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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_18370\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/06/gaspump_hosetalker2-e1402694020933.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-18370 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/06/gaspump_hosetalker2-e1402694020933.jpg\" alt=\"A working concept of a gas pump climate change warning labels that the City of Berkeley is considering. (Courtesy 350 Bay Area)\" width=\"640\" height=\"361\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A working concept of gas pump climate change warning labels that the City of Berkeley is considering. (Courtesy Raymond Pajek)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The City of Berkeley is considering requiring gas stations to display climate change warning labels on gas pumps. Environmental group \u003ca href=\"http://www.350bayarea.org/\">350 Bay Area\u003c/a>, which is leading the “Beyond The Pump” campaign, says the goal is to inform the public about the harmful effects of CO2 emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have to change the social context of burning gasoline,” says Jamie Brooks, with 350 Bay Area. Putting messages at the point of sale of gas will influence human behavior, he says. He compared the proposed stickers to the warning labels on cigarettes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_18384\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 298px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/06/Gas-Label-cropped-image1.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-18384 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/06/Gas-Label-cropped-image1.jpg\" alt=\"A working concept of Berkeley's gas pump warning label. (Courtesy Raymond Pajek)\" width=\"298\" height=\"450\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A working concept of Berkeley’s gas pump warning label. (Credit: 350 Bay Area)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Western States Petroleum Association sent \u003ca href=\"http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/uploadedFiles/Planning_and_Development/Level_3_-_Commissions/Commission_for_Community_Environmental_Advisory/2014%2006%2012_CEAC_AGN_Item%20XII.b.pdf\">a letter\u003c/a> to the City of Berkeley arguing that the ordinance is unconstitutional. The oil lobby group says it would violate a gas station owner’s right to free speech by compelling them to display statements about “alleged” impacts of global warming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But 350 members say the labels would simply cite state laws, such as AB 32, which state that emissions are harmful to humans and the environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We feel that the message is accurate and noncontroversial,” said Jack Fleck, a retired transportation engineer and 350 Bay Area member. “It is simply a fact that the state has found that greenhouse gases pose a serious threat to the public health.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Berkeley’s \u003ca href=\"http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/Community_Environmental_Advisory_Commission/\">Community Environmental Advisory Commission\u003c/a> voted Thursday in favor of drafting an ordinance. The city council could vote on the proposal as early as this fall.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"title": "California's Not Ready for Influx of Oil Trains, Says Report",
"headTitle": "California’s Not Ready for Influx of Oil Trains, Says Report | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15986\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-15986\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/tankcarsrichmond-1024x575.jpg\" alt=\"Tank cars parked in Richmond. (Molly Samuel/KQED)\" width=\"1024\" height=\"575\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tank cars parked in Richmond. BNSF Railway has been bringing crude oil to this railyard. (Molly Samuel/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Trains carrying oil can pose serious risks to public safety and the environment, and California isn’t prepared, according to a \u003ca href=\"http://www.caloes.ca.gov/HazardousMaterials/Pages/Oil-By-Rail.aspx\">report released by state agencies\u003c/a> this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Crude-by-rail is a growing concern, as an oil boom in North Dakota has meant increasing amounts of crude traveling to refineries by rail. A series of fiery derailments in the past year, including one that killed 47 people in a Quebec town, has focused attention on the need to prevent accidents and be prepared for emergency response.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘Even though we haven’t had an accident, which is great, we want to be able to respond to it when there is an accident.’\u003ccite>— Kelly Huston, Office of Emergency Services\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>The report warns that a derailment in California could kill people, destroy neighborhoods, damage water supplies and threaten natural areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Even though we haven’t had an accident, which is great, we want to be able to respond to it when there is an accident,” said Kelly Huston, a deputy director at the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (OES). “With the increase in the amount of crude oil on rail coming through California’s cities and counties, we believe there should be some increased training for first responders.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report was released by an inter-agency group that includes the OES, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife and the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), among others. It recommends boosting funding for emergency responder training, and for equipment to handle hazardous material accidents. It also supports an item in Governor Jerry Brown’s proposed budget that would provide more money to the Office of Oil Spill Prevention and Response, which has focused on marine oil spills in the past, but is now preparing for the possibility of inland spills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not all about accident response; there are also recommendations for prevention. Most rail regulation is up to the federal government; the CPUC helps enforce safety rules with its own rail inspectors. There are 52 of them, responsible for monitoring more than 5,400 miles of track in the state. “This staffing level is seriously inadequate,” the report says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Paul King, deputy director for the rail safety at the CPUC, said the Governor’s budget aims to help. “To meet the volume of trains and the magnitude of the risk that [crude-by-rail] presents,” King said, “the Governor has put in his budget for extra staffing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_sidebar id=”ac3ac42f887db458c1a7bc05dd24482c”]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are other gaps the state cannot fill alone. As the CPUC pointed out \u003ca href=\"http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/NR/rdonlyres/7945B5AC-B200-431B-A8C4-648AB1BEAB2D/0/2013AnnualReporttotheLegRNCV.pdf\">in a report released last year\u003c/a>, there is only one federal railroad bridge inspector for 11 Western states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report also raised the need for more information. As of last weekend, railroads that are transporting large shipments of Bakken, the volatile crude oil from North Dakota, \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2014/06/06/crude-by-rail-more-information-coming-to-california/\">must notify states\u003c/a>. Huston of the OES said he got the first batch of documents Monday, but he said they’re of limited use and not timely enough. He said the OES is following up with BNSF and the federal Department of Transportation, the agency that issued the notification order.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Huston said he’d also like to see a map that the public could access, showing where the oil train shipments are headed. The railroads are \u003ca href=\"http://www.sacbee.com/2014/06/09/6470835/fight-over-crude-oil-transports.html\">resisting releasing information\u003c/a> about crude shipments to the public.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most of California’s oil comes either from within the state or overseas, and travels to refineries here by pipeline or ship. And that’s still the case. According the the California Energy Commission, only about one percent of California’s crude came by train in 2013. But trains carrying oil are becoming more frequent, and the CEC projects that by 2016, trains could be bringing in about 23 percent of California’s crude.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Crude-by-rail has been a growing concern as an oil boom in North Dakota has meant more and more crude is traveling to refineries by rail. A series of fiery derailments in the past year has focused attention on the need for accident prevention and emergency response preparation. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15986\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-15986\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/tankcarsrichmond-1024x575.jpg\" alt=\"Tank cars parked in Richmond. (Molly Samuel/KQED)\" width=\"1024\" height=\"575\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tank cars parked in Richmond. BNSF Railway has been bringing crude oil to this railyard. (Molly Samuel/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Trains carrying oil can pose serious risks to public safety and the environment, and California isn’t prepared, according to a \u003ca href=\"http://www.caloes.ca.gov/HazardousMaterials/Pages/Oil-By-Rail.aspx\">report released by state agencies\u003c/a> this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Crude-by-rail is a growing concern, as an oil boom in North Dakota has meant increasing amounts of crude traveling to refineries by rail. A series of fiery derailments in the past year, including one that killed 47 people in a Quebec town, has focused attention on the need to prevent accidents and be prepared for emergency response.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘Even though we haven’t had an accident, which is great, we want to be able to respond to it when there is an accident.’\u003ccite>— Kelly Huston, Office of Emergency Services\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>The report warns that a derailment in California could kill people, destroy neighborhoods, damage water supplies and threaten natural areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Even though we haven’t had an accident, which is great, we want to be able to respond to it when there is an accident,” said Kelly Huston, a deputy director at the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (OES). “With the increase in the amount of crude oil on rail coming through California’s cities and counties, we believe there should be some increased training for first responders.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report was released by an inter-agency group that includes the OES, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife and the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), among others. It recommends boosting funding for emergency responder training, and for equipment to handle hazardous material accidents. It also supports an item in Governor Jerry Brown’s proposed budget that would provide more money to the Office of Oil Spill Prevention and Response, which has focused on marine oil spills in the past, but is now preparing for the possibility of inland spills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not all about accident response; there are also recommendations for prevention. Most rail regulation is up to the federal government; the CPUC helps enforce safety rules with its own rail inspectors. There are 52 of them, responsible for monitoring more than 5,400 miles of track in the state. “This staffing level is seriously inadequate,” the report says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Paul King, deputy director for the rail safety at the CPUC, said the Governor’s budget aims to help. “To meet the volume of trains and the magnitude of the risk that [crude-by-rail] presents,” King said, “the Governor has put in his budget for extra staffing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are other gaps the state cannot fill alone. As the CPUC pointed out \u003ca href=\"http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/NR/rdonlyres/7945B5AC-B200-431B-A8C4-648AB1BEAB2D/0/2013AnnualReporttotheLegRNCV.pdf\">in a report released last year\u003c/a>, there is only one federal railroad bridge inspector for 11 Western states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report also raised the need for more information. As of last weekend, railroads that are transporting large shipments of Bakken, the volatile crude oil from North Dakota, \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2014/06/06/crude-by-rail-more-information-coming-to-california/\">must notify states\u003c/a>. Huston of the OES said he got the first batch of documents Monday, but he said they’re of limited use and not timely enough. He said the OES is following up with BNSF and the federal Department of Transportation, the agency that issued the notification order.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Huston said he’d also like to see a map that the public could access, showing where the oil train shipments are headed. The railroads are \u003ca href=\"http://www.sacbee.com/2014/06/09/6470835/fight-over-crude-oil-transports.html\">resisting releasing information\u003c/a> about crude shipments to the public.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most of California’s oil comes either from within the state or overseas, and travels to refineries here by pipeline or ship. And that’s still the case. According the the California Energy Commission, only about one percent of California’s crude came by train in 2013. But trains carrying oil are becoming more frequent, and the CEC projects that by 2016, trains could be bringing in about 23 percent of California’s crude.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Chevron Refinery Plans in Richmond Pose Risks, Says Attorney General",
"headTitle": "Chevron Refinery Plans in Richmond Pose Risks, Says Attorney General | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_16467\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/04/chevrontanks.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-16467\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/04/chevrontanks.jpg\" alt=\"A view of the Chevron refinery from its wharf, where ships deliver crude oil. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A view of the refinery from its wharf, where ships deliver crude oil. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Attorney General Kamala Harris says a $1 billion project to expand and modernize the Chevron refinery in Richmond may pose health and safety risks to the nearby community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a ten-page letter (below) addressed to Richmond’s planning department, Harris called Chevron’s safety analysis “incomplete” and said the project may increase air pollution in a community with some of the Bay Area’s highest rates of asthma-related hospitalizations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Harris says the project could also increase the likelihood of accidents, such as the August 2012 fire that sent 15,000 Richmond residents to local hospitals, many with respiratory complaints.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Harris’s letter asks whether expanding operations at the refinery runs counter to the state’s broader goals of slowing climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Responding to Harris’s letter, Chevron spokeswoman Melissa Ritchie said the revised project would result in a “newer, safer, cleaner refinery,” that upgrades old equipment, while bringing 1,000 new local construction jobs to a community with a nearly 12 percent unemployment rate, three points above the state average.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"http://chevronmodernization.com/project-documents/\">final environmental impact report\u003c/a> for the project was released on Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Chevron’s Second Attempt[contextly_sidebar id=”ac5a4b8c280b2ee48f4a624c740d8b04″]\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is the second time a state attorney general has weighed in on Chevron’s plans for the Richmond facility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2007, when the refinery first proposed expanding its operations, then-Attorney General Jerry Brown hired a chemist to evaluate the oil company’s plans. Brown’s office issued several letters saying that the project would be harmful to the environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chevron’s plans were scuttled in 2010, when a county Superior Court found that the company had failed to disclose whether it intended to process heavier crude oils and inadequately explored whether the project would increase air pollution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company’s \u003ca href=\"http://chevronmodernization.com/\">revised plans\u003c/a> have been scaled back, according to the company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Attorney General’s concerns “have either already been addressed in the draft EIR [environmental impact report] or will be addressed in the final EIR,” said Ritchie, in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The letter, wrote Ritchie, “fails to acknowledge the economic and environmental benefits of the Project.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Environmentalists Sue\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Environmentalists, led by Oakland-based \u003ca href=\"http://www.cbecal.org/\">Communities for a Better Environment\u003c/a>, are working from several angles to change the course of the project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, the group \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/Suit-seeks-to-halt-plans-for-Richmond-oil-5532560.php\">sued \u003c/a>air-quality regulators over a construction permit, released in 2008, which they allege should have been revoked when the initial plans were withdrawn under court order.