2017 Healthy Air Living Kid's Calendar contest

Hey, do you know a kid in Kindergarten through high school that has a talent for art and an interest in the environment? It's time for the annual Healthy Air Living Kid's Calendar for 2017, sponsored by the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District.

Twenty-thousand copies of the calendar will be printed and distributed for free to schools, churches, non-profits, community groups, and healthcare facilities. Here's a link to last year's calendar: 2016 Calendar

The entry deadline is Oct. 3, 2016. Click here for more info: 2017 Calendar Rules

Are you a climate change skeptic and a Catholic? The Pope says you better get with the program!

Continuing what he started a year ago with his noteworthy encyclical, Laudato Si’, Pope Francis yesterday added a new work of mercy for all Catholics to perform - caring for the planet, including the environment and all of its inhabitants.

Marking the September 1st day of prayer for creation, the Pope further strengthened his bona fides as an environmentalist, calling upon all Catholics to lower their carbon footprints and become advocates for long-term economic and political systems that are just and sustainable instead of being focused on short-term profits and politics.

Pope Francis

Photo Credit: Casa Rosada (Argentina Presidency of the Nation) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

The head of the Vatican Office for Promoting Integral Human Development, Cardinal  Peter Turkson, summarized the process as one that begins by recognizing the harm humans have already done by being selfish, greedy, and irresponsible. 

He said, “The first step in this process is to humbly acknowledge the harm we are doing to the earth through pollution, the scandalous destruction of ecosystems and loss of biodiversity, and the spectre of climate change—which seems nearer and more dangerous with each passing year. And to realize that when we hurt the earth, we also hurt the poor, whom God loves without limit.”

Will So Cal have enough natural gas (and electricity) this winter because of Aliso Canyon restrictions?

We all remember the uproar caused last year when a natural gas leak developed at the Southern California Gas Company's Aliso Canyon gas storage facility. The uncapped leak spewed about 100,000 tons of natural gas into the atmosphere (almost 1 million pounds per day of methane).

Site of Aliso Canyon well leak

Photo Credit: Earthworks, Creative Commons license, Fair use 

After several months, the leak was stopped and severe restrictions were placed on the facility's ability to store (inject) additional gas until certain safety requirements were met. In the meantime, questions have arisen as to whether there will be sufficient gas available this coming winter for the company's customers, including power companies that utilize natural gas to generate electricity.

To address this, the California Energy Commission, California Public Utilities Commission, California Independent System Operator, and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power yesterday announced that a new winter draft action plan has been prepared that analyzes certain demand scenarios businesses and residents may face. The plan requires, among other things, that gas be brought in from other sources if necessary, and that certain curtailments may be required.

A public workshop to discuss the plan will be held this Friday, August 26, in Diamond Bar, CA.

For more information:

Draft Action Plan

Public Workshop

Harley-Davidson joins the cheater parade - EPA issues massive fine for illegal aftermarket emission control defeat devices

Perhaps wanting to show that anything a German company (Volkswagen) can do, an American company can do better, the Harley-Davidson motorcycle company apparently has been selling aftermarket "performance" devices since 2008 that resulted in higher exhaust emissions than allowed by U.S. law.

Photo: Harley_Davidson website, Fair Use

In a settlement announced yesterday by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Justice (DOJ), government officials said that the company manufactured and sold 340,000 illegal devices called "super tuners" that caused motorcycles to emit higher levels of air pollutants than the company previously certified to EPA. Additionally, the company sold over 12,000 motorcycles that were never certified as meeting Clean Air Act (CAA) emission standards.

In order to avoid additional possible penalties and protracted legal battles, the company agreed to do the following:

• Buy back, stop selling, and destroy the illegal devices
• Only sell such devices if they are certified to meet CAA emission standards
• Pay a $12 million civil penalty
• Spend $3 million to mitigate the excess emissions caused by the defeat devices through a project that will replace conventional wood stoves with cleaner-burning stoves.

“Given Harley-Davidson’s prominence in the industry, this is a very significant step toward our goal of stopping the sale of illegal aftermarket defeat devices that cause harmful pollution on our roads and in our communities,” said Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden, head of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “Anyone else who manufactures, sells, or installs these types of illegal products should take heed of Harley-Davidson’s corrective actions and immediately stop violating the law.”

“This settlement immediately stops the sale of illegal aftermarket defeat devices used on public roads that threaten the air we breathe,” said Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “Harley-Davidson is taking important steps to buy back the ‘super tuners’ from their dealers and destroy them, while funding projects to mitigate the pollution they caused.”

For it's part, Harley-Davidson apparently refused to admit that it did anything wrong. As reported by the Associated Press, Harley's government affairs director, Ed Moreland, said the settlement is not an admission of liability and the problems were merely the result of it interpreting the law differently than EPA does.