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"disqusTitle": "California Could Phase Out Fracking, Other Oil Drilling Under Bill Headed for First Test in Legislature",
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"content": "\u003cp>Legislation that would gradually phase out fracking and other extraction methods that account for most of California's petroleum production faces its first big test in Sacramento on Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The nine-member Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee is set to vote on a proposal, \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB467\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Senate Bill 467\u003c/a>, that would bar new permits for hydraulic fracturing, cyclic steaming, steam flooding and water flooding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The legislation would begin taking effect in 2023 and also prohibit renewing existing permits for fracking and the other targeted methods, which \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billAnalysisClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB467#\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a committee bill analysis\u003c/a> says accounts for an estimated 80% to 95% of the state's oil production.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In its current form, the measure would ban all the targeted methods by 2035.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"State Sen. Scott Wiener, co-author of SB 467\"]'It will be a huge political lift to get it across the finish line'[/pullquote]The bill would also ban issuance of new permits for drilling or other oil production activities within 2,500 feet of homes, schools and health care facilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposal would fundamentally shift energy policy in California, which \u003ca href=\"https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=MCRFPCA1&f=A\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">produced 144 million barrels of oil last year\u003c/a> — seventh highest in the United States.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Getting the bill to the governor's desk will not be easy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It will be a huge political lift to get it across the finish line,\" said state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, one of the bill's co-authors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whether the bill gets past its first committee hearing will depend on the votes of several Democrats on the panel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Three panel members are expected to vote yes on the bill. State Sens. Monique Limón, D-Santa Barbara, and Ben Allen, D-Santa Monica, are among the proposal's co-authors. State Sen. Henry Stern, D-Los Angeles, the panel's chairman, has been an \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11839879/not-just-fracking-cut-all-oil-drilling-in-california-says-key-lawmaker\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">outspoken advocate for cutting California oil production\u003c/a> as long as workers in the industry are not abandoned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The two Republicans on the committee, state Sens. Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield, and Brian Jones, R-El Cajon, are expected to vote no.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That leaves state Sens. Susan Talamantes Eggman, D-Stockton, Ben Hueso, D-Chula Vista, Bob Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, and John Laird, D-Santa Cruz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eggman, Hueso and Hertzberg are considered more moderate and business friendly than some of their Democratic colleagues on the panel. In fact, Hueso and Hertzberg were among members of the same committee who last August \u003ca href=\"https://jacobinmag.com/2020/09/california-democrats-oil-gas-fracking-ab345\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">voted against a proposal to create new setback requirements\u003c/a> for drilling near communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Laird served as secretary of the state's Natural Resources Agency under former Gov. Jerry Brown from 2011 to 2019. The agency oversees the California Geologic Energy Management Division, which regulates oil and gas drilling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Efforts to ban fracking in California have failed in the past, but this one may get support from the state's top elected official. Last September, Gov. Gavin Newsom called on lawmakers to develop legislation to end the issuance of new fracking licenses by 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11869103\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11869103\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/RS38189_460368_ME_0724_Oil_Spill_Newsom_004.IK-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/RS38189_460368_ME_0724_Oil_Spill_Newsom_004.IK-qut.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/RS38189_460368_ME_0724_Oil_Spill_Newsom_004.IK-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/RS38189_460368_ME_0724_Oil_Spill_Newsom_004.IK-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/RS38189_460368_ME_0724_Oil_Spill_Newsom_004.IK-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/RS38189_460368_ME_0724_Oil_Spill_Newsom_004.IK-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gov. Gavin Newsom tours Chevron's Cymric oil field west of Bakersfield in July 2019, where a spill of more than 800,000 gallons flowed into a dry creek bed. \u003ccite>(Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In February, Wiener and Limón \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11860470/california-lawmakers-propose-ban-on-fracking-other-oil-drilling-methods\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">unveiled their proposal\u003c/a>. The measure has drawn strong support from environmental justice and climate change activists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"SB 467 presents a vision for California's energy future,\" said Kobi Naseck with the Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment, which is based in Emeryville and the Kern County town of Delano. The group is one of the bill's sponsors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"At the hearing on Tuesday, we'll be watching to see which senators are ready to protect the millions of Californians living on the front lines of oil and gas extraction and which are still willing to believe fossil fuel executives' lies, in denial about the climate emergency, and vote against their constituents,\" Naseck said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Environmental activists have long argued that the oil industry contributes to climate change and hurts the environment and the health of people living near wells and other production facilities. They say fracking and other methods can increase earthquake activity, pollute the air and water, and carries the risk of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11769850/state-launches-probe-into-oil-field-spills-including-one-that-started-in-2003\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">significant uncontrolled crude petroleum releases\u003c/a> like one that has continued for nearly two decades in Kern County's Cymric oil field.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label='Related Coverage' tag='oil-drilling']The industry's perspective could not be more different.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bill \"would result in a near complete shutdown of California's oil and gas production industry, will cost the state billions in lost revenue and legal liability and will lead to massive job loss,\" the Western States Petroleum Association wrote in comments to the committee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That group and another that represents the industry, the California Independent Petroleum Association, say that curtailing oil production will drive up the cost of gasoline, increase the state's reliance on foreign oil sources and kill jobs in Kern County and other oil-producing areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Opposition also comes from a long list of labor unions and San Joaquin Valley business and community groups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We ask you to stand with California's blue-collar families and stop enabling extremist politics at the expense of the livelihood of working families,\" the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California said in its comments on the bill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fracking uses water and chemicals injected at high pressure into underground rock formations to shatter them and make it easier to recover crude petroleum trapped there. Cyclic steaming is a method by which crews inject high-pressure steam deep underground, again to break up rock formations and ease extraction of oil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steam flooding is a related technique that raises the temperature of deposits of thick crude oil. Water flooding involves injecting water into oil wells to maintain pressure in an underground reservoir. It is also used to push oil toward wells. State officials say there are more than 4,000 active water flooding wells in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Legislation that would gradually phase out fracking and other extraction methods that account for most of California's petroleum production faces its first big test in Sacramento on Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The nine-member Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee is set to vote on a proposal, \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB467\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Senate Bill 467\u003c/a>, that would bar new permits for hydraulic fracturing, cyclic steaming, steam flooding and water flooding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The legislation would begin taking effect in 2023 and also prohibit renewing existing permits for fracking and the other targeted methods, which \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billAnalysisClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB467#\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a committee bill analysis\u003c/a> says accounts for an estimated 80% to 95% of the state's oil production.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In its current form, the measure would ban all the targeted methods by 2035.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The bill would also ban issuance of new permits for drilling or other oil production activities within 2,500 feet of homes, schools and health care facilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposal would fundamentally shift energy policy in California, which \u003ca href=\"https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=MCRFPCA1&f=A\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">produced 144 million barrels of oil last year\u003c/a> — seventh highest in the United States.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Getting the bill to the governor's desk will not be easy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It will be a huge political lift to get it across the finish line,\" said state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, one of the bill's co-authors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whether the bill gets past its first committee hearing will depend on the votes of several Democrats on the panel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Three panel members are expected to vote yes on the bill. State Sens. Monique Limón, D-Santa Barbara, and Ben Allen, D-Santa Monica, are among the proposal's co-authors. State Sen. Henry Stern, D-Los Angeles, the panel's chairman, has been an \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11839879/not-just-fracking-cut-all-oil-drilling-in-california-says-key-lawmaker\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">outspoken advocate for cutting California oil production\u003c/a> as long as workers in the industry are not abandoned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The two Republicans on the committee, state Sens. Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield, and Brian Jones, R-El Cajon, are expected to vote no.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That leaves state Sens. Susan Talamantes Eggman, D-Stockton, Ben Hueso, D-Chula Vista, Bob Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, and John Laird, D-Santa Cruz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eggman, Hueso and Hertzberg are considered more moderate and business friendly than some of their Democratic colleagues on the panel. In fact, Hueso and Hertzberg were among members of the same committee who last August \u003ca href=\"https://jacobinmag.com/2020/09/california-democrats-oil-gas-fracking-ab345\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">voted against a proposal to create new setback requirements\u003c/a> for drilling near communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Laird served as secretary of the state's Natural Resources Agency under former Gov. Jerry Brown from 2011 to 2019. The agency oversees the California Geologic Energy Management Division, which regulates oil and gas drilling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Efforts to ban fracking in California have failed in the past, but this one may get support from the state's top elected official. Last September, Gov. Gavin Newsom called on lawmakers to develop legislation to end the issuance of new fracking licenses by 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11869103\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11869103\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/RS38189_460368_ME_0724_Oil_Spill_Newsom_004.IK-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/RS38189_460368_ME_0724_Oil_Spill_Newsom_004.IK-qut.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/RS38189_460368_ME_0724_Oil_Spill_Newsom_004.IK-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/RS38189_460368_ME_0724_Oil_Spill_Newsom_004.IK-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/RS38189_460368_ME_0724_Oil_Spill_Newsom_004.IK-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/RS38189_460368_ME_0724_Oil_Spill_Newsom_004.IK-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gov. Gavin Newsom tours Chevron's Cymric oil field west of Bakersfield in July 2019, where a spill of more than 800,000 gallons flowed into a dry creek bed. \u003ccite>(Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In February, Wiener and Limón \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11860470/california-lawmakers-propose-ban-on-fracking-other-oil-drilling-methods\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">unveiled their proposal\u003c/a>. The measure has drawn strong support from environmental justice and climate change activists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"SB 467 presents a vision for California's energy future,\" said Kobi Naseck with the Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment, which is based in Emeryville and the Kern County town of Delano. The group is one of the bill's sponsors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"At the hearing on Tuesday, we'll be watching to see which senators are ready to protect the millions of Californians living on the front lines of oil and gas extraction and which are still willing to believe fossil fuel executives' lies, in denial about the climate emergency, and vote against their constituents,\" Naseck said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Environmental activists have long argued that the oil industry contributes to climate change and hurts the environment and the health of people living near wells and other production facilities. They say fracking and other methods can increase earthquake activity, pollute the air and water, and carries the risk of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11769850/state-launches-probe-into-oil-field-spills-including-one-that-started-in-2003\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">significant uncontrolled crude petroleum releases\u003c/a> like one that has continued for nearly two decades in Kern County's Cymric oil field.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The industry's perspective could not be more different.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bill \"would result in a near complete shutdown of California's oil and gas production industry, will cost the state billions in lost revenue and legal liability and will lead to massive job loss,\" the Western States Petroleum Association wrote in comments to the committee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That group and another that represents the industry, the California Independent Petroleum Association, say that curtailing oil production will drive up the cost of gasoline, increase the state's reliance on foreign oil sources and kill jobs in Kern County and other oil-producing areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Opposition also comes from a long list of labor unions and San Joaquin Valley business and community groups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We ask you to stand with California's blue-collar families and stop enabling extremist politics at the expense of the livelihood of working families,\" the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California said in its comments on the bill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fracking uses water and chemicals injected at high pressure into underground rock formations to shatter them and make it easier to recover crude petroleum trapped there. Cyclic steaming is a method by which crews inject high-pressure steam deep underground, again to break up rock formations and ease extraction of oil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steam flooding is a related technique that raises the temperature of deposits of thick crude oil. Water flooding involves injecting water into oil wells to maintain pressure in an underground reservoir. It is also used to push oil toward wells. State officials say there are more than 4,000 active water flooding wells in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>At a normal tide on a normal day on the Southern California coast, ankle-high waves glide over a narrow strip of gold sand. On one side sits the largest body of water in the world. On the other, a row of houses with a cumulative value in the hundreds of millions of dollars, propped on water-stained stilts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Property value ebbs and flows, but when it comes to coastal real estate “the trend lines are pretty clear,” says California state Sen. Ben Allen, squinting in the sun. “And they’re not pretty.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Within the span of a 30-year mortgage, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/underwater\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">more than $100 billion\u003c/a> worth of American homes is expected to be at risk of chronic flooding. As the climate warms and oceans rise, narrow strips of sand such as the one Allen is standing on, will be submerged, leaving coastal communities — affluent and not — with the torturous question of how to adjust. Build seawalls? Dump sand? For how long and at what cost?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s becoming a really serious resource question for a lot of local governments,” says Allen, who represents coastal communities in the greater Los Angeles area that are spending millions to keep their beaches intact.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s expensive to fight the sea. It’s expensive not to do so. When property values plummet, so do property taxes. But right now property values here are still high, and Allen wants to put that value to use before it’s gone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s why the 43-year-old Democrat has proposed legislation to create a revolving loan program, allowing California counties and communities to purchase vulnerable coastal properties. The goal would then be to rent those properties out, either to the original homeowner or someone else, and use that money to pay off the loan until the property is no longer safe to live in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Think of it like a city-run Airbnb, where the profits go to making sure nobody is left picking up the full tab when the Pacific comes to collect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a strategy that’s never been tried at such a large scale, and its implementation would come with plenty of questions, policy experts say. But there’s hope in various parts of the country that the legislation passes, putting to test a buy-to-rent strategy that could offer a more permanent solution to a growing problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>‘Not a Conversation … Communities Want to Have’\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At its core, Allen’s proposal is a buyout program — a government-subsidized effort to limit the state’s longer-term exposure to sea level rise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Within the next 30 years \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4261\">$8 billion to $10 billion\u003c/a> of existing property in California is expected to be underwater, according to the state’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office. An additional $6 billion to $10 billion will be at risk during high tide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The magnitude of the potential impacts mean that the state cannot afford to indefinitely delay taking steps to prepare,” the report warns. “Waiting too long to initiate adaptation efforts likely will make responding effectively more difficult and costly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Communities have three options for dealing with that threat: They can defend those properties using seawalls and buffering beaches; they can learn to live with higher waters; or they can retreat, moving to higher ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The last option is often the least popular, says Julia Stein, a project director at the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at UCLA School of Law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s just not a conversation that a lot of coastal communities want to have,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And when the conversation does come up, one of the first questions to arise is cost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Take Del Mar, a low-lying, upscale community north of San Diego. Residents there have been in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2018/12/04/672285546/retreat-is-not-an-option-as-a-california-beach-town-plans-for-rising-seas\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">yearslong fight\u003c/a> with the state over the term “managed retreat.” The state wants the city to consider retreating from a particularly vulnerable area. Problem is: The combined market value of the homes in that area is more than $1.5 billion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a whole lot of research out there that indicates the market value of coastal property just really doesn’t account for sea level rise in a meaningful way right now, and in the ways that it maybe should,” Stein says. “But at some point, the market is going to realize the problem. And at that point, it may be too late.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s why Stein helped Allen draft his \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/2020-senate-bill-1293-allen-ben-sea-level-rise-revolving-loan-program-dead\">novel legislation\u003c/a>. She thinks the state needs to get ahead of the problem before it becomes another money pit like wildfires. Thousands of California homes are becoming uninsurable due to wildfire risk despite expensive, ever-expanding efforts to fight them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think that’s kind of a vision of the future for some coastal properties,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rent Out Now, Save Money Later\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the last 30 years, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has supported buyouts of more than 43,000 U.S. homes, according to an\u003ca href=\"https://www.nrdc.org/experts/anna-weber/going-under-post-flood-buyouts-take-years-complete\"> analysis\u003c/a> by the Natural Resources Defense Council. Most are in the more flood-prone East. A few patterns have emerged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s usually homeowners who are in good standing on their mortgage, after a disaster, who probably can speak pretty good English and are well-off enough to navigate a really complicated, bureaucratic process for three to five years,” says Miyuki Hino, an assistant professor of city and regional planning at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just because a property owner is willing to sell a home doesn’t mean the resources exist to carry it out. Demand already exceeds supply, and demand is only going to grow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are facing some really unprecedented difficulties, and we need to be willing to experiment and try new things and see what works and what doesn’t,” Hino says. The California proposal fits that bill, even if she has questions about how it would work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Governments have long played landlord for public housing projects, but coastal real estate would be another beast altogether. There’s no guarantee that homeowners would want to participate. And there are questions of equity. Who would get prioritized for buyouts? Is potentially spending public money to buy multimillion-dollar homes the best use of those funds?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Andy Keeler, an economist at East Carolina University’s Department of Coastal Studies, believes the answer is yes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Keeler has spent years studying buy-to-rent strategies similar to that proposed in California, and he thinks they could be a useful tool for disrupting a pervasive problem when it comes to coastal real estate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The value of a coastal home is hugely dependent on the public sector, he says. If a city or state invests in protecting properties by building sea walls or nourishing beaches, it signals to homeowners that their property values will stay intact, so they continue to invest in their property. More investment means more reason to protect down the road.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a positive feedback loop that strings out how much longer you’re going to be there,” Keeler says. “All it buys you, which is really valuable, is time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From a purely economic perspective though, it doesn’t add up. A community pays on the front end, pays again, and again, and then is left with the cleanup and emergency response in the end.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Keeler says that link can be broken by taking properties out of the hands of private homeowners, who are getting mixed messages about the value of their homes, and putting them in the hands of the public, which has an interest in not being stuck with all of those bills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Communities can then plan for the eventual phasing out of those properties as sea levels rise. They can plan for the decline in property taxes, and the cleanup costs associated with homes falling into the sea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re going to be looking at really massive relocation sometime in the next couple of hundred years and probably much sooner,” Keeler says. If we don’t manage the timing of that, he fears, it will manage us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nothing Is Forever \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His eyes shadowed from the bright California sun by the brim of his blue Dodgers cap, Allen pulls out his phone and opens the Zillow app.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The $8.3 million house just up the beach has a monthly rental estimate of $12,500. Assuming the house could be rented at that rate, it would take about 55 years to pay off — 55 years to make back the money he’s proposing the state loans to local communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s the most expensive house on this stretch of beach though, and Allen says it may not be worth investing in. But it’s also the kind of property that a homeowner would fight to protect, lobbying for public investment in sea walls and other defenses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Allen’s bill passed unanimously through the state’s Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee last week, and he says he’s hopeful it will receive similar support in the broader Legislature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nobody wants to come to terms with what’s happening,” he says, watching as people stroll the beach barefoot and smiling. “We want this to be here forever. We want to be able to walk along this beach and enjoy these beautiful houses and this beautiful view forever.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, he says, “you can’t beat the sea.