News Coverage

California scrambles to improve electric grid to avoid summer blackouts

By Martin Wisckol | The OCR Link to article Last year’s heatwave blackouts could be repeated unless steps are taken. State agencies and electric utilities are scrambling to shore up power supplies in hopes of avoiding the rolling blackouts that left 800,000 California homes and businesses without power during a record-breaking heatwave last August. That […]

The race is on to strike ‘white gold’ at California’s Salton Sea

By Sammy Roth | Los Angeles Times Link to article This is the March 18, 2021, edition of Boiling Point, a weekly newsletter about climate change and the environment in California and the American West. There are few places in California, maybe anywhere, weirder or more wonderful than the Salton Sea. It’s a sparkling blue […]

Environment Experts To Newsom: Now’s Your Moment

By Ezra David Romero | CapRadio Link to article Back in September, while wildfires raged and the pandemic wore on, California Gov. Gavin Newsom held a virtual press conference to announce a bold new climate goal. By 2035, he said, all new cars and trucks sold in California would be zero-emission, in order to seriously […]

California’s Biggest Fossil Fuel Disaster: How Gov. Newsom Can Make Sure It Never Happens Again

In October 2015, a leak at SoCalGas’ Aliso Canyon gas storage field caused enormous amounts of gas to seep into nearby Porter Ranch. For more than four months, America’s largest gas leak and greenhouse gas emission disaster drove Californians from their homes. Five years later, the gas that poisoned the residents of Porter Ranch is […]

Geothermal energy is poised for a big breakout

By David Roberts | Vox Media Link to article “An engineering problem that, when solved, solves energy.” Geothermal power is the perpetual also-ran of renewable energy, chugging along in the background for decades, never quite breaking out of its little niche, forever causing energy experts to say, “Oh, yeah, geothermal … what’s up with that?” […]

Recurring Problem Forced Diablo Canyon Nuke Unit Offline

By Elizabeth McCarthy| California Current Link to article The untimely Oct. 15 shut down of the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant’s Unit 2 is the second malfunction in a critical component of its electric generator, which was just rebuilt. In July, the same Pacific Gas & Electric unit was forced offline because then, as now, the […]

California needs to accelerate efforts to achieve clean energy goals

By Guest Commentary; Phil Angelides | CalMatters Link to article As our state has suffered through a summer of record-breaking heat waves, blackouts and wildfires, Gov. Gavin Newsom has rightly pegged what’s principally behind these challenges: “If you are in denial about climate change,” he said recently, “come to California.” In the wake of wildfires […]

New Research Links Air Pollution to Higher Coronavirus Death Rates

By Lisa Friedman | New York Times Link to article WASHINGTON — Coronavirus patients in areas that had high levels of air pollution before the pandemic are more likely to die from the infection than patients in cleaner parts of the country, according to a new nationwide study that offers the first clear link between […]

California Renewables Curtailments Surge as Coronavirus Cuts Energy Demand

By Jeff St. John | GTM Link to article State officials signed off Thursday on a climate change target that critics say will reduce planet-warming emissions far too slowly. The action comes as economic disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to slow the growth of renewable energy. Meeting via video conference to protect […]