Natural gas opposition in California

February 27, 2014 | By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) recently released a Proposed Decision on the closure of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS), The decision allows San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) and Southern California Edison (SCE) to invest in hundreds of megawatts of natural gas, and the California Environmental Justice Alliance (CEJA) is fit to be tied.

CEJA and ally organizations are rallying to get the CPUC to remove the option of building new natural gas power plants and strengthen the commitment to clean energy as an alternative to meeting Southern California's energy needs in light of the SONGS closure. The organizations also claim that the Proposed Decision overestimates the amount of new power needed by ignoring thousands of megawatts of clean energy and storage resources that are either online or will be online.

CEJA contends that numerous studies have shown that natural gas extraction, transportation, and burning can release hundreds of thousands of tons of greenhouse gases. In fact, the recently approved Pio Pico Energy Center Natural Gas Power Plant in Otay Mesa is projected to release 685,000 tons of greenhouse gas pollutants a year.

CEJA and its ally organizations will be attending the CPUC's meeting today, Thursday, February 27.

For more:
- see the Proposed Decision