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=California+Has+A+New+Idea+For+Homes+At+Risk+From+Rising+Seas%3A+Buy%2C+Rent%2C+Retreat&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>At a normal tide on a normal day on the Southern California coast, ankle-high waves glide over a narrow strip of gold sand. On one side sits the largest body of water in the world. On the other, a row of houses with a cumulative value in the hundreds of millions of dollars, propped on water-stained stilts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Property value ebbs and flows, but when it comes to coastal real estate “the trend lines are pretty clear,” says California state Sen. Ben Allen, squinting in the sun. “And they’re not pretty.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Within the span of a 30-year mortgage, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/underwater\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">more than $100 billion\u003c/a> worth of American homes is expected to be at risk of chronic flooding. As the climate warms and oceans rise, narrow strips of sand such as the one Allen is standing on, will be submerged, leaving coastal communities — affluent and not — with the torturous question of how to adjust. Build seawalls? Dump sand? For how long and at what cost?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s becoming a really serious resource question for a lot of local governments,” says Allen, who represents coastal communities in the greater Los Angeles area that are spending millions to keep their beaches intact.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s expensive to fight the sea. It’s expensive not to do so. When property values plummet, so do property taxes. But right now property values here are still high, and Allen wants to put that value to use before it’s gone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s why the 43-year-old Democrat has proposed legislation to create a revolving loan program, allowing California counties and communities to purchase vulnerable coastal properties. The goal would then be to rent those properties out, either to the original homeowner or someone else, and use that money to pay off the loan until the property is no longer safe to live in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Think of it like a city-run Airbnb, where the profits go to making sure nobody is left picking up the full tab when the Pacific comes to collect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a strategy that’s never been tried at such a large scale, and its implementation would come with plenty of questions, policy experts say. But there’s hope in various parts of the country that the legislation passes, putting to test a buy-to-rent strategy that could offer a more permanent solution to a growing problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>‘Not a Conversation … Communities Want to Have’\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At its core, Allen’s proposal is a buyout program — a government-subsidized effort to limit the state’s longer-term exposure to sea level rise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Within the next 30 years \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4261\">$8 billion to $10 billion\u003c/a> of existing property in California is expected to be underwater, according to the state’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office. An additional $6 billion to $10 billion will be at risk during high tide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The magnitude of the potential impacts mean that the state cannot afford to indefinitely delay taking steps to prepare,” the report warns. “Waiting too long to initiate adaptation efforts likely will make responding effectively more difficult and costly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Communities have three options for dealing with that threat: They can defend those properties using seawalls and buffering beaches; they can learn to live with higher waters; or they can retreat, moving to higher ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The last option is often the least popular, says Julia Stein, a project director at the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at UCLA School of Law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s just not a conversation that a lot of coastal communities want to have,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And when the conversation does come up, one of the first questions to arise is cost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Take Del Mar, a low-lying, upscale community north of San Diego. Residents there have been in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2018/12/04/672285546/retreat-is-not-an-option-as-a-california-beach-town-plans-for-rising-seas\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">yearslong fight\u003c/a> with the state over the term “managed retreat.” The state wants the city to consider retreating from a particularly vulnerable area. Problem is: The combined market value of the homes in that area is more than $1.5 billion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a whole lot of research out there that indicates the market value of coastal property just really doesn’t account for sea level rise in a meaningful way right now, and in the ways that it maybe should,” Stein says. “But at some point, the market is going to realize the problem. And at that point, it may be too late.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s why Stein helped Allen draft his \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/2020-senate-bill-1293-allen-ben-sea-level-rise-revolving-loan-program-dead\">novel legislation\u003c/a>. She thinks the state needs to get ahead of the problem before it becomes another money pit like wildfires. Thousands of California homes are becoming uninsurable due to wildfire risk despite expensive, ever-expanding efforts to fight them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think that’s kind of a vision of the future for some coastal properties,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rent Out Now, Save Money Later\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the last 30 years, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has supported buyouts of more than 43,000 U.S. homes, according to an\u003ca href=\"https://www.nrdc.org/experts/anna-weber/going-under-post-flood-buyouts-take-years-complete\"> analysis\u003c/a> by the Natural Resources Defense Council. Most are in the more flood-prone East. A few patterns have emerged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s usually homeowners who are in good standing on their mortgage, after a disaster, who probably can speak pretty good English and are well-off enough to navigate a really complicated, bureaucratic process for three to five years,” says Miyuki Hino, an assistant professor of city and regional planning at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just because a property owner is willing to sell a home doesn’t mean the resources exist to carry it out. Demand already exceeds supply, and demand is only going to grow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are facing some really unprecedented difficulties, and we need to be willing to experiment and try new things and see what works and what doesn’t,” Hino says. The California proposal fits that bill, even if she has questions about how it would work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Governments have long played landlord for public housing projects, but coastal real estate would be another beast altogether. There’s no guarantee that homeowners would want to participate. And there are questions of equity. Who would get prioritized for buyouts? Is potentially spending public money to buy multimillion-dollar homes the best use of those funds?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Andy Keeler, an economist at East Carolina University’s Department of Coastal Studies, believes the answer is yes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Keeler has spent years studying buy-to-rent strategies similar to that proposed in California, and he thinks they could be a useful tool for disrupting a pervasive problem when it comes to coastal real estate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The value of a coastal home is hugely dependent on the public sector, he says. If a city or state invests in protecting properties by building sea walls or nourishing beaches, it signals to homeowners that their property values will stay intact, so they continue to invest in their property. More investment means more reason to protect down the road.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a positive feedback loop that strings out how much longer you’re going to be there,” Keeler says. “All it buys you, which is really valuable, is time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From a purely economic perspective though, it doesn’t add up. A community pays on the front end, pays again, and again, and then is left with the cleanup and emergency response in the end.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Keeler says that link can be broken by taking properties out of the hands of private homeowners, who are getting mixed messages about the value of their homes, and putting them in the hands of the public, which has an interest in not being stuck with all of those bills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Communities can then plan for the eventual phasing out of those properties as sea levels rise. They can plan for the decline in property taxes, and the cleanup costs associated with homes falling into the sea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re going to be looking at really massive relocation sometime in the next couple of hundred years and probably much sooner,” Keeler says. If we don’t manage the timing of that, he fears, it will manage us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nothing Is Forever \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His eyes shadowed from the bright California sun by the brim of his blue Dodgers cap, Allen pulls out his phone and opens the Zillow app.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The $8.3 million house just up the beach has a monthly rental estimate of $12,500. Assuming the house could be rented at that rate, it would take about 55 years to pay off — 55 years to make back the money he’s proposing the state loans to local communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s the most expensive house on this stretch of beach though, and Allen says it may not be worth investing in. But it’s also the kind of property that a homeowner would fight to protect, lobbying for public investment in sea walls and other defenses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Allen’s bill passed unanimously through the state’s Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee last week, and he says he’s hopeful it will receive similar support in the broader Legislature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nobody wants to come to terms with what’s happening,” he says, watching as people stroll the beach barefoot and smiling. “We want this to be here forever. We want to be able to walk along this beach and enjoy these beautiful houses and this beautiful view forever.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, he says, “you can’t beat the sea.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=California+Has+A+New+Idea+For+Homes+At+Risk+From+Rising+Seas%3A+Buy%2C+Rent%2C+Retreat&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "The Pandemic Led to Unprecedented Declines in Carbon Emissions. But That's Over Now",
"headTitle": "The Pandemic Led to Unprecedented Declines in Carbon Emissions. But That’s Over Now | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp class=\"p1\">Last May, when California’s stay-at-home order had forced a huge number of drivers off the road, environmentalists and state officials saw the disappearance of so many automobiles as a window into a world where climate goals would be tantalizingly achievable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">From March to mid-April 2020, total vehicle miles \u003cspan class=\"s1\">declined\u003c/span> by 75%, with a corresponding reduction in planet-warming gases and smog, according to a UC Davis \u003ca href=\"https://roadecology.ucdavis.edu/files/content/projects/COVID_CHIPs_Impacts_updated_430.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">analysis\u003c/a> conducted by \u003cspan class=\"s2\">Fraser Shilling, co-director of the university’s Road Ecology Center. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">\u003cspan class=\"s2\">Reading those stats, Shilling hoped\u003c/span> one of the more positive lessons of the pandemic would be that society could still function as it vastly reduced driving.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">“We’re going to learn a lot during this intervening period,” he \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1963716/coronavirus-forces-huge-number-of-californians-off-road-as-tele-everything-becomes-new-climate-option\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">told KQED\u003c/span>\u003c/a> in May. “How do we telecommute? How do we arrange our work at home? Our shopping trips? All of our travel in a different way.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">A year ago, Shilling’s “optimistic projection” was that the change in driving behavior would stick, although many of his colleagues disagreed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s2\">So far, looks like they were right.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By last fall, car traffic in California had rebounded to roughly 90% of where it had been pre-pandemic, and national studies show that truck traffic went up along with the delivery of food, groceries and goods, Shilling says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">“In the depths of the pandemic and the traffic reduction, people were obviously hoarding,” he said. “They stocked up and then they didn’t need to make as many trips, and we had a huge reduction in overall traffic.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But people adjusted, and while there is less traffic than before the pandemic, “we’ve got more of that goods and services delivery going on, and we may even have an increase in pollution and greenhouse gas emissions,” Shilling said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">Last year, emissions declined by nearly 13% in the U.S. and about 7% globally, the largest annual drop in global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions since World War II.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The reduction was driven largely by a sharp drop in vehicle traffic during the first half of the year in the early stage of lockdowns, according to an \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00090-3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">estimate\u003c/span>\u003c/a> by the international \u003ca href=\"https://carbonmonitor.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">Carbon Monitor\u003c/span>\u003c/a> program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">Shilling maintains that if the amount of driving eliminated during the pandemic could be duplicated, it would put California, at least, on track to reach some of its climate goals, not to mention lead to an improvement in air quality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">But that steep curb in global warming emissions started to reverse during the second half of the year, when economic activity began to recover. Global emissions were 2% higher in December 2020 than in the same month a year earlier, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.iea.org/news/after-steep-drop-in-early-2020-global-carbon-dioxide-emissions-have-rebounded-strongly\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the International Energy Agency\u003c/a>, an intergovernmental energy analysis and policy group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> “A lot of people were hurt and died” during the pandemic, said Shilling, whose son had COVID-19. “It affects everybody. What can we get out of it? Learning. A society that doesn’t learn is just going to repeat all of those mistakes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">Transportation-related emissions, at nearly 50% of California’s total overall, are the top source of greenhouse gas emissions in the state. That’s despite decades of policies meant to reduce pollution from tailpipes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last summer, in the wake of wildfires driven by extreme heat, Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered California to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1969807/california-to-halt-sales-of-new-gas-cars-by-2035\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">halt\u003c/span>\u003c/a> the sale of new gasoline-powered cars by 2035, in an effort to accelerate the state’s reduction of greenhouse gases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The mass adoption of electric vehicles will surely be needed if California is going to transition from fossil fuels. But \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-020-00921-7?utm_source=nclimate_etoc&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=toc_41558_10_12&utm_content=20201201&sap-outbound-id=53AEBD821997012F268251B4E511EE152EB74E4D\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">studies\u003c/span>\u003c/a> have shown that in order to meet ambitious climate goals, people will also need to drive less during the many years it will take for gas vehicles to disappear from the state’s roads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kate Gordon, the governor’s top climate adviser, argued Californians should embrace tele-everything in the fight against climate change, using the internet to reduce driving.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">Some technology companies are allowing employees to work from home \u003ca href=\"https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/5/21/21266570/facebook-remote-work-from-home-mark-zuckerberg-twitter-covid-19-coronavirus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">permanently\u003c/span>\u003c/a>. But many businesses are just now beginning to grapple with what work life could look like after restrictions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 are lifted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">Remote work offered some white-collar workers a chance to live in less crowded cities and towns, with cheaper rents and lower taxes. But people living in the country or in the suburbs drive a lot more —to work, but also to the grocery store and to visit friends.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Bay Area Council recently released a \u003ca href=\"http://www.bayareaeconomy.org/report/remote-work-in-the-bay-area/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">study\u003c/span>\u003c/a> showing that 1.79 million jobs, or 45% of the region’s workforce, could be performed from home, a higher proportion than in Los Angeles and other areas of the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s2\">“If each of the region’s 1.79 million people employed in a remote eligible job worked outside of the office for just one day per week, over 1 million single-occupancy vehicle trips could be avoided each week — a reduction of 8% based on pre-COVID-19 travel,” the report’s authors wrote. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Should California make a push to increase remote work, issues of equity could emerge. The state suffers from a vast digital divide, with high-speed internet access available in many of the busiest city centers, but not in remote areas in the Central Valley, Inland Empire, and northern part of the state. Also, remote work capability rises as along with pay. Prior to the pandemic, 51% of the Bay Area’s white workforce, which has a higher average income, were employed in potential work-from-home occupations, compared to only 33% of the Black and 30% of the Latinx workforce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">Which experiments in telecommuting will be maintained on a widespread basis is still unknown. Partly because a year after the state first issued a shelter-in-place order, life has changed for a substantial number of people. Where exactly they will live, commute, and work when the pandemic subsides has not come into focus yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">Last fall, planners at the Metropolitan Transportation Commission debated a measure requiring workers at Bay Area companies with more than 25 employees to work three days a week from home. But Silicon Valley businesses and Bay Area mayors pushed back on the plan, arguing the requirement for employers was too strict, and could decimate public transit ridership, the Mercury News \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/11/20/bay-area-planners-less-remote-work-more-green-commutes/\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">reported\u003c/span>\u003c/a>.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The group developed a compromise plan that would require larger companies to ensure that 60% of their employees commute using mass transit, bikes or carpools by the year 2035.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If adopted, the policy would ask employers to take responsibility for the congestion, air quality, and climate change impacts of their employees as they go to and from work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">“Without mandating how large employers do that, [the policy] would set the goal, which I think is a very reasonable thing to do,” said Nick Josefowitz, commissioner with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Last year, emissions declined by nearly 13% in the U.S. and about 7% globally. But the steep drop has started to reverse. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp class=\"p1\">Last May, when California’s stay-at-home order had forced a huge number of drivers off the road, environmentalists and state officials saw the disappearance of so many automobiles as a window into a world where climate goals would be tantalizingly achievable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">From March to mid-April 2020, total vehicle miles \u003cspan class=\"s1\">declined\u003c/span> by 75%, with a corresponding reduction in planet-warming gases and smog, according to a UC Davis \u003ca href=\"https://roadecology.ucdavis.edu/files/content/projects/COVID_CHIPs_Impacts_updated_430.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">analysis\u003c/a> conducted by \u003cspan class=\"s2\">Fraser Shilling, co-director of the university’s Road Ecology Center. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">\u003cspan class=\"s2\">Reading those stats, Shilling hoped\u003c/span> one of the more positive lessons of the pandemic would be that society could still function as it vastly reduced driving.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">“We’re going to learn a lot during this intervening period,” he \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1963716/coronavirus-forces-huge-number-of-californians-off-road-as-tele-everything-becomes-new-climate-option\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">told KQED\u003c/span>\u003c/a> in May. “How do we telecommute? How do we arrange our work at home? Our shopping trips? All of our travel in a different way.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">A year ago, Shilling’s “optimistic projection” was that the change in driving behavior would stick, although many of his colleagues disagreed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s2\">So far, looks like they were right.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By last fall, car traffic in California had rebounded to roughly 90% of where it had been pre-pandemic, and national studies show that truck traffic went up along with the delivery of food, groceries and goods, Shilling says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">“In the depths of the pandemic and the traffic reduction, people were obviously hoarding,” he said. “They stocked up and then they didn’t need to make as many trips, and we had a huge reduction in overall traffic.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But people adjusted, and while there is less traffic than before the pandemic, “we’ve got more of that goods and services delivery going on, and we may even have an increase in pollution and greenhouse gas emissions,” Shilling said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">Last year, emissions declined by nearly 13% in the U.S. and about 7% globally, the largest annual drop in global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions since World War II.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The reduction was driven largely by a sharp drop in vehicle traffic during the first half of the year in the early stage of lockdowns, according to an \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00090-3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">estimate\u003c/span>\u003c/a> by the international \u003ca href=\"https://carbonmonitor.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">Carbon Monitor\u003c/span>\u003c/a> program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">Shilling maintains that if the amount of driving eliminated during the pandemic could be duplicated, it would put California, at least, on track to reach some of its climate goals, not to mention lead to an improvement in air quality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">But that steep curb in global warming emissions started to reverse during the second half of the year, when economic activity began to recover. Global emissions were 2% higher in December 2020 than in the same month a year earlier, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.iea.org/news/after-steep-drop-in-early-2020-global-carbon-dioxide-emissions-have-rebounded-strongly\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the International Energy Agency\u003c/a>, an intergovernmental energy analysis and policy group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> “A lot of people were hurt and died” during the pandemic, said Shilling, whose son had COVID-19. “It affects everybody. What can we get out of it? Learning. A society that doesn’t learn is just going to repeat all of those mistakes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">Transportation-related emissions, at nearly 50% of California’s total overall, are the top source of greenhouse gas emissions in the state. That’s despite decades of policies meant to reduce pollution from tailpipes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last summer, in the wake of wildfires driven by extreme heat, Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered California to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1969807/california-to-halt-sales-of-new-gas-cars-by-2035\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">halt\u003c/span>\u003c/a> the sale of new gasoline-powered cars by 2035, in an effort to accelerate the state’s reduction of greenhouse gases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The mass adoption of electric vehicles will surely be needed if California is going to transition from fossil fuels. But \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-020-00921-7?utm_source=nclimate_etoc&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=toc_41558_10_12&utm_content=20201201&sap-outbound-id=53AEBD821997012F268251B4E511EE152EB74E4D\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">studies\u003c/span>\u003c/a> have shown that in order to meet ambitious climate goals, people will also need to drive less during the many years it will take for gas vehicles to disappear from the state’s roads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kate Gordon, the governor’s top climate adviser, argued Californians should embrace tele-everything in the fight against climate change, using the internet to reduce driving.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">Some technology companies are allowing employees to work from home \u003ca href=\"https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/5/21/21266570/facebook-remote-work-from-home-mark-zuckerberg-twitter-covid-19-coronavirus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">permanently\u003c/span>\u003c/a>. But many businesses are just now beginning to grapple with what work life could look like after restrictions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 are lifted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">Remote work offered some white-collar workers a chance to live in less crowded cities and towns, with cheaper rents and lower taxes. But people living in the country or in the suburbs drive a lot more —to work, but also to the grocery store and to visit friends.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Bay Area Council recently released a \u003ca href=\"http://www.bayareaeconomy.org/report/remote-work-in-the-bay-area/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">study\u003c/span>\u003c/a> showing that 1.79 million jobs, or 45% of the region’s workforce, could be performed from home, a higher proportion than in Los Angeles and other areas of the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s2\">“If each of the region’s 1.79 million people employed in a remote eligible job worked outside of the office for just one day per week, over 1 million single-occupancy vehicle trips could be avoided each week — a reduction of 8% based on pre-COVID-19 travel,” the report’s authors wrote. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Should California make a push to increase remote work, issues of equity could emerge. The state suffers from a vast digital divide, with high-speed internet access available in many of the busiest city centers, but not in remote areas in the Central Valley, Inland Empire, and northern part of the state. Also, remote work capability rises as along with pay. Prior to the pandemic, 51% of the Bay Area’s white workforce, which has a higher average income, were employed in potential work-from-home occupations, compared to only 33% of the Black and 30% of the Latinx workforce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">Which experiments in telecommuting will be maintained on a widespread basis is still unknown. Partly because a year after the state first issued a shelter-in-place order, life has changed for a substantial number of people. Where exactly they will live, commute, and work when the pandemic subsides has not come into focus yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">Last fall, planners at the Metropolitan Transportation Commission debated a measure requiring workers at Bay Area companies with more than 25 employees to work three days a week from home. But Silicon Valley businesses and Bay Area mayors pushed back on the plan, arguing the requirement for employers was too strict, and could decimate public transit ridership, the Mercury News \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/11/20/bay-area-planners-less-remote-work-more-green-commutes/\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">reported\u003c/span>\u003c/a>.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The group developed a compromise plan that would require larger companies to ensure that 60% of their employees commute using mass transit, bikes or carpools by the year 2035.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If adopted, the policy would ask employers to take responsibility for the congestion, air quality, and climate change impacts of their employees as they go to and from work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">“Without mandating how large employers do that, [the policy] would set the goal, which I think is a very reasonable thing to do,” said Nick Josefowitz, commissioner with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "California Cities Are Rushing to Ban Gas in New Homes. But the State Is Moving Slower",
