Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES

Los Angeles is the second largest city in the US by population, home to almost four million residents. The city’s sprawling urban style also makes it one of the nation’s largest major cities in land area, covering 469 square miles

Because Los Angeles is so big, it’s home to many microclimates. This means that climate change won’t affect every LA neighborhood the same way; as a rule, valleys and inland areas warm more than areas near the coast, and mountains get more rainfall. If current climate policy continues, temperatures by the end of the century in Los Angeles will be 8.2°F warmer than in 2000. This is a significant problem on it’s own — it doesn’t help that the city of Los Angeles is famous in environmental textbooks for being home to a phenomenon called the heat-island effect; this term refers to when the city’s concrete and pavement of buildings and streets absorbs heat, creating urban “heat islands.” This heat kills around 70 Angelenos every year, a number likely to rise as climate change further elevates city temperatures. Climate change will also make Los Angeles’s drought periods more severe, causing serious damage to the city’s people and ecosystems. 

Though climate change may seem intractable at times, Los Angeles is certainly stepping up to the challenge. In 2019, Los Angeles’ Mayor Eric Garcetti released his city’s own Green New Deal, which sets aggressive goals for the city’s sustainable future, including complete carbon neutrality by 2050. The plan involves building a zero carbon electricity grid, with 80% of its energy from renewables by 2036, mandating that all new municipally owned buildings and major renovations be all-electric, recycling 100%  of the city’s wastewater by 2035; sourcing 70% of the water locally, and planting and maintaining at least 90,000 trees (which will provide 61 million square feet of shade) severely decreasing the heat island effect. The City has already met or exceeded 90% of the plan’s near-term goals on time or early, and Angelenos have seen the results: L.A. became the number-one solar city in America, pioneered new transportation technologies, reduced the city’s greenhouse gas emissions by 11% in a single year, and created more than 35,000 green jobs. More here

Los Angeles has also developed separate solar incentive programs, signed the Fossil Fuel Free Streets Declaration alongside 11 other C40 Mayors (which pledges to procure only zero-emission buses by 2025 and ensures that a major area of Los Angeles will be emissions-free by 2030), installed 2,100 publicly available electric vehicle charging stations (the most of any US city) with a plan for another 10,000 by 2022, and created a plan to purchase all electric vehicles for use as trash trucks, street sweepers, shuttles, semis, and buses. More here

The city already relies heavily on renewables, with 35% of energy consumption coming from solar, wind, and hydraulic power. LA is especially a leader in solar power with only 18% of the city’s electricity coming from coal. Natural gas is still Los Angeles’s main source for manufacturing, heating, and cooking.  

CURRENT NEWS

Aquarium of the Pacific Joins Mission to Help Important Habitat Impacted by Climate Change

By Sarah Gilsoul 03/15/23
The Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, Calif., is embarking on a new scientific project in partnership with the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, Wis., and California Sea Grant in San Diego, Calif., to…
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Padilla, Feinstein, Costa, Cárdenas Urge Federal Agencies to Implement a Whole-of-Government Funding and Regulatory Approach to Improve California’s Air Quality and Reduce Emissions

03/13/23
U.S. Senators Alex Padilla and Dianne Feinstein as well as Congressmen Jim Costa and Tony Cárdenas (all D-Calif.) led 20 members of California’s Congressional delegation in sending a letter to federal agencies urging them to…
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Los Angeles Under Ultra-Rare Blizzard Warning as Freak Weather Swarms the U.S.

By Lauren Leffer 02/22/23
It’s a weird weather week nationwide. Amid widespread, below-average cold temperatures across the western and northern U.S., parts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties are under a blizzard warning from Friday morning through Saturday afternoon—and…
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Long Beach will soon have more trees thanks to new urban lumber program

By Christina Merino 02/17/23
The Conservation Corps of Long Beach recently launched its urban lumber program – which, officials say, will plant more trees in the city, train youth for the lumber industry and help fight climate change locally.
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Long Beach Container Terminal Releases Net Zero Action Plan

02/15/23
Next Steps in $2.5 Billion Investment at World’s Most Advanced Cargo Handling Facility Will Deliver First Fully Emission-Free Marine Facility by 2030
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California declared war on natural gas. Now the fight is going national

By Sammy Roth 02/09/23
In July 2019, elected officials in the Bay Area city, a national leader in progressive politics and environmental protection, voted to ban gas hookups in most new homes. That meant no gas furnaces, boilers or…
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L.A. now picks up your compostable food scraps. Here’s what you have to do