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s Friday’s letter from the Attorney General.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"margin: 12px auto 6px auto;font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;font-style: normal;font-variant: normal;font-weight: normal;font-size: 14px;line-height: normal\">\u003ca style=\"text-decoration: underline\" title=\"View AG Chevron letter on Scribd\" href=\"http://www.scribd.com/doc/228877999/AG-Chevron-letter\">AG Chevron letter\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"doc_96437\" class=\"scribd_iframe_embed\" src=\"//www.scribd.com/embeds/228877999/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&show_recommendations=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"600\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "In a letter to the city, Harris says she still has questions about the oil company's $1 billion expansion project. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_16467\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/04/chevrontanks.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-16467\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/04/chevrontanks.jpg\" alt=\"A view of the Chevron refinery from its wharf, where ships deliver crude oil. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A view of the refinery from its wharf, where ships deliver crude oil. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Attorney General Kamala Harris says a $1 billion project to expand and modernize the Chevron refinery in Richmond may pose health and safety risks to the nearby community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a ten-page letter (below) addressed to Richmond’s planning department, Harris called Chevron’s safety analysis “incomplete” and said the project may increase air pollution in a community with some of the Bay Area’s highest rates of asthma-related hospitalizations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Harris says the project could also increase the likelihood of accidents, such as the August 2012 fire that sent 15,000 Richmond residents to local hospitals, many with respiratory complaints.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Harris’s letter asks whether expanding operations at the refinery runs counter to the state’s broader goals of slowing climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Responding to Harris’s letter, Chevron spokeswoman Melissa Ritchie said the revised project would result in a “newer, safer, cleaner refinery,” that upgrades old equipment, while bringing 1,000 new local construction jobs to a community with a nearly 12 percent unemployment rate, three points above the state average.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"http://chevronmodernization.com/project-documents/\">final environmental impact report\u003c/a> for the project was released on Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Chevron’s Second Attempt\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is the second time a state attorney general has weighed in on Chevron’s plans for the Richmond facility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2007, when the refinery first proposed expanding its operations, then-Attorney General Jerry Brown hired a chemist to evaluate the oil company’s plans. Brown’s office issued several letters saying that the project would be harmful to the environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chevron’s plans were scuttled in 2010, when a county Superior Court found that the company had failed to disclose whether it intended to process heavier crude oils and inadequately explored whether the project would increase air pollution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company’s \u003ca href=\"http://chevronmodernization.com/\">revised plans\u003c/a> have been scaled back, according to the company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Attorney General’s concerns “have either already been addressed in the draft EIR [environmental impact report] or will be addressed in the final EIR,” said Ritchie, in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The letter, wrote Ritchie, “fails to acknowledge the economic and environmental benefits of the Project.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Environmentalists Sue\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Environmentalists, led by Oakland-based \u003ca href=\"http://www.cbecal.org/\">Communities for a Better Environment\u003c/a>, are working from several angles to change the course of the project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, the group \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/Suit-seeks-to-halt-plans-for-Richmond-oil-5532560.php\">sued \u003c/a>air-quality regulators over a construction permit, released in 2008, which they allege should have been revoked when the initial plans were withdrawn under court order.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s Friday’s letter from the Attorney General.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"margin: 12px auto 6px auto;font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;font-style: normal;font-variant: normal;font-weight: normal;font-size: 14px;line-height: normal\">\u003ca style=\"text-decoration: underline\" title=\"View AG Chevron letter on Scribd\" href=\"http://www.scribd.com/doc/228877999/AG-Chevron-letter\">AG Chevron letter\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"doc_96437\" class=\"scribd_iframe_embed\" src=\"//www.scribd.com/embeds/228877999/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&show_recommendations=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"600\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Crude-by-Rail: More Information Coming to California",
"headTitle": "Crude-by-Rail: More Information Coming to California | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_18141\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/06/bnsf.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-18141\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/06/bnsf.jpg\" alt=\"Tank cars travel near the Feather River in Northern California. (Jake Miille/Jake Miille Photography http://jakemiillephotography.com/) \" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tank cars travel near Lake Oroville in Northern California. (\u003ca href=\"http://jakemiillephotography.com/\">Jake Miille/Jake Miille Photography\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Beginning Saturday, railroads must notify states when certain large shipments of crude oil come through by train. The new rule is in response to safety concerns with crude-by-rail.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"http://www.dot.gov/briefing-room/emergency-order\">emergency order\u003c/a>, issued by the federal Department of Transportation last month, applies to trains carrying a million gallons or more of crude from the Bakken formation in North Dakota. That’s the oil that has exploded in numerous fiery derailments, including one in Quebec last summer that killed 47 people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brad Alexander, spokesman for California’s Office of Emergency Services, says the state hasn’t received any notifications yet, but has gotten a non-disclosure agreement from Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway (BNSF).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As a public entity, we can’t sign a non-disclosure agreement,” he said. “But we want to let BNSF know that we will be treating this information with great respect and keeping it in accordance with federal and California laws.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>BNSF said Friday the company will comply with the order, even if states don’t sign the agreement. The railway operates oil terminals in Richmond, Sacramento and Bakersfield. The other major railroad in California, Union Pacific, said through a spokesman that it does not currently transport any Bakken oil through California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Crude-by-Rail is Expanding in California\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aside from BNSF’s facilities, there are three other existing crude-by-rail operations in California that could take in crude oil from the Bakken or from other mid-continent fields. Other fields produce less volatile crude than the Bakken formation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And five more crude-by-rail terminals have been proposed, including two in the Bay Area: the \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/audio/valero-rail-project-fuels-tar-sands-speculation-in-bay-area/\">Valero refinery in Benicia\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/audio/bay-area-residents-resist-crude-by-rail-as-accidents-rise/\">WesPac oil terminal in Pittsburg\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Crude-by-rail has been a growing industry — and concern — as a North American oil boom has developed. Without pipelines to transport oil from Alberta’s tar sands and North Dakota’s Bakken, oil companies have turned to trains to get crude to coastal refineries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In January 2013, about 156,000 barrels of oil came into California by rail. By the end of the year, that number had increased nearly eight-fold. In December 2013, oil companies brought more than a million barrels into the state by rail. Now, that still accounted for only one percent of all the oil refined in the state in 2013. But if all the proposed oil terminals go through, crude-by-rail could account for 23 percent of California’s oil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the number of trains carrying oil across the country has gone up, so have accidents. Lynchburg, Virginia and Casselton, North Dakota were both recent sites of derailments and explosions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Diane Bailey of the Natural Resources Defense Council said she’s concerned about safety in California, too. “None of these massive oil infrastructure projects should be moving forward while we’re still working to understand and address the public safety risks at local, state and federal levels,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Flurry of Legislation\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to the DOT’s emergency order, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration sent proposed regulations on crude-by-rail to the White House earlier this year. Those are expected to be made public later this summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, legislation from Congressman Mike Thompson, a Bay Area Democrat, has passed the House as part of the Intelligence Authorization Act. If passed by the Senate, it would require the Department of Homeland Security to study the safety of oil refineries and railroads that connect to them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the state level, Senator Fran Pavley, a Democrat from Agoura Hills, \u003ca href=\"http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/postquery?bill_number=sb_1319&sess=CUR&house=B&author=pavley_%3Cpavley%3E\">introduced a bill\u003c/a> that would focus California’s \u003ca href=\"http://www.dfg.ca.gov/ospr/\">Office of Spill Prevention and Response\u003c/a> (OSPR) not only on marine oil spills, but on inland spills as well, like those that might occur from rail. That bill has passed the Senate and is now in the Assembly. In his budget proposal earlier this year, Governor Jerry Brown put $6.7 million towards OSPR, citing the rise of crude-by-rail. Finally, Assemblyman Roger Dickinson, a Sacramento Democrat, introduced \u003ca href=\"http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/postquery?bill_number=ab_380&sess=CUR&house=B&author=dickinson_%3Cdickinson%3E\">AB 380\u003c/a>, which would require railroads to give more information about crude-by-rail shipments to emergency responders. That bill is in a Senate committee.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Beginning Saturday, railroads must notify states when large shipments of crude oil come through by train. The new rule is in response to safety concerns with crude-by-rail. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_18141\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/06/bnsf.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-18141\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/06/bnsf.jpg\" alt=\"Tank cars travel near the Feather River in Northern California. (Jake Miille/Jake Miille Photography http://jakemiillephotography.com/) \" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tank cars travel near Lake Oroville in Northern California. (\u003ca href=\"http://jakemiillephotography.com/\">Jake Miille/Jake Miille Photography\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Beginning Saturday, railroads must notify states when certain large shipments of crude oil come through by train. The new rule is in response to safety concerns with crude-by-rail.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"http://www.dot.gov/briefing-room/emergency-order\">emergency order\u003c/a>, issued by the federal Department of Transportation last month, applies to trains carrying a million gallons or more of crude from the Bakken formation in North Dakota. That’s the oil that has exploded in numerous fiery derailments, including one in Quebec last summer that killed 47 people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brad Alexander, spokesman for California’s Office of Emergency Services, says the state hasn’t received any notifications yet, but has gotten a non-disclosure agreement from Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway (BNSF).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As a public entity, we can’t sign a non-disclosure agreement,” he said. “But we want to let BNSF know that we will be treating this information with great respect and keeping it in accordance with federal and California laws.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>BNSF said Friday the company will comply with the order, even if states don’t sign the agreement. The railway operates oil terminals in Richmond, Sacramento and Bakersfield. The other major railroad in California, Union Pacific, said through a spokesman that it does not currently transport any Bakken oil through California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Crude-by-Rail is Expanding in California\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aside from BNSF’s facilities, there are three other existing crude-by-rail operations in California that could take in crude oil from the Bakken or from other mid-continent fields. Other fields produce less volatile crude than the Bakken formation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And five more crude-by-rail terminals have been proposed, including two in the Bay Area: the \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/audio/valero-rail-project-fuels-tar-sands-speculation-in-bay-area/\">Valero refinery in Benicia\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/audio/bay-area-residents-resist-crude-by-rail-as-accidents-rise/\">WesPac oil terminal in Pittsburg\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Crude-by-rail has been a growing industry — and concern — as a North American oil boom has developed. Without pipelines to transport oil from Alberta’s tar sands and North Dakota’s Bakken, oil companies have turned to trains to get crude to coastal refineries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In January 2013, about 156,000 barrels of oil came into California by rail. By the end of the year, that number had increased nearly eight-fold. In December 2013, oil companies brought more than a million barrels into the state by rail. Now, that still accounted for only one percent of all the oil refined in the state in 2013. But if all the proposed oil terminals go through, crude-by-rail could account for 23 percent of California’s oil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the number of trains carrying oil across the country has gone up, so have accidents. Lynchburg, Virginia and Casselton, North Dakota were both recent sites of derailments and explosions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Diane Bailey of the Natural Resources Defense Council said she’s concerned about safety in California, too. “None of these massive oil infrastructure projects should be moving forward while we’re still working to understand and address the public safety risks at local, state and federal levels,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Flurry of Legislation\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to the DOT’s emergency order, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration sent proposed regulations on crude-by-rail to the White House earlier this year. Those are expected to be made public later this summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, legislation from Congressman Mike Thompson, a Bay Area Democrat, has passed the House as part of the Intelligence Authorization Act. If passed by the Senate, it would require the Department of Homeland Security to study the safety of oil refineries and railroads that connect to them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the state level, Senator Fran Pavley, a Democrat from Agoura Hills, \u003ca href=\"http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/postquery?bill_number=sb_1319&sess=CUR&house=B&author=pavley_%3Cpavley%3E\">introduced a bill\u003c/a> that would focus California’s \u003ca href=\"http://www.dfg.ca.gov/ospr/\">Office of Spill Prevention and Response\u003c/a> (OSPR) not only on marine oil spills, but on inland spills as well, like those that might occur from rail. That bill has passed the Senate and is now in the Assembly. In his budget proposal earlier this year, Governor Jerry Brown put $6.7 million towards OSPR, citing the rise of crude-by-rail. Finally, Assemblyman Roger Dickinson, a Sacramento Democrat, introduced \u003ca href=\"http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/postquery?bill_number=ab_380&sess=CUR&house=B&author=dickinson_%3Cdickinson%3E\">AB 380\u003c/a>, which would require railroads to give more information about crude-by-rail shipments to emergency responders. That bill is in a Senate committee.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "Tobacco Gets a Makeover as New Source for Biofuel",