"headTitle": "California Cities Are Rushing to Ban Gas in New Homes. But the State Is Moving Slower | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp class=\"p1\">The push to ban natural gas hookups in newly constructed buildings has mushroomed in California since Berkeley passed the first prohibition in 2019.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Altogether, 21 municipalities in the state have passed measures to require all-electric construction, according to a state \u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.ca.gov/programs-and-topics/programs/building-energy-efficiency-standards/2019-building-energy-efficiency-3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">tally\u003c/span>\u003c/a>, while an additional 19 discourage gas hookups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bay Area cities like San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose have closed the spigot on natural gas by passing electric-only building mandates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Environmentalists have sought to harness the momentum of decarbonization efforts, the declining cost of electric appliances, and the clamoring of Californians for the state to move more rapidly to reduce carbon emissions, which fuel climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All last year, the groups blitzed officials at the California Energy Commission in hopes of securing an electrification requirement in this year’s building code update, which goes into effect in January 2023.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Stakeholders began debating the update this month in a series of commission meetings, but a statewide natural gas ban sought by environmental groups appears increasingly unlikely after the commission circulated a proposal indicating a preference for incentivizing electric heat pumps rather than a gas ban.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">The commission sent out a \u003ca href=\"https://efiling.energy.ca.gov/GetDocument.aspx?tn=236877&DocumentContentId=70032\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">summary\u003c/span>\u003c/a> of its planned tweaks and is collecting feedback from environmentalists and industry groups as it prepares to release a draft of its 2022 building code later this month in advance of a month-and-a-half-long rulemaking process. The commission is expected to vote on the plan this summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">While the summary indicates a willingness by the commission to require electrification for new construction, any new mandate will likely not be included in the building code until 2026 at the earliest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Under the commission’s proposed plan, new homes must be “electric ready,” which means stoves, furnaces, dryers and other appliances that run on gas must have an electric plug installed within 3 feet, with the home’s electrical panel required to include capacity for the future installation of electric appliances.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Title 24 updates, as the code revisions are known, occur every three years. The 2019 version, which included a requirement that all newly constructed buildings have solar panels, went into effect in 2020, and developers and builders say they are still scrambling to catch up to that particular rule.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, a statewide building labor group is opposing a bill from a Silicon Valley lawmaker that would ban natural gas in new state buildings. In an opposition letter, the group called it a “part of a concerted extremist political agenda.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Additional critics of these anti-gas policies include other gas industry \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2021-03-06/switching-to-all-electric-homes-in-california-would-be-a-mistake\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">groups\u003c/a> as well as Southern California Gas Co. and the California Restaurant Association.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Labor Takes Aim at Decarbonization Package\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To hear first-term state Sen. David Cortese tell it, when he started on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors more than a decade ago, the county wasn’t far into its transition to clean energy.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, every school district in the area had made more progress than at the county level, he says. Santa Clara had no environmental stewardship goals, no big solar farms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">“We didn’t even have one of those [solar pilot projects] in the parking lot,” said Cortese.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Things have changed, Santa Clara County \u003ca href=\"https://sanjosespotlight.com/santa-clara-county-lawmakers-declare-a-climate-emergency/\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">declared\u003c/span>\u003c/a> a climate emergency in 2019 and has built four major solar farms, pushing aggressively toward 100% renewable energy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cortese says he was able to work quickly passing ambitious climate policies with a five-member Board of Supervisors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was the president, but any member could just bring an initiative, any Tuesday,” he said. “We didn’t even have a bill deadline. If I had three votes, which I generally did, we could move something that’s the first of its kind in the nation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He quickly learned the situation was different in Sacramento.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By California tradition, freshman legislators introduce their first bill on their first day, and Cortese figured he’d make a splash with a package of climate bills centered on decarbonization, channeling the progress of cities pushing similar plans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the bills, \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB30\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">SB 30\u003c/span>\u003c/a>, would ban natural gas in newly constructed state buildings beginning next year and require the state to have a plan for decarbonizing all of its existing buildings by 2035.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another bill, \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB31\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">SB 31\u003c/a>, would create new building decarbonization programs with a focus on providing opportunities for low-income customers. \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB32\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">SB 32\u003c/a> would require cities to update their general plans with defined targets for decarbonization.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Passage of the bills would send a market signal that decarbonization in new buildings is a priority, and would allow the state to prove that the economics of making them greener can work before imposing the policy on the private market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Such a small-bore change is too little to meet the climate emergency, environmentalists say: California controls about 16 million square feet of state-owned and leased office space in Sacramento, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.dgs.ca.gov/RESD/Resources/Page-Content/Real-Estate-Services-Division-Resources-List-Folder/State-Facility-Long-Range-Planning-Study\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">a 2015 assessment\u003c/span>\u003c/a>, including 24 office buildings.\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet despite its relatively small scope, Cortese’s plan was met with immediate derision from organized labor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jeremy Smith, deputy legislative director of the State Building & Construction Trades Council, penned a fiery letter to the Legislature, describing the bills “as part of a concerted extremist political agenda aimed at irresponsibly phasing out natural gas from the state’s already unstable and strained energy portfolio.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Robbie Hunter, the group’s president, says the opposition stems from a “big problem of imbalance in the state,” pointing to August’s rolling blackouts, when about 800,000 Californians went without power for a few hours during a searing heat wave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hunter’s analysis is that state officials are squeezing Californians from two sides. On the one hand, California is pushing electric cars and “driving up the need for more electricity,” while at the same time “moving against the requirement of gas turbine plants.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Consumers drive up the need, while you’re reducing the ability to create an electricity baseload,” he said. “The system is far out of whack.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Another powerful player, the California Building Industry Association, expressed concern to Cortese about potential impacts on “ratepayers, construction costs and grid reliability,” according to Christopher Ochoa, a senior attorney with the group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We not only have a climate crisis, we have a housing crisis as well,” he said. “Whether it’s housing inventory, affordability or homelessness. How do you balance the costs?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">\u003cb>‘This is Either a Climate Emergency or It’s Not’ \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">While industry groups blame the state’s reliance on renewable energy for last summer’s power outage during a blistering heat wave, a \u003ca href=\"http://www.caiso.com/Documents/Preliminary-Root-Cause-Analysis-Rotating-Outages-August-2020.pdf\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">postmortem\u003c/span>\u003c/a> conducted by three state agencies attributed\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>the problem to the failure of energy planners to fully anticipate the impact climate change could have on the grid. The analysis found that the state had not lined up enough resources to meet demand during an event that crippled the entire region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California faces increasing energy challenges and strains on its power grid from many directions — transportation electrification, wildfires, increasing temperatures, fossil fuel plant decommissioning, and the state’s goal for reaching carbon neutrality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Felicia Federico, executive director of the California Center for Sustainable Communities at UCLA, says the state needs to address these challenges holistically rather than cling to fossil fuels, which contribute to the kind of extreme heat that creates disruptions like the one to the grid last summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She points out that electrification can’t happen overnight given how long it takes for building stock to turn over. “That is why we need aggressive programs starting now,” she wrote in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Building electrification is relatively low-tech compared to other technologies for achieving carbon neutrality — we know how to do it, it’s been done in many places, and it’s a critical element of achieving our carbon neutral goals,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Cortese was more blunt: “Look, this is either a climate emergency or it’s not. If this isn’t the equivalent of a pandemic happening on the greenhouse gas front, then stop now. But it is a problem. It’s a problem I’m committed to solving. If that’s the case, you can’t kick these things to the next two-year session. Buying time is not a good strategy right now. The good strategy is all hands on deck.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Opposition Letter\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">The building trade’s opposition letter arrived within a week of Cortese taking office, and it contained a key mischaracterization of his bill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith’s letter said, “This bill would prohibit construction of new state, residential, or commercial buildings that have natural gas connections.” The legislation, however, would only apply to state buildings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Percolating behind Cortese’s bills and Hunter’s opposition letter is the effort to ban gas in the statewide building code.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">But energy commission officials and draft documents seem to indicate, a few years after requiring solar panels on new homes, staff aren’t ready to make that move,\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">The solar mandate went into effect in 2020 for builders that filed for permits last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">For years before, the state required incremental upgrades to walls, attics, windows and other measures to improve energy efficiency and bring down energy costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The commission’s latest plan appears to lay similar groundwork for a gas ban later this decade, and key environmental groups who have pushed for a state ban on gas in new buildings seem to accept this gradual timeline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">“This approach is not the all-electric code that the clean buildings coalition, including NRDC, and the hundreds of concerned California residents who have been speaking at public hearings over the last six months have been calling for,” Pierre Delforge, a scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nrdc.org/experts/pierre-delforge/will-california-lead-pollution-free-construction\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">wrote\u003c/span>\u003c/a> in a blog post. “But with the right balance of carrots and sticks, it could effectively shift most of new construction toward highly efficient electric heat pumps.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The group sent a \u003ca href=\"https://efiling.energy.ca.gov/GetDocument.aspx?tn=237028&DocumentContentId=70198\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">letter\u003c/a> asking the commission to commit to requiring all-electric construction by the year 2025.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">\n\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp class=\"p1\">The push to ban natural gas hookups in newly constructed buildings has mushroomed in California since Berkeley passed the first prohibition in 2019.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Altogether, 21 municipalities in the state have passed measures to require all-electric construction, according to a state \u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.ca.gov/programs-and-topics/programs/building-energy-efficiency-standards/2019-building-energy-efficiency-3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">tally\u003c/span>\u003c/a>, while an additional 19 discourage gas hookups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bay Area cities like San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose have closed the spigot on natural gas by passing electric-only building mandates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Environmentalists have sought to harness the momentum of decarbonization efforts, the declining cost of electric appliances, and the clamoring of Californians for the state to move more rapidly to reduce carbon emissions, which fuel climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All last year, the groups blitzed officials at the California Energy Commission in hopes of securing an electrification requirement in this year’s building code update, which goes into effect in January 2023.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Stakeholders began debating the update this month in a series of commission meetings, but a statewide natural gas ban sought by environmental groups appears increasingly unlikely after the commission circulated a proposal indicating a preference for incentivizing electric heat pumps rather than a gas ban.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">The commission sent out a \u003ca href=\"https://efiling.energy.ca.gov/GetDocument.aspx?tn=236877&DocumentContentId=70032\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">summary\u003c/span>\u003c/a> of its planned tweaks and is collecting feedback from environmentalists and industry groups as it prepares to release a draft of its 2022 building code later this month in advance of a month-and-a-half-long rulemaking process. The commission is expected to vote on the plan this summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">While the summary indicates a willingness by the commission to require electrification for new construction, any new mandate will likely not be included in the building code until 2026 at the earliest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Under the commission’s proposed plan, new homes must be “electric ready,” which means stoves, furnaces, dryers and other appliances that run on gas must have an electric plug installed within 3 feet, with the home’s electrical panel required to include capacity for the future installation of electric appliances.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Title 24 updates, as the code revisions are known, occur every three years. The 2019 version, which included a requirement that all newly constructed buildings have solar panels, went into effect in 2020, and developers and builders say they are still scrambling to catch up to that particular rule.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, a statewide building labor group is opposing a bill from a Silicon Valley lawmaker that would ban natural gas in new state buildings. In an opposition letter, the group called it a “part of a concerted extremist political agenda.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Additional critics of these anti-gas policies include other gas industry \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2021-03-06/switching-to-all-electric-homes-in-california-would-be-a-mistake\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">groups\u003c/a> as well as Southern California Gas Co. and the California Restaurant Association.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Labor Takes Aim at Decarbonization Package\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To hear first-term state Sen. David Cortese tell it, when he started on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors more than a decade ago, the county wasn’t far into its transition to clean energy.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, every school district in the area had made more progress than at the county level, he says. Santa Clara had no environmental stewardship goals, no big solar farms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">“We didn’t even have one of those [solar pilot projects] in the parking lot,” said Cortese.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Things have changed, Santa Clara County \u003ca href=\"https://sanjosespotlight.com/santa-clara-county-lawmakers-declare-a-climate-emergency/\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">declared\u003c/span>\u003c/a> a climate emergency in 2019 and has built four major solar farms, pushing aggressively toward 100% renewable energy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cortese says he was able to work quickly passing ambitious climate policies with a five-member Board of Supervisors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was the president, but any member could just bring an initiative, any Tuesday,” he said. “We didn’t even have a bill deadline. If I had three votes, which I generally did, we could move something that’s the first of its kind in the nation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He quickly learned the situation was different in Sacramento.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By California tradition, freshman legislators introduce their first bill on their first day, and Cortese figured he’d make a splash with a package of climate bills centered on decarbonization, channeling the progress of cities pushing similar plans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the bills, \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB30\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">SB 30\u003c/span>\u003c/a>, would ban natural gas in newly constructed state buildings beginning next year and require the state to have a plan for decarbonizing all of its existing buildings by 2035.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another bill, \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB31\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">SB 31\u003c/a>, would create new building decarbonization programs with a focus on providing opportunities for low-income customers. \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB32\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">SB 32\u003c/a> would require cities to update their general plans with defined targets for decarbonization.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Passage of the bills would send a market signal that decarbonization in new buildings is a priority, and would allow the state to prove that the economics of making them greener can work before imposing the policy on the private market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Such a small-bore change is too little to meet the climate emergency, environmentalists say: California controls about 16 million square feet of state-owned and leased office space in Sacramento, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.dgs.ca.gov/RESD/Resources/Page-Content/Real-Estate-Services-Division-Resources-List-Folder/State-Facility-Long-Range-Planning-Study\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">a 2015 assessment\u003c/span>\u003c/a>, including 24 office buildings.\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet despite its relatively small scope, Cortese’s plan was met with immediate derision from organized labor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jeremy Smith, deputy legislative director of the State Building & Construction Trades Council, penned a fiery letter to the Legislature, describing the bills “as part of a concerted extremist political agenda aimed at irresponsibly phasing out natural gas from the state’s already unstable and strained energy portfolio.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Robbie Hunter, the group’s president, says the opposition stems from a “big problem of imbalance in the state,” pointing to August’s rolling blackouts, when about 800,000 Californians went without power for a few hours during a searing heat wave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hunter’s analysis is that state officials are squeezing Californians from two sides. On the one hand, California is pushing electric cars and “driving up the need for more electricity,” while at the same time “moving against the requirement of gas turbine plants.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Consumers drive up the need, while you’re reducing the ability to create an electricity baseload,” he said. “The system is far out of whack.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Another powerful player, the California Building Industry Association, expressed concern to Cortese about potential impacts on “ratepayers, construction costs and grid reliability,” according to Christopher Ochoa, a senior attorney with the group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We not only have a climate crisis, we have a housing crisis as well,” he said. “Whether it’s housing inventory, affordability or homelessness. How do you balance the costs?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">\u003cb>‘This is Either a Climate Emergency or It’s Not’ \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">While industry groups blame the state’s reliance on renewable energy for last summer’s power outage during a blistering heat wave, a \u003ca href=\"http://www.caiso.com/Documents/Preliminary-Root-Cause-Analysis-Rotating-Outages-August-2020.pdf\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">postmortem\u003c/span>\u003c/a> conducted by three state agencies attributed\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>the problem to the failure of energy planners to fully anticipate the impact climate change could have on the grid. The analysis found that the state had not lined up enough resources to meet demand during an event that crippled the entire region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California faces increasing energy challenges and strains on its power grid from many directions — transportation electrification, wildfires, increasing temperatures, fossil fuel plant decommissioning, and the state’s goal for reaching carbon neutrality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Felicia Federico, executive director of the California Center for Sustainable Communities at UCLA, says the state needs to address these challenges holistically rather than cling to fossil fuels, which contribute to the kind of extreme heat that creates disruptions like the one to the grid last summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She points out that electrification can’t happen overnight given how long it takes for building stock to turn over. “That is why we need aggressive programs starting now,” she wrote in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Building electrification is relatively low-tech compared to other technologies for achieving carbon neutrality — we know how to do it, it’s been done in many places, and it’s a critical element of achieving our carbon neutral goals,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Cortese was more blunt: “Look, this is either a climate emergency or it’s not. If this isn’t the equivalent of a pandemic happening on the greenhouse gas front, then stop now. But it is a problem. It’s a problem I’m committed to solving. If that’s the case, you can’t kick these things to the next two-year session. Buying time is not a good strategy right now. The good strategy is all hands on deck.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Opposition Letter\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">The building trade’s opposition letter arrived within a week of Cortese taking office, and it contained a key mischaracterization of his bill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith’s letter said, “This bill would prohibit construction of new state, residential, or commercial buildings that have natural gas connections.” The legislation, however, would only apply to state buildings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Percolating behind Cortese’s bills and Hunter’s opposition letter is the effort to ban gas in the statewide building code.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">But energy commission officials and draft documents seem to indicate, a few years after requiring solar panels on new homes, staff aren’t ready to make that move,\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">The solar mandate went into effect in 2020 for builders that filed for permits last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">For years before, the state required incremental upgrades to walls, attics, windows and other measures to improve energy efficiency and bring down energy costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The commission’s latest plan appears to lay similar groundwork for a gas ban later this decade, and key environmental groups who have pushed for a state ban on gas in new buildings seem to accept this gradual timeline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">“This approach is not the all-electric code that the clean buildings coalition, including NRDC, and the hundreds of concerned California residents who have been speaking at public hearings over the last six months have been calling for,” Pierre Delforge, a scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nrdc.org/experts/pierre-delforge/will-california-lead-pollution-free-construction\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">wrote\u003c/span>\u003c/a> in a blog post. “But with the right balance of carrots and sticks, it could effectively shift most of new construction toward highly efficient electric heat pumps.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The group sent a \u003ca href=\"https://efiling.energy.ca.gov/GetDocument.aspx?tn=237028&DocumentContentId=70198\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">letter\u003c/a> asking the commission to commit to requiring all-electric construction by the year 2025.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "in-central-california-sea-otters-feast-on-purple-urchins-and-thats-good-for-kelp",
