Starting Monday and lasting through Thursday, generators and transmission-line operators should delay any scheduled maintenance to avoid possible power outages as Californians crank up their air conditioners to deal with an expected onslaught of 100-plus degree heat, .
The California Independent System Operator鈥檚 warning came on the heels of Gov. Gavin Newsom鈥檚 office unveiled late Thursday to extend the life of Diablo Canyon, in San Luis Obispo, by as much as 10 years 鈥� and give its operator, PG&E, .
Taken together, the two actions underscore the extent to which California is at risk of repeating the events of 2020, when the state was unable to supply enough energy to meet demand, triggering .
Newsom 鈥� no doubt eager to avoid power outages as he elevates his national profile in what some suspect is preparation for a future presidential run 鈥� of temporarily extending Diablo Canyon鈥檚 lifespan past its planned 2025 closure to help shore up the state鈥檚 electricity supplies.
But the draft legislation makes explicit the urgency behind his proposal: It would exempt the Diablo Canyon extension from review under the California Environmental Quality Act and several other environmental laws, limiting the legal challenges that anti-nuclear advocates and other environmental justice groups could bring against it, .
And, unless Newsom calls for a special legislative session, lawmakers will have to approve his plan 鈥� giving them less than three weeks to reach an agreement on the complex issue. (That isn鈥檛 the only contentious environmental legislation they鈥檙e grappling with: Newsom a list of , including accelerated greenhouse gas cuts, new interim targets for reaching 100% clean energy and safety zones around new oil and gas wells.)
- Assemblymember Jordan Cunningham, a San Luis Obispo Republican, : 鈥淚 think (the Newsom administration is) pretty serious鈥� about Diablo Canyon. 鈥淪erious enough to be briefing me about it, serious enough to be proposing some bill language in a trailer bill, serious enough to be expending some political capital to try to make the case and get the information to the voters and the public as to why we need it.鈥�
- But the draft bill has angered some environmental advocates: 鈥淟egislators should reject it out of hand,鈥� Environment California, Friends of the Earth and the Natural Resources Defense Council . 鈥淲ith Governor Newsom and the legislature working to and advance ambitious climate legislation in the waning days of the legislative session, this proposal is a dangerous and costly distraction.鈥�
The swirl of proposals comes as California prepares to lose its top climate regulator. Newsom that Jared Blumenfeld, secretary of California鈥檚 Environmental Protection Agency, will step down at the end of the month to lead the Waverley Street Foundation, . Newsom Amelia Yana Garcia Gonzalez, a California Department of Justice special assistant attorney general focused on environmental issues, to replace Blumenfeld, .
Other important climate news:
- Amid escalating drought, California and six other states are facing a Tuesday deadline to they pull from the Colorado River.
- As and the , a found that California is at increasing risk of a megaflood that could unleash on the state in a month, submerging parts of the Central Valley, Los Angeles and Orange County; ; shutting down major freeways; and .
- Over the protests of environmental justice advocates, to clean up toxic pollutants from the Santa Susana Field Lab in Ventura County where nuclear research and rocket engine tests were once conducted.
- The U.S. Department of the Interior will have to conduct a new environmental review before restarting coal leasing on federal lands, according to Attorney General Rob Bonta .
- Oh, and California鈥檚 increasingly dry and warm climate is resulting in .
is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.