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"content": "\u003cp>Tobacco is about to get a facelift. As a key ingredient in cigarettes, the plant contributes to gum disease, emphysema and cancer. This has led to a decline in cigarette sales and tobacco production in the United States over the past 25 years. But one research team thinks tobacco could provide a societal benefit by becoming a new source for biofuel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All the things that make tobacco bad are really good for fuels,” said \u003ca href=\"http://eetd.lbl.gov/people/bill-shelander\">Bill Shelander\u003c/a>, business development specialist at\u003ca href=\"http://www.lbl.gov/\"> Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you smoke cigarettes you are smoking tar and nicotine, and the tar is bad for health,” he said. “Tobacco is unusually high in tar content and it’s the type of chemical that can be converted into fuels -- they are precursors to oil. If these plants were buried for millions of years they would be a very nice oil reserve.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lab has partnered with the \u003ca href=\"http://www.berkeley.edu/index.html\">University of California-Berkeley\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"http://www.uky.edu/\">University of Kentucky\u003c/a> to engineer tobacco so that its leaves produce oil that can more easily be converted into a fuel source for everything from cars to yachts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The project, called \u003ca href=\"http://ucbiotech.org/folium/\">Folium\u003c/a>, is backed by a $4.8 million grant from the \u003ca href=\"http://arpa-e.energy.gov/\">Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy\u003c/a> or ARPA-E, a \u003ca href=\"http://energy.gov/\">U.S. Department of Energy\u003c/a> agency that funds the research and development of emerging energy technologies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_70734\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 341px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/03/NextMeal_Tobacco_Arwen_Curry.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-70734\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/03/NextMeal_Tobacco_Arwen_Curry-377x253.jpg\" alt=\"NextMeal_Tobacco_Arwen_Curry\" width=\"341\" height=\"229\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Researchers introduce genes from cyanobacteria and algae to increase the amount of oil that is produced in tobacco leaves. Photo: Arwen Curry, KQED Science\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The idea for biofuel -- using plants as a fuel source -- is nothing new, but it has gained popularity in recent years with rising gasoline prices and concern that burning fossil fuels is a main driver of climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most common source for biofuel in the U.S. is corn, which is fermented and turned into an alcohol, called ethanol, that is added to gasoline and used to power automobiles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To create biofuel from tobacco, researchers have added genes from algae and cyanobacteria that can process sunlight more efficiently than corn does and convert the sunlight into hydrocarbons via photosynthesis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hydrocarbons in the engineered tobacco are a form of bio-crude oil, an antecedent to fuel. This bio-crude can be stored in the leaves and directly removed and processed to create biofuel, which requires fewer steps than making ethanol, the researchers say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because less processing is required, at a commercial scale biofuel from tobacco could be price competitive with gasoline at three to six dollars a gallon, said Peggy Lemaux, a University of California-Berkeley biologist working on the Folium team.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plant has several other distinct advantages, said Lemaux. Tobacco doesn’t compete with the national food supply. It occupies 350,000 acres of land, compared to 95.3 million for corn, and is cultivated in designated areas where it has been produced for decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It also can be harvested several times a year and it produces more biomass than traditional biofuel crops.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">We need alternative sources of fuel, but we also need researchers to come up with remedies to end the [tobacco] industry’s behavior that harms soils and communities -Marty Ortañez \u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Researchers at the University of Kentucky have been planting and machine harvesting tobacco on a two-acre plot to measure the potential yield. The tobacco biofuel has not been used in vehicles yet and would need more financial backing for testing after the three-year Department of Energy grant runs out this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But critics say there are lots of problems with the idea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pesticide pollution and inhumane working conditions are prevalent in the countries where tobacco is grown, said anthropology professor \u003ca href=\"http://www.ucdenver.edu/academics/colleges/CLAS/Departments/anthropology/AboutUs/Contact/DepartmentDirectory/Pages/MartyOta%C3%B1ez.aspx\">Marty Ortañez\u003c/a> of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.ucdenver.edu/pages/ucdwelcomepage.aspx\">University of Colorado Denver\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Tobacco is an industry that relies on child labor,” said Ortañez. “We need alternative sources of fuel, but we also need researchers to come up with remedies to end the industry’s behavior that harms soils and communities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In May, Human Rights Watch, a nonprofit advocacy group, released \u003ca href=\"http://www.hrw.org/reports/2014/05/13/tobacco-s-hidden-children\">a report\u003c/a> about the dangerous working conditions for children as young as seven who work in U.S. tobacco fields. Many young workers were exposed to pesticides and nicotine that sometimes resulted in acute nicotine poisoning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Orlando Chambers, managing director of the \u003ca href=\"http://www2.ca.uky.edu/KTRDC/\">Kentucky Tobacco Research and Development Center\u003c/a> (KTRDC), said that tobacco used for biofuel would be machine harvested, making child labor a non-issue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Conventional tobacco uses lots of labor, but genetically modified tobacco would be planted closer together and be machine harvested,” Chambers said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ortañez contends that tobacco research, whether for biofuel or cancer vaccines, ultimately helps tobacco companies’ portray the industry in a positive light.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_70755\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 343px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/03/Tobacco-harvesting_300x225.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\" wp-image-70755\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/03/Tobacco-harvesting_300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Photo: La Casa del Habano and Habanos S.A.\" width=\"343\" height=\"257\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tobacco for cigarettes is picked by hand but tobacco grown for biofuel would be more efficiently harvested by machines. Photo: La Casa del Habano and Habanos S.A.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Tobacco for biofuel is just another strategy for the tobacco industry to derail the discussion about unfair contracts and low leaf prices [for farmers],” said Ortañez. “It’s the last-ditch effort of tobacco companies to represent themselves as having any sort of benefit.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When contacted, cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris declined to comment for this story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Folium biologist Peggy Lemaux, the research is neither supported nor influenced by the tobacco industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This project had nothing to do with big tobacco,” said Lemaux. “It was thought of by a bunch of researchers because it’s not an edible crop, it has a high biomass and it’s easy to genetically manipulate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lemaux and other scientists participating in Folium have not received money from the tobacco companies, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the problems associated with tobacco farming, Ortañez does believe Folium has merit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I am excited that the biofuel project will get people talking about labor rights and unfair wages,” said Ortañez. “There’s a lot of room for tobacco to improve.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Tobacco is about to get a facelift. As a key ingredient in cigarettes, the plant contributes to gum disease, emphysema and cancer. This has led to a decline in cigarette sales and tobacco production in the United States over the past 25 years. But one research team thinks tobacco could provide a societal benefit by becoming a new source for biofuel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All the things that make tobacco bad are really good for fuels,” said \u003ca href=\"http://eetd.lbl.gov/people/bill-shelander\">Bill Shelander\u003c/a>, business development specialist at\u003ca href=\"http://www.lbl.gov/\"> Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you smoke cigarettes you are smoking tar and nicotine, and the tar is bad for health,” he said. “Tobacco is unusually high in tar content and it’s the type of chemical that can be converted into fuels -- they are precursors to oil. If these plants were buried for millions of years they would be a very nice oil reserve.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lab has partnered with the \u003ca href=\"http://www.berkeley.edu/index.html\">University of California-Berkeley\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"http://www.uky.edu/\">University of Kentucky\u003c/a> to engineer tobacco so that its leaves produce oil that can more easily be converted into a fuel source for everything from cars to yachts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The project, called \u003ca href=\"http://ucbiotech.org/folium/\">Folium\u003c/a>, is backed by a $4.8 million grant from the \u003ca href=\"http://arpa-e.energy.gov/\">Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy\u003c/a> or ARPA-E, a \u003ca href=\"http://energy.gov/\">U.S. Department of Energy\u003c/a> agency that funds the research and development of emerging energy technologies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_70734\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 341px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/03/NextMeal_Tobacco_Arwen_Curry.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-70734\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/03/NextMeal_Tobacco_Arwen_Curry-377x253.jpg\" alt=\"NextMeal_Tobacco_Arwen_Curry\" width=\"341\" height=\"229\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Researchers introduce genes from cyanobacteria and algae to increase the amount of oil that is produced in tobacco leaves. Photo: Arwen Curry, KQED Science\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The idea for biofuel -- using plants as a fuel source -- is nothing new, but it has gained popularity in recent years with rising gasoline prices and concern that burning fossil fuels is a main driver of climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most common source for biofuel in the U.S. is corn, which is fermented and turned into an alcohol, called ethanol, that is added to gasoline and used to power automobiles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To create biofuel from tobacco, researchers have added genes from algae and cyanobacteria that can process sunlight more efficiently than corn does and convert the sunlight into hydrocarbons via photosynthesis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hydrocarbons in the engineered tobacco are a form of bio-crude oil, an antecedent to fuel. This bio-crude can be stored in the leaves and directly removed and processed to create biofuel, which requires fewer steps than making ethanol, the researchers say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because less processing is required, at a commercial scale biofuel from tobacco could be price competitive with gasoline at three to six dollars a gallon, said Peggy Lemaux, a University of California-Berkeley biologist working on the Folium team.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plant has several other distinct advantages, said Lemaux. Tobacco doesn’t compete with the national food supply. It occupies 350,000 acres of land, compared to 95.3 million for corn, and is cultivated in designated areas where it has been produced for decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It also can be harvested several times a year and it produces more biomass than traditional biofuel crops.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">We need alternative sources of fuel, but we also need researchers to come up with remedies to end the [tobacco] industry’s behavior that harms soils and communities -Marty Ortañez \u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Researchers at the University of Kentucky have been planting and machine harvesting tobacco on a two-acre plot to measure the potential yield. The tobacco biofuel has not been used in vehicles yet and would need more financial backing for testing after the three-year Department of Energy grant runs out this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But critics say there are lots of problems with the idea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pesticide pollution and inhumane working conditions are prevalent in the countries where tobacco is grown, said anthropology professor \u003ca href=\"http://www.ucdenver.edu/academics/colleges/CLAS/Departments/anthropology/AboutUs/Contact/DepartmentDirectory/Pages/MartyOta%C3%B1ez.aspx\">Marty Ortañez\u003c/a> of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.ucdenver.edu/pages/ucdwelcomepage.aspx\">University of Colorado Denver\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Tobacco is an industry that relies on child labor,” said Ortañez. “We need alternative sources of fuel, but we also need researchers to come up with remedies to end the industry’s behavior that harms soils and communities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In May, Human Rights Watch, a nonprofit advocacy group, released \u003ca href=\"http://www.hrw.org/reports/2014/05/13/tobacco-s-hidden-children\">a report\u003c/a> about the dangerous working conditions for children as young as seven who work in U.S. tobacco fields. Many young workers were exposed to pesticides and nicotine that sometimes resulted in acute nicotine poisoning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Orlando Chambers, managing director of the \u003ca href=\"http://www2.ca.uky.edu/KTRDC/\">Kentucky Tobacco Research and Development Center\u003c/a> (KTRDC), said that tobacco used for biofuel would be machine harvested, making child labor a non-issue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Conventional tobacco uses lots of labor, but genetically modified tobacco would be planted closer together and be machine harvested,” Chambers said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ortañez contends that tobacco research, whether for biofuel or cancer vaccines, ultimately helps tobacco companies’ portray the industry in a positive light.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_70755\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 343px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/03/Tobacco-harvesting_300x225.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\" wp-image-70755\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/03/Tobacco-harvesting_300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Photo: La Casa del Habano and Habanos S.A.\" width=\"343\" height=\"257\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tobacco for cigarettes is picked by hand but tobacco grown for biofuel would be more efficiently harvested by machines. Photo: La Casa del Habano and Habanos S.A.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Tobacco for biofuel is just another strategy for the tobacco industry to derail the discussion about unfair contracts and low leaf prices [for farmers],” said Ortañez. “It’s the last-ditch effort of tobacco companies to represent themselves as having any sort of benefit.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When contacted, cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris declined to comment for this story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Folium biologist Peggy Lemaux, the research is neither supported nor influenced by the tobacco industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This project had nothing to do with big tobacco,” said Lemaux. “It was thought of by a bunch of researchers because it’s not an edible crop, it has a high biomass and it’s easy to genetically manipulate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lemaux and other scientists participating in Folium have not received money from the tobacco companies, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the problems associated with tobacco farming, Ortañez does believe Folium has merit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I am excited that the biofuel project will get people talking about labor rights and unfair wages,” said Ortañez. “There’s a lot of room for tobacco to improve.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "New Rules for Power Plants: What They Mean for California",
