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newsclips -- ARB Newsclips for June 22, 2016
Posted: 23 Jun 2016 13:11:28
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 Valley air officials demand more from EPA than stricter standards. It’s no secret that the Valley Air District and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency haven’t always seen eye to eye when it comes to attaining their mutual goal of cleaner, healthier air in the valley. The EPA sets the standards. The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District tries to make them work — and much progress has been made over the past few decades. http://www.bakersfield.com/news/2016/06/22/valley-air-officials-demand-more-from-epa-than-stricter-standards.html http://www.capradio.org/articles/2016/06/22/san-joaquin-agency-asks-feds-to-impose-restrictions-on-heavy-trucks-locomotives/ CLIMATE CHANGE Toxic Air Pollution, Stressors Of Climate Change: Root Causes Of Ill Health On Children Today. Researchers discovered that fossil fuel combustion, carbon dioxide and associated air pollution are the root causes of much of the ill health of children today. They are vulnerable from the toxic pollution and stressors of climate change. Frederica Perera, director of the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health stated that the single most important action we can take for children and their future is to cure the addiction to fossil fuel. http://www.scienceworldreport.com/articles/42679/20160623/toxic-air-pollution-stressors-climate-change-root-causes-ill-health.htm Climate change could be even worse for Boston than previously thought. (video) The consequences of climate change on Boston are expected to be far more calamitous than previous studies have suggested, a new report commissioned by the city says. In the worst-case scenario, sea levels could rise more than 10 feet by the end of the century — nearly twice what was previously predicted — plunging about 30 percent of Boston under water. Temperatures in 2070 could exceed 90 degrees for 90 days a year, compared with an average of 11 days now. https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/06/22/climate-change-could-have-even-worse-impact-boston-than-previously-expected/S6hZ4nDPeUWNyTsx6ZckuL/story.html 94 million-year-old climate change event holds clues for future. A major climate event millions of years ago that caused substantial change to the ocean's ecological systems may hold clues as to how the Earth will respond to future climate change, a Florida State University researcher said. In a new study published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Assistant Professor of Geology Jeremy Owens explains that parts of the ocean became inhospitable for some organisms as the Earth's climate warmed 94 million years ago. As the Earth warmed, several natural elements -- what we think of as vitamins -- depleted, causing some organisms to die off or greatly decrease in numbers. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160622145452.htm DROUGHT FEDS: Drought Kills 66 Million Trees in California’s Sierra. The number of trees in California's Sierra Nevada forests killed by drought, a bark beetle epidemic and warmer temperatures has dramatically increased since last year, raising fears they will fuel catastrophic wildfires and endanger people's lives, officials said Wednesday. Since 2010, an estimated 66 million trees have died in a six-county region of the central and southern Sierra hardest hit by the epidemic, the U.S. Forest Service said. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CALIFORNIA_DROUGHT_DEAD_TREES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT Study shows Sierra snowpack 3 years away from pre-drought levels. The Sierra snowpack, which is responsible for more than 60 percent of California’s water, won’t likely make it back to its pre-drought levels until 2019, scientists said in a study published this week, dashing the hopes of those who believed one extremely wet El Niño year could alleviate the state’s water crisis. http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Study-shows-Sierra-snowpack-3-years-away-from-8319629.php DIESEL ACTIVITIES Lawsuit filed against GM over Chevy diesel emissions. A class-action lawsuit was filed Wednesday in federal court in California, alleging General Motors Co. and Chevrolet falsely and deceptively marketed its Cruze Diesel as a “clean vehicle.” The suit also claims that GM and Chevy used emissions-cheating software that allowed the vehicles to pollute at higher than standard levels. http://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/general-motors/2016/06/22/lawsuit-filed-gm-chevy-diesel-emissions/86257922/ FUELS California Rule in Limbo Means Refiners Still Face Gas Cutoffs. California’s oil refiners are facing the prospect of crippling natural gas curtailments in part because of a rule that didn’t come in time to help. As temperatures soared across Southern California in the past week, California has warned of power and gas shortages across the Los Angeles area that may force refineries out of service and curb the state’s gasoline supply. