Solar plant nearly forced to buy carbon emission rights

The giant $2.2 billion Ivanpah solar plant off Interstate 15 just west of the California-Nevada border has apparently won its fight with state regulators and won’t be classified as a heavy polluter that is required to buy carbon-emissions rights in

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Coal and California: State not as green as it may seem

California regularly wins national acclaim for AB32 and other state laws pushing the Golden State toward the use of cleaner renewable power. A recent New York Times editorial page blog post was typical. But on niche websites devoted to energy

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Ruling adds to case against San Onofre settlement

A judicial ruling last week slamming Southern California Edison adds to pressure on the California Public Utilities Commission to abandon a $4.7 billion deal it cut last year with Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric over the cost of

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Moody’s: Energy edict will hammer SoCal municipal utilities

Assembly Bill 32, the landmark 2006 law requiring California to begin shifting to cleaner-but-costlier forms of renewable energy, hasn’t hit consumers as hard as some economists feared for an ironic reason: Dirtier “brown energy” got cheaper. The U.S. fracking/shale revolution

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Brown warns climate fight will cost trillions, disrupt lifestyle

Gov. Jerry Brown warned at a recent climate change workshop that trillions of dollars, the transformation of our way of life and a worldwide mobilization on the scale of war will be required to stave off climate change’s “existential threat”

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Lawmakers upset with vetoes of PUC reforms

Many state lawmakers appeared surprised and upset with Gov. Jerry Brown’s weekend decision to veto six measures adopted in response to a series of scandals at the California Public Utilities Commission that have prompted criminal and civil investigations as well

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Politics of CA solar power getting messier

The standard narrative of solar power in California has long been that it’s a wonderful idea that everyone should embrace, a view touted by Democratic governors and Republican governors alike for nearly a quarter-century. But as CalWatchdog reported last week,

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Californians slash water use by 27.3 percent in June

Motivated by a fourth year of drought — and mandatory water cuts — Californians reduced urban water use by 27.3 percent in June, compared with the same month two years ago, the state reported on Thursday. The results are the first since state-ordered

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Poll: 64% of Californians link drought to global warming

A strong majority of Californians say they support tougher limits on greenhouse gas emissions and more ambitious renewable energy goals to combat climate change, according to a statewide poll released late Wednesday. Meanwhile, nearly two-thirds of those surveyed said global

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Electric car sharing program rolls out in L.A.

As many as 7,000 low-income Los Angeles residents could eventually take part in a state-funded electric car sharing program that rolled out last week. State and city officials celebrated the soft launch of the endeavor — which aims to improve

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