Climate Changed

San Francisco’s Version of a Green New Deal Is Taking Over Its Power Company

Think flower power—but literally.

The San Francisco skyline.

Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
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What happens when a famously left-leaning city dives into the buttoned-down business of electric utilities? San Francisco may soon find out.

City officials are studying the possibility of creating their own utility out of the wreckage of PG&E Corp., the energy giant that filed for bankruptcy in January. The city would buy the company’s local wires—or possibly seize them through eminent domain—to create a utility that would be, well, very San Francisco.