The California governor is focused on keeping the lights on even if it means reversing pledges to eliminate dirty and risky power sources.
The Public Utilities Commission is scheduled to vote on expanding Aliso Canyon, which would boost storage by two-thirds to nearly 69 billion cubic feet. | Jae C. Hong/AP PhotoSACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom campaigned on shutting down Aliso Canyon, a gas storage facility that was the site of the largest methane leak in U.S. history.
Newsom is grappling with the same nuts-and-bolts challenges of running the electric grid as other blue-state officials in. The pivot reflects the awkward reality faced by Newsom and other climate-minded governors: Politics moves far faster than the building of solar fields, wind farms and transmission lines, while power blackouts and electric bill spikes hit home immediately.
Newsom is scarred from not only the state’s bout with two nights of rolling blackouts in 2020, when energy demand spiked during a heat wave, but the memory of a political upset 20 years ago. He’s keenly aware of the political risks and the real-world consequences of outages that affect not just comfort and convenience but health, safety and the economy.
His administration also extended the life of three aging natural gas plants in Southern California last month and is helping keep Diablo Canyon, the state’s remaining nuclear plant, open despite his prior support as lieutenant governor for closing it.
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