"headTitle": "New Rules for Power Plants: What They Mean for California | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_17919\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/05/MorroBay_3600.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-17919\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17919\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/05/MorroBay_3600.jpg\" alt=\"A natural gas-fired power plant in Morro Bay, on California's Central Coast. (Craig Miller)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A natural gas-fired power plant looms over Morro Bay, on California’s Central Coast. (Craig Miller)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>UPDATED with post-announcement reaction and details\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Following Monday’s roll-out from the federal Environmental Protection Agency, there was optimism — if not clarity — over what \u003ca title=\"EPA - release\" href=\"http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/bd4379a92ceceeac8525735900400c27/5bb6d20668b9a18485257ceb00490c98!OpenDocument\">proposed new regulation\u003c/a> of power plant carbon emissions would mean for California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The idea of setting higher standards to cut pollution at our power plants is not new,” President Barack Obama said in his weekly address, “It’s just time for Washington to catch up with the rest of the country.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the president refers to “the rest of the country,” California looms large, given the state’s aggressive moves to cut carbon emissions. Those include a power mix with 33 percent renewable energy by 2020, and the nation’s most ambitious cap-and-trade program to throttle industrial emissions of greenhouse gases. California put specific limits on global warming emissions from power plants back in 2006, with a law that Derek Walker of the Environmental Defense Fund calls, “a forerunner” of the new federal standard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the two use different measuring sticks. California’s broader climate strategy, also passed in 2006, aims to cut emissions back to 1990 levels by 2020. The new \u003ca title=\"EPA - Clean Power Plan\" href=\"http://www2.epa.gov/carbon-pollution-standards\">federal Clean Power Plan\u003c/a> would require a 30 percent cut from 2005 levels by 2030. Nonetheless, Derek Furstenwerth, senior director for environmental services at Calpine, a major power producer in California, told reporters that while Calpine is still sifting details of the plan, California’s program is “sufficiently stringent” so that it should meet the federal goal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hit hardest by the new rules will be the nation’s 600-or-so coal-fired power plants. States that depend heavily on coal power will have to find ways to reduce carbon emissions — but how they do it will likely be left largely to them. In her announcement, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said the proposed rule, “is not a one-size-fits-all solution.” Less coal-dependent states might comply simply by tightening energy efficiency standards. States could also develop more clean energy sources or put a price on carbon with programs similar to California’s cap-and-trade program. That, in turn, could lead to more cap-and-trade partners for the Golden State. Currently Quebec has the only carbon market directly linked to California’s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_17925\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/06/epa-nsps-co2-sector-copy.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-17925\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17925\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/06/epa-nsps-co2-sector-copy.jpg\" alt=\"A snapshot of U.S. carbon emissions in 2012. (EIA/C2ES)\" width=\"640\" height=\"372\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A snapshot of U.S. carbon emissions in 2012. (EIA/C2ES)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While California utilities have no coal-fired plants inside the state, they do import coal power from plants in neighboring states. As recently as 2005, those imported megawatts accounted for about 33 million metric tons of carbon emissions, a number that’s been dropping dramatically in recent years as utilities in the state have begun weaning themselves from coal power, replacing some of it with renewable energy sources such as wind and solar. (Total \u003ca title=\"CARB - CO2 emissions inventory\" href=\"http://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/inventory/data/data.htm\">carbon emissions in California\u003c/a> were about 459 million in 2012, the latest year tallied.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the other hand, the proportion of electricity that Californians get from natural gas has been rising. The \u003ca title=\"LAT - post\" href=\"http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-san-onofre-cost-20140510-story.html\">shutdown of a major nuclear power plant\u003c/a> in Southern California combined with reduced hydroelectricity from \u003ca title=\"Q-Sci - Drought Watch\" href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/series/california-drought-watch/?=science_widget\">the ongoing drought\u003c/a> have forced power producers to replace that missing power with natural gas, pushing its proportion in the state’s power mix to about 70 percent. Though far less carbon-polluting than coal, natural gas is a fossil fuel and produces substantial warming emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Natural Resources Defense Council has done its own \u003ca title=\"NRDC - report\" href=\"http://www.nrdc.org/air/pollution-standards/state-benefits.asp\">tally of prospective benefits\u003c/a>, most of which would accrue to 13 “key states,” where energy is currently more carbon-intensive than in California. Of course, NRDC did its math before the actual rules were unveiled. Conversely (and in similarly speculative fashion), voices from the fossil fuel industry and some utilities have \u003ca title=\"SFBT - post\" href=\"http://www.bizjournals.com/bizjournals/washingtonbureau/2014/05/will-epa-limits-on-power-plant-emissions-kill-jobs.html?page=all\">decried the new regulation\u003c/a> as a job killer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>States have until at least 2016 to submit their plans to meet the new standard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_17919\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/05/MorroBay_3600.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-17919\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17919\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/05/MorroBay_3600.jpg\" alt=\"A natural gas-fired power plant in Morro Bay, on California's Central Coast. (Craig Miller)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A natural gas-fired power plant looms over Morro Bay, on California’s Central Coast. (Craig Miller)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>UPDATED with post-announcement reaction and details\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Following Monday’s roll-out from the federal Environmental Protection Agency, there was optimism — if not clarity — over what \u003ca title=\"EPA - release\" href=\"http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/bd4379a92ceceeac8525735900400c27/5bb6d20668b9a18485257ceb00490c98!OpenDocument\">proposed new regulation\u003c/a> of power plant carbon emissions would mean for California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The idea of setting higher standards to cut pollution at our power plants is not new,” President Barack Obama said in his weekly address, “It’s just time for Washington to catch up with the rest of the country.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the president refers to “the rest of the country,” California looms large, given the state’s aggressive moves to cut carbon emissions. Those include a power mix with 33 percent renewable energy by 2020, and the nation’s most ambitious cap-and-trade program to throttle industrial emissions of greenhouse gases. California put specific limits on global warming emissions from power plants back in 2006, with a law that Derek Walker of the Environmental Defense Fund calls, “a forerunner” of the new federal standard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the two use different measuring sticks. California’s broader climate strategy, also passed in 2006, aims to cut emissions back to 1990 levels by 2020. The new \u003ca title=\"EPA - Clean Power Plan\" href=\"http://www2.epa.gov/carbon-pollution-standards\">federal Clean Power Plan\u003c/a> would require a 30 percent cut from 2005 levels by 2030. Nonetheless, Derek Furstenwerth, senior director for environmental services at Calpine, a major power producer in California, told reporters that while Calpine is still sifting details of the plan, California’s program is “sufficiently stringent” so that it should meet the federal goal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hit hardest by the new rules will be the nation’s 600-or-so coal-fired power plants. States that depend heavily on coal power will have to find ways to reduce carbon emissions — but how they do it will likely be left largely to them. In her announcement, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said the proposed rule, “is not a one-size-fits-all solution.” Less coal-dependent states might comply simply by tightening energy efficiency standards. States could also develop more clean energy sources or put a price on carbon with programs similar to California’s cap-and-trade program. That, in turn, could lead to more cap-and-trade partners for the Golden State. Currently Quebec has the only carbon market directly linked to California’s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_17925\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/06/epa-nsps-co2-sector-copy.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-17925\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17925\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/06/epa-nsps-co2-sector-copy.jpg\" alt=\"A snapshot of U.S. carbon emissions in 2012. (EIA/C2ES)\" width=\"640\" height=\"372\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A snapshot of U.S. carbon emissions in 2012. (EIA/C2ES)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While California utilities have no coal-fired plants inside the state, they do import coal power from plants in neighboring states. As recently as 2005, those imported megawatts accounted for about 33 million metric tons of carbon emissions, a number that’s been dropping dramatically in recent years as utilities in the state have begun weaning themselves from coal power, replacing some of it with renewable energy sources such as wind and solar. (Total \u003ca title=\"CARB - CO2 emissions inventory\" href=\"http://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/inventory/data/data.htm\">carbon emissions in California\u003c/a> were about 459 million in 2012, the latest year tallied.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the other hand, the proportion of electricity that Californians get from natural gas has been rising. The \u003ca title=\"LAT - post\" href=\"http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-san-onofre-cost-20140510-story.html\">shutdown of a major nuclear power plant\u003c/a> in Southern California combined with reduced hydroelectricity from \u003ca title=\"Q-Sci - Drought Watch\" href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/series/california-drought-watch/?=science_widget\">the ongoing drought\u003c/a> have forced power producers to replace that missing power with natural gas, pushing its proportion in the state’s power mix to about 70 percent. Though far less carbon-polluting than coal, natural gas is a fossil fuel and produces substantial warming emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Natural Resources Defense Council has done its own \u003ca title=\"NRDC - report\" href=\"http://www.nrdc.org/air/pollution-standards/state-benefits.asp\">tally of prospective benefits\u003c/a>, most of which would accrue to 13 “key states,” where energy is currently more carbon-intensive than in California. Of course, NRDC did its math before the actual rules were unveiled. Conversely (and in similarly speculative fashion), voices from the fossil fuel industry and some utilities have \u003ca title=\"SFBT - post\" href=\"http://www.bizjournals.com/bizjournals/washingtonbureau/2014/05/will-epa-limits-on-power-plant-emissions-kill-jobs.html?page=all\">decried the new regulation\u003c/a> as a job killer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>States have until at least 2016 to submit their plans to meet the new standard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "californias-monterey-shale-bonanza-or-bust-nobody-really-knows",
"title": "California's Monterey Shale: Bonanza or Bust? Nobody Really Knows",
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"headTitle": "California’s Monterey Shale: Bonanza or Bust? Nobody Really Knows | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_17661\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/05/pumpjacks.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17661\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/05/pumpjacks.jpg\" alt=\"Pumpjacks draw oil out of the Monterey Shale near McKittrick, California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pumpjacks draw oil out of the Monterey Shale near McKittrick, California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The controversy over hydraulic fracturing in California has been largely centered around the Monterey Formation, the rock layer that was said to be the largest oil resource in the country and almost a sure bet for a drilling boom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At least, until this week. Federal officials with the Energy Information Administration are \u003ca href=\"http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-oil-20140521-story.html\">reportedly downgrading their estimate\u003c/a> of how much oil could be pumped out of the formation. Just a few years ago, the agency projected that oil companies could retrieve 15 billion barrels of oil. Now, it’s down to 600 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just to clarify: these numbers don’t reflect how much oil is underground in California. Most geologists agree that there’s still plenty down there. The EIA is attempting to estimate how much could be pumped out with current technology. As with other oil and gas reserves around the country, this number fluctuates quite a bit based on assumptions about the geology and what oil companies can accomplish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The total resource can be huge – just ridiculously large,” says Don Gautier, geologist emeritus with the U.S. Geological Survey. “What fraction of it can actually be recovered? That can be very uncertain.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What’s Unknown About the Monterey Formation\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So why the uncertainty around the Monterey Shale? It has to do with the lack of information about the rock formation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Monterey has already been incredibly productive in California. It’s been the source of most oil production in the state over the last century. The rock layer covers 1,700 square miles and can be several thousand feet thick in places. It was created millions of years ago, when dead microorganisms piled up on the bottom of an ancient sea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_17668\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 311px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/05/NatGasSchematic2.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-17668\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/05/NatGasSchematic2.jpg\" alt=\"Conventional drilling taps into reservoirs where oil and gas has pooled underground. Unconventional drilling goes deeper into the rock layers that generate oil.\" width=\"311\" height=\"376\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Conventional drilling taps into reservoirs where oil and gas has pooled underground. Unconventional drilling goes deeper into the rock layers that generate oil.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>That organic material created oil-bearing rock and over the millennia, oil has seeped out and pooled in underground reservoirs. Finding and tapping these reservoirs, what’s known as “conventional” oil development, has made California the third-largest oil producer in the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The buzz these days, however, is over “unconventional” development. That’s where oil and gas companies drill down into the rock layers that produce the oil – known as “source rock.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These rocks are dense and historically, haven’t been very productive – until hydraulic fracturing came along. When water and sand are injected underground at high pressure, they create tiny fractures in the rock that help release the oil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Historically, oil companies in California haven’t had to tap into the source rock. There were plenty of conventional reservoirs to develop. But as the technology has improved and production in older reservoirs has declined, oil producers have started looking deeper, down to the Monterey Shale source rock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Is the Oil Still There?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>North Dakota has seen a massive oil boom in the source rock of its Bakken formation, due in large part to hydraulic fracturing. Fracking opened up source rock that was considered beyond reach just a few decades ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The question in the Monterey Shale is whether the source rock still holds lots of oil. California’s abundant seismic activity could have forced much of the oil to migrate out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These are very effective mechanisms that allow oil to be expelled from the source rock,” says Gautier. “Whereas up in the Bakken, the oil was generated 100 million years ago and has been sitting like a dead lump since.