By Karen Garcia 01/23/23
The wait is finally over for city of Los Angeles residents wanting to comply with California’s food waste mandate. The Bureau of Sanitation announced Jan. 16 that residents citywide should dispose of their banana peels…
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L.A. now picks up your compostable food scraps. Here’s what you have to do

By Karen Garcia 01/23/23
The wait is finally over for city of Los Angeles residents wanting to comply with California’s food waste mandate.
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LA mandates all new buildings be all-electric in major milestone

By Josh Niland 12/15/22
LA City Hall had previously adopted a similar ordinance for all its municipal buildings in 2020 and passed a ban on gas appliances along with a mandate for emissions-free new constructions at the end of…
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Port Of Long Beach clean air project receives $30.1M from DOT for zero-emissions cargo handling equipment

12/08/22
The Port of Long Beach received a $30.1-million grant from the US Department of Transportation to deploy the nation’s largest fleet of manually operated, zero-emissions cargo handling equipment at a single marine terminal. The project…
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Los Angeles County seeks flood control improvements in face of climate change

By Louis Sahagun 12/06/22
Catastrophic flooding prompted civic leaders and engineers a century ago to begin taming the Los Angeles Basin’s rambunctious rivers with dams, storm drains and concrete. Now, scientists warn that, in a warming world, the region…
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Battling climate change is task of new LA County Office of Environmental Justice and Climate Health

By Steve Scauzillo 11/18/22
While global leaders were meeting in Egypt for an international summit on climate change, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, Nov. 15 created a new county department aimed at helping local communities…
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PLANS TO ACCELERATE RENEWABLES

JetBlue Announces New Deal to Bring Sustainable Fuel to LAX

03/14/23
JetBlue and Shell Aviation are collaborating to bring additional sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) supplies to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). The new fuel is expected to be available for use on JetBlue planes at LAX…

Hydrogen May Flow Soon, but Natural Gas Should Remain, Says Sapphire Technologies CEO

03/13/23
After the Los Angeles City Council last month voted to transition the city’s largest natural gas-fired plant to green hydrogen by 2030, there are still some “areas of concern,” Sapphire Technologies Inc. CEO Freddie Sarhan…

Fitch Rates Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, CA’s Power Rev Bonds ‘AA-‘; Outlook Stable

03/06/23
Fitch Ratings - Austin - 06 Mar 2023: Fitch Ratings has assigned a 'AA-' rating to the following bonds issued by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, CA (LADWP):

Floods, Fires, Drought and…Hope? How L.A. Will Survive the Coming Apocalypse

02/28/23
With Southern California reeling from its latest plunge into the atmospheric river, get ready for further climate challenges over the next 30 years. The good news: there’s a plan

Innovation with impact: 2 USC sustainability research projects seek to make real-world difference

02/23/23
New approaches to addressing and reducing air and water pollution in L.A. seek to educate, incentivize key stakeholders.

Climate change, urbanization drive major declines in Los Angeles’ birds in California, US

02/22/23
Biologists use current and historical bird surveys to reveal how land use change has amplified -- and in some cases mitigated -- the impacts of climate change on bird populations in Los Angeles and the…

LA 2023: A City Transformed

02/14/23
Los Angeles has always been a city that is alive with culture and energy. In 2023, it has become a city that is leading the charge in terms of innovation, progress, and sustainability. Over the…

A clean fuel alternative for heavy-duty trucks in the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach

By Ashley Coker 02/08/23
Did you know that the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are the largest in the nation as well as the single largest source of air pollution in Southern California? Or that trucking…

Element Resources to build one of California’s largest renewable hydrogen production facilities in Lancaster

01/25/23
Element Resources plans to build and operate a major renewable hydrogen production facility in the City of Lancaster, further expanding the duo’s relationship to build one of California’s largest green hydrogen production facilities.

San Pedro’s AltaSea unveils wave-energy pilot program, new campus tenant

01/14/23
A pilot program that harnesses energy from ocean waves was hailed during a San Pedro event this week as a potential game-changer in the race to find renewable energy technology in nature itself.

