San Francisco, Calif. — Today, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) ordered electricity providers to build 11,500 megawatts (MW) of new zero-emission electricity resources to come online between 2023-2026. This vote comes after strong public support for removing fossil fuels from the order, with hundreds of written public comments and voicemails urging the Commission to require new resources to be zero-emission only.
This afternoon, after seven years of frontline community activism, the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) passed the Warehouse Indirect Source Rule (ISR) to address the region’s serious air quality problems by cutting pollution from the trucks traveling to and from warehouses, electrifying warehouses, and creating local clean energy jobs. The ISR is the first step in eliminating toxic emissions from one of the nation’s largest and most profitable industries.
Sacramento, Calif. -- Tonight, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD)’s Board of Directors passed their 2030 Zero Carbon Plan that will improve air quality and community health and prioritize the environmental justice communities that are disproportionately affected by poor air quality. A key portion of the 2030 Zero Carbon Plan is to retire all five SMUD-operated gas plants by 2030, starting with the 72 megawatt (MW) McClellan Gas Power Plant and the 178 MW Campbell Soup Cogeneration Project, both of which are in environmental justice communities.
Yesterday, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors approved Aramis, a utility-scale solar energy and battery storage facility in North Livermore. This project has earned support from major environmental groups, labor, city leaders across the county, and two local community power providers, East Bay Community Energy and CleanPowerSF, that are moving to achieve 100% clean energy by 2030.
San Francisco, Calif.-- Today, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), under the leadership of Governor Gavin Newsom, voted on two major decisions that set the state back on its journey to 100% clean, renewable energy. First, in planning how the state will achieve its clean air and climate goals, the Commission approved a decision that maintains a greenhouse gas emissions target that a broad group of stakeholders agree is insufficient to meet our climate goals. Commissioners voiced interest in adopting a lower greenhouse gas target at a later date, but stopped short of committing to a lower target in this decision.
San Francisco Celebrates the Passage of an All-Electric Building Ordinance For Newly Constructed Buildings and Framework for a Just Transition On Tuesday, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to pass the all-electric new buildings ordinance introduced by Supervisor Rafael Mandelman and co-sponsored by Supervisors Dean Preston, Gordon Mar, Shamann Walton, and Matt Haney.
SACRAMENTO--Governor Gavin Newsom today released an executive order designed to accelerate state action to cut climate pollution and respond to the climate crisis. The governor also said he is committed to working with the legislature to ban fracking in California by 2024. The order focuses on transportation-related climate pollution. Mobile sources account for nearly 40 percent of the state’s greenhouse gas pollution and almost 60 percent of ground-level air pollution. Administration officials have said that this will not be the only action the governor will take in coming weeks to accelerate climate action.
Environmental groups publish full page ads in major newspapers outlining key climate actions as state grapples with unprecedented wildfires Leading climate and environmental justice groups published an open letter today calling on the people of California to urge Gov. Gavin Newsom to accelerate California’s transition off of fossil fuels. The letter, which was signed by California Environmental Justice Alliance (CEJA), Earthjustice, and the Sierra Club, appeared as a full page ad today in both the Los Angeles Times and the Sacramento Bee.
San Francisco introduces plan to phase gas out of buildings The Board of Supervisors’ plan ends permits for gas use in new construction starting in 2021 San Francisco, Calif.--Today, Supervisor Rafael Mandelman introduced a city-wide building code that requires newly constructed buildings to run on gas-free power. San Francisco joins more than 30 other cities in California -- second in population only to San Jose -- to begin phasing gas out of buildings.
Report: Unhealthy air in 90% of California homes that cook with gas; those living in apartments especially at risk UCLA Fielding School of Public Health finds pollution from everyday gas appliances causes chronic respiratory illnesses, premature death, and $3.5 billion in annual health costs Oakland, Calif. -- The gas-fired appliances found in 90 percent of Californian's homes cause unhealthy air and drive annual healthcare costs into the billions, according to new research from UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. The value of clean air has never been more clear as families stay at home to avoid COVID-19, but gas-fired furnaces, water heaters, and cooking appliances release thousands of tons of harmful pollutants into the air each year.
Long Beach, Calif.-- Today, the harbor commissions for the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach (Ports) voted against their communities and stalled California’s progress toward cleaner air and a clean energy economy. At a special joint session, the commissioners voted 8 to 2 in favor of a ten dollar per container fee which is nowhere near close enough to moving the needle to help California meet its goals. The commissioners from the Port of Los Angeles voted unanimously in favor of the low fee.
Environmental groups call on California restaurants to drop lawsuit against Berkeley's gas phaseout Berkeley, Calif.-- Today, a group of 12 environmental and green building organizations sent a letter to the 29 restaurants who make up the California Restaurant Association (CRA) asking them to drop the lawsuit against the City of Berkeley’s ordinance that phases gas hookups out of new buildings.