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_sidebar id=”087bded8a228f2ed2d9be0d52ba4272a”]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because of these unknowns, many believe there’s huge uncertainty about the amount of oil that can be recovered in the Monterey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We just don’t know,” says Gautier. “One of the possibilities is that most of the recoverable oil has already been expelled and migrated. So what’s left behind is residual oil that won’t really yield significant production. That isn’t to say there isn’t a whole lot of oil in the Monterey or even that there isn’t a lot of oil remaining in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>USGS is working on its own estimate of recoverable oil in the Monterey, expected early next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The seismically warped rock layers in California could also make it challenging to use the same fracking techniques that have been so effective in North Dakota. Oil wells are drilled horizontally for miles sometimes along a layer of rock. California’s roller-coaster rock layers could make horizontal drilling a challenge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oil companies are still in the early stages of drilling exploratory wells in the source rock. Until more of that data are available, the jury is still out on the Monterey Shale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fact of the matter is there’ve only been a handful of wells that even intended to test the idea,” says Gautier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What the Industry Is Saying\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the lackluster new estimate, the oil industry says the number has little effect on their efforts.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘Whether there are 15 billion barrels or 600 million barrels… it’s still a lot of oil.’\u003ccite>— Susan Hersberger, Aera Energy\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>“The oil is still there,” says Catherine Reheis-Boyd of the Western States Petroleum Association, an industry group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s just a matter of technology and it’s a matter of the skill and experience and innovative spirit that we really believe the men and women of the petroleum industry possess,” she says. “And they will solve the puzzle and they will improve production rates from the Monterey Shale.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Several oil companies say their exploratory wells are getting them closer to the answer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Preliminary data from our first exploration wells tells us the oil is there,” says Susan Hersberger of \u003ca href=\"http://aeraenergy.com/\">Aera Energy\u003c/a>, one of the largest oil production companies in California. “But this data has also confirmed that the Monterey Shale has some characteristics that warrant further study and testing, so that we might unlock its potential.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Similar to the decades-long exploration of the Bakken, the Monterey exploration process will also be a long and complex journey,” she says. “Whether there are 15 billion barrels or 600 million barrels or something in between, it’s still a lot of oil. We see potential and are in it for the long-term.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Calls for a Fracking Moratorium\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A collation of environmental and community groups called \u003ca href=\"http://www.californiansagainstfracking.org/\">Californians Against Fracking\u003c/a> is using the new estimate to raise concerns over groundwater contamination and environmental damage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This bombshell from the EIA gives you a new opportunity to make the right call and halt fracking,” they wrote in a letter to Governor Jerry Brown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The group, which is calling for a moratorium on fracking, says the lower estimate of the Monterey’s potential means that economic benefits touted by the industry are inflated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Governor Brown has resisted a moratorium, citing the state’s efforts to \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2013/11/15/what-californias-new-fracking-rules-would-do-and-not-do/\">develop regulations for fracking this year\u003c/a> that require groundwater monitoring, new permitting requirements and notification of neighbors in the area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" src=\"https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/150669396&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_artwork=true\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_17661\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/05/pumpjacks.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17661\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/05/pumpjacks.jpg\" alt=\"Pumpjacks draw oil out of the Monterey Shale near McKittrick, California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pumpjacks draw oil out of the Monterey Shale near McKittrick, California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The controversy over hydraulic fracturing in California has been largely centered around the Monterey Formation, the rock layer that was said to be the largest oil resource in the country and almost a sure bet for a drilling boom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At least, until this week. Federal officials with the Energy Information Administration are \u003ca href=\"http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-oil-20140521-story.html\">reportedly downgrading their estimate\u003c/a> of how much oil could be pumped out of the formation. Just a few years ago, the agency projected that oil companies could retrieve 15 billion barrels of oil. Now, it’s down to 600 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just to clarify: these numbers don’t reflect how much oil is underground in California. Most geologists agree that there’s still plenty down there. The EIA is attempting to estimate how much could be pumped out with current technology. As with other oil and gas reserves around the country, this number fluctuates quite a bit based on assumptions about the geology and what oil companies can accomplish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The total resource can be huge – just ridiculously large,” says Don Gautier, geologist emeritus with the U.S. Geological Survey. “What fraction of it can actually be recovered? That can be very uncertain.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What’s Unknown About the Monterey Formation\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So why the uncertainty around the Monterey Shale? It has to do with the lack of information about the rock formation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Monterey has already been incredibly productive in California. It’s been the source of most oil production in the state over the last century. The rock layer covers 1,700 square miles and can be several thousand feet thick in places. It was created millions of years ago, when dead microorganisms piled up on the bottom of an ancient sea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_17668\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 311px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/05/NatGasSchematic2.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-17668\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/05/NatGasSchematic2.jpg\" alt=\"Conventional drilling taps into reservoirs where oil and gas has pooled underground. Unconventional drilling goes deeper into the rock layers that generate oil.\" width=\"311\" height=\"376\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Conventional drilling taps into reservoirs where oil and gas has pooled underground. Unconventional drilling goes deeper into the rock layers that generate oil.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>That organic material created oil-bearing rock and over the millennia, oil has seeped out and pooled in underground reservoirs. Finding and tapping these reservoirs, what’s known as “conventional” oil development, has made California the third-largest oil producer in the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The buzz these days, however, is over “unconventional” development. That’s where oil and gas companies drill down into the rock layers that produce the oil – known as “source rock.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These rocks are dense and historically, haven’t been very productive – until hydraulic fracturing came along. When water and sand are injected underground at high pressure, they create tiny fractures in the rock that help release the oil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Historically, oil companies in California haven’t had to tap into the source rock. There were plenty of conventional reservoirs to develop. But as the technology has improved and production in older reservoirs has declined, oil producers have started looking deeper, down to the Monterey Shale source rock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Is the Oil Still There?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>North Dakota has seen a massive oil boom in the source rock of its Bakken formation, due in large part to hydraulic fracturing. Fracking opened up source rock that was considered beyond reach just a few decades ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The question in the Monterey Shale is whether the source rock still holds lots of oil. California’s abundant seismic activity could have forced much of the oil to migrate out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These are very effective mechanisms that allow oil to be expelled from the source rock,” says Gautier. “Whereas up in the Bakken, the oil was generated 100 million years ago and has been sitting like a dead lump since.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because of these unknowns, many believe there’s huge uncertainty about the amount of oil that can be recovered in the Monterey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We just don’t know,” says Gautier. “One of the possibilities is that most of the recoverable oil has already been expelled and migrated. So what’s left behind is residual oil that won’t really yield significant production. That isn’t to say there isn’t a whole lot of oil in the Monterey or even that there isn’t a lot of oil remaining in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>USGS is working on its own estimate of recoverable oil in the Monterey, expected early next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The seismically warped rock layers in California could also make it challenging to use the same fracking techniques that have been so effective in North Dakota. Oil wells are drilled horizontally for miles sometimes along a layer of rock. California’s roller-coaster rock layers could make horizontal drilling a challenge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oil companies are still in the early stages of drilling exploratory wells in the source rock. Until more of that data are available, the jury is still out on the Monterey Shale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fact of the matter is there’ve only been a handful of wells that even intended to test the idea,” says Gautier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What the Industry Is Saying\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the lackluster new estimate, the oil industry says the number has little effect on their efforts.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘Whether there are 15 billion barrels or 600 million barrels… it’s still a lot of oil.’\u003ccite>— Susan Hersberger, Aera Energy\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>“The oil is still there,” says Catherine Reheis-Boyd of the Western States Petroleum Association, an industry group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s just a matter of technology and it’s a matter of the skill and experience and innovative spirit that we really believe the men and women of the petroleum industry possess,” she says. “And they will solve the puzzle and they will improve production rates from the Monterey Shale.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Several oil companies say their exploratory wells are getting them closer to the answer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Preliminary data from our first exploration wells tells us the oil is there,” says Susan Hersberger of \u003ca href=\"http://aeraenergy.com/\">Aera Energy\u003c/a>, one of the largest oil production companies in California. “But this data has also confirmed that the Monterey Shale has some characteristics that warrant further study and testing, so that we might unlock its potential.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Similar to the decades-long exploration of the Bakken, the Monterey exploration process will also be a long and complex journey,” she says. “Whether there are 15 billion barrels or 600 million barrels or something in between, it’s still a lot of oil. We see potential and are in it for the long-term.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Calls for a Fracking Moratorium\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A collation of environmental and community groups called \u003ca href=\"http://www.californiansagainstfracking.org/\">Californians Against Fracking\u003c/a> is using the new estimate to raise concerns over groundwater contamination and environmental damage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This bombshell from the EIA gives you a new opportunity to make the right call and halt fracking,” they wrote in a letter to Governor Jerry Brown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The group, which is calling for a moratorium on fracking, says the lower estimate of the Monterey’s potential means that economic benefits touted by the industry are inflated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Governor Brown has resisted a moratorium, citing the state’s efforts to \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2013/11/15/what-californias-new-fracking-rules-would-do-and-not-do/\">develop regulations for fracking this year\u003c/a> that require groundwater monitoring, new permitting requirements and notification of neighbors in the area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Associated Press\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The amount of oil that can be recovered from California’s vast Monterey Shale formation using existing technology is far less than thought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s according to a new federal estimate that found just 600 million barrels of oil can be drawn from the Monterey Shale, a 1,750-square-mile area extending from the agricultural Central Valley to the Pacific Ocean. That’s less than the previous estimate of 13.7 billion barrels of recoverable oil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_sidebar id=”cd9476f757d42595c4f78880fa4dd247″]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"http://lat.ms/1ndwsx9\">Los Angeles Times\u003c/a> reports the new estimate by the U.S. Energy Information Administration is expected to be publicly released next month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oil companies have used hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to unlock oil from the Monterey Shale with mixed success.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The oil industry says it is hopeful new techniques will open up the formation.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Associated Press\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The amount of oil that can be recovered from California’s vast Monterey Shale formation using existing technology is far less than thought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s according to a new federal estimate that found just 600 million barrels of oil can be drawn from the Monterey Shale, a 1,750-square-mile area extending from the agricultural Central Valley to the Pacific Ocean. That’s less than the previous estimate of 13.7 billion barrels of recoverable oil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"http://lat.ms/1ndwsx9\">Los Angeles Times\u003c/a> reports the new estimate by the U.S. Energy Information Administration is expected to be publicly released next month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Peter Jon Shuler and Molly Samuel\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10038\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10038\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/10/frackingprotest.jpg\" alt=\"The group Californians Against Fracking protested outside the San Francisco office of Gov. Jerry Brown, demanding that he support a ban on hydraulic fracturing in oil and gas exploration. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The group Californians Against Fracking protested outside the San Francisco office of Gov. Jerry Brown, demanding that he support a ban on hydraulic fracturing in oil and gas exploration. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Santa Cruz County has become the first county in California to impose a “permanent” ban on fracking, as well as all other on-shore oil and gas development. Tuesday morning the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the pre-emptive move against hydraulic fracturing, a technology that uses water and chemicals to unlock oil and gas underground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Some would say this is a symbolic gesture,” said Supervisor Bruce McPherson. “But I think it’s a message that needs to be sent out and listened to, especially on our quality of life and particularly about the impact it might have on our water supply, whether it occurs inside this county or in adjacent counties.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_sidebar id=”76bba43104b6094f9b4efd10a78caeee”]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Butte and \u003ca href=\"http://www.mendocinobeacon.com/latest-local/ci_25722116/supervisors-working-fracking-ban\">Mendocino counties\u003c/a> are considering similar moves. And \u003ca href=\"http://ballotpedia.org/Butte_County_Fracking_Ban_Initiative_%28November_2014%29\">Butte\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://ballotpedia.org/San_Benito_County_Fracking_Ban_Initiative_%28November_2014%29\">San Benito\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"http://ballotpedia.org/Santa_Barbara_County_Fracking_Ban_Initiative_%28November_2014%29\">Santa Barbara\u003c/a> counties may all have fracking restrictions on the November ballot. A state bill that would \u003ca href=\"http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140SB1132\">ban fracking\u003c/a> until there is more scientific study is in limbo, having been relegated to the Appropriations Committee suspense file on Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The oil industry insists that fracking is safe and has made the United States less dependent on foreign energy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"margin: 12px auto 6px auto;font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;font-style: normal;font-variant: normal;font-weight: normal;font-size: 14px;line-height: normal\">\u003ca style=\"text-decoration: underline\" title=\"View Santa Cruz County Fracking Ban on Scribd\" href=\"http://www.scribd.com/doc/225318322/Santa-Cruz-County-Fracking-Ban\">Santa Cruz County Fracking Ban\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"doc_18804\" class=\"scribd_iframe_embed\" src=\"//www.scribd.com/embeds/225318322/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&show_recommendations=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"600\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Tuesday morning the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the pre-emptive move against hydraulic fracturing. A state bill that would ban fracking until there is more scientific study is in limbo.