oil and gas

Good morning, California. It’s Thursday, January 28. EJ groups flex muscle President Joe Biden on Wednesday issued a lengthy executive order on the environment and climate change, paving the way for California to advance its ambitious agenda even as numerous roadblocks remain. Among Biden’s directives was a moratorium on new oil and gas leases on […]

Erasing dozens of Trump’s climate rollbacks is Biden’s priority, and he issued directives on his first day in office. California’s air quality, wildlife, water, forests, farms — and even its light bulbs and washing machines — could be affected by new executive orders, policies and rules. But how likely are they, and when?

Mary Nichols has been pivotal in California’s war on smog. But as her tenure ends next week, activists say she didn’t do enough to protect low-income communities and they scuttled her candidacy for Biden’s top environmental post. Wounded but tenacious, she’s contemplating her next battles.

The Public Advocates Office of the utilities commission needs to be reminded that its core responsibility is to protect ratepayers and keep costs down.

Starting today, millions of Californians will be subject to new stay-at-home orders amid a third wave of COVID-19 infections that has hospitalized a record number of residents. Under Los Angeles County’s new stay-at-home order — which lasts through Dec. 20 — almost all gatherings are banned, and retail stores must further limit capacity. Santa Clara […]

You can’t always get what you want, but for special interests in California politics, spending $34 million sure does help. That’s the amount of unrestricted political spending that industries and unions with regular business in the capitol pumped into Legislative races across the state this year. As CalMatters reported before Election Day, the oil industry, […]

State law caps the amount donors can give to a legislator’s campaign — but these special interests can spend as much as they like mounting their own campaigns to praise or trash candidates. And the money interest groups are pouring into these  “independent expenditure committees” has reached dizzying heights. So far more than $31 million of […]

A national environmental organization is preparing to sue Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration for issuing new fracking permits, including six approved on Friday, Kassie Siegel, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute, told me Tuesday. The news comes a day after Newsom delivered the keynote speech at a major event devoted to California […]

Yesterday Gov. Gavin Newsom leaned over the hood of an electric car and signed an executive order to phase out new gas-powered vehicles in California by 2035 and halt new fracking projects by 2024. It was exactly the kind of “big, hairy, audacious” move that Newsom has made his calling card: one guaranteed to generate […]

Good morning, California. It’s Thursday, September 24. More executive orders coming In his most dramatic move yet against climate change, Gov. Gavin Newsom directed state officials to ban the sale of new gas-powered cars in California starting in 2035 — an action sure to escalate the Golden State’s contentious relationship with the Trump administration and […]