"title": "Kelp, Sea Otters and Urchins. Who's Eating Who in Monterey Bay",
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"headTitle": "Kelp, Sea Otters and Urchins. Who’s Eating Who in Monterey Bay | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp class=\"p1\">Marine scientists have observed a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1949757/massive-california-kelp-decline-linked-to-ocean-heat-wave-voracious-sea-urchins\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">massive decline\u003c/span>\u003c/a> of California’s underwater kelp forests in recent years. Studies have linked the die-off to a host of factors including an ocean heat wave, a deadly sea star virus, and an influx of voracious kelp-eating sea urchins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Kelp’s long flat leaves and bulbous stems provide habitat for marine mammals, fish and invertebrates in tidal regions along California’s coast. In many regions where kelp once flourished, the ocean floor is now carpeted with spiny purple sea urchins and there’s no kelp to be found. Scientists call these zones the urchin barrens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">A new study out of UC Santa Cruz reveals more about the disappearance of California’s kelp forests, finding the leafy green seaweed is faring better in places where sea otters, a natural urchin predator, are thriving.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973221\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1973221\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/urchin-barren-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/urchin-barren-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/urchin-barren-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/urchin-barren-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/urchin-barren-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/urchin-barren-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/urchin-barren-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/urchin-barren-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Most of the kelp forest ecosystem in Northern California has been replaced by urchin barrens dominated by purple sea urchins. \u003ccite>(Katie Sowul/CDFW)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Several studies have documented the collapse of the kelp ecosystem in California. The story goes something like this: A giant, warm-water “blob” first observed by scientists off the Washington coast in 2013 combined with an El Nino weather event from the south resulted in a prolonged marine heatwave in California from 2014-16. Kelp thrives in colder tidal waters, which have the nutrients it needs to survive. Faced with warmer water, the kelp essentially starved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">The historically hardy plant, which can grow up to 2 feet per day, could have bounced back from the heat wave, but for a disease that that nearly eradicated sunflower stars along the West Coast. This large, 24-limbed starfish feeds on purple sea urchins; without stars around, urchin populations swelled and changed their typical hunting behavior. Instead of merely grazing on fallen kelp leaves, the urchins began gobbling up the kelp’s stalks and seed pods as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">In Northern California, satellite images have revealed a roughly 95% decline in kelp forest canopy as a result of these events. But in Central California waters, kelp has fared somewhat better.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">The Central Coast saw a similar urchin outbreak in 2014, says Joshua Smith, a Ph.D. candidate and kelp forest researcher at UC Santa Cruz. “But what was different here was that instead of having this widespread kelp deforestation, we actually had this patchy mosaic of kelp forests interspersed with these patches of sea urchin barrens\u003ci>,” \u003c/i>he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973227\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1973227\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/Healthy-Kelp-2-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/Healthy-Kelp-2-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/Healthy-Kelp-2-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/Healthy-Kelp-2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/Healthy-Kelp-2-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/Healthy-Kelp-2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/Healthy-Kelp-2-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/Healthy-Kelp-2-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A healthy forest of giant kelp, Macrocystis pyrifera, in Monterey Bay. \u003ccite>(Michael Langhans)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Smith says this unique phenomenon gave his group an opportunity to look closer at the factors driving the kelp decline and its potential for recovery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">The \u003ca href=\"https://www.pnas.org/content/118/11/e2012493118\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">study\u003c/span>\u003c/a>, published this week in \u003cspan class=\"s2\">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences\u003c/span>, links the presence of sea otters in Monterey Bay to patches of lush, healthy kelp forest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">Smith called Monterey Bay “sea otter country,” pointing out more of the species inhabited the area than any other in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">\u003ci>“\u003c/i>This is a sea otter country,” Smith said. “We have the highest abundance of sea otters here in Monterey Bay than anywhere else in the state\u003ci>.”\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">Sea otters, like sunflower stars, are a natural predator of sea urchins. \u003ci> \u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">“The key finding of what this actually means is that otters are so important for this ecosystem because they are maintaining these remnant patches of kelp forests,” Smith said, “And those patches of kelp are the ultimate source populations to help replenish those barren patches.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">The study shows that the sea otter population in Monterey Bay grew in the wake of the urchin boom, with an increased survival rate for pups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">While scientists can’t say for sure, the lack of sea otters and other urchin predators north of the San Francisco Bay may help explain why Northern California’s kelp forests have suffered more than on other parts of the coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973226\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1973226\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/Urchin-on-Kelp-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/Urchin-on-Kelp-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/Urchin-on-Kelp-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/Urchin-on-Kelp-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/Urchin-on-Kelp-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/Urchin-on-Kelp-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/Urchin-on-Kelp-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/Urchin-on-Kelp-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Purple sea urchins feeding on kelp. \u003ccite>(Michael Langhans)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">Sea otters haven’t been spotted on the North Coast since the 1800s, says Meredith McPherson, a UC Santa Cruz marine scientist who recently published \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-021-01827-6\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">a separate study\u003c/span>\u003c/a> on Northern California’s kelp decline. “From what we observed in the satellite data from the last 35 years, the kelp had been doing well without sea otters as long as we still had sunflower stars. Once they were gone, there were no urchin predators left in the system.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">Without natural predators, McPherson says, scuba divers are helping maintain what’s left of the region’s kelp forests by plucking out interloping urchins. But while ocean temperatures and nutrient levels have normalized some since the 2014-16 heat waves, she says kelp haven’t seen any significant rebound.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">“There seems to be some evidence that some patches of kelp have reemerged in certain areas, but it’s nothing to the extent that we would expect from the historical data,” she said. “The concentrations of urchins are still really high and [are] creating the strong grazing pressure on any kind of recovery.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">McPherson says while the urchin barrens persist, a full-scale kelp recovery is unlikely. Even without kelp to eat, urchins have shown resilience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">“That’s where some people have used the term zombie urchin,” Smith said. “These urchins are remarkable in that they can persist in this starved state in the sea urchin barrens for years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">Smith’s study revealed that otters largely ignore urchins in the barrens, as they lack the nutritional value of those that have kelp to forage on. Scientists say another environmental event will likely be needed to reduce urchin populations and tip the scales in favor of kelp.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">“A number of things could take out the urchins.” Smith said. “It could be urchin disease or it could be a bottom-scouring swell that physically wipes sea urchins off the reef.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">In the meantime, otters may be key to kelp’s chance for a long-term recovery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp class=\"p1\">Marine scientists have observed a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1949757/massive-california-kelp-decline-linked-to-ocean-heat-wave-voracious-sea-urchins\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">massive decline\u003c/span>\u003c/a> of California’s underwater kelp forests in recent years. Studies have linked the die-off to a host of factors including an ocean heat wave, a deadly sea star virus, and an influx of voracious kelp-eating sea urchins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Kelp’s long flat leaves and bulbous stems provide habitat for marine mammals, fish and invertebrates in tidal regions along California’s coast. In many regions where kelp once flourished, the ocean floor is now carpeted with spiny purple sea urchins and there’s no kelp to be found. Scientists call these zones the urchin barrens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">A new study out of UC Santa Cruz reveals more about the disappearance of California’s kelp forests, finding the leafy green seaweed is faring better in places where sea otters, a natural urchin predator, are thriving.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973221\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1973221\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/urchin-barren-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/urchin-barren-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/urchin-barren-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/urchin-barren-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/urchin-barren-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/urchin-barren-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/urchin-barren-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/urchin-barren-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Most of the kelp forest ecosystem in Northern California has been replaced by urchin barrens dominated by purple sea urchins. \u003ccite>(Katie Sowul/CDFW)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Several studies have documented the collapse of the kelp ecosystem in California. The story goes something like this: A giant, warm-water “blob” first observed by scientists off the Washington coast in 2013 combined with an El Nino weather event from the south resulted in a prolonged marine heatwave in California from 2014-16. Kelp thrives in colder tidal waters, which have the nutrients it needs to survive. Faced with warmer water, the kelp essentially starved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">The historically hardy plant, which can grow up to 2 feet per day, could have bounced back from the heat wave, but for a disease that that nearly eradicated sunflower stars along the West Coast. This large, 24-limbed starfish feeds on purple sea urchins; without stars around, urchin populations swelled and changed their typical hunting behavior. Instead of merely grazing on fallen kelp leaves, the urchins began gobbling up the kelp’s stalks and seed pods as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">In Northern California, satellite images have revealed a roughly 95% decline in kelp forest canopy as a result of these events. But in Central California waters, kelp has fared somewhat better.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">The Central Coast saw a similar urchin outbreak in 2014, says Joshua Smith, a Ph.D. candidate and kelp forest researcher at UC Santa Cruz. “But what was different here was that instead of having this widespread kelp deforestation, we actually had this patchy mosaic of kelp forests interspersed with these patches of sea urchin barrens\u003ci>,” \u003c/i>he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973227\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1973227\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/Healthy-Kelp-2-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/Healthy-Kelp-2-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/Healthy-Kelp-2-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/Healthy-Kelp-2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/Healthy-Kelp-2-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/Healthy-Kelp-2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/Healthy-Kelp-2-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/Healthy-Kelp-2-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A healthy forest of giant kelp, Macrocystis pyrifera, in Monterey Bay. \u003ccite>(Michael Langhans)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Smith says this unique phenomenon gave his group an opportunity to look closer at the factors driving the kelp decline and its potential for recovery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">The \u003ca href=\"https://www.pnas.org/content/118/11/e2012493118\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">study\u003c/span>\u003c/a>, published this week in \u003cspan class=\"s2\">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences\u003c/span>, links the presence of sea otters in Monterey Bay to patches of lush, healthy kelp forest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">Smith called Monterey Bay “sea otter country,” pointing out more of the species inhabited the area than any other in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">\u003ci>“\u003c/i>This is a sea otter country,” Smith said. “We have the highest abundance of sea otters here in Monterey Bay than anywhere else in the state\u003ci>.”\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">Sea otters, like sunflower stars, are a natural predator of sea urchins. \u003ci> \u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">“The key finding of what this actually means is that otters are so important for this ecosystem because they are maintaining these remnant patches of kelp forests,” Smith said, “And those patches of kelp are the ultimate source populations to help replenish those barren patches.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">The study shows that the sea otter population in Monterey Bay grew in the wake of the urchin boom, with an increased survival rate for pups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">While scientists can’t say for sure, the lack of sea otters and other urchin predators north of the San Francisco Bay may help explain why Northern California’s kelp forests have suffered more than on other parts of the coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973226\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1973226\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/Urchin-on-Kelp-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/Urchin-on-Kelp-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/Urchin-on-Kelp-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/Urchin-on-Kelp-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/Urchin-on-Kelp-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/Urchin-on-Kelp-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/Urchin-on-Kelp-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/Urchin-on-Kelp-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Purple sea urchins feeding on kelp. \u003ccite>(Michael Langhans)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">Sea otters haven’t been spotted on the North Coast since the 1800s, says Meredith McPherson, a UC Santa Cruz marine scientist who recently published \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-021-01827-6\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">a separate study\u003c/span>\u003c/a> on Northern California’s kelp decline. “From what we observed in the satellite data from the last 35 years, the kelp had been doing well without sea otters as long as we still had sunflower stars. Once they were gone, there were no urchin predators left in the system.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">Without natural predators, McPherson says, scuba divers are helping maintain what’s left of the region’s kelp forests by plucking out interloping urchins. But while ocean temperatures and nutrient levels have normalized some since the 2014-16 heat waves, she says kelp haven’t seen any significant rebound.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">“There seems to be some evidence that some patches of kelp have reemerged in certain areas, but it’s nothing to the extent that we would expect from the historical data,” she said. “The concentrations of urchins are still really high and [are] creating the strong grazing pressure on any kind of recovery.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">McPherson says while the urchin barrens persist, a full-scale kelp recovery is unlikely. Even without kelp to eat, urchins have shown resilience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">“That’s where some people have used the term zombie urchin,” Smith said. “These urchins are remarkable in that they can persist in this starved state in the sea urchin barrens for years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">Smith’s study revealed that otters largely ignore urchins in the barrens, as they lack the nutritional value of those that have kelp to forage on. Scientists say another environmental event will likely be needed to reduce urchin populations and tip the scales in favor of kelp.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">“A number of things could take out the urchins.” Smith said. “It could be urchin disease or it could be a bottom-scouring swell that physically wipes sea urchins off the reef.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">In the meantime, otters may be key to kelp’s chance for a long-term recovery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Refrigerants Are the Worst Greenhouse Gases You’ve Never Heard Of. Here's What You Can Do",
"headTitle": "Refrigerants Are the Worst Greenhouse Gases You’ve Never Heard Of. Here’s What You Can Do | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Open your refrigerator. Take a look around the inside walls. See that label?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That is a record of the gas inside, and it’s responsible for keeping your food cold.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That gas is called a refrigerant, and refrigerants are found in everything from air conditioning systems to grocery store freezers, from industrial warehouses to Slurpee machines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The majority of the gases used in refrigerants are hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs. While they work well at keeping things cool, they have a significant drawback: they’re hundreds to thousands of times more potent a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Hydrofluorocarbons are the worst greenhouse gas that nobody’s heard of,” says Danielle Wright, executive director of the environmental nonprofit, the \u003ca href=\"https://nasrc.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers at Project Drawdown, a nonprofit focused on how to cut greenhouse gases, say management and disposal of HFC refrigerants is the \u003ca href=\"https://www.drawdown.org/solutions/refrigerant-management\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">number one way\u003c/a> to address climate change globally. Quickly phasing down HFC use has the potential to avert \u003ca href=\"https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/13/6083/2013/acp-13-6083-2013.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">0.5° C in warming by 2100\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One large glass of HFC 134 has the same warming as a thousand pounds of carbon dioxide pollution from our cars,” says Stanford professor of Earth system science Rob Jackson, referring to one of the most commonly used HFCs. “It’s really an amazingly potent greenhouse gas.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If those gases were well-contained and disposed of properly at the end of their usable life, the high global warming potential of these gases may not have become a major concern.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But they are not contained. HFC refrigerants leak. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates supermarkets in the U.S. leak an average of \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/documents/gc_averagestoreprofile_final_june_2011_revised_1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">25% of their refrigerants annually\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wright’s organization estimates that for the entire U.S., that’s roughly equivalent to the emissions from 12.5 million passenger vehicles driven for one year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reason we got to these leaky systems isn’t because we can’t build a leak-proof system, it’s because it’s not cost-effective to do so,” Wright said. Refilling refrigerants is simply less expensive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, HFCs account for 4% to 5 % of greenhouse gas emissions today, said Pamela Gupta, a manager overseeing HFC regulations at the California Air Resources Board. But the demand for refrigeration and cooling is growing as Earth warms, Gupta says: “They are the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions in California, nationally and also globally.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the majority of the HFCs used in California are in air conditioning units, state regulators and academics see promise in addressing HFC use in supermarkets, given the large amount of refrigerant supermarkets use, and their high leak rate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While experts agree it’s important to phase down all greenhouse gases quickly, some are harder to address than others; curbing HFCs is pretty straightforward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Replacing HFCs is much simpler than eliminating carbon dioxide pollution,” Jackson says. “We don’t have to replace our entire energy and transportation sectors to get rid of HFCs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Refrigeration Isn’t What You Think It Is\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To understand what refrigerants do, it helps to know a little about how they work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ed Estberg, a refrigeration consultant for Raley’s Supermarkets, knows quite a bit about the subject. His first job as a refrigeration mechanic apprentice was in 1962. He’s spent the decades since gaining expertise in the field. Nonprofit leaders to managers at competitor chains call him a master innovator.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Estberg says, to understand refrigeration, you’ve got to wrap your mind around something counterintuitive:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s no such thing as cold,” he says. “Absolute zero’s -459.6° F, anything above that has heat in it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ice cream, for example, is much warmer than absolute zero. Refrigeration doesn’t actually cool something; it removes the heat from something you want to be cold.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’re just moving the heat away from the place where you don’t want it to a place you don’t care,” Estberg said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A place like the backside of your refrigerator, where it typically feels warm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973210\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1973210 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/RS47640_IMG_6403-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"The exposed ceiling of this Raley's on Freeport Boulevard in Sacramento shows some of the thousands of feet of pipes that cycle refrigerants through a store, keeping products cold.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/RS47640_IMG_6403-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/RS47640_IMG_6403-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/RS47640_IMG_6403-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/RS47640_IMG_6403-qut-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/RS47640_IMG_6403-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/RS47640_IMG_6403-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The exposed ceiling of this Raley’s on Freeport Boulevard in Sacramento shows some of the thousands of feet of pipes that cycle refrigerants through a store, keeping products cold. \u003ccite>(Laura Klivans/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In a large supermarket, refrigerants speed through a pipe superhighway, cruising from ceilings down to refrigeration units, where they absorb the ambient heat circling your frozen peas, and travel skyward again, to a machine room above the ceiling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, through a master stroke of engineering, the excess heat is discharged as steam or warm air — usually from supermarket roofs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The refrigerants, ready to absorb more heat, then cycle back through the store.