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Peter Jon Shuler and Molly Samuel\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10038\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10038\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/10/frackingprotest.jpg\" alt=\"The group Californians Against Fracking protested outside the San Francisco office of Gov. Jerry Brown, demanding that he support a ban on hydraulic fracturing in oil and gas exploration. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The group Californians Against Fracking protested outside the San Francisco office of Gov. Jerry Brown, demanding that he support a ban on hydraulic fracturing in oil and gas exploration. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Santa Cruz County has become the first county in California to impose a “permanent” ban on fracking, as well as all other on-shore oil and gas development. Tuesday morning the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the pre-emptive move against hydraulic fracturing, a technology that uses water and chemicals to unlock oil and gas underground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Some would say this is a symbolic gesture,” said Supervisor Bruce McPherson. “But I think it’s a message that needs to be sent out and listened to, especially on our quality of life and particularly about the impact it might have on our water supply, whether it occurs inside this county or in adjacent counties.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Butte and \u003ca href=\"http://www.mendocinobeacon.com/latest-local/ci_25722116/supervisors-working-fracking-ban\">Mendocino counties\u003c/a> are considering similar moves. And \u003ca href=\"http://ballotpedia.org/Butte_County_Fracking_Ban_Initiative_%28November_2014%29\">Butte\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://ballotpedia.org/San_Benito_County_Fracking_Ban_Initiative_%28November_2014%29\">San Benito\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"http://ballotpedia.org/Santa_Barbara_County_Fracking_Ban_Initiative_%28November_2014%29\">Santa Barbara\u003c/a> counties may all have fracking restrictions on the November ballot. A state bill that would \u003ca href=\"http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140SB1132\">ban fracking\u003c/a> until there is more scientific study is in limbo, having been relegated to the Appropriations Committee suspense file on Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The oil industry insists that fracking is safe and has made the United States less dependent on foreign energy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"margin: 12px auto 6px auto;font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;font-style: normal;font-variant: normal;font-weight: normal;font-size: 14px;line-height: normal\">\u003ca style=\"text-decoration: underline\" title=\"View Santa Cruz County Fracking Ban on Scribd\" href=\"http://www.scribd.com/doc/225318322/Santa-Cruz-County-Fracking-Ban\">Santa Cruz County Fracking Ban\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"doc_18804\" class=\"scribd_iframe_embed\" src=\"//www.scribd.com/embeds/225318322/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&show_recommendations=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"600\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Auburn Dam: The Water Project That Won't Die",
"headTitle": "Auburn Dam: The Water Project That Won’t Die | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>In California, it’s as dependable as the rainy season. Okay, more so. Whenever there’s too much water or not enough, \u003ca title=\"SacBee - post\" href=\"http://www.sacbee.com/2014/03/14/6235822/why-dont-we-build-the-auburn-dam.html\">people start talking\u003c/a> about \u003ca title=\"Wiki - Auburn Dam\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auburn_Dam\">Auburn Dam\u003c/a>. It’s California’s biggest dam that has never been built — and probably never will be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_17060\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17060\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/04/auburn_dam_sketch2_crop_.jpg\" alt=\"Auburn Dam\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An artist’s rendering of how the completed Auburn Dam would appear on the North Fork of the American River. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The latest revival occurred at a recent show-and-tell for the \u003ca title=\"YouTube - Folsom Spillway\" href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn3eIlLNpr8\">new spillway under construction\u003c/a> at Folsom Dam. Congressman Tom McClintock, R-Auburn, seized the occasion — not so much for congratulations — but to decry recent releases of water from dams on the American River.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It infuriates me that for the past three days, we have seen releases of water out of dams on the American River triple in order to meet environmental regulations that place the interests of fish above those of human beings.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The congressman then pivoted and called for completion of Auburn Dam, a long-stagnant project on the North Fork of the American River originally green-lighted by Congress in 1965, near the end of what the late writer Marc Reisner called the “go-go years” of American dam building. McClintock’s colleague from across the aisle, Sacramento Democrat Doris Matsui, sat nearby, literally shaking her head.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McClintock told the assembled dignitaries that a brimming Auburn Lake reservoir upstream, “could fill and refill Folsom Lake nearly 2 1/2 times.” The current drought has left Folsom Lake at alarmingly low levels this spring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Indeed, the project, designed by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, would create one of the state’s biggest reservoirs, with a capacity of more than 2 million acre-feet of water, about half the volume of Shasta Lake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then McClintock took aim at Governor Jerry Brown’s plan to construct \u003ca title=\"Q-Sci - post\" href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/03/14/california-to-release-chapters-of-plan-to-restore-delta/\">bypass tunnels\u003c/a> to carry water through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Even with the inflated costs we’re seeing today,” said McClintock, “[the dam project] could be done for much less than the current proposal to build a cross-Delta facility that produces zero additional water storage.” (According to Reclamation, there hasn’t been a reliable cost update on the project since 2006.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He went on to extoll other potential advantages, such as, “power for a million homes” and “a major new recreational resource for our region.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_17064\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17064\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/04/3405918292_99db0a4b41_b.jpg\" alt=\"ADD CAPTION (Alisha Vargas/Flickr)\" width=\"300\" height=\"400\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Excavations remain from where engineers began laying the foundations for Auburn Dam in the 1970s. (\u003ca href=\"https://www.flickr.com/photos/alishav/3405918292\">Alisha Vargas/Flickr\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Of course, those who enjoy (or profit from) rafting and paddling the scenic, frothy reaches of the North Fork have long taken a different view of the recreational potential, as those reaches would disappear under hundreds of feet of flat water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Auburn Dam was never completed but it was started. Reminders are still there, the most obvious being the \u003ca title=\"SacBee - post\" href=\"http://www.sacbee.com/2014/04/16/6330719/foresthill-bridge-undergoes-a.html\">Forresthill Bridge\u003c/a>, a green metal and concrete ribbon that soars more than 700 feet above the American River, built to span a reservoir that never was. If you’re more ambitious and \u003ca title=\"EveryTrail - Auburn Dam\" href=\"http://www.everytrail.com/guide/base-of-auburn-dam\">hike down into the river canyon\u003c/a>, you can still see where it was carved out on both sides to anchor the concrete arch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By 1975, taxpayers had already shelled out about $137 million for the project. But the following year, when a magnitude 5.7 quake occurred a little too close for comfort, Reclamation took a time-out to revisit the dam’s design and work has never resumed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The dam was redesigned to meet those seismic considerations,” McClintock told me in an interview after his remarks at the spillway. “So yes, that’s already been engineered around.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We did not go back and do a full engineering analysis,” said Drew Lessard, Reclamation’s area manager for central California, referring to an updated study by the Bureau in 2006. He says that in the late 1970s, Reclamation did “move the location slightly,” to minimize seismic impacts. Lessard says that moving forward now would require a full “reformulation study,” reassessing the project’s costs and priorities, and that such a study by itself would take years and cost millions of dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You know, that thing’s been studied over and over and over again,” said Matsui, in a separate interview. “And you know what? There’s no support for it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2008, the California State Water Resources Board revoked the water rights that had been set aside for the Bureau of Reclamation. Most water rights are a use-it-or-lose-it proposition in California, to prevent what the Board calls “cold storage,” which is to say sitting on water rights without actually using the water. Many believed that was the final nail in the project’s coffin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well, apparently not everybody.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_18177\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/04/Auburn_1733.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-18177\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/04/Auburn_1733.jpg\" alt=\"An illustration from a USBR report shows the prospective size and location of Auburn Dam, compared to Folsom and Nimbus Dams, which were built. (USBR)\" width=\"640\" height=\"640\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An illustration from a USBR report shows the prospective size and location of Auburn Dam and reservoir, compared to Folsom and Nimbus Dams, which were built. (USBR)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "The giant dam and reservoir remains on the radar, whether or not it has a future.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In California, it’s as dependable as the rainy season. Okay, more so. Whenever there’s too much water or not enough, \u003ca title=\"SacBee - post\" href=\"http://www.sacbee.com/2014/03/14/6235822/why-dont-we-build-the-auburn-dam.html\">people start talking\u003c/a> about \u003ca title=\"Wiki - Auburn Dam\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auburn_Dam\">Auburn Dam\u003c/a>. It’s California’s biggest dam that has never been built — and probably never will be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_17060\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17060\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/04/auburn_dam_sketch2_crop_.jpg\" alt=\"Auburn Dam\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An artist’s rendering of how the completed Auburn Dam would appear on the North Fork of the American River. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The latest revival occurred at a recent show-and-tell for the \u003ca title=\"YouTube - Folsom Spillway\" href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn3eIlLNpr8\">new spillway under construction\u003c/a> at Folsom Dam. Congressman Tom McClintock, R-Auburn, seized the occasion — not so much for congratulations — but to decry recent releases of water from dams on the American River.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It infuriates me that for the past three days, we have seen releases of water out of dams on the American River triple in order to meet environmental regulations that place the interests of fish above those of human beings.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The congressman then pivoted and called for completion of Auburn Dam, a long-stagnant project on the North Fork of the American River originally green-lighted by Congress in 1965, near the end of what the late writer Marc Reisner called the “go-go years” of American dam building. McClintock’s colleague from across the aisle, Sacramento Democrat Doris Matsui, sat nearby, literally shaking her head.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McClintock told the assembled dignitaries that a brimming Auburn Lake reservoir upstream, “could fill and refill Folsom Lake nearly 2 1/2 times.” The current drought has left Folsom Lake at alarmingly low levels this spring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Indeed, the project, designed by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, would create one of the state’s biggest reservoirs, with a capacity of more than 2 million acre-feet of water, about half the volume of Shasta Lake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then McClintock took aim at Governor Jerry Brown’s plan to construct \u003ca title=\"Q-Sci - post\" href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/03/14/california-to-release-chapters-of-plan-to-restore-delta/\">bypass tunnels\u003c/a> to carry water through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Even with the inflated costs we’re seeing today,” said McClintock, “[the dam project] could be done for much less than the current proposal to build a cross-Delta facility that produces zero additional water storage.” (According to Reclamation, there hasn’t been a reliable cost update on the project since 2006.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He went on to extoll other potential advantages, such as, “power for a million homes” and “a major new recreational resource for our region.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_17064\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17064\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/04/3405918292_99db0a4b41_b.jpg\" alt=\"ADD CAPTION (Alisha Vargas/Flickr)\" width=\"300\" height=\"400\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Excavations remain from where engineers began laying the foundations for Auburn Dam in the 1970s. (\u003ca href=\"https://www.flickr.com/photos/alishav/3405918292\">Alisha Vargas/Flickr\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Of course, those who enjoy (or profit from) rafting and paddling the scenic, frothy reaches of the North Fork have long taken a different view of the recreational potential, as those reaches would disappear under hundreds of feet of flat water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Auburn Dam was never completed but it was started. Reminders are still there, the most obvious being the \u003ca title=\"SacBee - post\" href=\"http://www.sacbee.com/2014/04/16/6330719/foresthill-bridge-undergoes-a.html\">Forresthill Bridge\u003c/a>, a green metal and concrete ribbon that soars more than 700 feet above the American River, built to span a reservoir that never was. If you’re more ambitious and \u003ca title=\"EveryTrail - Auburn Dam\" href=\"http://www.everytrail.com/guide/base-of-auburn-dam\">hike down into the river canyon\u003c/a>, you can still see where it was carved out on both sides to anchor the concrete arch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By 1975, taxpayers had already shelled out about $137 million for the project. But the following year, when a magnitude 5.7 quake occurred a little too close for comfort, Reclamation took a time-out to revisit the dam’s design and work has never resumed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The dam was redesigned to meet those seismic considerations,” McClintock told me in an interview after his remarks at the spillway. “So yes, that’s already been engineered around.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We did not go back and do a full engineering analysis,” said Drew Lessard, Reclamation’s area manager for central California, referring to an updated study by the Bureau in 2006. He says that in the late 1970s, Reclamation did “move the location slightly,” to minimize seismic impacts. Lessard says that moving forward now would require a full “reformulation study,” reassessing the project’s costs and priorities, and that such a study by itself would take years and cost millions of dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You know, that thing’s been studied over and over and over again,” said Matsui, in a separate interview. “And you know what? There’s no support for it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2008, the California State Water Resources Board revoked the water rights that had been set aside for the Bureau of Reclamation. Most water rights are a use-it-or-lose-it proposition in California, to prevent what the Board calls “cold storage,” which is to say sitting on water rights without actually using the water. Many believed that was the final nail in the project’s coffin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well, apparently not everybody.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_18177\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/04/Auburn_1733.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-18177\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/04/Auburn_1733.jpg\" alt=\"An illustration from a USBR report shows the prospective size and location of Auburn Dam, compared to Folsom and Nimbus Dams, which were built. (USBR)\" width=\"640\" height=\"640\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An illustration from a USBR report shows the prospective size and location of Auburn Dam and reservoir, compared to Folsom and Nimbus Dams, which were built. (USBR)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "California Trails Texas in Wind Power, Says New Report",
