Environment

Our reporters are tracking California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s policies as he seeks to tackle big issues including housing, climate change, health care and more.

Mention Pacific Gas & Electric to Victor Porter, and the response is nothing like the bland non-opinion most Americans have of the companies that provide their electricity. “They have to pay,” said Porter, a 64-year-old artist who fled for his life with his partner and their dog when the towering Camp Fire swept down on […]

California's Imperial County is emblematic of life for millions of people around the state who live under an umbrella of bad air quality or who have contaminated soil or lack access to clean water.  The majority of these environmental hot spots are concentrated in low-income communities of color.

California is casting off fossil fuels on its way to becoming a fully electrified state. But it's unclear whether the aging electricity grid can deliver.

A huge surprise surplus, a big push on affordable housing, help for college students, working poor tax credits, credit cards at the DMV, kindergarten potties.

The state may not be able to cut enough greenhouse gases by 2030, says Mary Nichols, who chairs California's Air Resources Board.

A growing emphasis on reconnecting California floodplains to rivers so they can absorb floodwaters is a U-turn from past reliance on levees to protect cities and towns.

What could happen if PG&E, which provides natural gas and electricity to 16 million people in northern and central California, goes bankrupt in the aftermath of the deadliest blaze in state history.

Lindy Rice, Sacramento While fire-preparedness is important, something also needs to be done about power lines, which are causing a lot of our fires. They are outdated technology, like land-line telephones.  We have transitioned from land-line phones to wireless mobile phones in this century, so why not do the same with energy transmission? We need […]

Jim Wood is tackling two enormous, heart-wrenching puzzles: identifying the people who perished this month in California’s deadliest wildfire and figuring out what state policies could prevent such catastrophes in the future.