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Why We Use HFCs In the First Place\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For most of the 20th century, the most widely used refrigerants were chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs. CFCs are synthetic chemicals that were effective at keeping things cool, but had a treacherous side effect: ripping a hole in Earth’s ozone layer, threatening humans and all life with harmful ultraviolet radiation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1987, world leaders gathered at a United Nations conference to hammer out an agreement to phase out CFCs: \u003ca href=\"https://ozone.unep.org/treaties/montreal-protocol\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Montreal Protocol was the first United Nations treaty to be ratified by all countries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s one of the few things humanity’s done collaboratively that actually worked,” says Project Drawdown senior research fellow Kevin Bayuk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As CFCs phased out, HFCs became the common gases used for refrigeration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Five years ago, nations in the Montreal Protocol, realizing the dangers of HFCs, gathered again in Kigali, Rwanda, to craft a new agreement. In what became known as the \u003ca href=\"https://ozone.unep.org/treaties/montreal-protocol/amendments/kigali-amendment-2016-amendment-montreal-protocol-agreed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kigali amendment to the Montreal Protocol, \u003c/a>nations pledged to slash HFCs by more than 80% over 30 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In January, President Biden asked the Senate to ratify it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, new federal and \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2018-12/HFC%20Workshop%20Presentation%20%28October%2024%202018%29%20FINAL.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">California laws\u003c/a> already mirror the Kigali phasedown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Next Step Is a Look to the Past\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To replace HFCs, grocery stores are turning back to what they used before synthetic refrigerants hit the market. These are called natural refrigerants because they’re found in nature and don’t have to be synthesized in a lab. They include ammonia, propane — and carbon dioxide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Natural refrigerants have zero or near-zero global warming potential,” says Wright of the North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One reason companies moved away from natural refrigerants is that they have drawbacks: ammonia is toxic, propane is flammable, and carbon dioxide requires high amounts of pressure. That’s one reason stores that switch can’t simply put natural refrigerants into their existing systems. They have to rebuild the whole system of pipes and heat transfer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Right now, not many stores have done this.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Of the total number of grocery stores in the U.S., only 1% are using natural refrigerants,” Wright says. “If we were to move to, let’s say, 10% adoption, that’s equivalent to about six and a half million cars.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Supermarket of the Future\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A high-ceilinged, natural-light-infused Raley’s supermarket on Freeport Boulevard in Sacramento boasts several climate-friendly features: efficient LED lights, a roof covered in solar panels, and a refrigeration system cooled by two natural refrigerants: carbon dioxide and ammonia. The CO2 circulates through the store, absorbing ambient heat, and the ammonia is used in the machine room above the supermarket floor, to keep it far from customers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973209\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1973209 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/RS47641_IMG_6416-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"(Left to right) Ed Estberg, Mark Koppang, and Nathan Smith in the machine room of the Raley's on Freeport Boulevard in Sacramento. Carbon dioxide removes heat from the products on the floor of the store, and then ammonia, which is only in the machine room, removes that heat from the carbon dioxide. The heat is discharged as steam or warm air from the roof of the store.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/RS47641_IMG_6416-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/RS47641_IMG_6416-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/RS47641_IMG_6416-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/RS47641_IMG_6416-qut-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/RS47641_IMG_6416-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/RS47641_IMG_6416-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ed Estberg, left, Mark Koppang, and Nathan Smith in the machine room of the Raley’s on Freeport Boulevard in Sacramento. Carbon dioxide removes heat from the products on the floor of the store, and then ammonia, which is only in the machine room, removes that heat from the carbon dioxide. The heat is discharged as steam or warm air from the roof of the store.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>After more than 50 years building and adapting supermarket refrigeration systems based on changing refrigerant regulation, Estberg is hoping to build a system that lasts far into the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We wouldn’t want to go through this again,” he says, “It’s expensive and it’s time consuming. And it takes a long time to perfect.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raley’s and other supermarkets are spurred on by a recent California regulation setting a limit on how much global warming potential is allowed in any new store construction. Currently, the only refrigerants that meet the requirement are natural ones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raley’s director of sustainability, Mark Koppang, says anything that can help supermarkets defray the cost of building a new system helps. An \u003ca href=\"https://www.smud.org/-/media/Documents/Business-Solutions-and-Rebates/Refrigerant-Pilot-Program-Summary.ashx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">incentive program\u003c/a> from the Sacramento Municipal Utility District helped fund the refrigeration system at the new Raley’s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Would the company make the switch without regulation?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a business decision to be made,” Koppang said. “I think there’s a case to be made that we might not if we didn’t have to. But that’s a moot point now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What Individuals Can Do\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kevin Bayuk from Project Drawdown says there’s good reason to “to feel optimistic about refrigerants” in the fight to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. “But it does require at least a certain amount of people to put their attention on it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s how you can do that:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Collective action\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>While there are \u003ca href=\"https://www.greenamerica.org/coolit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">some efforts\u003c/a> to push supermarkets to move away from HFCs, Danielle Wright of NASRC thinks that’s “misplaced effort.” Instead, she says, “consumers will have more impact pressuring their local legislators to support policies that incentivize low global warming potential solutions, fast-track innovative technologies, and support workforce training programs.”\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Students at universities have created groups to address refrigerant management on campus, including recycling student mini-fridges. One example is at \u003ca href=\"https://coolclimate.berkeley.edu/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">UC Berkeley\u003c/a>, another is at \u003ca href=\"https://www.yalerefrigerantsinitiative.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Yale\u003c/a>.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Individual action\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>The Environmental Investigation Agency has a \u003ca href=\"https://eia-global.org/reports/20200625-hfc-free-refrigerator-list\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">guide to purchasing a climate-friendly fridge\u003c/a> for your own home.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>For people in the technology or financial sectors, Kevin Bayuk of Project Drawdown says there are ample opportunities for innovation to build appliances that accommodate non-HFC refrigerants, and for financing the transition away from HFCs.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "HFCs are all around us, and they're hundreds to thousands of times more potent greenhouse gases than carbon dioxide. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Open your refrigerator. Take a look around the inside walls. See that label?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That is a record of the gas inside, and it’s responsible for keeping your food cold.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That gas is called a refrigerant, and refrigerants are found in everything from air conditioning systems to grocery store freezers, from industrial warehouses to Slurpee machines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The majority of the gases used in refrigerants are hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs. While they work well at keeping things cool, they have a significant drawback: they’re hundreds to thousands of times more potent a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Hydrofluorocarbons are the worst greenhouse gas that nobody’s heard of,” says Danielle Wright, executive director of the environmental nonprofit, the \u003ca href=\"https://nasrc.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers at Project Drawdown, a nonprofit focused on how to cut greenhouse gases, say management and disposal of HFC refrigerants is the \u003ca href=\"https://www.drawdown.org/solutions/refrigerant-management\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">number one way\u003c/a> to address climate change globally. Quickly phasing down HFC use has the potential to avert \u003ca href=\"https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/13/6083/2013/acp-13-6083-2013.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">0.5° C in warming by 2100\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One large glass of HFC 134 has the same warming as a thousand pounds of carbon dioxide pollution from our cars,” says Stanford professor of Earth system science Rob Jackson, referring to one of the most commonly used HFCs. “It’s really an amazingly potent greenhouse gas.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If those gases were well-contained and disposed of properly at the end of their usable life, the high global warming potential of these gases may not have become a major concern.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But they are not contained. HFC refrigerants leak. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates supermarkets in the U.S. leak an average of \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/documents/gc_averagestoreprofile_final_june_2011_revised_1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">25% of their refrigerants annually\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wright’s organization estimates that for the entire U.S., that’s roughly equivalent to the emissions from 12.5 million passenger vehicles driven for one year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reason we got to these leaky systems isn’t because we can’t build a leak-proof system, it’s because it’s not cost-effective to do so,” Wright said. Refilling refrigerants is simply less expensive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, HFCs account for 4% to 5 % of greenhouse gas emissions today, said Pamela Gupta, a manager overseeing HFC regulations at the California Air Resources Board. But the demand for refrigeration and cooling is growing as Earth warms, Gupta says: “They are the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions in California, nationally and also globally.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the majority of the HFCs used in California are in air conditioning units, state regulators and academics see promise in addressing HFC use in supermarkets, given the large amount of refrigerant supermarkets use, and their high leak rate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While experts agree it’s important to phase down all greenhouse gases quickly, some are harder to address than others; curbing HFCs is pretty straightforward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Replacing HFCs is much simpler than eliminating carbon dioxide pollution,” Jackson says. “We don’t have to replace our entire energy and transportation sectors to get rid of HFCs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Refrigeration Isn’t What You Think It Is\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To understand what refrigerants do, it helps to know a little about how they work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ed Estberg, a refrigeration consultant for Raley’s Supermarkets, knows quite a bit about the subject. His first job as a refrigeration mechanic apprentice was in 1962. He’s spent the decades since gaining expertise in the field. Nonprofit leaders to managers at competitor chains call him a master innovator.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Estberg says, to understand refrigeration, you’ve got to wrap your mind around something counterintuitive:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s no such thing as cold,” he says. “Absolute zero’s -459.6° F, anything above that has heat in it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ice cream, for example, is much warmer than absolute zero. Refrigeration doesn’t actually cool something; it removes the heat from something you want to be cold.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’re just moving the heat away from the place where you don’t want it to a place you don’t care,” Estberg said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A place like the backside of your refrigerator, where it typically feels warm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973210\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1973210 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/RS47640_IMG_6403-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"The exposed ceiling of this Raley's on Freeport Boulevard in Sacramento shows some of the thousands of feet of pipes that cycle refrigerants through a store, keeping products cold.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/RS47640_IMG_6403-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/RS47640_IMG_6403-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/RS47640_IMG_6403-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/RS47640_IMG_6403-qut-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/RS47640_IMG_6403-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/RS47640_IMG_6403-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The exposed ceiling of this Raley’s on Freeport Boulevard in Sacramento shows some of the thousands of feet of pipes that cycle refrigerants through a store, keeping products cold. \u003ccite>(Laura Klivans/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In a large supermarket, refrigerants speed through a pipe superhighway, cruising from ceilings down to refrigeration units, where they absorb the ambient heat circling your frozen peas, and travel skyward again, to a machine room above the ceiling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, through a master stroke of engineering, the excess heat is discharged as steam or warm air — usually from supermarket roofs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The refrigerants, ready to absorb more heat, then cycle back through the store.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Why We Use HFCs In the First Place\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For most of the 20th century, the most widely used refrigerants were chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs. CFCs are synthetic chemicals that were effective at keeping things cool, but had a treacherous side effect: ripping a hole in Earth’s ozone layer, threatening humans and all life with harmful ultraviolet radiation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1987, world leaders gathered at a United Nations conference to hammer out an agreement to phase out CFCs: \u003ca href=\"https://ozone.unep.org/treaties/montreal-protocol\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Montreal Protocol was the first United Nations treaty to be ratified by all countries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s one of the few things humanity’s done collaboratively that actually worked,” says Project Drawdown senior research fellow Kevin Bayuk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As CFCs phased out, HFCs became the common gases used for refrigeration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Five years ago, nations in the Montreal Protocol, realizing the dangers of HFCs, gathered again in Kigali, Rwanda, to craft a new agreement. In what became known as the \u003ca href=\"https://ozone.unep.org/treaties/montreal-protocol/amendments/kigali-amendment-2016-amendment-montreal-protocol-agreed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kigali amendment to the Montreal Protocol, \u003c/a>nations pledged to slash HFCs by more than 80% over 30 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In January, President Biden asked the Senate to ratify it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, new federal and \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2018-12/HFC%20Workshop%20Presentation%20%28October%2024%202018%29%20FINAL.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">California laws\u003c/a> already mirror the Kigali phasedown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Next Step Is a Look to the Past\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To replace HFCs, grocery stores are turning back to what they used before synthetic refrigerants hit the market. These are called natural refrigerants because they’re found in nature and don’t have to be synthesized in a lab. They include ammonia, propane — and carbon dioxide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Natural refrigerants have zero or near-zero global warming potential,” says Wright of the North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One reason companies moved away from natural refrigerants is that they have drawbacks: ammonia is toxic, propane is flammable, and carbon dioxide requires high amounts of pressure. That’s one reason stores that switch can’t simply put natural refrigerants into their existing systems. They have to rebuild the whole system of pipes and heat transfer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Right now, not many stores have done this.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Of the total number of grocery stores in the U.S., only 1% are using natural refrigerants,” Wright says. “If we were to move to, let’s say, 10% adoption, that’s equivalent to about six and a half million cars.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Supermarket of the Future\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A high-ceilinged, natural-light-infused Raley’s supermarket on Freeport Boulevard in Sacramento boasts several climate-friendly features: efficient LED lights, a roof covered in solar panels, and a refrigeration system cooled by two natural refrigerants: carbon dioxide and ammonia. The CO2 circulates through the store, absorbing ambient heat, and the ammonia is used in the machine room above the supermarket floor, to keep it far from customers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973209\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1973209 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/RS47641_IMG_6416-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"(Left to right) Ed Estberg, Mark Koppang, and Nathan Smith in the machine room of the Raley's on Freeport Boulevard in Sacramento. Carbon dioxide removes heat from the products on the floor of the store, and then ammonia, which is only in the machine room, removes that heat from the carbon dioxide. The heat is discharged as steam or warm air from the roof of the store.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/RS47641_IMG_6416-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/RS47641_IMG_6416-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/RS47641_IMG_6416-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/RS47641_IMG_6416-qut-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/RS47641_IMG_6416-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/RS47641_IMG_6416-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ed Estberg, left, Mark Koppang, and Nathan Smith in the machine room of the Raley’s on Freeport Boulevard in Sacramento. Carbon dioxide removes heat from the products on the floor of the store, and then ammonia, which is only in the machine room, removes that heat from the carbon dioxide. The heat is discharged as steam or warm air from the roof of the store.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>After more than 50 years building and adapting supermarket refrigeration systems based on changing refrigerant regulation, Estberg is hoping to build a system that lasts far into the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We wouldn’t want to go through this again,” he says, “It’s expensive and it’s time consuming. And it takes a long time to perfect.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raley’s and other supermarkets are spurred on by a recent California regulation setting a limit on how much global warming potential is allowed in any new store construction. Currently, the only refrigerants that meet the requirement are natural ones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raley’s director of sustainability, Mark Koppang, says anything that can help supermarkets defray the cost of building a new system helps. An \u003ca href=\"https://www.smud.org/-/media/Documents/Business-Solutions-and-Rebates/Refrigerant-Pilot-Program-Summary.ashx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">incentive program\u003c/a> from the Sacramento Municipal Utility District helped fund the refrigeration system at the new Raley’s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Would the company make the switch without regulation?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a business decision to be made,” Koppang said. “I think there’s a case to be made that we might not if we didn’t have to. But that’s a moot point now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What Individuals Can Do\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kevin Bayuk from Project Drawdown says there’s good reason to “to feel optimistic about refrigerants” in the fight to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. “But it does require at least a certain amount of people to put their attention on it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s how you can do that:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Collective action\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>While there are \u003ca href=\"https://www.greenamerica.org/coolit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">some efforts\u003c/a> to push supermarkets to move away from HFCs, Danielle Wright of NASRC thinks that’s “misplaced effort.” Instead, she says, “consumers will have more impact pressuring their local legislators to support policies that incentivize low global warming potential solutions, fast-track innovative technologies, and support workforce training programs.”\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Students at universities have created groups to address refrigerant management on campus, including recycling student mini-fridges. One example is at \u003ca href=\"https://coolclimate.berkeley.edu/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">UC Berkeley\u003c/a>, another is at \u003ca href=\"https://www.yalerefrigerantsinitiative.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Yale\u003c/a>.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Individual action\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>The Environmental Investigation Agency has a \u003ca href=\"https://eia-global.org/reports/20200625-hfc-free-refrigerator-list\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">guide to purchasing a climate-friendly fridge\u003c/a> for your own home.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>For people in the technology or financial sectors, Kevin Bayuk of Project Drawdown says there are ample opportunities for innovation to build appliances that accommodate non-HFC refrigerants, and for financing the transition away from HFCs.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Just One Day of Bad Air Can Impact Kids' Health. One Solution? More Prescribed Burning",
"headTitle": "Just One Day of Bad Air Can Impact Kids’ Health. One Solution? More Prescribed Burning | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>No doubt you remember the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1969409/no-you-didnt-wake-up-to-the-apocalypse-wildfire-smoke-turns-bay-area-sky-orange-and-dark\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">day of the orange night\u003c/a> last fall, when wildfire smoke filled the sky over the Bay Area. A \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-83577-3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">recent study\u003c/a> out of Stanford University suggests that exposure to that kind of smoke or air pollution can harm children’s immune and cardiovascular systems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Mary Prunicki\u003c/strong> is the lead author of that study, as well as the director of air pollution and health research at Stanford’s Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy & Asthma Research. \u003cstrong>Danielle Venton\u003c/strong> is a science reporter for KQED. They both spoke with KQED’s Brian Watt recently about children and smoke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The following has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What did your study find? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Mary Prunicki:\u003c/em> Our study looked at over 200 children that live in the Central Valley. These kids were 6-8 years old, living in Fresno, which is consistently one of the top four cities for poor air quality in the nation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We looked at the blood and the levels of pollution these children were exposed to at different points in time. We found that the immune system showed signs of being dysregulated, with different balances of immune cells than we typically would see in a healthy individual.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We also found that blood pressure was associated with exposure to pollution, specifically diastolic blood pressure, which is the bottom number. While this is interesting, we’ll need to replicate it with future studies, because the few studies that have come out about children and blood pressure have been relatively inconsistent. But we’ll certainly be anxious to see where this goes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How long do kids need to be exposed to bad pollution or wildfire smoke to be affected?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>MP: \u003c/em>Unfortunately, the impact can occur in as short as a day. We know that chronic exposure certainly impacts health, but we found associations with even one day of pollution exposure. That is certainly startling, especially for this age group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What can we do to protect children? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>MP:\u003c/em> When we’re talking about wildfire smoke, unfortunately we need to keep them indoors as much as possible. If the kids need to go outside and burn off some energy, it’s always good to check the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1930023/map-heres-your-daily-air-quality-report-for-the-bay-area\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">AQI level\u003c/a> and try to pick a time of day when it seems to be the lowest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When they do go outside, try to get them to not be as physically active as they normally would. If they have respiratory conditions like asthma, make sure that their inhalers are refilled and ready to go. Talk to their school about how they are planning to handle the exposure to the smoke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And finally, support prescribed burning, which will reduce overall our exposure to wildfire smoke in the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>In California, we talk a lot about ways to make wildfires less smoky. Does that mean doing more prescribed burns?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Danielle Venton: \u003c/em>It does. In California, there’s about 15 million acres of land that are overgrown and at risk for wildfires. Those 15 million acres need some sort of management to be brought back into balance and to become more fire resilient.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The best, the least expensive, the most scalable tool for that is managed fire. That’s how Native American tribes managed their lands for many thousands of years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>But more prescribed fires would mean more smoke, right?