Consumers just scored a victory with NRG's announcement that it is pulling the plug on a natural gas power plant in Ventura.

The Houston utility had contracted with Southern California Edison (SCE) to build the hotly contested Puente plant in Oxnard. Ratepayers would have shouldered the $300 million price tag.

Mayor Eric Garcetti just sold out Los Angeles by pushing through the Delta Tunnels. Two of his five appointees to the Metropolitan Water District (MWD), the giant water wholesaler for the region, voted yes on diverting water from the Sacramento River under the San Francisco Bay Delta to the South, helping to ensure an overwhelming majority vote. 

The California Energy Commission (CEC) just took the unprecedented step of recommending that the $300-million Puente natural gas power plant slated for Ventura County be mothballed. Power plant builder NRG is under contract to Southern California Edison to build the plant in Oxnard.