SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Climate advocates are pressing the California Energy Commission (CEC) to ban natural gas in new construction, starting in 2022. The CEC updates building codes every three years.

In December, the agency is expected to consider a less aggressive plan to offer developers pollution credits as an incentive to go all-electric.

Jonny Kocher, building electrification program associate with the Rocky Mountain Institute said allowing new gas-powered buildings would be counterproductive.

"All-electric is cheaper, better for the climate," Kocher contended. "It'll reduce emissions by three million tons by 2030 if we do it now rather than waiting 'til 2025. So we can't wait. We should just do it immediately."

In August, SoCalGas sued the CEC, accusing the agency of improperly establishing an anti-gas policy.

Thirty-nine California cities already have passed so-called "reach codes" that limit natural gas in new construction.

Environmental groups oppose the fossil fuel because it emits methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. In addition, gas appliances pollute indoor air, leading to more childhood asthma and other ailments.

For consumers, electric heat pumps, clothes dryers and stoves can be a bit more expensive but are highly efficient, and thus cheaper to run.

Amy Rider, local government and policy lead for the Building Decarbonization Coalition, stated in order to meet the state's goal of 100% carbon-free energy by 2045, we need to go all-electric.

"That's the fuel source we know how to clean," Rider asserted. "The electrical supply in the state of California will be entirely renewable and carbon free in a relatively short amount of time."

Jed Holtzman, senior policy analyst for the nonprofit 350 Bay Area, said a system of green credits would just let developers throw in electric appliances but be less green elsewhere.

"The CEC's proposal is incredibly weak, it's short-sighted, it's out of step with the state's own goals and targets," Holtzman remarked.

Evan Gillespie, western director of the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign, noted the climate crisis has hit California hard.

"We just watched record-breaking heat waves," Gillespie observed. "We've seen four million acres in California burn, with all the health impacts, ecosystem impacts that come along with that."

By some estimates, almost a quarter of the state's greenhouse gas emissions come from burning natural gas in homes and buildings.

A new report warns that the window is quickly closing to prevent the most harmful effects of climate change. As global leaders face pressure to act, efforts continue to educate Wisconsin families.

Last week, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said countries have to quickly come together to achieve deep reductions in greenhouse gas emissions to secure a livable planet for all.

Rebecca Borkowski is the executive director of the Wisconsin Association for Environmental Education, which supports teachers and students in learning about these issues.

She said they've sometimes avoided using words like climate change around parents to avoid political tension. But that's changing.

"I think it's at a point," Borkowski said, "where affiliates like ours and the national network are just going to have to take more action and be more direct in our conversations."

As part of their effort to get more climate education in schools, her group is trying to get more adults to become engaged with the issue.

That includes hosting online discussions and prompting elected officials and political candidates to talk about climate change, including those running in Wisconsin's high-profile state Supreme Court race.

A recent survey of teachers from the North American Association for Environmental Education found that 56% of respondents' students have brought up climate change on their own in the classroom.

Megan Giefer chairs the Wisconsin chapter's advocacy committee and said getting kids to pay more attention isn't a concern.

She suggested that it's harder when adults, who have lived through changing seasons their whole lives, might feel that a cold and snowy winter is enough to think there isn't a threat.

"And so, a lot of people will brush it off and say, 'Well, that's the Midwest, that's Wisconsin,'" said Giefer. "But it's really not what we're supposed to be having."

A 2021 statewide report noted that Wisconsin winters are warming more rapidly than summers.

Meanwhile, the national teacher survey says a lack of formal curriculum and an unclear mandate are among the reasons why school districts haven't made climate change education a priority.




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Offshore wind development is coming to Texas under the Biden administration's plan to grow America's clean-energy economy, and union members want the jobs to include proper safety and worker protections.

The federal government is seeking comments about which areas near Galveston to consider for the first-ever offshore wind lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico. The project is part of the administration's promise to establish 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030.

Luis Estrada, a plumbers apprentice and a member of Plumbers Union Local 68 in Houston, said stringent labor and equity standards need to be in place before hiring begins.

"We have every capability to make these jobs strong, family-sustaining jobs," Estrada pointed out. "But there's a lot of anti-worker laws here in Texas, and it makes Texas the most dangerous state in America to work."

Estrada was one of several union members who traveled to Washington, D.C., to deliver some 200 messages to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management about the unique challenges faced by Texas construction workers.

The U.S. Interior Department said projects proposed for Louisiana and Texas have the potential to power more than a million homes with clean energy.

PJ Shipman, an electrical apprentice and a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 716, said Texas' "right-to-work" laws should not limit living wage requirements and workers' compensation.

"To be able to set a standard for the clean-energy boom that we really believe is about to happen would be amazing," Shipman contended. "To set the standard in Texas where, to everyone's knowledge, is 'right to work.' "

Because they do not require valuable land space, offshore wind projects have risen in popularity.

Estrada added Texas union members want the emerging industry to succeed, but not at the expense of workers.

"The unions are going to be the only people who can keep up with the demand of these jobs," Estrada asserted. "But we just want the language to be in the leases; that these jobs are going to protect Texas communities and Texas workers."

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is accepting comments about the Texas wind proposals through April 25.


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As wildfire seasons in Colorado and across the American West become longer, less predictable and increasingly destructive, a new report aims to provide an equitable roadmap for protecting communities, watersheds and wildlife.

Rob Addington, Colorado forest program director for The Nature Conservancy, said engagement with tribal nations, who have been successful stewards of lands for thousands of years, will be critical to address the scale of the challenge.

"Developing tribal partnerships and really looking to tribal knowledge, ecological knowledge that many of the tribes hold from their centuries in many cases of working with the land, working with fire," Addington outlined.

Addington pointed out the roadmap represents a paradigm shift in modern forest and wildfire management. After decades of fire prevention strategies, for example, experts said prescribed burns will be necessary to thin fuel supplies across thousands of acres of dry western lands. The report also called for advanced computer modeling and unmanned drones to improve early detection, help battle fires more effectively, and to reseed and restore scarred forests.

The roadmap, created by The Aspen Institute and The Nature Conservancy, compiled input from more than 250 experts in forest and fire management, federal, state, local, and Tribal Nation authorities, and the private sector, including the forest products and insurance industries.

Addington noted many of the report's recommendations are shovel-ready, due to recent public investments such as the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act.

"But what we need in parallel to complement that funding is this set of policy recommendations," Addington urged. "To really make best use of that funding, and have it hit the ground in the most efficient and effective way that we can."

Addington underscored building successful partnerships will be key for work that needs to happen in metropolitan areas and across tribal, federal, state and privately owned lands. The report also identified some potential roadblocks, and offered policy solutions requiring action from Congress, the executive branch, and partners like states, Tribal Nations, nonprofits, and industry.