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>DV:\u003c/em> That’s right, but we are going to have smoke either way. We can choose how bad it will be. We should think of prescribed fire as a good trade-off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Out of control, catastrophic wildfires bring us days or weeks of really toxic smoke. When fires get out of control, they’re burning buildings and cars, putting really bad stuff in the air.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prescribed fires are only burning vegetation — ideally only grasses, brush and small trees. The smoke is not as toxic. It’s not as thick. And burns can be timed for when the smoke will clear out of an area relatively quickly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And we should remember that every controlled burn reduces the risk of a future catastrophic, out-of-control fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Prunicki, you’ve recently studied the impact of prescribed fire smoke versus wildfire smoke on kids, right?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>MP:\u003c/em> That’s correct. We actually looked at a subset of the children that I just mentioned. Some had been exposed to a prescribed fire in Yosemite at least 90 days prior to the blood draw we did, where other kids had been exposed to a wildfire in Yosemite 90 days prior to their blood draw. These kids were at least 60 miles away from where the smoke is coming from.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What we found is that the prescribed burn had less of an impact on immune systems than the wildfire smoke. And that makes sense from what we know from other wildfire studies and from air pollution studies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How should Californians be thinking about this? How should we be changing our behavior as we are exposed to what seems to be increasing wildfire smoke?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>DV: \u003c/em>I think it’s useful to keep in mind that air quality managers are very sensitive to people who call and complain about prescribed fire smoke. Just the worry that seeing some smoke in the air will upset people has canceled some burns that otherwise would have gone ahead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One thing we can do is encourage our local and regional officials to enable more good fire, more prescribed fire, knowing that it helps prevent future bad fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>No doubt you remember the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1969409/no-you-didnt-wake-up-to-the-apocalypse-wildfire-smoke-turns-bay-area-sky-orange-and-dark\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">day of the orange night\u003c/a> last fall, when wildfire smoke filled the sky over the Bay Area. A \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-83577-3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">recent study\u003c/a> out of Stanford University suggests that exposure to that kind of smoke or air pollution can harm children’s immune and cardiovascular systems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Mary Prunicki\u003c/strong> is the lead author of that study, as well as the director of air pollution and health research at Stanford’s Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy & Asthma Research. \u003cstrong>Danielle Venton\u003c/strong> is a science reporter for KQED. They both spoke with KQED’s Brian Watt recently about children and smoke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The following has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What did your study find? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Mary Prunicki:\u003c/em> Our study looked at over 200 children that live in the Central Valley. These kids were 6-8 years old, living in Fresno, which is consistently one of the top four cities for poor air quality in the nation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We looked at the blood and the levels of pollution these children were exposed to at different points in time. We found that the immune system showed signs of being dysregulated, with different balances of immune cells than we typically would see in a healthy individual.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We also found that blood pressure was associated with exposure to pollution, specifically diastolic blood pressure, which is the bottom number. While this is interesting, we’ll need to replicate it with future studies, because the few studies that have come out about children and blood pressure have been relatively inconsistent. But we’ll certainly be anxious to see where this goes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How long do kids need to be exposed to bad pollution or wildfire smoke to be affected?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>MP: \u003c/em>Unfortunately, the impact can occur in as short as a day. We know that chronic exposure certainly impacts health, but we found associations with even one day of pollution exposure. That is certainly startling, especially for this age group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What can we do to protect children? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>MP:\u003c/em> When we’re talking about wildfire smoke, unfortunately we need to keep them indoors as much as possible. If the kids need to go outside and burn off some energy, it’s always good to check the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1930023/map-heres-your-daily-air-quality-report-for-the-bay-area\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">AQI level\u003c/a> and try to pick a time of day when it seems to be the lowest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When they do go outside, try to get them to not be as physically active as they normally would. If they have respiratory conditions like asthma, make sure that their inhalers are refilled and ready to go. Talk to their school about how they are planning to handle the exposure to the smoke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And finally, support prescribed burning, which will reduce overall our exposure to wildfire smoke in the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>In California, we talk a lot about ways to make wildfires less smoky. Does that mean doing more prescribed burns?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Danielle Venton: \u003c/em>It does. In California, there’s about 15 million acres of land that are overgrown and at risk for wildfires. Those 15 million acres need some sort of management to be brought back into balance and to become more fire resilient.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The best, the least expensive, the most scalable tool for that is managed fire. That’s how Native American tribes managed their lands for many thousands of years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>But more prescribed fires would mean more smoke, right?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>DV:\u003c/em> That’s right, but we are going to have smoke either way. We can choose how bad it will be. We should think of prescribed fire as a good trade-off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Out of control, catastrophic wildfires bring us days or weeks of really toxic smoke. When fires get out of control, they’re burning buildings and cars, putting really bad stuff in the air.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prescribed fires are only burning vegetation — ideally only grasses, brush and small trees. The smoke is not as toxic. It’s not as thick. And burns can be timed for when the smoke will clear out of an area relatively quickly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And we should remember that every controlled burn reduces the risk of a future catastrophic, out-of-control fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Prunicki, you’ve recently studied the impact of prescribed fire smoke versus wildfire smoke on kids, right?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>MP:\u003c/em> That’s correct. We actually looked at a subset of the children that I just mentioned. Some had been exposed to a prescribed fire in Yosemite at least 90 days prior to the blood draw we did, where other kids had been exposed to a wildfire in Yosemite 90 days prior to their blood draw. These kids were at least 60 miles away from where the smoke is coming from.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What we found is that the prescribed burn had less of an impact on immune systems than the wildfire smoke. And that makes sense from what we know from other wildfire studies and from air pollution studies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How should Californians be thinking about this? How should we be changing our behavior as we are exposed to what seems to be increasing wildfire smoke?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>DV: \u003c/em>I think it’s useful to keep in mind that air quality managers are very sensitive to people who call and complain about prescribed fire smoke. Just the worry that seeing some smoke in the air will upset people has canceled some burns that otherwise would have gone ahead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One thing we can do is encourage our local and regional officials to enable more good fire, more prescribed fire, knowing that it helps prevent future bad fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973063\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 310px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1973063 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/414-90b84363c66233eb859f48c7435fb222.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" height=\"310\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/414-90b84363c66233eb859f48c7435fb222.jpg 310w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/414-90b84363c66233eb859f48c7435fb222-160x160.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 310px) 100vw, 310px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">UC Berkeley’s Catherine Wolfram was tapped by Biden as deputy assistant secretary for climate and energy economics at the U.S. Treasury Department. (Jim Block for UC Berkeley Haas School of Business) \u003ccite>(UC Berkeley Haas School of Business)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>President Joe Biden has tapped Catherine Wolfram, a professor and associate dean at the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business, as his latest climate hire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wolfram is a leading expert on climate change and energy markets. She’ll serve as a deputy assistant secretary for climate and energy economics\u003cspan class=\"s3\">, a newly created position at the Treasury Department.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s fantastic that the Biden Administration is paying so much attention to climate change, and I’m excited to be part of the efforts,” she said in a statement posted to the university’s \u003ca href=\"https://newsroom.haas.berkeley.edu/research/prof-catherine-wolfram-joins-the-us-treasury-department-to-lead-energy-and-climate-change-policy/\">\u003cspan class=\"s5\">website\u003c/span>\u003c/a>. “It’s one thing to sit in your office and write about what policy makers should and shouldn’t do, but I’m really curious to see how these decisions get made in practice.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Her early academic career examined U.S. regulation of electricity markets. More recently, she’s studied climate change and energy issues in the developing world, particularly in \u003cspan class=\"s6\">sub-Saharan Africa\u003c/span> and India, and leading randomized controlled trials to evaluate energy programs in the U.S., Ghana and Kenya, the university said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">\u003ci>“\u003c/i>Catherine represents the sort of balanced, careful thinking about the environment and the need to address climate change that Biden has been talking about for his whole campaign and his early presidency,” \u003cspan class=\"s7\">Severin Borenstein, faculty director of the Energy Institute at Haas, said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He described her thinking as needing to take major steps on climate change, but in a cost effective way and with “careful analysis of the impact that these programs have [to] figure out what works, and what doesn’t work as well.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of her focuses might be how to encourage more sustainable economic development, Bornstein said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Biden has now picked three women from Berkeley’s business school to staff his Treasury Department: Wolfram, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, a professor emerita, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Capital Access Adair Morse, an associate professor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The university says Wolfram is already working in her new role.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Biden has tapped Catherine Wolfram, a professor and associate dean at the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business, as his latest climate hire. The president has now picked three women from Berkeley’s business school to staff his Treasury Department.\r\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973063\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 310px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1973063 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/414-90b84363c66233eb859f48c7435fb222.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" height=\"310\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/414-90b84363c66233eb859f48c7435fb222.jpg 310w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/414-90b84363c66233eb859f48c7435fb222-160x160.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 310px) 100vw, 310px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">UC Berkeley’s Catherine Wolfram was tapped by Biden as deputy assistant secretary for climate and energy economics at the U.S. Treasury Department. (Jim Block for UC Berkeley Haas School of Business) \u003ccite>(UC Berkeley Haas School of Business)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>President Joe Biden has tapped Catherine Wolfram, a professor and associate dean at the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business, as his latest climate hire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wolfram is a leading expert on climate change and energy markets. She’ll serve as a deputy assistant secretary for climate and energy economics\u003cspan class=\"s3\">, a newly created position at the Treasury Department.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s fantastic that the Biden Administration is paying so much attention to climate change, and I’m excited to be part of the efforts,” she said in a statement posted to the university’s \u003ca href=\"https://newsroom.haas.berkeley.edu/research/prof-catherine-wolfram-joins-the-us-treasury-department-to-lead-energy-and-climate-change-policy/\">\u003cspan class=\"s5\">website\u003c/span>\u003c/a>. “It’s one thing to sit in your office and write about what policy makers should and shouldn’t do, but I’m really curious to see how these decisions get made in practice.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Her early academic career examined U.S. regulation of electricity markets. More recently, she’s studied climate change and energy issues in the developing world, particularly in \u003cspan class=\"s6\">sub-Saharan Africa\u003c/span> and India, and leading randomized controlled trials to evaluate energy programs in the U.S., Ghana and Kenya, the university said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">\u003ci>“\u003c/i>Catherine represents the sort of balanced, careful thinking about the environment and the need to address climate change that Biden has been talking about for his whole campaign and his early presidency,” \u003cspan class=\"s7\">Severin Borenstein, faculty director of the Energy Institute at Haas, said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He described her thinking as needing to take major steps on climate change, but in a cost effective way and with “careful analysis of the impact that these programs have [to] figure out what works, and what doesn’t work as well.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of her focuses might be how to encourage more sustainable economic development, Bornstein said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Biden has now picked three women from Berkeley’s business school to staff his Treasury Department: Wolfram, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, a professor emerita, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Capital Access Adair Morse, an associate professor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The university says Wolfram is already working in her new role.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Environmentalists Push California to Cut Ties with Prosecutor Association Over Misspent Funds",
"headTitle": "Environmentalists Push California to Cut Ties with Prosecutor Association Over Misspent Funds | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Environmental groups last week pressed state lawmakers and officials to cut ties with the California District Attorneys Association after an internal audit found the group misspent millions of dollars earmarked for environmental and worker safety litigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The coalition, which includes the Sierra Club California, the California League of Conservation Voters and at least eight other groups called the association’s actions a “dereliction” of public duty in a letter addressed to Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, and various committees\u003cstrong>.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We call on our government to not only demand redress for what is, for all intents and purposes, a theft of funds from the people of California, but to take all necessary steps to terminate the partnership between CDAA, CalEPA, and the legislature,” the group wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials with CDAA, an advocacy and training group for prosecutors across California, say their mistake was failing to adequately control how they spent money, describing the issue as an “accounting irregularity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The audit, conducted by the accounting firm Hemming Morse, found the group had a “long-standing practice of borrowing funds received from environmental and worker safety settlements” to bolster its general fund and pay for training, research, and the lobbying activities of California prosecutors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cities and counties donated the settlement money to CDAA often with strict stipulations that it be spent on the training and hiring of lawyers to assist municipalities in complex environmental litigation and other specific purposes related to environmental law and worker safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CDAA provides training, resources and sometimes representation for smaller municipalities that lack the resources and experience to fight well-heeled corporations, oil companies and other business interests over expensive environmental lawsuits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the audit, first \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Audit-finds-state-district-attorney-group-15868701.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">reported\u003c/a> by the San Francisco Chronicle, found that the group’s fund to pay for these kinds of specialized attorneys was short about $2.8 million and mostly depleted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The public and the state trusted them to manage these funds well. And they didn’t,” said Ken Spence, a policy adviser with NextGen California, one of the groups behind the letter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They used it to pursue their own priorities,” he said. “The funds were intended to enforce environmental protection and do so in communities where oftentimes they don’t have the resources to do so themselves.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The audit does not describe any illegal activity, but the attorney general’s office is reportedly reviewing the findings. CDAA leadership commissioned the audit out of concern that the organization was misspending money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vern Pierson, president of the CDAA and the district attorney for El Dorado County said the money was spent on training prosecutors, medical examiners and police officers, as well as on impaired driving investigations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The problem is the money should not have been commingled,” he said. “It should have been treated as restricted, which means it can only be used for a particular purpose.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said the organization is committed to repaying “any misdirected funds,” although he acknowledged it’s still working on an “exact process to do that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Erin Curtis, a spokesperson for the California Environmental Protection Agency, said the audit “brought to light important reforms that need to occur.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said that agency staff were already connecting with individual district attorneys, a commission for peace officer standards and training, and “others in the enforcement community to explore potential collaborations to ensure that the circuit prosecutor and training programs remain vibrant.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The grant money that CalEPA awarded to CDAA was spent appropriately, according to the audit and agency records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cristine Soto DeBerry, founder and executive director of the \u003ca href=\"https://prosecutorsalliance.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Prosecutors Alliance of California\u003c/a>, said the audit “revealed some real concerns about CDAA’s accounting practices and raises questions about whether we should continue to allocate public funds before there’s clarity around what has happened and how it will be remedied.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said CDAA has not made clear their plan for “repaying those funds and making sure that the jurisdictions that contributed to them are made whole.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The alliance has positioned itself as a reform-minded alternative for prosecutors seeking professional training and assistance.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Environmental groups last week pressed state lawmakers and officials to cut ties with the California District Attorneys Association after an internal audit found the group misspent millions of dollars earmarked for environmental and worker safety litigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The coalition, which includes the Sierra Club California, the California League of Conservation Voters and at least eight other groups called the association’s actions a “dereliction” of public duty in a letter addressed to Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, and various committees\u003cstrong>.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We call on our government to not only demand redress for what is, for all intents and purposes, a theft of funds from the people of California, but to take all necessary steps to terminate the partnership between CDAA, CalEPA, and the legislature,” the group wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials with CDAA, an advocacy and training group for prosecutors across California, say their mistake was failing to adequately control how they spent money, describing the issue as an “accounting irregularity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The audit, conducted by the accounting firm Hemming Morse, found the group had a “long-standing practice of borrowing funds received from environmental and worker safety settlements” to bolster its general fund and pay for training, research, and the lobbying activities of California prosecutors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cities and counties donated the settlement money to CDAA often with strict stipulations that it be spent on the training and hiring of lawyers to assist municipalities in complex environmental litigation and other specific purposes related to environmental law and worker safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CDAA provides training, resources and sometimes representation for smaller municipalities that lack the resources and experience to fight well-heeled corporations, oil companies and other business interests over expensive environmental lawsuits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the audit, first \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Audit-finds-state-district-attorney-group-15868701.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">reported\u003c/a> by the San Francisco Chronicle, found that the group’s fund to pay for these kinds of specialized attorneys was short about $2.8 million and mostly depleted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The public and the state trusted them to manage these funds well. And they didn’t,” said Ken Spence, a policy adviser with NextGen California, one of the groups behind the letter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They used it to pursue their own priorities,” he said. “The funds were intended to enforce environmental protection and do so in communities where oftentimes they don’t have the resources to do so themselves.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The audit does not describe any illegal activity, but the attorney general’s office is reportedly reviewing the findings. CDAA leadership commissioned the audit out of concern that the organization was misspending money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vern Pierson, president of the CDAA and the district attorney for El Dorado County said the money was spent on training prosecutors, medical examiners and police officers, as well as on impaired driving investigations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The problem is the money should not have been commingled,” he said. “It should have been treated as restricted, which means it can only be used for a particular purpose.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said the organization is committed to repaying “any misdirected funds,” although he acknowledged it’s still working on an “exact process to do that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Erin Curtis, a spokesperson for the California Environmental Protection Agency, said the audit “brought to light important reforms that need to occur.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said that agency staff were already connecting with individual district attorneys, a commission for peace officer standards and training, and “others in the enforcement community to explore potential collaborations to ensure that the circuit prosecutor and training programs remain vibrant.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The grant money that CalEPA awarded to CDAA was spent appropriately, according to the audit and agency records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cristine Soto DeBerry, founder and executive director of the \u003ca href=\"https://prosecutorsalliance.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Prosecutors Alliance of California\u003c/a>, said the audit “revealed some real concerns about CDAA’s accounting practices and raises questions about whether we should continue to allocate public funds before there’s clarity around what has happened and how it will be remedied.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said CDAA has not made clear their plan for “repaying those funds and making sure that the jurisdictions that contributed to them are made whole.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The alliance has positioned itself as a reform-minded alternative for prosecutors seeking professional training and assistance.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "State Auditor Says California Air Regulator Overstated Emission Reductions",
