California is Done with Dirty!

California can’t achieve zero emissions by 2045 alone. Collaborating with neighboring states is the smartest way to accelerate our climate goals and deliver clean, reliable, and more affordable electricity for all.

• Why It Matters

  With climate change driving more intense heat waves, cold snaps, floods, droughts and wildfires in California, the state needs a plan to make our energy grid more reliable. We know going it alone doesn’t work — Remember the freezing blackouts in Texas in February 2021? Texas operates as an isolated energy grid. That meant when extreme cold hit, they couldn’t turn to neighboring states for support — and the results were tragic.
  
  States throughout the West don’t want to be like Texas — and know we need to join forces to create a regional electric grid. This type of collaboration will not only give California’s families and businesses backup during power outages, it will also lower energy bills, create new jobs, and accelerate the transition to clean energy throughout the entire Western region. Other states are already moving quickly in this direction — and if we don’t get in the game soon, we risk being left behind.

• What’s the Solution?

  The first step toward joining a regional grid is for state lawmakers to pass legislation giving the state’s grid operator a green light to participate in a regional electricity market. There is a bill in the California General Assembly right now (AB 538) that could do just that and clear the way for California to collaborate with neighboring states to create a more affordable, reliable, and clean grid that can power California’s 21st Century economy.

• What Can I Do?

  California state lawmakers need to know their constituents care about having reliable, clean, and more affordable energy. Join our partners at the Clean Power Campaign, Environmental Defense Fund, and the Natural Resources Defense Council and sign the petition today to send the message that we are “done with dirty!”
  
  Want more? Learn how a regional electric grid would help California by going to https://lightsonca.org and subscribe to the podcast “Getting to Know RTO” for more mini explainers.