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ARB Newsclips for October 3, 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.

AIR POLLUTION

Why Southern California officials are skeptical over smog fix. As
the worst smog season in years winds down, new doubts appear to
cloud a costly strategy broached three months ago by Southern
California’s regional air quality agency to bring air pollution
levels down to healthful levels. In late June, the newly hired
top administrator for the South Coast Air Quality Management
District proposed a clean-up plan…
http://www.dailynews.com/environment-and-nature/20161002/why-southern-california-officials-are-skeptical-over-smog-fix


EPA looking for more cuts in heavy-duty truck emissions. U.S. EPA
will explore options for further cutting nitrogen oxides releases
from heavy-duty trucks, acting air chief Janet McCabe reaffirmed
last week in a letter to Sen. Barbara Boxer of California and
almost 30 other congressional Democrats. While truck engine
emissions standards have grown steadily more stringent in recent
decades, "a need for additional NOx…
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2016/10/03/stories/1060043766

CLIMATE CHANGE

India ratifies Paris climate change agreement. India, which
accounts for about 4.5 percent of global greenhouse gas
emissions, ratified the Paris climate change agreement Sunday at
the United Nations, officials said. Prime Minister Narendra
Modi's Cabinet had given its approval Wednesday to ratify the
Paris agreement on Oct. 2, coinciding with the birth anniversary
of India's independence leader Mohandas Gandhi, who believed in a
minimum carbon footprint.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_INDIA_CLIMATE_CHANGE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


OTHER RELATED STORIES
http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/india-ratifies-paris-climate-deal-submits-instrument-of-ratification-to-un/story-sowhNXDRZc1nHlltyhlRdP.html
 

While Earth’s Carbon Clock Ticks, Climate Danger Goes Missing
From Election Fight. Events are conspiring to make Clinton or
Trump the most powerful player in the effort to slow global
warming. For a relatively slow-burning phenomenon, climate change
is having a moment of great consequence this week. A cascade of
events—physical, legal, political, and diplomatic—is underway.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-03/how-the-next-u-s-president-will-control-the-fight-against-climate-change


Report: food production must rise 100% by 2050. Global food
production may need to rise by more than 100 per cent to deal
with climate change’s effects on crops in the most vulnerable
regions. More than half of all the world’s maize crops and around
a third of all wheat and rice will be grown in regions vulnerable
to climate change in the next 50 to 100 years, according to new
research.
http://www.climatechangenews.com/2016/10/03/report-food-production-must-rise-100-by-2050/?utm_source=Inside+Climate+News&utm_campaign=d0c683dc16-Today_s_Climate12_10_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_29c928ffb5-d0c683dc16-327747457


What's at Stake for the Climate in the 2016 Election? Everything.
The choice between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump holds U.S.
climate policy, and the Paris agreement, in the balance.
Following the first presidential debate between Hillary Clinton
and Donald Trump, the gulf between the candidates has never
seemed deeper, perhaps most alarmingly so on climate change.
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/30092016/stake-climate-change-2016-election-donald-trump-hillary-clinton-paris-clean-power-plan


Species On The Move. As climate change impacts habitats around
the world, species are on the move, trying to adapt — and
survive. About This Species. Caspian terns are big—bigger than
any other terns, and as big as a mid-sized gull—and known for
their long adolescence. Like the parents urging their millennials
out the door, Caspian terns can be seen trailed by their
offspring years longer than is typical for a bird.
https://insideclimatenews.org/species/birds/caspian-tern

DiCaprio, Obama to talk climate change.  Oscar-winner Leonardo
DiCaprio was due at the White House Monday to discuss climate
change with President Barack Obama before the screening of the
actor's new documentary on the devastating effects of global
warming. DiCaprio, who won the 2016 best actor Academy Award for
"The Revenant," has been an environmental activist for years.
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/DiCaprio-Obama-to-talk-climate-change-30296756.html


E.U. vote tomorrow will make global accord a reality. It's a
deal. The Paris Agreement on climate change is expected to meet
all criteria to enter into force Wednesday when the European
Union submits its ratification papers to the United Nations. The
move brings to a close an effort by the Obama administration,
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and others to set the global
climate deal…
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2016/10/03/stories/1060043736 

Exxon suit opens a new front in the climate change fight. In
January 2006, Exxon Mobil Corp.'s storage terminal in Everett,
Mass., leaked roughly 15,000 gallons' worth of diesel fuel into
the Mystic River, a few miles upstream from the Boston harbor.
Now, a Boston environmental group is suing Exxon Mobil and the
subsidiaries that operate the plant…
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2016/10/03/stories/1060043740 

DROUGHT

South African summer to be hotter than normal amid drought.
Severe drought conditions are still afflicting most of South
Africa and temperatures are expected to remain above normal until
mid-summer, which would be around December, the national weather
service said on Monday. In its monthly forecast which looks up to
five months ahead, the South African Weather Service also said
there was a "gradual improvement" in prospects for above-normal
rainfall by mid-summer.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-safrica-weather-idUSKCN1230JG 