"headTitle": "State Auditor Says California Air Regulator Overstated Emission Reductions | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp class=\"p1\">A state \u003ca href=\"http://auditor.ca.gov/reports/2020-114/summary.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">audit\u003c/span>\u003c/a> of climate programs overseen by the California Air Resources Board has found the air regulator overstated reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from its electric vehicle incentive program and other initiatives. The board is in charge of implementing the state’s most aggressive efforts to reduce emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">“Given the ambitious nature of the State’s climate change goals and the short time frame to meet them, California is in need of more reliable tools with which to make funding decisions,” California State Auditor Elaine Howle wrote in a note accompanying the report, released on Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Howle warned that the state is in danger of failing to meet its 2030 climate goal of reducing greenhouse gases to 40% below the level in 1990. She highlighted carbon pollution from cars and trucks as a key problem — since 2013, emissions from the transportation sector have \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1948712/your-suv-is-really-messing-with-the-states-climate-plans\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">soared\u003c/span>\u003c/a> to record highs in California while falling in other areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The audit found CARB can’t say how much its incentives for electric vehicles contribute to emission reductions of planet-warming gases. Howle said the air board is not gathering and evaluating enough data, accounting for overlapping reductions between regulatory programs, or determining the impact of these incentives on consumer behavior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her report doesn’t say that the incentive programs aren’t working, but rather that CARB needs to better collect and evaluate data. While the audit did find that CARB overstated its emissions reductions, it said it’s not clear by how much.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Melanie Turner, a spokesperson for the air board, said in an email that the agency stands “behind our staff,” as well as the “methodology and robust public process that seeks stakeholder input on emissions reductions attributed to regulations and incentives.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">“To ensure community health relief, the scope and magnitude of the necessary transition to zero is unprecedented,” she wrote. “Ninety percent of Californians still breathe unhealthy air. We agree that this is unacceptable. The board will be hearing new regulatory items in the near future related to doubling down on zero-emission vehicles, trucks, and equipment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Turner added that the agency “will strive further [to] strengthen our world-leading programs as we respond to the auditor’s recommendations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Assemblyman Jim Cooper, D-Elk Grove, criticized the agency in a statement, saying the findings “are unfortunately not surprising.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Cooper blamed the leadership of Mary Nichols, who retired as the board’s chair in December, for the deficiencies flagged by the audit. Cooper wrote that the agency “continuously ignored the calls of Legislators and California taxpayers to look closely at how their incentive programs disproportionately left California’s struggling middle-class footing the bill for wealthy communities so that they could purchase electric vehicles.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">President Joe Biden reportedly considered Nichols to lead the federal Environmental Protection Agency, but she \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1971853/mary-nichols-californias-great-environmental-warrior-did-not-fight-the-right-battles-to-some\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">faded \u003c/span>\u003c/a>from contention after a complaint from environmental justice groups about her support for California’s cap-and-trade program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The auditor’s report examined cap and trade, a market-based climate initiative that aims to limit greenhouse gases by putting a ceiling on industry emissions and allowing businesses to buy and sell credits to produce them at an auction. While the landmark program generates a lot of money, the revenue is “finite and can be unpredictable,” the audit found.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Demand for fossil fuels plummeted across the state last spring when California issued a shelter-in-place order to prevent the spread of COVID-19. As a result, the May cap-and-trade auction \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1965124/californias-cap-and-trade-program-generates-severely-reduced-revenue\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">generated\u003c/span>\u003c/a> very little money, and the state was forced to reduce key environmental programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">CARB is required to use cap-and-trade money to invest in communities and create jobs, but the audit found the agency “has done relatively little to measure specific socioeconomic benefits.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency “has been slow to measure the jobs its programs create or support and the benefits of job training its programs require,” Howle wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB398\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">plan\u003c/span>\u003c/a> to meet its 2030 goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 40% below 1990 levels relies on cap and trade, but the program has come under increasing \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1946804/researchers-press-california-to-strengthen-landmark-climate-law\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">criticism\u003c/span>\u003c/a> for depending too much on complicated market-based mechanisms and not enough on regulations, as well as for allowing companies to “pay to pollute” in low-income communities of color.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s2\">Jared Blumenfeld, the head of Cal EPA, which oversees the air board, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1972525/california-environmental-officials-switch-to-offense-as-biden-takes-charge\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">acknowledged\u003c/span>\u003c/a> the criticisms in an interview with KQED this month, saying, \u003c/span>\u003cspan class=\"s3\">CARB will examine its regulations and the impact of cap-and-trade program on communities that have experienced environmental degradation.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan class=\"s2\">\u003cbr>\nOf the state’s goal of attaining carbon neutrality by 2045, Blumenfeld said “cap and trade will play a role, but we all anticipate it will play a slightly smaller role than originally thought.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1972789/california-says-it-will-review-cap-and-trade-amid-growing-criticism\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">evaluation\u003c/span>\u003c/a> by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration of the role of California’s cap-and-trade program began last year and must be completed by the end of 2022.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "The state auditor warned that California is in danger of failing to meet its 2030 climate goal of reducing greenhouse gases to 40% below the level in 1990.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp class=\"p1\">A state \u003ca href=\"http://auditor.ca.gov/reports/2020-114/summary.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">audit\u003c/span>\u003c/a> of climate programs overseen by the California Air Resources Board has found the air regulator overstated reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from its electric vehicle incentive program and other initiatives. The board is in charge of implementing the state’s most aggressive efforts to reduce emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">“Given the ambitious nature of the State’s climate change goals and the short time frame to meet them, California is in need of more reliable tools with which to make funding decisions,” California State Auditor Elaine Howle wrote in a note accompanying the report, released on Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Howle warned that the state is in danger of failing to meet its 2030 climate goal of reducing greenhouse gases to 40% below the level in 1990. She highlighted carbon pollution from cars and trucks as a key problem — since 2013, emissions from the transportation sector have \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1948712/your-suv-is-really-messing-with-the-states-climate-plans\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">soared\u003c/span>\u003c/a> to record highs in California while falling in other areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The audit found CARB can’t say how much its incentives for electric vehicles contribute to emission reductions of planet-warming gases. Howle said the air board is not gathering and evaluating enough data, accounting for overlapping reductions between regulatory programs, or determining the impact of these incentives on consumer behavior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her report doesn’t say that the incentive programs aren’t working, but rather that CARB needs to better collect and evaluate data. While the audit did find that CARB overstated its emissions reductions, it said it’s not clear by how much.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Melanie Turner, a spokesperson for the air board, said in an email that the agency stands “behind our staff,” as well as the “methodology and robust public process that seeks stakeholder input on emissions reductions attributed to regulations and incentives.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">“To ensure community health relief, the scope and magnitude of the necessary transition to zero is unprecedented,” she wrote. “Ninety percent of Californians still breathe unhealthy air. We agree that this is unacceptable. The board will be hearing new regulatory items in the near future related to doubling down on zero-emission vehicles, trucks, and equipment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Turner added that the agency “will strive further [to] strengthen our world-leading programs as we respond to the auditor’s recommendations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Assemblyman Jim Cooper, D-Elk Grove, criticized the agency in a statement, saying the findings “are unfortunately not surprising.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Cooper blamed the leadership of Mary Nichols, who retired as the board’s chair in December, for the deficiencies flagged by the audit. Cooper wrote that the agency “continuously ignored the calls of Legislators and California taxpayers to look closely at how their incentive programs disproportionately left California’s struggling middle-class footing the bill for wealthy communities so that they could purchase electric vehicles.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">President Joe Biden reportedly considered Nichols to lead the federal Environmental Protection Agency, but she \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1971853/mary-nichols-californias-great-environmental-warrior-did-not-fight-the-right-battles-to-some\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">faded \u003c/span>\u003c/a>from contention after a complaint from environmental justice groups about her support for California’s cap-and-trade program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The auditor’s report examined cap and trade, a market-based climate initiative that aims to limit greenhouse gases by putting a ceiling on industry emissions and allowing businesses to buy and sell credits to produce them at an auction. While the landmark program generates a lot of money, the revenue is “finite and can be unpredictable,” the audit found.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Demand for fossil fuels plummeted across the state last spring when California issued a shelter-in-place order to prevent the spread of COVID-19. As a result, the May cap-and-trade auction \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1965124/californias-cap-and-trade-program-generates-severely-reduced-revenue\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">generated\u003c/span>\u003c/a> very little money, and the state was forced to reduce key environmental programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">CARB is required to use cap-and-trade money to invest in communities and create jobs, but the audit found the agency “has done relatively little to measure specific socioeconomic benefits.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency “has been slow to measure the jobs its programs create or support and the benefits of job training its programs require,” Howle wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB398\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">plan\u003c/span>\u003c/a> to meet its 2030 goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 40% below 1990 levels relies on cap and trade, but the program has come under increasing \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1946804/researchers-press-california-to-strengthen-landmark-climate-law\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">criticism\u003c/span>\u003c/a> for depending too much on complicated market-based mechanisms and not enough on regulations, as well as for allowing companies to “pay to pollute” in low-income communities of color.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s2\">Jared Blumenfeld, the head of Cal EPA, which oversees the air board, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1972525/california-environmental-officials-switch-to-offense-as-biden-takes-charge\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">acknowledged\u003c/span>\u003c/a> the criticisms in an interview with KQED this month, saying, \u003c/span>\u003cspan class=\"s3\">CARB will examine its regulations and the impact of cap-and-trade program on communities that have experienced environmental degradation.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan class=\"s2\">\u003cbr>\nOf the state’s goal of attaining carbon neutrality by 2045, Blumenfeld said “cap and trade will play a role, but we all anticipate it will play a slightly smaller role than originally thought.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1972789/california-says-it-will-review-cap-and-trade-amid-growing-criticism\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">evaluation\u003c/span>\u003c/a> by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration of the role of California’s cap-and-trade program began last year and must be completed by the end of 2022.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Texas Froze. California Baked. The Power Failed Because Both States Failed to Plan",
"headTitle": "Texas Froze. California Baked. The Power Failed Because Both States Failed to Plan | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp class=\"p1\">A few weeks after California’s rolling power outages last summer, Republican Congressman Dan Crenshaw of Texas pulled out his iPhone and tapped out a \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/DanCrenshawTX/status/1303364789603889154?s=20\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">political dig\u003c/span>\u003c/a> at the Golden State.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">“Alexa, show me what happens when you let Democrats control energy policy,” he tweeted, responding to Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s plea for residents to conserve energy by turning off major appliances, as another heat wave had Californians cranking up their air conditioners, driving up electricity demand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Crenshaw blamed California’s ongoing energy supply problems on its aggressive adoption of solar, wind and other renewable resources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">It’s worth noting California and Texas have very different energy systems. Texans generate about two-thirds of its power from natural gas. The remaining third comes from nuclear, wind, solar and coal. Most of the state’s electricity is managed by a grid operator independent of the rest of the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California, like most states, is different from Texas in that it’s connected to a larger regional grid system by transmission lines that operate as a backup system. When California’s demand outpaces its supply, it’s able to acquire power from its neighbors. And as cold temperatures from the winter storm have frozen most of the country, the grid operator \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/California_ISO/status/1361821580246929409?s=20\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">asked\u003c/span>\u003c/a> Californians to conserve energy to reduce demand on the regional system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">This week, Crenshaw’s witticism, as it were, made the rounds again, a few hours after a frigid winter storm froze many of Texas’ gas wells, forced some of its coal and nuclear plants offline, and iced a portion of its wind turbines, right when demand for heat skyrocketed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">The toll of a widespread power outage in Texas has far surpassed the impact of California’s rolling outages last August, when a heat wave baked the West and pushed California’s grid operators to issue the state’s first rolling blackouts in 19 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Texas is in its fifth days of outages, though most of the power is now back on. On Tuesday, more than 4 million homes and businesses went without power. The grid operator has restored electricity for some, but millions of people \u003ca href=\"https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/17/texas-winter-storm-power-outage-ercot/#9497341d-68c4-44f3-8353-0497084ac733\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">remained\u003c/span>\u003c/a> in the dark on Wednesday and Thursday, the Texas Tribune \u003ca href=\"https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/18/texas-winter-storm-power-outage-ercot/#e6d981ec-9c22-4dcf-a3b7-d36edc3f8150\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">reported\u003c/span>\u003c/a>.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>Freezing winter conditions continue to affect water infrastructure, and half the state has \u003ca href=\"https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/18/texas-winter-storm-power-outage-ercot/#58cb6af3-8a8d-46cb-b00c-6c11aafe1fb9\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">lost access\u003c/span>\u003c/a> to drinking water or is on notice to \u003ca href=\"https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/17/texas-winter-storm-power-outage-ercot/#91f96083-2e70-423c-ad21-5e7f88c7ff45\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">boil it\u003c/span>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s2\">With Texas officials not able to definitively state when the crisis will end, the political discussion quickly devolved into finger-pointing and a vacuous back-and-forth about whether California’s Democrats or Texas’ Republicans have the better energy strategy. Fox News’ Tucker Carlson actually blamed the Green New Deal.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/blkahn/status/1361871769511026691?s=20\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the problem is much bigger than the components of each state’s energy mix.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Energy planners in California and Texas both failed to anticipate power demand, so they were left short on supply. The outages exposed just how vulnerable the two states’ creaky power systems are to extreme weather driven by climate change; both networks are designed to handle spikes in demand but not \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/16/climate/texas-power-grid-failures.html\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">wild and unpredictable weather\u003c/span>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the strain caused by severe weather events, the systems in both California and Texas gave way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is plenty of blame to go around,” Jesse Jenkins, energy professor at Princeton University, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/18/opinion/future-proof-texas-grid.html\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">wrote\u003c/span>\u003c/a> in the New York Times. “The failure to prepare for this extreme cold is systemic, and the millions of Texans enduring deadly cold and extreme discomfort deserve a closer look at what went wrong, and what to do about it. The lessons can help Americans prepare for the range of extreme weather that a changing climate will bring.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/JesseJenkins/status/1362526214070665217?s=20\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last August, about 800,000 Californians were without power for only a few hours. But it would be many months before investigators could untangle the knot of complicated reasons for the state’s blackout.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A preliminary \u003ca href=\"http://www.caiso.com/Documents/Preliminary-Root-Cause-Analysis-Rotating-Outages-August-2020.pdf\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">root cause analysis\u003c/span>\u003c/a> published in October by three agencies found energy planners didn’t line up the right resources and failed to fully anticipate the impact that climate change could have on the grid, as well as on the demand for energy in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott has called for emergency reform of the state’s grid operator and a thorough investigation, similar to the postmortem California conducted after its blackout.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s early days still, but it appears that more than half of the Texas grid operator’s winter generating capacity went down because of the storm. Every energy source used in Texas, from nuclear reactors to wind turbines to gas plants, failed in some way. The state relies on gas for most of its electricity and failures in that system are “the biggest cause of the current outages,” according to Jenkins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Loretta Lynch, former president of the California Public Utilities Commission, told KQED’s Lily Jamali on Tuesday that she blames deregulation and privatization of the energy market for the power outages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When the power plant generators in Texas have the choice between paying a shareholder dividend and paying to prepare for storms like they’re having now, the power plant owners paid their shareholders, customers be damned,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lynch says a key problem in Texas is the state’s failure to require maintenance standards for its power plants. In California, where stronger regulations govern the industry, government agencies weren’t enforcing the rules, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What’s happened in Texas is what’s happened in California,” Lynch said. “If you don’t maintain your power plants, they’re not going to operate in conditions when you really need them.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp class=\"p1\">A few weeks after California’s rolling power outages last summer, Republican Congressman Dan Crenshaw of Texas pulled out his iPhone and tapped out a \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/DanCrenshawTX/status/1303364789603889154?s=20\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">political dig\u003c/span>\u003c/a> at the Golden State.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">“Alexa, show me what happens when you let Democrats control energy policy,” he tweeted, responding to Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s plea for residents to conserve energy by turning off major appliances, as another heat wave had Californians cranking up their air conditioners, driving up electricity demand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Crenshaw blamed California’s ongoing energy supply problems on its aggressive adoption of solar, wind and other renewable resources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">It’s worth noting California and Texas have very different energy systems. Texans generate about two-thirds of its power from natural gas. The remaining third comes from nuclear, wind, solar and coal. Most of the state’s electricity is managed by a grid operator independent of the rest of the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California, like most states, is different from Texas in that it’s connected to a larger regional grid system by transmission lines that operate as a backup system. When California’s demand outpaces its supply, it’s able to acquire power from its neighbors. And as cold temperatures from the winter storm have frozen most of the country, the grid operator \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/California_ISO/status/1361821580246929409?s=20\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">asked\u003c/span>\u003c/a> Californians to conserve energy to reduce demand on the regional system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">This week, Crenshaw’s witticism, as it were, made the rounds again, a few hours after a frigid winter storm froze many of Texas’ gas wells, forced some of its coal and nuclear plants offline, and iced a portion of its wind turbines, right when demand for heat skyrocketed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">The toll of a widespread power outage in Texas has far surpassed the impact of California’s rolling outages last August, when a heat wave baked the West and pushed California’s grid operators to issue the state’s first rolling blackouts in 19 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Texas is in its fifth days of outages, though most of the power is now back on. On Tuesday, more than 4 million homes and businesses went without power. The grid operator has restored electricity for some, but millions of people \u003ca href=\"https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/17/texas-winter-storm-power-outage-ercot/#9497341d-68c4-44f3-8353-0497084ac733\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">remained\u003c/span>\u003c/a> in the dark on Wednesday and Thursday, the Texas Tribune \u003ca href=\"https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/18/texas-winter-storm-power-outage-ercot/#e6d981ec-9c22-4dcf-a3b7-d36edc3f8150\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">reported\u003c/span>\u003c/a>.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>Freezing winter conditions continue to affect water infrastructure, and half the state has \u003ca href=\"https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/18/texas-winter-storm-power-outage-ercot/#58cb6af3-8a8d-46cb-b00c-6c11aafe1fb9\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">lost access\u003c/span>\u003c/a> to drinking water or is on notice to \u003ca href=\"https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/17/texas-winter-storm-power-outage-ercot/#91f96083-2e70-423c-ad21-5e7f88c7ff45\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">boil it\u003c/span>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s2\">With Texas officials not able to definitively state when the crisis will end, the political discussion quickly devolved into finger-pointing and a vacuous back-and-forth about whether California’s Democrats or Texas’ Republicans have the better energy strategy. Fox News’ Tucker Carlson actually blamed the Green New Deal.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>But the problem is much bigger than the components of each state’s energy mix.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Energy planners in California and Texas both failed to anticipate power demand, so they were left short on supply. The outages exposed just how vulnerable the two states’ creaky power systems are to extreme weather driven by climate change; both networks are designed to handle spikes in demand but not \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/16/climate/texas-power-grid-failures.html\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">wild and unpredictable weather\u003c/span>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the strain caused by severe weather events, the systems in both California and Texas gave way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is plenty of blame to go around,” Jesse Jenkins, energy professor at Princeton University, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/18/opinion/future-proof-texas-grid.html\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">wrote\u003c/span>\u003c/a> in the New York Times. “The failure to prepare for this extreme cold is systemic, and the millions of Texans enduring deadly cold and extreme discomfort deserve a closer look at what went wrong, and what to do about it. The lessons can help Americans prepare for the range of extreme weather that a changing climate will bring.”\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>Last August, about 800,000 Californians were without power for only a few hours. But it would be many months before investigators could untangle the knot of complicated reasons for the state’s blackout.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A preliminary \u003ca href=\"http://www.caiso.com/Documents/Preliminary-Root-Cause-Analysis-Rotating-Outages-August-2020.pdf\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">root cause analysis\u003c/span>\u003c/a> published in October by three agencies found energy planners didn’t line up the right resources and failed to fully anticipate the impact that climate change could have on the grid, as well as on the demand for energy in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott has called for emergency reform of the state’s grid operator and a thorough investigation, similar to the postmortem California conducted after its blackout.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s early days still, but it appears that more than half of the Texas grid operator’s winter generating capacity went down because of the storm. Every energy source used in Texas, from nuclear reactors to wind turbines to gas plants, failed in some way. The state relies on gas for most of its electricity and failures in that system are “the biggest cause of the current outages,” according to Jenkins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Loretta Lynch, former president of the California Public Utilities Commission, told KQED’s Lily Jamali on Tuesday that she blames deregulation and privatization of the energy market for the power outages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When the power plant generators in Texas have the choice between paying a shareholder dividend and paying to prepare for storms like they’re having now, the power plant owners paid their shareholders, customers be damned,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lynch says a key problem in Texas is the state’s failure to require maintenance standards for its power plants. In California, where stronger regulations govern the industry, government agencies weren’t enforcing the rules, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What’s happened in Texas is what’s happened in California,” Lynch said. “If you don’t maintain your power plants, they’re not going to operate in conditions when you really need them.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "California Says It Will Review Cap-and-Trade Amid Growing Criticism",
