It’s not about cap and trade. A non-partisan report says California's renewable energy mandate is the star of the state's greenhouse gas goals, just as some propose to stop it.
After efforts to unite the West under a carbon-trading program stalled for nearly a decade, Oregon will decide this month whether it wants to follow in California’s footsteps. This bill would make Oregon the second state after California to rely on the market for emissions reductions throughout the entire economy. Supporters say that expanding the cap-and-trade market to Oregon could increase competition, lower compliance costs, and speed decarbonization of the West. But others worry a failure in Oregon could hurt carbon trading's chances in other states.
California can’t keep the lights on if we don’t have enough power available to meet demand at peak times, like in the evening when folks get home from work. The state has nowhere near enough storage to handle the thousands of megawatts of new renewable energy that will be coming down the pike.
Yet another official probe into the Stephon Clark shooting. California's new surgeon general warns of a powerful toxin. Incoming charter school reforms.
By Catherine Brinkley Catherine Brinkley is an assistant professor of human ecology at University of California, Davis, who has written extensively on community energy infrastructures, ckbrinkley@ucdavis.edu. She wrote this commentary for CALmatters. Pacific Gas & Electric Co. is filing for bankruptcy. Again. When PG&E filed in 2001, it was the third largest bankruptcy filing in […]