"headTitle": "California Trails Texas in Wind Power, Says New Report | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_16593\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 639px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-16593\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/04/1825scr_c09a7077bf407dd-e1397606745612.jpg\" alt=\"Wind turbines in Solano County. (Craig Miller/KQED)\" width=\"639\" height=\"359\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Wind turbines in Solano County. (Craig Miller/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The commercial wind industry was born in California, and the state has one of the strongest renewable energy incentive programs in the country. Still, when it comes to wind, Texas has us beat by a long shot, according to \u003ca href=\"http://awea.files.cms-plus.com/images/figure15AMR13.png\">a new report\u003c/a> from the Washington, D.C.-based American Wind Energy Association.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California generates 5,829 megawatts of wind energy, compared with 12,354 megawatts in the Lone Star State. Iowa is a close third at 5,177 megawatts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At least one explanation is simple: Texas is a bigger and windier place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California was first out of the gate to promote wind, so we got a reputation for being the biggest and best wind state,” says Nancy Rader, Executive Director of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.calwea.org/about.html\">California Wind Energy Association\u003c/a>. “But our resources pale in comparison to Texas and other states in that Great Plains region.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While California has pursued both wind and solar energy, Texas has focused on wind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California currently gets seven percent of its electricity from wind, through turbines in Altamont Pass and the Tehachapis, among other places. But our remaining windy spots are harder to access.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Transmission is a key enabler of wind,” says Ryan Wiser, a staff scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. “We need to expand our transmission system to be able to access the higher quality wind resource sites.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s wind industry has gotten a big boost from one of the most aggressive renewable energy policies in the country. Wind energy in the state has tripled since 2002, when the state \u003ca href=\"http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/PUC/energy/Renewables/\">set a goal\u003c/a> to get a third of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that goal, says Wiser, has “largely been met.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wind is still more expensive than non-renewable energy, says Wiser, so bringing more wind power online will require new government incentives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state’s renewable energy goals “will need to be re-upped in order to stimulate additional demand for not only wind, but other renewable resources as well,” says Wiser.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rader says another hurdle has been convincing federal managers to open up land to wind development, particularly in the desert.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Bureau of Land Management is going to have to make itself a little more friendly to wind energy development,” says Rader. “Almost all of the developments are on private land, and frankly, those resources are tapped out now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Read the report \u003ca href=\"http://www.awea.org/AnnualMarketReport.aspx?ItemNumber=6308&RDtoken=61755&userID=\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>And our own award-winning series on California’s renewable power goals is \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/news/science/climatewatch/33by20/index.jsp\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Despite some of the strongest renewable energy incentives in the country, California produces less than half the wind energy generated in the Lone Star State. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_16593\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 639px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-16593\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/04/1825scr_c09a7077bf407dd-e1397606745612.jpg\" alt=\"Wind turbines in Solano County. (Craig Miller/KQED)\" width=\"639\" height=\"359\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Wind turbines in Solano County. (Craig Miller/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The commercial wind industry was born in California, and the state has one of the strongest renewable energy incentive programs in the country. Still, when it comes to wind, Texas has us beat by a long shot, according to \u003ca href=\"http://awea.files.cms-plus.com/images/figure15AMR13.png\">a new report\u003c/a> from the Washington, D.C.-based American Wind Energy Association.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California generates 5,829 megawatts of wind energy, compared with 12,354 megawatts in the Lone Star State. Iowa is a close third at 5,177 megawatts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At least one explanation is simple: Texas is a bigger and windier place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California was first out of the gate to promote wind, so we got a reputation for being the biggest and best wind state,” says Nancy Rader, Executive Director of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.calwea.org/about.html\">California Wind Energy Association\u003c/a>. “But our resources pale in comparison to Texas and other states in that Great Plains region.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While California has pursued both wind and solar energy, Texas has focused on wind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California currently gets seven percent of its electricity from wind, through turbines in Altamont Pass and the Tehachapis, among other places. But our remaining windy spots are harder to access.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Transmission is a key enabler of wind,” says Ryan Wiser, a staff scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. “We need to expand our transmission system to be able to access the higher quality wind resource sites.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s wind industry has gotten a big boost from one of the most aggressive renewable energy policies in the country. Wind energy in the state has tripled since 2002, when the state \u003ca href=\"http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/PUC/energy/Renewables/\">set a goal\u003c/a> to get a third of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that goal, says Wiser, has “largely been met.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wind is still more expensive than non-renewable energy, says Wiser, so bringing more wind power online will require new government incentives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state’s renewable energy goals “will need to be re-upped in order to stimulate additional demand for not only wind, but other renewable resources as well,” says Wiser.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rader says another hurdle has been convincing federal managers to open up land to wind development, particularly in the desert.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Bureau of Land Management is going to have to make itself a little more friendly to wind energy development,” says Rader. “Almost all of the developments are on private land, and frankly, those resources are tapped out now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Read the report \u003ca href=\"http://www.awea.org/AnnualMarketReport.aspx?ItemNumber=6308&RDtoken=61755&userID=\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>And our own award-winning series on California’s renewable power goals is \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/news/science/climatewatch/33by20/index.jsp\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Chevron Tries Again With Richmond Refinery Revamp",
"headTitle": "Chevron Tries Again With Richmond Refinery Revamp | KQED",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"audio-wrap\">\n\u003ch2>Listen:\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>http://www.kqed.org/.stream/anon/radio/science/2014/04/20140414science.mp3\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>The rust-red painted tanks of Chevron’s Richmond refinery are a familiar sight for drivers in the East Bay. The facility, sprawling across about four and a half miles at the foot of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, is the biggest refinery in Northern California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was built in 1902. Picture those \u003ca href=\"http://libraryphoto.cr.usgs.gov/cgi-bin/show_picture.cgi?ID=ID.%20Degenkolb,%20H.%2013\">black and white photos\u003c/a> of Victorian ladies after the 1906 earthquake. The refinery was already here, chugging along.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There was pretty much nothing else here. It just looked like an open plain,” said Chevron’s Brian Hubinger.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://projects1.kqed.org/imageslider/chevronsliders.html\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"640\" height=\"530\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, according to the company, one out of every five cars on the road in the Bay Area is driving with gas from here, and two-thirds of the jet fuel used at Bay Area airports starts here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now Chevron is looking to launch a \u003ca href=\"http://chevronmodernization.com/\">billion-dollar construction project\u003c/a> at the refinery. It’s a slimmed down version of a project that environmentalists stopped with a lawsuit a few years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After that legal battle and a \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/04/21/how-the-chevron-richmond-fire-happened-feds-release-blow-by-blow-animation-of-accident/\">fire at the refinery\u003c/a> in 2012, Chevron is trying to win back the community’s trust not only with a new environmental impact report on the project, but also with a \u003ca href=\"http://richmondstandard.com/\">company-published local news website\u003c/a> and billboards celebrating the city of Richmond, and TV ads supporting the proposed project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_16467\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-16467\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/04/chevrontanks.jpg\" alt=\"A view of the Chevron refinery from its wharf, where ships deliver crude oil. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A view of the refinery from its wharf, where ships deliver crude oil. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Hubinger, the technical advisor for what Chevron’s calling its modernization project took me on a tour of the facility. (Critics of the project are more apt to call it an “expansion.”) We drove to the end of the wharf where tankers full of oil from the Middle East and Alaska unload, and then back into the heart of the refinery, past right-angled tangles of pipeline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We parked near what looked like a brown barn on stilts: Chevron’s half-built hydrogen plant. That’s how much the company was able to construct before a state court judge \u003ca href=\"http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_14963441\">stopped the project\u003c/a> in 2010. This plant would produce more hydrogen, more efficiently, than the existing one does.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chevron wants the upgrade — and other changes it’s proposing — because hydrogen helps clean the sulfur out of crude oil. And the company wants to refine crude that has more sulfur in it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_16478\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 346px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-16478 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/04/RS9520_Chevron032714-JoshC-5195-scr-e1397259831604.jpg\" alt=\"The partially-built hydrogen plant. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\" width=\"346\" height=\"230\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The partially-built hydrogen plant, the “barn on stilts.” (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It provides flexibility to the refinery to remain competitive in the future,” Hubinger said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chevron won’t say exactly where that oil would be coming from, but the refinery can only receive crude via ship. So this is not about using trains to bring in oil from \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/audio/valero-rail-project-fuels-tar-sands-speculation-in-bay-area/\">Canada’s tar sands\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/audio/bay-area-residents-resist-crude-by-rail-as-accidents-rise/\">North Dakota’s Bakken formation\u003c/a>, the company says. Instead, the project would allow Chevron to process crude from declining oil fields, which are often higher in sulfur.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s another case where, like “modernization” versus “expansion,” the language drives a point of view: Opponents call the crude that’s higher in sulfur “dirty.” In the oil industry, they call it “sour.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s no debating, though, that sulfur is an impurity in crude oil, and that processing higher sulfur crude will affect emissions at the refinery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Whatever Chevron says, we have to look at the truth and not accept their word for it,” said Andrés Soto, an organizer with \u003ca href=\"http://www.cbecal.org/\">Communities for a Better Environment\u003c/a> (CBE).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CBE, with other partner organizations, was the group that won the lawsuit to stop the earlier project. CBE argued, and a state judge agreed, that Chevron hadn’t provided enough information about how the project would affect air pollution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_16483\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 342px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-16483 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/04/RS9531_Chevron032714-JoshC-5225-scr-e1397261318631.jpg\" alt=\"Andrés Soto is the Richmond organizer with Communities for a Better Environment. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\" width=\"342\" height=\"229\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Andrés Soto in Atchison Village, a neighborhood near Chevron’s Richmond refinery. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Chevron refused to disclose the crude slate quality that they would process as a result of this project,” Soto said. “If they were going to expand their hydrogen production, that was because they were going to be processing dirtier crude.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unlike Chevron’s last attempt at the project, this time its environmental impact report does provide details on the amount of air pollution that will be created. And it describes how Chevron will try to offset that pollution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our commitments for no net increase are: no net increase in criteria air pollutants, no net increase in health risk and no net increase in greenhouse gas,” said Nicole Barber, a spokeswoman for Chevron. (Criteria air pollutants are particulates that the Environmental Protection Agency regulates for human and environmental health, such as lead, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Greenhouse gas emissions could go up by 15 percent or more if this project happens, but, Barber said, Chevron would offset that by buying carbon credits, giving money to greenhouse gas reduction programs in Richmond and making changes on-site like using LED lighting and reusing water. That’s on the climate change side.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"left\">The \u003ca href=\"http://chevronmodernization.com/project-documents/\">draft environmental impact report\u003c/a>, including appendices, is thousands of pages long. If you want to learn more about the emissions from the project, here are some places to start.\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://chevronmodernization.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/4.8_Greenhouse-Gases.pdf\">Greenhouse gases\u003c/a>: Page 36 shows a table with baseline emissions and potential changes.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://chevronmodernization.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/4.3_Air-Quality.pdf\">Air quality\u003c/a>: Page 85 shows a table listing baseline criteria air pollutant emissions and potential changes. Page 96 shows the same for toxic air contaminants.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>In terms of emissions that could make people sick — toxic air contaminants and criteria air pollutants – Barber said Chevron will offset those, too. The company’s proposals include installing new burners that lower nitrogen oxide emissions and replacing three tanker ships with newer ships that have more efficient engines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s all according to the environmental impact report. