Hey all, I hope you’ll read my latest L.A. Times column and let me know what you think! Here’s how it starts:
>*Gov. Gavin Newsom’s appointees could vote next week on a widely criticized plan that climate activists, solar installers and labor unions say would pointlessly slow California efforts to phase out fossil fuels and limit energy bills for low-income families.*
>*A few days later, Newsom will* *travel to the Vatican, at Pope Francis’ invitation, to speak about the urgency of the climate crisis.*
>*The dissonance would be funny if it weren’t so scary.*
>*California is still a global leader in combating the deadly consequences of coal, oil and gas combustion. Newsom has played a role by*Â *requiring an end*Â *to the sale of cars and light trucks that run solely on oil-based fuels by 2035, among*Â *other initiatives.*
>*But monopoly utility companies such as Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison — and the politically powerful labor unions that represent many of their employees, most notably Local 1245 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers — have engaged in a* *remarkably successful campaign* *over the last few years to reduce financial incentives for rooftop solar panels, which don’t fuel utility industry profits and are typically installed by non-union workers.*
>*Some environmental groups, meanwhile, support rooftop solar but have questioned the wisdom of building large solar farms on* *undisturbed public lands* *that are currently home to tortoises, sage grouse and other animals. Some conservationists have tried to block construction of those solar farms despite a* *mountain of evidence* *that we’ll need them — lots of them — to avert a future of ever-worsening heat waves, wildfires, storms and droughts, with dangerous repercussions for wildlife and humans alike.*
>*In theory, nearly all of the key players duking it out in Sacramento — utility companies, unions, rooftop solar installers, consumer watchdogs, environmental groups, large-scale solar developers — agree that we’ll need lots of solar from lots of sources.*
>*Massive solar projects in the desert, small rooftop systems — all of the above, please. In a state still* *heavily dependent* *on planet-warming natural gas for electricity, there are plenty of climate-friendly electrons — and plenty of jobs — to go around.*
>*In theory, anyway.*
>*In practice, unfortunately, many suppliers and supporters of large-scale and rooftop solar have done hardly anything to help each other politically. And some of them have torn each other to shreds. Especially in California, this solar infighting is exasperating and increasingly embarrassing. With*Â *time running short*Â *to stop burning most if not all fossil fuels, it needs to end.*
>*We could use a grand bargain — a political masterstroke to end the solar squabbling.*
Again, I hope you’ll read the whole column and share your thoughts. If you’re interested, you can sign up to get my twice-weekly Boiling Point newsletters in your inbox here: [latimes.com/boilingpoint](http://latimes.com/boilingpoint)
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Hey all, I hope you’ll read my latest L.A. Times column and let me know what you think! Here’s how it starts:
>*Gov. Gavin Newsom’s appointees could vote next week on a widely criticized plan that climate activists, solar installers and labor unions say would pointlessly slow California efforts to phase out fossil fuels and limit energy bills for low-income families.*
>*A few days later, Newsom will* *travel to the Vatican, at Pope Francis’ invitation, to speak about the urgency of the climate crisis.*
>*The dissonance would be funny if it weren’t so scary.*
>*California is still a global leader in combating the deadly consequences of coal, oil and gas combustion. Newsom has played a role by*Â *requiring an end*Â *to the sale of cars and light trucks that run solely on oil-based fuels by 2035, among*Â *other initiatives.*
>*But monopoly utility companies such as Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison — and the politically powerful labor unions that represent many of their employees, most notably Local 1245 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers — have engaged in a* *remarkably successful campaign* *over the last few years to reduce financial incentives for rooftop solar panels, which don’t fuel utility industry profits and are typically installed by non-union workers.*
>*Some environmental groups, meanwhile, support rooftop solar but have questioned the wisdom of building large solar farms on* *undisturbed public lands* *that are currently home to tortoises, sage grouse and other animals. Some conservationists have tried to block construction of those solar farms despite a* *mountain of evidence* *that we’ll need them — lots of them — to avert a future of ever-worsening heat waves, wildfires, storms and droughts, with dangerous repercussions for wildlife and humans alike.*
>*In theory, nearly all of the key players duking it out in Sacramento — utility companies, unions, rooftop solar installers, consumer watchdogs, environmental groups, large-scale solar developers — agree that we’ll need lots of solar from lots of sources.*
>*Massive solar projects in the desert, small rooftop systems — all of the above, please. In a state still* *heavily dependent* *on planet-warming natural gas for electricity, there are plenty of climate-friendly electrons — and plenty of jobs — to go around.*
>*In theory, anyway.*
>*In practice, unfortunately, many suppliers and supporters of large-scale and rooftop solar have done hardly anything to help each other politically. And some of them have torn each other to shreds. Especially in California, this solar infighting is exasperating and increasingly embarrassing. With*Â *time running short*Â *to stop burning most if not all fossil fuels, it needs to end.*
>*We could use a grand bargain — a political masterstroke to end the solar squabbling.*
Again, I hope you’ll read the whole column and share your thoughts. If you’re interested, you can sign up to get my twice-weekly Boiling Point newsletters in your inbox here: [latimes.com/boilingpoint](http://latimes.com/boilingpoint)