Ports of Long Beach, LA team up with Singapore to create green shipping corridor

11/07/22
As part of a global challenge initiated by the United States and Norway this week, the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles have partnered with the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) to…

Battery Storage Firm GridStor Buys Los Angeles Basin Projects from Upstream Energy

10/31/22
GridStor, a developer and operator of grid-scale battery energy storage systems, bought a portfolio of storage projects currently in development in the greater Los Angeles area from Upstream Energy of San Diego.

South L.A. among communities awarded state grants for climate projects

10/29/22
South Los Angeles is among 10 communities across California that will be awarded financial support to help combat the effects of climate change.

Los Angeles Just Became the Largest US City to Join the Plant Based Treaty

10/19/22
What if plant-based food was the norm in massive cities like London, Beijing, and Los Angeles? The organizers behind the Plant Based Treaty (PBT) say the world would be in much better shape in many…

LA County electric utility to move to 100% renewable energy over 2-3 years

01/21/22
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to shift from 50% to 100% renewable energy for county facilities and Clean Power Alliance customers in unincorporated areas over the next two to three years.

Los Angeles Launches Initiative to Remove Fossil Fuels from Buildings

12/13/21
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, Councilmembers Paul Koretz, Paul Krekorian, and Nithya Raman, in partnership with the Leap LA Coalition and the RePower LA Coalition, announced the legislative launch of a community engagement process that…

L.A. County Will Shut Down Miles Of Urban Oil Fields

09/20/21
Los Angeles County took a step toward a complete ban on oil and gas production within its borders after the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved on Wednesday a motion to phase it out on unincorporated land.…

Newsletter: A hydrogen hub in Utah could power L.A.’s climate future. Now Chevron wants in

09/16/21
This is the Sept. 16, 2021, edition of Boiling Point, a weekly newsletter about climate change and the environment in California and the American West. Sign up here to get it in your inbox.

LA County Board of Supervisors Passes Historic Measure to Begin Phase-Out of Oil Drilling

09/15/21
Today, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously in support of a measure to begin the process of phasing out oil drilling on unincorporated Los Angeles County land. There are more than 1,600…

LA approves 100% clean energy by 2035 target, a decade ahead of prior goal

09/02/21
The Los Angeles City Council voted Wednesday to transition to 100% clean energy by 2035, in line with President Biden’s national goals and a decade earlier than the city originally planned.

Achieving 100 Percent Clean Electricity in California: An Initial Assessment

05/17/21
The California Energy Commission’s primary functions include forecasting electricity and natural gas demand for state planning, siting and licensing thermal power plants 50 megawatts or greater, investing in energy innovation, setting the state’s appliance and…

Los Angeles Region Report from California’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment

02/25/20
The Los Angeles Region Summary Report is part of a series of 12 assessments to support climate action by providing an overview of climate-related risks and adaptation strategies tailored to speci c regions and themes.…

Santa Monica Climate Action Adaptation Plan

04/02/18
The City Council directed staff to develop a plan to reach carbon neutrality by 2050 or sooner. The CAAP is the first phase of that work and includes proposed policies and measures that would help…

L.A.’s Green New Deal

01/31/20
L.A.’s Green New Deal is an expanded vision for our pLAn—securing clean air and water and a stable climate, improving community resilience, expanding access to healthy food and open space, and promoting justice for all—and…

KEY RESOURCES

Climate Resolve

02/25/20
Climate Resolve builds collaborations to champion equitable climate solutions. We connect communities, organizations and policymakers to address a global problem with local action. We inclusively develop practical initiatives that reduce climate pollution and prepare for…

Climate Change L.A. Information and Resources

02/25/20
How climate change is affecting Southern California -- and what we can collectively do to ensure a bright future -- is what’s behind the partnership between KCET and Climate Resolve, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit dedicated…

MORE NEWS

At 51 miles long, it’s one of America’s largest infrastructure projects.

By Michael Kimmelman   11/10/22  
February 1938 WAS a wet month in Los Angeles. The ground, where it hadn’t been paved over, was saturated, which meant rain had nowhere to go except into the streets, canals and washes. On the…
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Ports of Long Beach, LA team up with Singapore to create green shipping corridor

By Brandon Richardson   11/07/22  
As part of a global challenge initiated by the United States and Norway this week, the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles have partnered with the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) to…
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Long Beach Poly Senior Wins Global Environmental Award

By Rachel Barnes   11/04/22  
A senior at Long Beach Poly High School, and the founder of the Long Beach Green Schools Campaign Diana Michaelson was recently recognized with the 2022 International Young Eco-Hero Award from the nonprofit Action for…
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Los Angeles Can Expect More Floods in Coming Years, According to a New Report

