EPA’s Clean Power Plan Gets Kicks and Kudos
Conservative lawmakers continued to blast the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed Clean Power Plan, presenting witnesses this week to challenge...
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Elizabeth McCarthy
Elizabeth McCarthy is Managing Editor and publisher. She co-founded California Current in 2002 after covering energy and water since the early 1990s. She’s reported on a wide variety of topics—from environment to dance—for various publications and organizations near and far. That includes Canary Media, the World Health Organization, Agence France Presse, Harvard University’s Nieman Reports, Oakland Magazine, New Scientist, Sacramento Business Journal and Sacramento News & Review. She was BNA’s Irish correspondent, covering myriad issues—from wave energy to European Union directives. She also worked in Nippon Telegraph & Telephone’s International Legal Office in Tokyo, Japan.
SHORTS
California’s potential to save electricity and natural gas appears to be lower than estimated in 2013, a forthcoming study performed...
Read moreHouse Moves Fast to Overturn DOE Electric Water Heater Standard
The House is racing to overturn a Department of Energy efficiency standard for large electrical resistance water heaters that essentially...
Read moreFERC Fine Tunes Policies on Transmission
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission March 19 unanimously approved a blanket waiver from its Open Access Transmission Tariff requirements for...
Read moreFERC Investigates CAISO Imbalance Market’s Price Spikes
Federal regulators March 16 ordered an investigation into the price volatility of the California Independent System Operator’s energy imbalance market...
Read moreHigh-Speed Rail Is Electrification ‘Cornerstone’
California’s under-construction high-speed rail system is expected to play an important role in helping California meet its climate goals, according...
Read moreExpanding Biopower Raises Air Quality Concerns
Efforts to expand use of biogas and biomass power could worsen levels of ozone and fine particle pollution in California,...
Read moreState to Tighten Methane Leak Standards
California agencies are preparing to batten down the hatches on methane leaks from natural gas pipelines, oil wells, landfills, wastewater...
Read morePG&E May Be on the Hook for $1.6 Billion
Pacific Gas & Electric faces a $1.6 billion penalty for the 2010 gas pipeline blast in San Bruno under a...
Read moreGUEST JUICE: Clean Power for Clean Water
By Jan Smutny-Jones Gov. Jerry Brown has proposed three ambitious clean energy goals within the next 15 years. They are...
Read moreUnregulated Energy Firms’ Finances Blossom
Except for a smattering of companies, unregulated energy firms’ latest earnings reports were brighter, some much brighter, than earlier ones....
Read moreAnother Bay Area County Explores Community Choice
The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors voted Feb. 25 to take the first step toward providing its citizens alternative...
Read moreCLIMATE ROUNDUP: CA Lags Among States Cutting Carbon Gases
While it takes time to compile data, the latest tally of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions by state shows that California...
Read moreEdison’s and PG&E’s Income Soars, Sempra Close Behind
In spite of changes and uncertainty in the utility business model, the parent companies of California’s investor-owned utilities each surpassed...
Read moreHouse Panel Hears Calls for New Utility Regulatory Model
Regulatory structures must change in order to realize the promise of new energy technologies that can bring greater efficiency and...
Read moreIT’S THE CAPITOL: CPUC Pressured to Justify its Existence
The California Public Utilities Commission’s relevance was questioned during a March 3 hearing focused on the impact of the illicit,...
Read moreJUICE: The Stone Age
The demise of Hydrogen Energy California is the state’s own version of the failed FutureGen project, a coal-fueled power plant...
Read moreRedondo Beach Voters Reject AES Plant Repurposing Plan
A ballot initiative that sought to transform the land where a 1,310 MW power plant sits in Redondo Beach into...
Read moreSnowpack Points to Low Hydropower Output
The Department of Water Resources’ manual reading of Sierra snowpack—closely related to hydropower production in spring and summer—again yielded disappointing...
Read moreVoter-Approved Fracking Ban Challenged
One of the California counties where voters successfully banned hydraulic fracking was sued this week.Citadel Corp. challenged the legaility of...
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