CO2 levels in air peak

Germans clash over emission targets

WASHINGTON, June 10, (Agencies): Scientists report the amount of heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the air peaked again this year at record levels.

The National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration said Thursday that carbon dioxide levels averaged 411.25 parts per million in May at a federal observatory in Hawaii, up from a peak of 409.65 a year ago.

Carbon dioxide is a major greenhouse gas and comes from the burning of coal, gas and oil.

May is traditionally the highest month for carbon dioxide levels. In late spring and summer, plants suck the heat-trapping gas out of the air.

NOAA’s Pieter Tans says the increase from last year is a little less than past years but much more than in the 1990s.

Meanwhile, Germany’s transport minister has sharply criticised the country’s environment minister for planning tougher emissions rules for cars in the European Union, as the government struggles to find a way to cut pollution while protecting jobs.

“We don’t need arbitrary, politicalideological emission limits ... , but realistic, technically feasible limits,” Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer told Der Spiegel magazine, adding: “I do not participate in the destruction of a leading European industry!”

Paper

Germany’s Environment Ministry has drawn up a position paper suggesting CO2 emissions from cars and light commercial vehicles should be halved by 2030 compared with 2021 levels, documents seen by Reuters showed on Wednesday.

That compares with proposals from the European Commission for a 30 percent reduction. German Environment Minister Svenja Schulze also wants a 25 percent reduction by 2025 compared with a 15 percent decline envisaged by the European Commission.

Earlier this week, Schulze said German carmakers had a moral obligation to refit heavily polluting diesel vehicles on the country’s roads, but she also conceded that the government had no legal means to make them do so.

ruling that set aside the ordinance governing Children’s Pool Beach in La Jolla, an affluent seaside community in San Diego.

Thursday’s ruling will keep the beach closed between Dec 15 and May 15 every year. Violators face misdemeanor penalties of up to $1,000 in fines or six months in jail.

The Children’s Pool is an artificial cove that was used as a swimming hole for youngsters until seals began moving in during the 1990s — spurring a years-long

In this May 17, 2011 file photo, seals lounge in the sand behind a rope barrier and a sign asking the public to not encroach on their area at the Children’s Pool area of La Jolla Beach in

San Diego. (AP)

In an interview published in Die Welt newspaper on Monday, Schulze said refits could first be carried out on cars on the road in particularly polluted cities. By targeting areas most affected, the costs of such refits need only be “in the low single-digit billions”, she said.

Revelations in the wake of Volkswagen’s emissions scandal that nitrogen oxide emissions of diesel cars are much higher than previously thought have led to tougher regulations, and in some cases fines, on carmakers.

Diesel emissions have also led to several German cities exceeding European Union air pollution limits, which has triggered enforcement action by the European Commission.

Some diesel vehicle owners are also seeking compensation from Volkswagen, which admitted in 2015 to cheating US emissions tests.

In a response to a parliamentary question from a Green Party lawmaker, deputy justice minister Rita Hagl-Kehl said the government had “no insight” into how many diesel car customers may have outstanding claims, business daily Handelsblatt will report on Monday, according to an advance release.

A new report finds that high-tide flooding is happening across the United States at twice the rate it was just 30 years ago and predicts records for such flooding will continue to be broken for decades as sea levels rise.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Wednesday that high-tide flooding, sometimes called sunny-day or “nuisance flooding,” tied or set records last year in more than a quarter of the 98 places the agency monitors around the country.

The report found Sabine Pass, Texas, had 23 days of high-tide flooding last year. The area is part of Port Arthur, where most houses now stand on stilts after the community was hit repeatedly by destructive hurricanes. Atlantic City, New Jersey, and Boston had 22 each. Cities in other parts of the country experienced fewer tidal floods, but many of those cities still saw records set.

feud between supporters of the animals and those who want beach access.

Coastal Commission Chair Dayna Bochco said in a statement that the ruling shows the commission “made the right decision to protect the seals and public safety at Children’s Pool.” (AP)

Drillers urged to reduce pollution:

Pennsylvania will begin enforcing tougher air pollution standards on its booming natural gas industry, the governor’s office said Thursday, with environmental advocates saying the standards will put the state among the leaders in going beyond federal requirements.

The new permits will take effect in August and begin requiring the Marcellus Shale exploration industry to use better equipment to reduce methane emissions and other air pollutants, check for leaks more frequently and repair those leaks within a tighter time frame.

The permits will apply to new or updated well sites and compression, processing and transmission stations along pipelines. Democratic Gov Tom Wolf’s administration has signaled that it will eventually move to apply tougher standards to existing equipment. (AP)