As California rapidly boosts sales of electric cars and trucks over the next decade, the answer to a critical question remains uncertain: Will there be enough electricity to power them? State officials claim that the 12.5 million electric vehicles expected on California’s roads in 2035 will not strain the grid. But their confidence that the state […]
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Going, Going, Gone: Feds Hold First-Ever Auction for California Offshore Wind Leases
Federal officials today will auction off leases for 583 square miles of ocean waters off California that could lead to the nation’s first massive floating wind farms. The auction — the first on the West Coast — includes five sites in deep ocean waters about 20 miles off Morro Bay and Humboldt County. The leases […]
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Slashing Greenhouse Gases: California Revises Climate Change Strategy
The California Air Resources Board this week unveiled a new version of its highly-anticipated strategy for battling climate change, setting more ambitious targets for cutting greenhouse gases and scaling up controversial projects that capture carbon. If adopted by the air board at its Dec. 15 meeting, the plan would radically reshape California’s economy, alter how […]
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Electric Day in California: State to Phase Out Sales of Gas Cars
UPDATE: According to media reports, the California Air Resources Board voted to move ahead with phasing out the sale of gas cars in the state in an effort to combat climate change. PREVIOUS: In its biggest move yet to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and fight climate change, California is poised today to enact the […]
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Can Californians Afford Electric Cars? Wait Lists for Rebates are Long and Some Programs have Shut Down
When Tulare resident Quentin Nelms heard California was offering a hefty state subsidy to help lower-income residents buy electric cars, he applied right away. But it wasn’t as easy as he thought it would be. Nelms spent four months on a waitlist before he was accepted into one of the state’s clean-car incentive programs in […]
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California Climate Rules Won’t be Undercut by Supreme Court’s Ruling, Experts Say
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision today to drastically limit the power of the federal Environmental Protection Agency to regulate planet-warming emissions upsets environmentalists, but experts say it doesn’t necessarily pose a threat to California’s ability to maintain its own stringent greenhouse gas reduction rules. The 6-3 vote in the West Virginia v. EPA decision marks […]
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Climate-friendly Cement? California Takes on a High-Carbon Industry
Dust swirls in the air at a cement factory on the outskirts of Redding as mud-caked tires travel along a wide conveyor belt. The tires are carried up 90 feet into a smoldering-hot incinerator, where they’re used as fuel for firing a kiln. The massive, 2,700-degree kiln at the Martin Marietta, Inc. plant churns more […]
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Climate Controversy: California’s Plan for Handling Crisis is Flawed, Advisors Say
As California races to prevent the irreversible effects of climate change, some experts are questioning key policies that the state is counting on to meet its ambitious goals and accusing state officials of failing to provide substantial details to back up its claims. The California Air Resources Board’s proposal, called a scoping plan, outlines policies […]