By Lizzy Rosenberg   11/01/22  
Los Angeles is no stranger to natural disaster — every year, the city suffers from relentless droughts, devastating wildfires, and often fatal earthquakes. But a new report shows that over the next several decades, the…
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Terminal operator converts 9 cranes to electric as part of Port of Long Beach demonstration project

By Brandon Richardson   10/24/22  
Nine cranes used to move and stack shipping containers at the SSA Marine terminal at the Port of Long Beach are no longer powered by fossil fuels following a grant-funded electrification retrofit.
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TeraWatt Plans High Power Charging Corridor From Long Beach To El Paso

By Steve Hanley   10/22/22  
TeraWatt Infrastructure, the EV charging company started in May of 2021 by former Google energy strategist Neha Palmer, has raised a billion dollars from investors in its initial funding round. Now it has announced what…
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Where the new climate law means more drilling, not less

By Lisa Friedman   09/14/22  
A compromise built into the law ensures oil and gas leasing in the Gulf of Mexico for the next decade. Activists say the region has been “sacrificed” to fossil fuels.
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Los Angeles joins movement to ban new natural gas hookups to fight climate change

By Elizabeth Weise   06/03/22  
As the nation looks for ways to cut fossil fuel emissions to meet ambitious carbon reduction goals, natural gas, that common household fuel staple loved by cooks, is feeling the heat.
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On a block full of lawns, she ditched grass for a DIY drought-tolerant oasis

By Lisa Boone   05/31/22  
During the pandemic, the young-adult author found inspiration on the long walks that she and her husband took in their Burbank neighborhood. It wasn’t the endless series of lush green lawns that moved her, however,…
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California budget aims to clear up port congestion and pollution

By Justine Calma   01/11/22  
California Governor Gavin Newsom’s newly proposed budget includes plans to tackle pollution choking portside communities while also expanding the state’s capacity to accommodate the nation’s growing hunger for imported consumer goods. The proposal comes as…
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Smoke, heat and stress: A snapshot from Southern California of life in an altered climate

By Kyla Thomas   12/14/21  
From record-breaking heat waves to massive wildfires, floods and long-running drought, the impacts of climate change across the U.S. have been impossible to ignore in 2021. While conditions vary from one region to another, it…
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Irvine is one of 3 cities in state to win $1 million to combat climate change

By Ben Brazil   10/28/21  
After taking part in a statewide competition, Irvine has been awarded $1-million worth of funding to help achieve its ambitious goal to have a zero-carbon economy by 2030.
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Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approves motions to phase out oil and gas drilling

By Dan Bacher   09/20/21  
On Wednesday, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved two companion motions that will put Los Angeles County, the most populous county in the nation, on a path to ban existing oil drilling and transition fossil fuel workers…
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Climate change lets mosquitoes flourish — and feast — in Los Angeles

By Erica Werner   09/19/21  
Many try and fail to make it in L.A. But one group is proving unstoppable: mosquitoes, which have taken over Southern California and are driving the humans here crazy.
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Learning to live with climate change: lessons from Los Angeles

By Christopher Grimes and Camilla Hodgson   08/13/21  
As the population of Los Angeles boomed in the early 20th century, William Mulholland had a realisation: the city’s climate was far too dry to provide enough water to support the grand metropolis he envisioned.…
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City facing water emergency

By Ralph Vartabedian   07/20/21  
Rick Daniels lies awake at night worrying about a rusty contraption in a forlorn field, littered with discarded pipes and fire hydrants. It is the only water pump in Needles that meets state water quality…
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This is how Los Angeles is creating green jobs of the future

By Avi Asher-Schapiro   06/25/21  
Los Angeles is looking to renewable energy sources like solar power to improve its economic outlook - whilst helping to save the planet. The city has pledged to sharply curb its greenhouse gas emissions, aiming…
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The Power’s On, for Now

By Gabrielle Gurley   06/14/21  
If people with bad intentions crossed the Mexican and Canadian borders to raid American towns, or landed unseen on coastal beaches to launch guerrilla attacks, the country would mobilize to get on a war footing…
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Blistering heat bearing down, with triple-digit temperatures that threaten the L.A. area

