gas
One Big Energy Idea for the Next Governor
The Drain is a weekly roundup of environmental and climate news from Legal Planet.
If the candidates running to be California’s next governor want a prepackaged idea for how to reduce pollution while making energy more affordable in 2026, here’s one that has been hiding in plain sight. Make a modernization plan to direct money for electrification that is currently being diverted unnecessarily into aging gas infrastructure. But don’t …
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CONTINUE READINGGas Utilities Can Do Better on Neighborhood Electrification
The state’s largest gas utilities are trying to delay priority zones for decarbonization and to block public access to important data. The CPUC should push them to do more.
Last fall, I wrote about the promise of SB 1221, a law that created a pathway for the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to approve pilot projects that will support priority “neighborhood decarbonization zones” to transition away from building gas service toward zero-emissions alternatives, including electrification and thermal energy networks. Now, the gas utilities have …
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CONTINUE READINGCPUC Should Set a Date for Closing Aliso Canyon
A proposed decision on the gas facility gives too much deference to SoCalGas regarding the future of gas demand and misses an opportunity to set a clear mandate.
The Aliso Canyon gas storage facility blowout in 2015-16 was the largest methane gas leak in the history of the United States. In addition to the climate effects from the methane leakage — 109,000 metric tons, the equivalent of burning over 1 billion gallons of gasoline — there were tremendous health impacts on neighboring communities …
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CONTINUE READINGNew Law Reaffirms Local Authority to Ban Oil Drilling
AB 3233, part of a trio of bills that the governor just signed, paves a clear path for local phase-out efforts.
This morning, Governor Newsom signed a trio of bills—AB 3233 (Addis), AB 1866 (Hart), and AB 2716 (Bryan)—that will protect communities in Los Angeles and across the state from the harms of oil and gas production, the impacts of which are disproportionately experienced in low-income communities of color across the state. He signed the package …
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