California Legislature OKs Newsom electricity plan despite environmentalists’ concerns
Environmentalists called it a back-door scheme to put new energy projects on the fast track — while perpetuating the lives of several controversial power plants from years past.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration called it a common-sense plan that respects environmental regulations while making sure California keeps the lights on.
In the end, Newsom got his wish.
The Legislature gave reluctant approval late Wednesday to an energy plan that gives the state broad authority to approve new proposals and purchase electricity from a group of plants that are scheduled to be retired in the next few years — the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant and a group of high-polluting natural gas-fired plants on the Southern California coast.
Democratic lawmakers supported the proposal despite their own misgivings about much of what’s contained in AB 205. The bill authorizes the Department of Water Resources to buy power from fossil fuel plants and Diablo Canyon, the state’s lone remaining nuclear facility, when power supplies are running short. It also allows the state to OK the construction of new solar, wind and other green-energy facilities without securing approval from local governments.
State Assemblywoman Rebecca Bauer-Kahn, D-Orinda, summed up many of her fellow Democrats’ mixed emotions during floor debate leading up to the vote. While she wants California to push ahead on its green-energy mandates — to fight climate change, state law says the electric grid must rid itself of fossil fuel generation by 2045 — she acknowledged that Californians can’t be subjected to power outages.
“We have to balance those needs (for green energy) with the need to keep our constituents’ lights on,” she said.
She voted for the bill. The Assembly vote was 57-13, while the Senate approved it 27-8.
Newsom has been adamant that California not repeat the rolling blackouts that hit the state during an intense August 2020 heatwave. The blackouts made clear that California’s drive for an all-green grid leaves it vulnerable during early-evening hours when the sun goes down, solar power fades — but it’s still hot enough that residents keep their air conditioners humming. Newsom’s budget, which also passed late Wednesday, includes a $5.2 billion strategic energy reliability reserve to purchase power during crunch times.
Environmentalists complained that AB 205 would give Newsom’s ability to postpone the planned 2025 shutdown of Diablo Canyon, along with the 2023 closure of several gas-fired plants in Southern California. The state has already kept the Southern California plants going past their original 2020 shutdown date.
But Newsom’s administration insisted that the bill won’t keep those plants open. It only gives the Department of Water Resources the ability to buy power from them — if they’re kept open via “the existing regulatory or legislative requirements,” said Newsom’s spokeswoman Erin Mellon.
The 11th-hour nature of the legislation rankled many lawmakers; AB 205 emerged Sunday as a budget trailer bill.
“This is a crappy trailer bill that was dumped on us on a Sunday night,” said Sen. Al Muratsuchi, D-Torrance.
He, too, voted for the bill.
This story was originally published June 30, 2022 at 8:23 AM with the headline "California Legislature OKs Newsom electricity plan despite environmentalists’ concerns."