Media Releases

Report: Damaging methane gas pipeline leaks happen every 40 hours in the U.S.

Fossil fuel pollution

Report: Damaging methane gas pipeline leaks happen every 40 hours in the U.S.

SAN BRUNO - Methane gas – commonly referred to as “natural” gas – has been piped through our communities for a century, and for just as long, it has been causing dangerous leaks. Recognizing this problem, the Biden administration announced last week it's developing safety regulations that aim to reduce methane emissions from gas pipeline systems and the bipartisan infrastructure law provides $1 billion in funding to fix methane leaks. On Thursday, CALPIRG Education Fund, Environment California Research & Policy Center and Frontier Group released a new report that finds from 2010 through nearly the end of 2021, almost 2,600  gas pipeline incidents occurred in the United States that were serious enough to require reporting to the federal government. That’s the equivalent to one every 40 hours.

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Logging mature and old trees threatens U.S. climate goals

Forests

Logging mature and old trees threatens U.S. climate goals

 Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Thursday signed a memorandum to clarify the U.S. Forest Service’s direction on climate policy. The memo, "Climate Resilience and Carbon Stewardship of America's National Forests and Grasslands," follows a recent White House executive order highlighting the importance of conserving mature and old-growth forests on federal lands as a climate solution. The memo, which lays out “actions to restore forests, improve resilience, and address the climate crisis”, falls short in meeting the ambition outlined in President Joe Biden’s order on old forests and trees. Secretary Vilsack acknowledges the role that older trees play in absorbing and storing carbon and supporting biodiversity. But he fails to outline a plan for his agency to protect mature and old-growth forests and trees from commercial logging. 

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NEWS RELEASE: Californians rally to save rooftop solar

Solar power

NEWS RELEASE: Californians rally to save rooftop solar

LOS ANGELES and SAN FRANCISCO -- Hundreds of Californians rallied in the state’s two most famous cities Thursday, calling on Gov. Gavin Newsom and the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to make major changes to a proposal that would impose a tax on rooftop solar power generation. Other parts of the country where similar taxes were imposed saw precipitous drops in rooftop solar as a result.

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Florida Gov. DeSantis’s veto saves rooftop solar in Sunshine State

Solar power

Florida Gov. DeSantis’s veto saves rooftop solar in Sunshine State

Exercising his first veto of the 2022 legislative session, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday vetoed HB 741, a bill that would have gutted net metering in Florida. Net metering is the policy which compensates solar owners for the excess electricity they generate and then sell back to the grid. 

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