Energy

Regulators will hold a hearing Jan. 15 at the OSHA Standards Board in Sacramento on changes that will weaken safety standards for refineries.

Consumers will have to pay a 1.5% fee on all products with an embedded battery as the result of a new law aiming to curb risk of battery fires.

California lawmakers only spent just a few minutes discussing in public the hundreds of bills they introduce. But these 10 measures had hours of intense debate in 2025.

A new law orders regulators to study the cost impacts of fast-growing, energy-hungry AI data centers. Lawmakers are expected to revisit tougher rules as utilities, advocates and tech groups battle over who pays for the grid upgrades.

Ending BioMAT in 2025 would undermine investments in bioenergy and leave communities without safe biomass disposal options.

Biomass energy is not about cutting healthy forests or replacing solar and wind. California faces a dangerous accumulation of forest fuels with limited safe disposal options.

Utilities customers help pay for biomass because electric utilities buy its products to produce electricity, paying four times more. Is it worth it?

A state regulator is requiring California’s last nuclear power plant to conserve 4,000 acres of surrounding land to keep operating until 2030.

Artificial intelligence and its growing demand for data centers are putting new pressure on California’s electric grid. In San Jose, supporters see jobs and investment, while a key ratepayer advocate worries customers could end up paying for upgrades.

If California ditches fossil fuels for greener energy, we can still expect weekly rolling blackouts. But nuclear power is unaffected by weather.