By Faith E. Pinho and Lila Seidman   06/14/21  
A heat wave blanketing Southern California is driving blistering temperatures from the beaches to the mountains, triggering excessive-heat warnings and sparking fears that the hot, dry conditions are ripe for wildfires.
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Port of Los Angeles demonstrates hydrogen-powered electric vehicles

By SmartCitiesWorld News Team   06/11/21  
Part of a large-scale, multi-year demonstration, the project is designed to advance the port’s Clean Air Action Plan goals and help California achieve statewide climate change.
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Coalition launches to build first U.S. green hydrogen ‘hub’

By Miranda Willson   05/20/21  
A new partnership of energy companies and utilities is aiming to make Los Angeles the first green hydrogen "hub" in the nation by replacing approximately a third of the city's natural gas with the carbon-free…
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Port of Long Beach Goes Green With Renewable Natural Gas

By Tetra Tech   04/02/21  
LACSD produces electricity for wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) operations from digester biogas at its Joint Water Pollution Control Plant (JWPCP) in Carson, California. The digester biogas has a methane content of more than 65 percent,…
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How a beachfront gas plant explains California’s energy problems

By Sammy Roth   04/01/21  
When the California Public Utilities Commission recommended 17 months ago that a gas-fired power plant on the Redondo Beach waterfront remain open beyond 2020 — over the objections of local officials and clean energy activists…
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Los Angeles now has a road map for 100% renewable energy

By Sammy Roth   03/24/21  
Los Angeles is one of the last places in California still burning coal for electricity — and if all goes according to plan, it could become one of the country’s first major cities to nearly…
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Pioneering NREL Analysis Empowers Los Angeles in Its Pursuit of 100% Renewables

03/24/21  
Los Angeles is a famously sprawling metropolis, spanning from the sparkling Pacific Ocean on its west to the rugged San Gabriel and Santa Ana mountains and San Joaquin Hills on its east.    
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L.A. could be powered entirely by renewable energy in 25 years

By Gary Polakovic   03/24/21  
Powering Los Angeles entirely with renewable energy can be accomplished without significant disruption to the economy or lifestyles over the next 25 years, if not sooner, according to new research conducted by USC experts for…
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Newsom right to boost Huntington Beach desalination facility

By The Editorial Board   03/09/21  
Opponents of a proposed desalination facility along the Huntington Beach coastline are aghast that Gov. Gavin Newsom has taken steps to help end a years-long regulatory logjam. Although an environmentalist, the governor clearly recognizes the…
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Los Angeles green jobs report calls for California electric vehicle authority

03/08/21  
The Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator recommended in a report released last week that the state create a California Electric Vehicle Authority to accelerate transportation electrification.
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Malibu Foundation Launches Climate Vulnerability Survey

By Genevieve Finn   03/08/21  
The Malibu Foundation is seeking to assess the region’s ability to bounce back after major weather events. Last week, the nonprofit sent out a survey to residents of Santa Monica Mountains communities such as Agoura…
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Climate Change Activist Picks Up All Trash In Eaton Canyon, Over 589 Days

By Olivia Richard   03/07/21  
With just a pair of gloves and a few buckets on hand, 20-year-old climate activist Edgar McGregor spent nearly 600 days cleaning Eaton Canyon, picking up trash that hikers and others leave behind.
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California’s Climate Gap

Paul Rosenberg   03/04/21  
The mid-February winter storm stretched across most of the continental United States, but hit the state of Texas especially hard. It left more than 4.5 million homes and businesses without power, and more than 70…
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Los Angeles is Looking Into Clean Energy, But is it Enough?

By Jasmin Vargas   02/25/21  
Our cities and towns are in a constant state of emergency. The pandemic has sharpened inequalities, shut down countries, and infected the most vulnerable among us. The pandemic-induced recession continues to worsen the crisis as…
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Letters to the Editor: City Hall’s fecklessness on banning gas to fight climate change

By Bruce Gurnick   02/09/21  
My husband and I have been remodeling a house and constructing an auxiliary dwelling unit in Frogtown. These homes will have solar hot water, mini-split heat pumps and electric ranges. This is the future for…
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Clean Energy Signs Multi-Year Contract with LA Metro for More Than 47 Million Gallons of Renewable Natural Gas

02/08/21  
Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (NASDAQ: CLNE) announced that the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) has signed a new agreement for an estimated 47.5 million gallons of its renewable natural gas (RNG) to fuel…
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LA County Could Create 600,000 Green Jobs by 2050