VEHICLES

BMW says it plans to offer electric X3 SUV and Mini models.
German luxury auto maker BMW AG (BMWG.DE) said on Friday it will
offer all electric versions of its next generation BMW X3 compact
sport utility vehicle and electric Mini models, expanding its
entries in the emerging electric luxury vehicle market.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-bmw-electric-idUSKCN120266 

Tesla deliveries up 70%, but may fall just short of 2016
forecasts. Production problems and parts shortages at Tesla
gummed up delivery of its high-end electric cars at the start of
the year, but the company’s Fremont assembly plant was running
smoother in the third quarter. The company said deliveries of its
Model S sedan and Model X SUV hit 24,500 from July to September,
up 70% from the second quarter.
http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-hy-tesla-delivery-production-3q-musk-20161002-snap-story.html


Regulators grapple with emissions from automated vehicles.
California and federal officials are searching for ways to reap
the climate benefits of autonomous vehicles.
The impacts of the technology are still unclear. Researchers say
some features of automated driving — like platooning, driving one
car closely behind another for better aerodynamics, or more
efficient navigation — could help save fuel and greenhouse gas
emissions.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2016/10/03/stories/1060043738 

Ohio becoming a fuel cell hub. Ohio holds a huge share of the
fuel cell industry, according to experts. Last year, 60,000 fuel
cells were sent from the state to markets across the globe. And
this week, the transit authority in Canton introduced a fleet of
10 buses that run on hydrogen fuel cells. "Ohio has already done
a lot in that area, in part because there are so many companies
in manufacturing.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2016/10/03/stories/1060043721 

VW RECALL

Volkswagen reaches $1.2 billion settlement with U.S. dealers over
emissions scandal. Volkswagen has agreed to pay its U.S. dealers
up to $1.2 billion to compensate them for losses suffered as a
result of the company's emissions cheating scandal, according to
a settlement agreement filed Friday in federal court in San
Francisco.  The dealers are expected to receive about $1.85
million each…
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-volkswagen-settlement-20161001-snap-story.html


GREEN ENERGY

Offshore Wind Farms See Promise in Platforms That Float. The sun
was beating down on the leafy campus of the University of Maine
one afternoon last month. But inside a hangarlike laboratory, a
miniature hurricane was raging. Storm-force gales swept over a
deep pool of water, churning waves that, at full scale on the
ocean, would have been twice the size of those recorded during
Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/30/business/energy-environment/offshore-wind-farms-see-promise-in-platforms-that-f.html?_r=0


San Mateo County ditches PG&E, starts buying cheaper, greener
energy. San Mateo County this month launched an initiative to
provide electricity to consumers, in lieu of PG&E, joining a
statewide movement toward community-choice energy programs that
supporters tout as the most effective way for Californians to
lower their greenhouse gas emissions. Peninsula Clean Energy
began service Saturday to 70,000 customers…
http://www.mercurynews.com/2016/10/02/san-mateo-county-ditches-pge-starts-buying-cheaper-greener-energy/


ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

'Practically toothless': EPA accused of ignoring environmental
racism. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Civil Rights
office is “practically toothless,” and has failed to hold
polluters responsible for disproportionately impacting low-income
and minority communities, says the US Commission on Civil Rights.
The EPA's Office of Civil Rights has skirted its duty to
investigate and enforce violations of federal law that…
https://www.rt.com/usa/360688-epa-environmental-civil-rights/ 

The EPA's Failure to Protect People From the Environment. A new
report from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights finds the agency
toothless—or even harmful—in addressing environmental justice.
Does the Environmental Protection Agency actually protect
communities of color from environmental problems? A new report
from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights suggests it has largely
failed that duty.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/09/epa-civil-rights-environmental-justice-report/502427/


OPINIONS

A Curious Plan to Fight Climate. Change: Buy Mines, Sell Coal.
Tom Clarke, a nursing home owner, concocted a strategy to cut
carbon emissions by gaining control of millions of tons of coal
reserves and multiple mines. The coal was piled about as high as
it could go, spilling down to the railroad tracks and towering
over the elevator shaft. A yellow bulldozer pushed the mound to
make room for more.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/02/business/energy-environment/a-curious-plan-to-fight-climate-change-buy-mines-sell-coal.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=1&utm_source=Inside+Climate+News&utm_campaign=d0c683dc16-Today_s_Climate12_10_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_29c928ffb5-d0c683dc16-327747457


A call to action. To succeed, Ontario’s climate change plan needs
input from inventors and entrepreneurs. With the publication of
Ontario’s first comprehensive action plan on climate change,
there are some indications in the press that we are moving from
sound bite commentary to a more detailed, productive
consideration of how to decarbonize Ontario. .
http://www.lawyersweekly.ca/articles/3062 

EPA drags its feet on renewable biomass policy. Built in 1948,
the International Paper Springfield pulp and paper mill has been
providing opportunities for workers and small businesses in Lane
County for nearly 70 years. It’s the type of business that
provides stable, high-wage jobs that can support families and
build community. Today, the Springfield mill supports 270
workers.
http://registerguard.com/rg/opinion/34838064-78/epa-drags-its-feet-on-renewable-biomass-policy.html.csp





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