merger With SolarCity May Be Delayed by Lawsuits. Two
pension funds and two individuals had filed lawsuits earlier this
month. nsion funds and two individuals had filed lawsuits earlier
this month. Tesla Motors Inc. disclosed in a regulatory filing
Monday that its proposed merger with SolarCity Corp. could be
delayed by shareholder lawsuits, adding to the volatility for
cash-strapped SolarCity…
http://www.wsj.com/articles/teslas-merger-with-solarcity-may-be-delayed-by-lawsuits-1474301588


NextEra Sweetens Deal for Energy Future’s Oncor.  Agrees to raise
cash component of deal to $4.4 billion from $4.1 billion. NextEra
Energy Inc. has boosted its offer for Energy Future Holdings
Corp.’s Oncor electricity transmission business by $300 million,
quieting creditor worries about the sale that will be the key to
getting the Dallas company out of bankruptcy.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/nextera-sweetens-deal-for-energy-futures-oncor-1474298602


Student Team Builds Solar-Powered Helicopter. This year we saw a
solar-powered plane circumnavigate the globe and a solar-powered
boat gear up to do the same. As of last week, we can add to that
list of clean energy marvels the first-ever piloted flight of a
solar-powered helicopter. A team of undergraduates at the
University of Maryland has developed a four-rotor helicopter
equipped with an array of solar panels. 
http://cleantechnica.com/2016/09/19/student-team-builds-solar-powered-helicopter/


Bringing Clean Energy to Multifamily Affordable Housing in
California. How Low-Income Advocates and Housing Groups Came
Together to Propose a $1 Billion Plan. Over the summer, a unique
coalition came together in California to draft a plan to make the
state’s clean energy economy more equitable for low-income
renters. If state energy officials adopt the coalition’s proposed
plan, it will put in place a groundbreaking strategy…
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/articles/2016/09/bringing-clean-energy-to-multifamily-affordable-housing-in-california.html


Regulators bring back favorable rates for solar customers. More
than 30,000 Nevada electric power customers who installed rooftop
solar panels on their homes and businesses before this year will
continue to receive retail-rate compensation under Nevada's net
metering program, state regulators determined Friday. The Public
Utilities Commission of Nevada unanimously approved a deal struck
between NV Energy…
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2016/09/19/stories/1060043027 

MISCELLANEOUS

Senate's odd couple forge unlikely alliance on environment. The
oddest of Senate odd couples - California Democrat Barbara Boxer
and Oklahoma Republican Jim Inhofe - have accomplished something
highly unusual in this bitter election year: significant,
bipartisan legislation on the environment that has become law.
Boxer, a staunch liberal, calls climate change the "greatest
challenge to hit the planet,"…
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SENATE_ODD_COUPLE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


Climate Week 2016: Businesses Lead Transition to a Low-Carbon.
Climate Week 2016 kicks off today in New York City, with
international business and government leaders meeting to discuss
the transition to a low-carbon economy — what is means for
countries and corporations, and how to achieve zero-emission
value chains and communities.
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2016/09/19/climate-week-2016-businesses-lead-the-transition-to-a-low-carbon-economy/#ixzz4Kidu1Qmz


OPINIONS

Deniers club: Meet the people clouding the climate change debate.
They've stalled action with a campaign of deliberate
misinformation. August tied July as the hottest month on record,
according to NASA data released this past week. This year we’ve
seen half a dozen thousand-year floods, along with epic droughts.
Mother Nature is telling us there’s a problem. The long-term
trend lines are clear.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/09/16/deniers-club-meet-the-people-clouding-the-climate-change-debate/?utm_term=.1620d610b6b3


Are California’s hybrid and electric vehicle markets losing
power?  Are hybrid and electric vehicles losing their juice in
California, far and away the nation’s leading market for those
auto segments? On the surface, the answer is yes. Up the road,
experts believe that electric vehicles in particular are due to
take off. “Sales of alternative-powered vehicles have not kept
pace with the rest…
http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/transportation/article102087442.html#storylink=cpy


The Observer view on global warming. The sea ice covering the
most northerly part of our planet shrank last week to its second
lowest level on record. Once stable at around 7.5m sq km in
summer, the Arctic ice cap has been dwindling for several decades
and dropped to an area of 4.1m sq. km a few days ago, a victim of
the rising fossil-fuel emissions and increasing temperatures that
now beset the Earth.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/sep/17/arctic-sea-ice-climate-change-britain-must-commit-to-paris-agreement