"headTitle": "California Says It Will Review Cap-and-Trade Amid Growing Criticism | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Newsom administration officials said this week that they will evaluate the role of California’s landmark cap-and-trade program as the state examines its strategies for tackling climate change over the next decade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At an oversight hearing Tuesday, \u003ca href=\"https://calepa.ca.gov/about/bios/blumenfeld/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Jared Blumenfeld,\u003c/a> secretary for environmental protection, and Air Resources Board Chair \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/about/leadership/liane-m-randolph\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Liane Randolph\u003c/a> said the carbon trading program will be a key part of the conversation as California updates its climate road map, called a scoping plan, over the next two years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Neither Blumenfeld nor Randolph, however, would say specifically what will be examined or how the program might change. “Any changes would need to be carefully thought through and accompanied by economic and environmental processes,” Blumenfeld said.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"scaip scaip-1 \">\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Launched in 2013, California’s cap-and-trade program is the nation’s first economy-wide \u003ca href=\"https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/california-reveals-terms-cap-and-trade/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">carbon market\u003c/a>. The program sets a declining cap on greenhouse gas emissions that polluters — including oil refineries, power plants and manufacturers — can meet by buying and trading carbon credits or updating their facilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2018/05/checking-the-math-on-cap-and-trade-some-experts-say-its-not-adding-up/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Independent experts\u003c/a> have raised concerns that the program might be too weak to achieve California’s ambitious climate goals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition, environmental justice groups have long criticized \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2020/12/mary-nichols-czar-legacy-skies-controversy/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">California’s carbon market\u003c/a>, saying that former air board chair Mary Nichols had done too little to protect vulnerable Californians living in the shadow of fossil fuel polluters such as oil refineries and power plants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Randolph addressed those concerns at the hearing, but as market administrator of the cap-and-trade program, she was cautious about saying anything that might affect the market for carbon credits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This remains an important space for us to work directly with environmental justice and community organizations to ensure that their views are incorporated into our work,” Randolph said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB32\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">in 2016\u003c/a> pledged to cut its climate-warming pollution 40% over the next 10 years, and it is relying on the carbon trading program for nearly half of those reductions in 2030.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re calling on all our existing climate policies to do more in the next decade. We have no choice but to accelerate the rate of emission reductions dramatically,” Blumenfeld said Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No changes to the program would happen soon. The process will begin this spring, and the final plan is expected to be presented to the board in late 2022, Blumenfeld said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Opportunities to further strengthen the cap-and-trade program will begin as part of the public process to update the scoping plan. To do so now would be premature,” Blumenfeld said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today’s hearing was held by a \u003ca href=\"https://sbud.senate.ca.gov/subcommittee2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Senate budget subcommittee\u003c/a> chaired by Sen. Bob Wieckowski, a Democrat from Fremont. Wieckowski asked \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/about/leadership/liane-m-randolph\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Randolph\u003c/a>, who was appointed chair of the air board \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2020/12/09/governor-newsom-announces-liane-randolph-as-the-chair-of-the-air-resources-board/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">in December\u003c/a>, whether she planned to revisit the weight of cap and trade in the new scoping plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Yes, basically, the answer is yes,” Randolph said. “The scoping plan process will rely on analyzing the existing programs and authorities to determine how to achieve reductions and then to determine what additional reductions need to be addressed by cap and trade.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The statements at the hearing reaffirm Blumenfeld’s commitment \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2020/06/california-climate-strategy-cap-trade/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">in a letter to Wieckowski over the summer\u003c/a> to weigh “the extent to which the state’s climate strategy should rely on the cap-and-trade program reductions relative to other approaches.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The discussion met resistance from oil and gas producers, but was welcomed by environmental justice groups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Changing this market-based system now would only create economic uncertainty for businesses and raise costs for consumers, all at a time when the state’s overall economy is in a precarious position,” said Rock Zierman, CEO of the California Independent Petroleum Association, which represents independent crude oil and natural gas producers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kevin Slagle, a spokesperson for the Western States Petroleum Association, said “cap and trade is doing exactly what it was intended to do — driving innovation — which has helped the state meet its climate goals almost four years earlier than anticipated.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s environmental justice advocates have long \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2020/12/mary-nichols-czar-legacy-skies-controversy/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">opposed\u003c/a> the program because they say it comes at the expense of climate policies that would benefit low-income communities of color that are disproportionately burdened by air pollution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The upcoming CARB scoping plan update is an opportunity to address the bifurcation of climate and air pollution, and move towards a mechanism that will allow for direct emissions reductions,” said Neena Mohan, climate justice associate at the California Environmental Justice Alliance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In January, the program entered a new phase that adds new requirements through 2030. These include doubling the rate at which the emissions cap drops and adding a price ceiling for credits to prevent costs for industries from increasing past a certain point.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ross Brown with the Legislative Analyst’s Office, said at the hearing that California’s 2020 greenhouse gas target, which the state reached four years early, required cutting emissions by about 1% each year. To meet the 2030 goals, California would need to increase those cuts to roughly 4% each year, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Just having the program in place is not sufficient to ensure that the program is achieving the goals,” Brown said. “Implementation of the program and design of the program matters a lot.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One concern that Brown \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2018/05/checking-the-math-on-cap-and-trade-some-experts-say-its-not-adding-up/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">and others have raised\u003c/a> is that companies may be banking unused pollution credits, called allowances, to use later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s possible that when you get out into the later years up to 2030, that large bank of allowances could be used to comply with the program,” Brown said. “And as a result, the state might not be close to its ambitious emission targets out to 2030.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wieckowski said that problem haunts him. “I lose sleep at night, knowing that we were told that we couldn’t amend that bill, when staff and you in particular were saying that this allowance problem was a very big problem,” he said. “And now we have to deal with it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Independent Emissions Market Advisory Committee, which is made up of researchers and academics appointed by the governor and leaders in the Legislature, has proposed metrics for tracking the bank of extra credits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think we are going to see that the number of banked allowances is far in excess of what the board said in its previous rulemaking statement,” said \u003ca href=\"https://law.stanford.edu/directory/danny-cullenward/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Danny Cullenward\u003c/a>, a lecturer at Stanford Law School and a member of the emissions advisory committee. He said an air board analysis of banked allowances is expected by the end of this year\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hearing comes one day before a cap-and-trade auction where companies and others can bid to purchase pollution credits. The timing raised red flags for oil companies covered by cap and trade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our concern is that the hearing may unnecessarily create uncertainty about the cap-and-trade program that could affect the auction,” Slagle said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cullenward questioned, however, whether those concerns were justified. “Why is it not appropriate to ask questions about the performance of the program? If not now, when is it okay?” he said. “Neither the legislature nor the administration did anything in a way that would prejudice people’s behavior at the auction tomorrow.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters.org\u003c/a> is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Experts say the state’s cap-and-trade program may be insufficient in meeting ambitious climate goals. And environmentalists have called the program unfair to polluted communities.",
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"description": "Experts say the state’s cap-and-trade program may be insufficient in meeting ambitious climate goals. And environmentalists have called the program unfair to polluted communities.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Newsom administration officials said this week that they will evaluate the role of California’s landmark cap-and-trade program as the state examines its strategies for tackling climate change over the next decade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At an oversight hearing Tuesday, \u003ca href=\"https://calepa.ca.gov/about/bios/blumenfeld/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Jared Blumenfeld,\u003c/a> secretary for environmental protection, and Air Resources Board Chair \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/about/leadership/liane-m-randolph\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Liane Randolph\u003c/a> said the carbon trading program will be a key part of the conversation as California updates its climate road map, called a scoping plan, over the next two years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Neither Blumenfeld nor Randolph, however, would say specifically what will be examined or how the program might change. “Any changes would need to be carefully thought through and accompanied by economic and environmental processes,” Blumenfeld said.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"scaip scaip-1 \">\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Launched in 2013, California’s cap-and-trade program is the nation’s first economy-wide \u003ca href=\"https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/california-reveals-terms-cap-and-trade/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">carbon market\u003c/a>. The program sets a declining cap on greenhouse gas emissions that polluters — including oil refineries, power plants and manufacturers — can meet by buying and trading carbon credits or updating their facilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2018/05/checking-the-math-on-cap-and-trade-some-experts-say-its-not-adding-up/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Independent experts\u003c/a> have raised concerns that the program might be too weak to achieve California’s ambitious climate goals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition, environmental justice groups have long criticized \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2020/12/mary-nichols-czar-legacy-skies-controversy/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">California’s carbon market\u003c/a>, saying that former air board chair Mary Nichols had done too little to protect vulnerable Californians living in the shadow of fossil fuel polluters such as oil refineries and power plants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Randolph addressed those concerns at the hearing, but as market administrator of the cap-and-trade program, she was cautious about saying anything that might affect the market for carbon credits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This remains an important space for us to work directly with environmental justice and community organizations to ensure that their views are incorporated into our work,” Randolph said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB32\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">in 2016\u003c/a> pledged to cut its climate-warming pollution 40% over the next 10 years, and it is relying on the carbon trading program for nearly half of those reductions in 2030.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re calling on all our existing climate policies to do more in the next decade. We have no choice but to accelerate the rate of emission reductions dramatically,” Blumenfeld said Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No changes to the program would happen soon. The process will begin this spring, and the final plan is expected to be presented to the board in late 2022, Blumenfeld said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Opportunities to further strengthen the cap-and-trade program will begin as part of the public process to update the scoping plan. To do so now would be premature,” Blumenfeld said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today’s hearing was held by a \u003ca href=\"https://sbud.senate.ca.gov/subcommittee2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Senate budget subcommittee\u003c/a> chaired by Sen. Bob Wieckowski, a Democrat from Fremont. Wieckowski asked \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/about/leadership/liane-m-randolph\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Randolph\u003c/a>, who was appointed chair of the air board \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2020/12/09/governor-newsom-announces-liane-randolph-as-the-chair-of-the-air-resources-board/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">in December\u003c/a>, whether she planned to revisit the weight of cap and trade in the new scoping plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Yes, basically, the answer is yes,” Randolph said. “The scoping plan process will rely on analyzing the existing programs and authorities to determine how to achieve reductions and then to determine what additional reductions need to be addressed by cap and trade.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The statements at the hearing reaffirm Blumenfeld’s commitment \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2020/06/california-climate-strategy-cap-trade/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">in a letter to Wieckowski over the summer\u003c/a> to weigh “the extent to which the state’s climate strategy should rely on the cap-and-trade program reductions relative to other approaches.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The discussion met resistance from oil and gas producers, but was welcomed by environmental justice groups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Changing this market-based system now would only create economic uncertainty for businesses and raise costs for consumers, all at a time when the state’s overall economy is in a precarious position,” said Rock Zierman, CEO of the California Independent Petroleum Association, which represents independent crude oil and natural gas producers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kevin Slagle, a spokesperson for the Western States Petroleum Association, said “cap and trade is doing exactly what it was intended to do — driving innovation — which has helped the state meet its climate goals almost four years earlier than anticipated.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s environmental justice advocates have long \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2020/12/mary-nichols-czar-legacy-skies-controversy/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">opposed\u003c/a> the program because they say it comes at the expense of climate policies that would benefit low-income communities of color that are disproportionately burdened by air pollution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The upcoming CARB scoping plan update is an opportunity to address the bifurcation of climate and air pollution, and move towards a mechanism that will allow for direct emissions reductions,” said Neena Mohan, climate justice associate at the California Environmental Justice Alliance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In January, the program entered a new phase that adds new requirements through 2030. These include doubling the rate at which the emissions cap drops and adding a price ceiling for credits to prevent costs for industries from increasing past a certain point.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ross Brown with the Legislative Analyst’s Office, said at the hearing that California’s 2020 greenhouse gas target, which the state reached four years early, required cutting emissions by about 1% each year. To meet the 2030 goals, California would need to increase those cuts to roughly 4% each year, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Just having the program in place is not sufficient to ensure that the program is achieving the goals,” Brown said. “Implementation of the program and design of the program matters a lot.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One concern that Brown \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2018/05/checking-the-math-on-cap-and-trade-some-experts-say-its-not-adding-up/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">and others have raised\u003c/a> is that companies may be banking unused pollution credits, called allowances, to use later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s possible that when you get out into the later years up to 2030, that large bank of allowances could be used to comply with the program,” Brown said. “And as a result, the state might not be close to its ambitious emission targets out to 2030.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wieckowski said that problem haunts him. “I lose sleep at night, knowing that we were told that we couldn’t amend that bill, when staff and you in particular were saying that this allowance problem was a very big problem,” he said. “And now we have to deal with it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Independent Emissions Market Advisory Committee, which is made up of researchers and academics appointed by the governor and leaders in the Legislature, has proposed metrics for tracking the bank of extra credits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think we are going to see that the number of banked allowances is far in excess of what the board said in its previous rulemaking statement,” said \u003ca href=\"https://law.stanford.edu/directory/danny-cullenward/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Danny Cullenward\u003c/a>, a lecturer at Stanford Law School and a member of the emissions advisory committee. He said an air board analysis of banked allowances is expected by the end of this year\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hearing comes one day before a cap-and-trade auction where companies and others can bid to purchase pollution credits. The timing raised red flags for oil companies covered by cap and trade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our concern is that the hearing may unnecessarily create uncertainty about the cap-and-trade program that could affect the auction,” Slagle said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cullenward questioned, however, whether those concerns were justified. “Why is it not appropriate to ask questions about the performance of the program? If not now, when is it okay?” he said. “Neither the legislature nor the administration did anything in a way that would prejudice people’s behavior at the auction tomorrow.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"info": "Every week, The California Report Magazine takes you on a road trip for the ears: to visit the places and meet the people who make California unique. The in-depth storytelling podcast from the California Report.",
"airtime": "FRI 4:30pm-5pm, 6:30pm-7pm, 11pm-11:30pm",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareportmagazine",
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"order": 10
},
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},
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"id": "city-arts",
"title": "City Arts & Lectures",
"info": "A one-hour radio program to hear celebrated writers, artists and thinkers address contemporary ideas and values, often discussing the creative process. Please note: tapes or transcripts are not available",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/05/cityartsandlecture-300x300.jpg",
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"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
"subscribe": {
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"rss": "https://www.cityarts.net/feed/"
}
},
"closealltabs": {
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"info": "Close All Tabs breaks down how digital culture shapes our world through thoughtful insights and irreverent humor.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/closealltabs",
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"order": 1
},
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"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"meta": {
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubnByLm9yZy9yc3MvcG9kY2FzdC5waHA_aWQ9NTEwMzEy",
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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},
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"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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"id": "freakonomics-radio",
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"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/freakonomicsRadio.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
"subscribe": {
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
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},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "fresh-air",
"title": "Fresh Air",
"info": "Hosted by Terry Gross, \u003cem>Fresh Air from WHYY\u003c/em> is the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues. One of public radio's most popular programs, Fresh Air features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/381444908/podcast.xml"
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510051/podcast.xml"
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},
"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
"title": "Hidden Brain",
"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/series/423302056/hidden-brain",
"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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},
"how-i-built-this": {
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"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/howIBuiltThis.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this",
"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/3zxy",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"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. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"order": 15
},
"link": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/2p3Fifq96nw9BPcmFdIq0o?si=39209f7b25774f38",
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
"meta": {
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},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"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.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
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"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
}
},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
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"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
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"apple": "http://mastersofscale.app.link/",
"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"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>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"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?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "On Our Watch from NPR and KQED",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"subscribe": {
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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}
},
"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"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",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm-3pm, MON 12am-1am",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/onTheMedia.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/otm",
"meta": {
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"source": "wnyc"
},
"link": "/radio/program/on-the-media",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/on-the-media/id73330715?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/On-the-Media-p69/",
"rss": "http://feeds.wnyc.org/onthemedia"
}
},
"pbs-newshour": {
"id": "pbs-newshour",
"title": "PBS NewsHour",
"info": "Analysis, background reports and updates from the PBS NewsHour putting today's news in context.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/PBS-News-Hour-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/",
"meta": {
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"source": "pbs"
},
"link": "/radio/program/pbs-newshour",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pbs-newshour-full-show/id394432287?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/PBS-NewsHour---Full-Show-p425698/",
"rss": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/feeds/rss/podcasts/show"
}
},
"perspectives": {
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