By Susan Carpenter   01/29/21  
One of the key tenets of President Biden’s Build Back Better plan is that it would create millions of good-paying jobs in an emerging green economy. And Friday, a report from the Los Angeles Cleantech…
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Los Angeles, San Francisco brace for damaging winds, rare January fire threat

By Diana Leonard and Andrew Freedman   01/19/21  
An unusually strong and far-reaching high wind event is descending upon California today through Wednesday, bringing damaging winds and the threat of fast-moving wildfires from Sacramento to San Francisco and southward to Los Angeles. The…
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Two California Cities Top List of Dirtiest Places in the U.S.

By Jan Wesner Childs   01/19/21  
Air pollution was one factor used in the analysis. Greenhouse gas emissions were another metric. Los Angeles and its suburbs ranked among the dirtiest cities. Two California cities top a new list of the dirtiest…
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Downtown Los Angeles Under Rare Wildfire Risk as Strong Winds Rattle California

By Climate Nexus   01/19/21  
California is bracing for rare January wildfires this week amid damaging Santa Ana winds coupled with unusually hot and dry winter weather.  
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LA Now Has 10,000 Commercial EV Chargers, Two Years Earlier Than Planned

By Susan Carpenter   01/06/21  
If you drive a gas-powered car, you probably haven’t noticed, but EV chargers have been popping up all over the city — on street lamps, at libraries, workplaces, apartment complexes — even the L.A. Zoo.…
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Will Los Angeles Build a New Gas Plant?

By Tom R   01/06/21  
“This is the beginning of the end of natural gas for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power,” said Mayor Eric Garcetti. It was February 2019. Three coastal natural gas power plants, which the…
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Powerless

By Eliot Cohen   01/04/21  
This shadow appears to have infected what is left of the City Council's common sense. Greta's brand of climate alarmism is causing the City Council to take actions that will make Los Angeles' electric grid…
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L.A. ranked riskiest place for natural disasters in U.S.

01/03/21  
The top 10 counties on the FEMA index include three in Southern California. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has calculated the risk for every county in America for 18 types of natural disasters, including earthquakes,…
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Watch out Southern California: Feds calculate riskiest, safest places in US

By Seth Borenstein   01/03/21  
Spending her life in Los Angeles, Morgan Andersen knows natural disasters all too well. In college, an earthquake shook her home hard. Her grandfather was affected by recent wildfires in neighboring Orange County.
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The riskiest place for a natural disaster in the U.S.? You’re living in it, L.A.

By Associated Press   01/02/21  
Having lived her life in Los Angeles, Morgan Andersen knows natural disasters all too well. In college, an earthquake shook her home hard. Her grandfather was affected by recent wildfires in neighboring Orange County.
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For young Californians, climate change is a mental health crisis too

By Brian Contreras   12/27/20  
Maddie Cole in eighth grade stopped running cross country. She’d competed the year before, but the air quality in her native Sacramento was so bad that she got sick during a race; she soon learned…
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Santa may not need the heavy red coat when he visits Southern California

By Paul Duginski   12/16/20  
Santa might be able to lose the heavy red coat when he makes his rounds in the Southland, and he probably won’t need an umbrella either.
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Trump’s plan for managing forests won’t save us in a more flammable world, experts say

By Sarah Kaplan   09/17/20  
In California, smoke plumes spun into twisters made out of soot and flame, prompting the first-ever “fire tornado” warning. In Oregon, blazes advanced on towns so rapidly that even fire crews had to flee. Never…
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How climate change is fueling record-breaking California wildfires, heat and smog

By Susanne Rust   09/13/20  
“This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone,” said Michael Gerrard, director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University. “Maybe we underestimated the magnitude and speed” at which these events would…
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‘This is Crazy.’ A Record 2 Million Acres of California Have Burned This Year With Heat Conditions Predicted to Continue

By Jasmine Aguilera   09/07/20  
“This is crazy. We haven’t even got into the October and November fire season and we’ve broken the all-time record,” Cal Fire Capt. Richard Cordova told CNN on Sunday.
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UCLA Creates Climate Change Center To Find Solutions For Disaster

By Nicole Charky   09/02/20  
"Los Angeles is a city that tackles our toughest challenges by tapping into the innovation and creativity in our own backyard, and this UCLA center will help us build a safer, cleaner and more equitable…
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