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-23/california-rule-in-limbo-means-refiners-still-face-gas-cutoffs VEHICLES Electric cars a key part of climate-action plans in Ontario, Quebec. In the past two months, the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec announced aggressive climate-change policies, both featuring strong plug-in electric vehicle support. Ontario's provincial government followed up on its recently-strengthened purchase rebates with a battery of policies including four years of free overnight charging for electric car owners. For its part, the province of Quebec followed through on its long-standing promise to introduce a Zero Emissions Vehicle mandate. http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1104555_electric-cars-a-key-part-of-climate-action-plans-in-ontario-quebec Sweden inaugurates its first electric road. Sweden inaugurated a test stretch of electric road on the E16 in Sandviken, thus becoming one of the first countries to conduct tests with electric power for heavy transports on public roads. The test stretch on the E16 is two kilometers long. The technology is similar to light rail, with contact lines 5.4 meters over the roadway. The truck has a pantograph on the roof that feeds 750 VDC to the truck’s hybrid electric system. The current conductor can connect automatically at speeds up to 90 km/h (56 mph). The test stretch is equipped with posts 60 meters apart that hold up the electric lines over one of the lanes. http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/06/20160622-sweden.html Which countries have plans for all new cars to be electric, and when? Plug-in electric cars currently make up a fairly small percentage of the millions of new vehicles sold globally. But within the next two decades, they may be the only new cars available for sale in certain countries. Multiple countries have announced plans to end the sale of new internal-combustion cars as a way to cut carbon emissions. http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1104635_which-countries-have-plans-for-all-new-cars-to-be-electric-and-when VW AP Sources: VW to pay near $10.2B to settle emissions claims. Volkswagen has agreed to take a series of steps with a total cost of about $10.2 billion to settle claims from its unprecedented diesel emissions cheating scandal in the U.S., two people briefed on the matter said Thursday. Most of the money would go to compensate 482,000 owners of cars with 2-liter diesel engines that were programmed to turn on emissions controls during lab tests and turn them off while on the road, said the people, who asked not to be identified because a judge has issued a gag order in the case. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_VOLKSWAGEN_EMISSIONS_SCANDAL?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT GREEN ENERGY Italy signs off on 9 bln euro green energy plan. Italy's government has approved a 9 billion euro ($10 billion) subsidy scheme for renewable energy to be rolled out over the next 20 years, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said on Thursday. The new law, which has already been signed off by Industry Minister Carlo Calenda, envisages support of around 435 million euros per year for the sector, most of it earmarked for biomass, on-shore wind and thermodynamic solar projects. http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFL8N19F2V7 MISCELLANEOUS Smog vouchers available at Merced event. Merced-area drivers who have owned a car for more than six months may qualify for free vehicle emissions testing and diagnostic inspection Saturday. The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District and Valley Clean Air Now, a nonprofit, will offer the free service as part of their Tune In and Tune Up car cleanup event. It will take place from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday at the Merced County Fairgrounds, 900 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, at the 11th Street parking lot. http://www.mercedsunstar.com/news/local/environment/article85439182.html OPINIONS Closing California’s last nuclear plant is welcome, so long as it doesn't hamper the state's climate change goals. The announcement this week by Pacific Gas & Electric Co. that it will shut down the state’s last nuclear power plant by 2025 and replace the energy it generated with renewable power is good news for Californians, who have always had an uneasy relationship with nuclear power in general, and with the Diablo Canyon Power Plant in particular. http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-diablo-canyon-closing-20160623-snap-story.html Forget cap and trade's detractors, California's carbon-pricing works. California’s cap-and-trade program to reduce carbon emissions and address climate change keeps on ticking as it was designed to, defying its critics. Cap-and-trade programs are considered to be among the most effective ways to reduce pollution, in particular carbon emissions, from power plants and other sources. These programs first cap pollution at reduced levels but also enable participating emitters to buy and sell allowances, or emissions permits, to achieve the required reductions in the least expensive way possible. http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-burtraw-cap-and-trade-reduces-emissionsornia--20160623-snap-story.html Don’t believe naysayers: Carbon market is working. A funny thing happened on the way to California’s carbon market collapsing – it didn’t. It’s no coincidence that we are hearing predictions that the state’s world-renowned cap-and-trade program is doomed to failure just as the governor and Legislature are wrangling about how best to extend our greenhouse gas reduction targets and cap and trade beyond 2020. We have seen this strategy to undermine our state’s climate policies before. In 2010, it was a failed ballot measure funded by out-of-state oil companies to kill our landmark law, Assembly Bill 32. http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/soapbox/article85360452.html California is in a drought emergency. Visit www.SaveOurH2O.org for water conservation tips.