The RFS, the Rebound Effect, and an Additional 431 Million Tonnes
of CO2. There’s a quirk of macroeconomics known as the rebound
effect, and it can be a bit of a drag. When the price of a widely
used commodity falls, consumers tend to use more of it. In most
cases, that’s a good thing. But sometimes the price drop is the
unintended consequence of policies or technologies that were
actually designed to reduce the use of the commodity…
http://www.theenergycollective.com/jonathan-lewis/2387935/the-rfs-the-rebound-effect-and-an-additional-431-million-tonnes-of-co2


Per Capita Davis: Blowing smoke. I don’t know who is worse, the
truckers who “roll coal,” the legislators who say “aw, they’re
just havin’ a little fun,” or the police and sheriffs who can’t
figure out how to enforce the Clean Air Act requirement that
tampering with emissions-control equipment on a car or truck is a
crime, as is selling any device to accomplish that. You’re
probably wondering what the heck I’m talking about.
http://www.davisenterprise.com/local-news/news-columns/per-capita-davis-blowing-smoke/


BLOGS

Three Things States Need to Do Now to Decarbonize Our Society.
When the U.S. Supreme Court stayed the enforcement of the EPA’s
Clean Power Plan in February of this year, President Obama’s
flagship climate and energy proposal was relegated to legal
limbo, most likely until 2018.  For power producers this
uncertainty is exacerbated by an international climate accord…
http://blogs.wsj.com/experts/2016/09/18/three-things-states-need-to-do-now-to-decarbonize-our-society/


California CPP Compliance Plan Illustrates Potential of Cap and
Trade, Expert says. California’s recently completed
implementation plan for the Environmental Protection Agency’s
Clean Power Plan illustrates how easily a cap-and-trade system
can be used to comply with the regulations, Dallas Burtraw,
Darius Gaskins senior fellow at Resources for the Future, said
during an RFF event Friday.
http://www.exchangemonitor.com/publication/ghg-daily-monitor/california-cpp-compliance-plan-illustrates-potential-cap-trade-expert-says/

Climate Change Could Turn Up Heat on Koalas. Koalas just can’t
catch a break. Throughout their native territories in eastern
Australia, the famously tree-loving marsupials face
ever-shrinking habitats. Human development has carved up their
eucalyptus forest homes and as trees disappear, koalas have found
themselves with dwindling food supplies, no protection from
predators such as household dogs…
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/blog/climate-change/ 

Antarctic krill could take a big global warming hit. Changes in
ocean temperatures and sea ice formation around Antarctica could
imperil the region’s krill — tiny crustaceans that are at the
base of the food chain. Scientists say they’ve already documented
a big drop in krill populations since the 1970s. Losing more
krill would reduce the amount of food available for whales,
penguins, seals, squid, fish and other marine life.
https://summitcountyvoice.com/2016/09/19/antarctic-krill-could-take-a-big-global-warming-hit/


Washington adopts rule to cap emissions from large polluters.
Dive Brief: •The Washington Department of Ecology has adopted a
new rule aimed at gradually reducing greenhouse gas emissions
from large companies, calling it a "first-of-its-kind rule to
combat climate change," the Seattle Times reports. •Businesses
which emit 100,000 metric tons of carbon pollution annually will
be required to cap…
http://www.utilitydive.com/news/washington-adopts-rule-to-cap-emissions-from-large-polluters/426524/


Automakers Losing in Court of Public Opinion. Back in the 1970s,
the automotive industry faced its first hardcore regulations on
fuel economy, emissions and safety. It was the first time the
government started dictating to corporations what kind of
products they had to build, and they did not react well.
Automakers practically declared war on legislators and
regulators. At times the hyperbole bordered on the hysterical.
http://wardsauto.com/ideaxchange/automakers-losing-court-public-opinion


Emissions from ethanol production may be way worse than we
thought. NOx levels, which were part of the VW scandal, may also
be key in ethanol production pollution. Volkswagen may not be
alone when it comes to underestimating or underreporting
nitrogen-oxide (NOx) emissions levels. US ethanol producers are
likely using outdated methods to measure NOx levels, according to
trade publication Ethanol Producer.
http://www.autoblog.com/2016/09/19/ethanol-factories-emissions-levels-may-be-underestimated/





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