State Director, Environment California
Started on staff: 2002
UC Davis 1997-2001
Laura directs Environment California’s work to tackle global warming, protect the ocean, and stand up for clean air, clean water and open spaces. Laura served on the Environment California board for two years before stepping into the state director role. Most recently, she directed the public health program for CALPIRG, another organization in The Public Interest Network, where she led campaigns to get lead out of school drinking water and toxic chemicals out of cosmetics. Prior to that, Laura ran Environment California citizen outreach offices across the state and, as the Environment California field director, she led campaigns to get California to go solar, ban single use plastic grocery bags, and go 100 percent renewable. Laura lives with her family in Richmond, California, where she enjoys hiking, yoga and baking.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s veto of an Environment California-backed bill to restrict the use of bee-killing pesticides is a blow to our bees and the ecosystems that depend on them. But our advocacy for pollinators will continue until the necessary protections are in place.
SAN FRANCISCO – As the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) considers gutting the state’s bedrock solar program, a broad coalition of national and state environmental organizations delivered a letter Wednesday to CPUC commissioners and Gov. Gavin Newsom urging them to immediately issue an alternative that allows rooftop solar and battery storage to continue to grow. The letter was delivered by 70 organizations, including Environment America, Environment California, Greenpeace, The Nature Conservancy, Sierra Club, Environmental Working Group and the Center for Biological Diversity.
SAN FRANCISCO -- The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) proposed Monday to drastically cut the state’s solar energy incentive program, net energy metering. This program decides the way that solar customers are billed and how they are compensated for the extra electricity they provide back to the grid.
n a blow to protecting tropical forests, California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed The California Deforestation-Free Procurement Act Wednesday. CA AB 416, which was introduced by Assemblymember Ash Kalra and supported by many environmental organizations, passed through California’s House and Senate in early September.
ORANGE COUNTY, Calif. -- A broken pipeline has spewed more than one hundred thousand gallons of oil into the ocean near Huntington Beach, California, closing the beach and forcing the cancellation of the final day of the Pacific Air Show.
