California Governor Calls for No New Gas Plants in Climate Fight

California Governor Gavin Newsom announced steps Friday to speed up the clean-energy transition and fight climate change, including an end to building gas-burning power plants, even as the move away from fossil fuels has threatened his state with blackouts and forced him to reconsider nuclear power. 

Newsom said he would work with Sacramento legislators to pass a law requiring California to reach carbon neutrality, a goal set by his predecessor Jerry Brown in an executive order. In a letter to the state’s top climate change regulator, the Democratic governor also called for building offshore wind farms, deploying 6 million home heat pumps, requiring the aviation industry to increase its use of clean fuels, and setting firm targets for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere using both land management and machines designed for the task.