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District, which regulates emissions, and CBE have both said they’re still examining the report, and have no comment yet on whether the details Chevron provides are thorough and sufficient.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We know they are claiming there will be no net increase in emissions,” said Soto. “And that sounds great. Except that the current level of emissions are already killing us. We have disproportionately high rates of cancers, asthma, other autoimmune diseases.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Richmond is \u003ca href=\"http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2012/pollution-poverty-and-people-of-color-richmond-day-1\">an industrial area\u003c/a>. There are other refineries, shipping, trucking and factories. And year in and year out, Chevron’s refinery is one of the biggest polluters in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_16496\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-16496\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/04/9516scr_be7b8f9f55a4074-e1397264375694.jpg\" alt=\"Pipes inside the refinery. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pipes inside the refinery. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Soto said the 2012 fire at the refinery is an extreme example of the health risks a refinery poses. The fire released a dark plume of smoke into the sky and sent more than 10,000 people to the hospital complaining of breathing problems\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That was an episodic exposure,” he said. “But then there’s the persistent and prolonged every day exposure that also happens.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Richmond mayor Gayle McLaughlin said she wants the project and the 1,000 construction jobs it’s expected to create, but she also wants to make sure it’s safe. And she sees it as a chance to push Chevron for lower emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How often do we have an opportunity to determine whether or not to permit a $1 billion expansion project from a large refinery?” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The draft environmental impact report is open for public comment until May second. The planning commission could vote on it as soon as this summer. There’s a public hearing on the project this week on \u003ca href=\"http://chevronmodernization.com/meetings/\">Thursday night\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>The rust-red painted tanks of Chevron’s Richmond refinery are a familiar sight for drivers in the East Bay. The facility, sprawling across about four and a half miles at the foot of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, is the biggest refinery in Northern California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was built in 1902. Picture those \u003ca href=\"http://libraryphoto.cr.usgs.gov/cgi-bin/show_picture.cgi?ID=ID.%20Degenkolb,%20H.%2013\">black and white photos\u003c/a> of Victorian ladies after the 1906 earthquake. The refinery was already here, chugging along.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There was pretty much nothing else here. It just looked like an open plain,” said Chevron’s Brian Hubinger.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://projects1.kqed.org/imageslider/chevronsliders.html\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"640\" height=\"530\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, according to the company, one out of every five cars on the road in the Bay Area is driving with gas from here, and two-thirds of the jet fuel used at Bay Area airports starts here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now Chevron is looking to launch a \u003ca href=\"http://chevronmodernization.com/\">billion-dollar construction project\u003c/a> at the refinery. It’s a slimmed down version of a project that environmentalists stopped with a lawsuit a few years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After that legal battle and a \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/04/21/how-the-chevron-richmond-fire-happened-feds-release-blow-by-blow-animation-of-accident/\">fire at the refinery\u003c/a> in 2012, Chevron is trying to win back the community’s trust not only with a new environmental impact report on the project, but also with a \u003ca href=\"http://richmondstandard.com/\">company-published local news website\u003c/a> and billboards celebrating the city of Richmond, and TV ads supporting the proposed project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_16467\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-16467\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/04/chevrontanks.jpg\" alt=\"A view of the Chevron refinery from its wharf, where ships deliver crude oil. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A view of the refinery from its wharf, where ships deliver crude oil. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Hubinger, the technical advisor for what Chevron’s calling its modernization project took me on a tour of the facility. (Critics of the project are more apt to call it an “expansion.”) We drove to the end of the wharf where tankers full of oil from the Middle East and Alaska unload, and then back into the heart of the refinery, past right-angled tangles of pipeline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We parked near what looked like a brown barn on stilts: Chevron’s half-built hydrogen plant. That’s how much the company was able to construct before a state court judge \u003ca href=\"http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_14963441\">stopped the project\u003c/a> in 2010. This plant would produce more hydrogen, more efficiently, than the existing one does.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chevron wants the upgrade — and other changes it’s proposing — because hydrogen helps clean the sulfur out of crude oil. And the company wants to refine crude that has more sulfur in it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_16478\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 346px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-16478 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/04/RS9520_Chevron032714-JoshC-5195-scr-e1397259831604.jpg\" alt=\"The partially-built hydrogen plant. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\" width=\"346\" height=\"230\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The partially-built hydrogen plant, the “barn on stilts.” (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It provides flexibility to the refinery to remain competitive in the future,” Hubinger said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chevron won’t say exactly where that oil would be coming from, but the refinery can only receive crude via ship. So this is not about using trains to bring in oil from \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/audio/valero-rail-project-fuels-tar-sands-speculation-in-bay-area/\">Canada’s tar sands\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/audio/bay-area-residents-resist-crude-by-rail-as-accidents-rise/\">North Dakota’s Bakken formation\u003c/a>, the company says. Instead, the project would allow Chevron to process crude from declining oil fields, which are often higher in sulfur.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s another case where, like “modernization” versus “expansion,” the language drives a point of view: Opponents call the crude that’s higher in sulfur “dirty.” In the oil industry, they call it “sour.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s no debating, though, that sulfur is an impurity in crude oil, and that processing higher sulfur crude will affect emissions at the refinery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Whatever Chevron says, we have to look at the truth and not accept their word for it,” said Andrés Soto, an organizer with \u003ca href=\"http://www.cbecal.org/\">Communities for a Better Environment\u003c/a> (CBE).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CBE, with other partner organizations, was the group that won the lawsuit to stop the earlier project. CBE argued, and a state judge agreed, that Chevron hadn’t provided enough information about how the project would affect air pollution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_16483\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 342px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-16483 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/04/RS9531_Chevron032714-JoshC-5225-scr-e1397261318631.jpg\" alt=\"Andrés Soto is the Richmond organizer with Communities for a Better Environment. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\" width=\"342\" height=\"229\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Andrés Soto in Atchison Village, a neighborhood near Chevron’s Richmond refinery. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Chevron refused to disclose the crude slate quality that they would process as a result of this project,” Soto said. “If they were going to expand their hydrogen production, that was because they were going to be processing dirtier crude.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unlike Chevron’s last attempt at the project, this time its environmental impact report does provide details on the amount of air pollution that will be created. And it describes how Chevron will try to offset that pollution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our commitments for no net increase are: no net increase in criteria air pollutants, no net increase in health risk and no net increase in greenhouse gas,” said Nicole Barber, a spokeswoman for Chevron. (Criteria air pollutants are particulates that the Environmental Protection Agency regulates for human and environmental health, such as lead, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Greenhouse gas emissions could go up by 15 percent or more if this project happens, but, Barber said, Chevron would offset that by buying carbon credits, giving money to greenhouse gas reduction programs in Richmond and making changes on-site like using LED lighting and reusing water. That’s on the climate change side.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"left\">The \u003ca href=\"http://chevronmodernization.com/project-documents/\">draft environmental impact report\u003c/a>, including appendices, is thousands of pages long. If you want to learn more about the emissions from the project, here are some places to start.\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://chevronmodernization.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/4.8_Greenhouse-Gases.pdf\">Greenhouse gases\u003c/a>: Page 36 shows a table with baseline emissions and potential changes.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://chevronmodernization.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/4.3_Air-Quality.pdf\">Air quality\u003c/a>: Page 85 shows a table listing baseline criteria air pollutant emissions and potential changes. Page 96 shows the same for toxic air contaminants.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>In terms of emissions that could make people sick — toxic air contaminants and criteria air pollutants – Barber said Chevron will offset those, too. The company’s proposals include installing new burners that lower nitrogen oxide emissions and replacing three tanker ships with newer ships that have more efficient engines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s all according to the environmental impact report. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District, which regulates emissions, and CBE have both said they’re still examining the report, and have no comment yet on whether the details Chevron provides are thorough and sufficient.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We know they are claiming there will be no net increase in emissions,” said Soto. “And that sounds great. Except that the current level of emissions are already killing us. We have disproportionately high rates of cancers, asthma, other autoimmune diseases.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Richmond is \u003ca href=\"http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2012/pollution-poverty-and-people-of-color-richmond-day-1\">an industrial area\u003c/a>. There are other refineries, shipping, trucking and factories. And year in and year out, Chevron’s refinery is one of the biggest polluters in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_16496\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-16496\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/04/9516scr_be7b8f9f55a4074-e1397264375694.jpg\" alt=\"Pipes inside the refinery. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pipes inside the refinery. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Soto said the 2012 fire at the refinery is an extreme example of the health risks a refinery poses. The fire released a dark plume of smoke into the sky and sent more than 10,000 people to the hospital complaining of breathing problems\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That was an episodic exposure,” he said. “But then there’s the persistent and prolonged every day exposure that also happens.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Richmond mayor Gayle McLaughlin said she wants the project and the 1,000 construction jobs it’s expected to create, but she also wants to make sure it’s safe. And she sees it as a chance to push Chevron for lower emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How often do we have an opportunity to determine whether or not to permit a $1 billion expansion project from a large refinery?” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The draft environmental impact report is open for public comment until May second. The planning commission could vote on it as soon as this summer. There’s a public hearing on the project this week on \u003ca href=\"http://chevronmodernization.com/meetings/\">Thursday night\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
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"masters-of-scale": {
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},
"mindshift": {
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"order": 12
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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"morning-edition": {
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"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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"on-the-media": {
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"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
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},
"pbs-newshour": {
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},
"perspectives": {
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"order": 14
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"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
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"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/planetmoney.jpg",
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},
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"politicalbreakdown": {
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"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Political-Breakdown-2024-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"order": 5
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"possible": {
"id": "possible",
"title": "Possible",
"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Possible-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.possible.fm/",
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"source": "Possible"
},
"link": "/radio/program/possible",
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/730YpdUSNlMyPQwNnyjp4k"
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},
"pri-the-world": {
"id": "pri-the-world",
"title": "PRI's The World: Latest Edition",
"info": "Each weekday, host Marco Werman and his team of producers bring you the world's most interesting stories in an hour of radio that reminds us just how small our planet really is.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 2pm-3pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-World-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
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},
"radiolab": {
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"description": "[caption id=\"attachment_13657\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"351\"] Just over 2,000 wells have been fracked in California, according to industry data. (Craig Miller/KQED)[/caption] Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has been used for more than 30 years in California, but it’s attracting attention and scrutiny because of renewed interest in the state’s large oil reserve, known as the Monterey Shale. In California, fracking is done mainly for oil, while in other states with recent fracking booms, like Pennsylvania and Texas, it’s used largely for natural gas. What is it? Fracking is just one phase of the process used to bring an oil or gas well into production. The technique is used to release oil from rocks deep underground. Water, mixed with sand and chemicals, is injected down the well bore at high pressure to create tiny fractures in the rock. According to the oil industry, more than 2,000 wells have been fracked in the state. Concerns Environmental groups have called for a moratorium on fracking until the state does a comprehensive review of potential impacts on both water and air quality. A chief concern is the chemicals used, some of which are carcinogens, and potential contamination of groundwater. Fracking also uses large volumes of freshwater. Industry sources say it uses less freshwater in California than is used in other states and no cases of groundwater contamination have been found. Where it Stands In November 2013, state regulators released draft rules for fracking that are now expected to go into effect in July 2015. They followed passage of SB 4, a bill signed by Governor Jerry Brown, that spelled out what the regulations should cover. Under the rules, oil and gas operators would be required to apply for a permit prior to fracking a well, and to provide written notice to nearby landowners. Operators would have to disclose what chemicals they use, but not the specific concentrations if they consider those a trade secret. State water regulators are also developing a groundwater monitoring program. The regulations are expected to be finalized by the end of 2014.",
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