Energy

Will Governor Brown Respond To Jane Fowler’s Plea To Shutter Aliso Canyon?

Jane Fowler is asking Jerry Brown to shut down the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility permanently. She lives just a little over a mile away from the facility that she says has given her nosebleeds, nausea, and a host of other symptoms. She started feeling sick weeks before Southern California Gas ever admitted there was a massive well blow out at the facility. After a seven-month hiatus from her home, she returned only to find her symptoms back again.

First Big Test for Attorney General Becerra: Investigating Sempra and SoCalGas

State Attorney General Xavier Becerra has just been confirmed. Now he's got a big test in front of him. Our public interest group, together with Food & Water Watch, just wrote him, urging him to investigate unfair business practices in the manipulation of Los Angeles natural gas supplies by Southern California Gas, its parent Sempra, and pipeline manager Kinder Morgan.

Bravo To Air Regulators For Making Southland Refineries Safer

The South Coast Air Quality Management District’s move to recommend a ban on highly dangerous modified hydrofluoric acid (MHF) used at two Southland refineries is the only sensible thing to do in the wake of a 2015 explosion at one of them that could have severely burned or killed thousands.

Brown Stacks CPUC With Confidant Who Did Wet Work For Oil Industry In Firing Tough Oil Well Regulators

Governor Jerry Brown appointed Cliff Rechtschaffen as a Commissioner to the scandal-plagued Public Utilities Commission, along with another current Brown staffer, Martha Guzman Aceves. This gives Brown power for the next six years over the PUC, even though he will be leaving office in two.
 
It's a deeply troubling appointment given Rechtschaffen's role in carrying out the demands of the oil industry in the firing of two tough wellhead regulators at the Department of Conservation and Department of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) in 2011.  
 

California Democratic Party Cleaning House Or Covering Its Ass?

An investigation by the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) into whether the California Democratic Party laundered oil and energy company donations for Governor Brown looks like it’s having a side effect: The CDP issued a new decree that it won’t accept any more political donations from oil companies or their Sacramento reps.

Is PG&E Snooping On Consumer Watchdog?

Throughout 2016, Consumer Watchdog has been breaking news stories about inappropriate relationships between PG&E, state regulators, and the Governor’s office. Now it seems as though PG&E may be conducting espionage on Consumer Watchdog.

Consumer Watchdog recently got a call that an employee of ‘crisis management’ firm G.F.Bunting+Co was contacting our associates and asking questions about us.

Research revealed that they may be acting on behalf of PG&E, or their allies in state politics.

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