A group of consumers' front & # 39; US public gas funds to fight the ban on natural gas | American News

The largest US gas company seeks to thwart efforts to limit the use of natural gas in California beyond the usual pressures of business, even to create and fund a consumer group that advocates for "solutions balanced energy ".

SoCalGas, a subsidiary of Sempra Energy that supplies natural gas to nearly 22 million California customers, says it does not run the Californian consumer group for Balanced Energy Solutions (C4Bes). However, documents show that it financed the organization from its launch, hiring external consultants to develop the non-profit group, establishing "the messages and themes of the organization" and recruiting board members.

In April, a SoCalGas employee sent an e-mail to several local government employees in California: "Our management team has asked some key Latin American leaders to consider supporting the current process. [C4Bes] effort."

SoCalGas and C4Bes encourage continued investment and support of the gas system from industry and municipal governments. They propose "renewable" gas as an alternative method to green the grid and fight against the climate crisis. But in internal emails, C4Bes has recognized the serious potential of renewable gas supply in terms of climate and affordability.

On Tuesday, the city of Berkeley, in northern California, became the first in the country to ban natural gas connections to new buildings. More than 50 other cities and counties in California plan to similarly switch gas to electricity.

SoCalGas is the largest gas utility in the United States, serving about half of California. Panama Bartholomy, director of the Building Decarbonization Coalition, said: "With its core business, the electricity company is a powerful opponent in the electrification of buildings."

"They use alarmist tactics and mislead communities about the policies that are really being considered," Bartholomy said, citing SoCalGas' February suggestion that the state could force consumers to buy new electrical appliances.

As environmental advocates push cities to cut gas, SoCalGas has undertaken its own lobbying efforts with states and localities, encouraging cities to pbad resolutions committing balanced energy solutions. Unlike the dozens of California municipalities that study the rules of electrification, more than 10 cities and counties have voted so far to adhere to the SoCalGas resolution.

But much of SoCalGas' advocacy was concealed in C4Bes, the non-profit organization that paid the utility to establish it.

C4Bes advocates for the continued use of natural fossil fuels in California. In an open letter to Governor Gavin Newsom, the organization calls for electrification of construction "as simple as it is unrealistic".

C4Bes requested to participate in the regulatory procedure for decarbonisation. But in July, the Consumer Affairs Bureau of the California Public Utilities Commission alleged that SoCalGas had not only provided the necessary funding for the creation of C4Bes, but had also used taxpayer funds.

According to documents filed by the state, SoCalGas began paying C4Bes bills in March 2018. The non-profit organization was registered with the state nearly a year ago. later, in January 2019.

Legal representatives of the Sierra Club environmental group have called on state control authorities to ban C4Bes from acting as a consumer coalition in the Commission's decision-making procedures on services public for decarbonisation – otherwise, SoCalGas would be unfairly overrepresented.

"While SoCalGas pretends to be shady about characterizing C4Bes as a group before astroturf or utilities, these terms refer to what's involved here: entities that hide their sponsorship to appear independent ", writes lawyer Matt Vespa in the Sierra Club's application deny the party status C4Bes in the proceedings.

When the Guardian asked SoCalGas to comment on an article on Berkeley's ban on natural gas, the supplier did not respond. Instead, SoCalGas appears to have forwarded this request to C4Bes and a spokesperson for the group has contacted a Guardian reporter.

C4Bes maintains, however, that SoCalGas does not direct the position or activities of the group. "The simple fact is that the gas company is one of 31, soon 32 members of the board. We have three officers, none of whom are related to the gas company, who run the organization, "said Jon Switalski, executive director of C4Bes. "We have received a lot of funding from many other sources. It is a very diverse coalition.

SoCalGas and C4Bes do not deny the existence of the climate crisis. They promote the use of "clean" "renewable" methane gases captured in dairies, sewage treatment plants and landfills. They claim that the use of biogas instead of fossil fuel would reduce emissions and would prove cheaper than complete electrification. Earlier this year, SoCalGas announced its goal to replace 20% of its natural fossil fuel supply with renewable gas, which would be a step towards "decarbonizing gas supply". Experts, including those working in renewable gas and with C4Bes, say it just will not work.

"Many people think we can decarbonize the pipeline by simply replacing fossil natural gas with renewable gas," said Dairy Cares Executive Director Michael Boccadoro. "I'm not one of those." Boccadoro is a member of C4Bes' board of directors, but he does not agree with the organization's position on the biogas potential, which is currently used primarily as a trucking fuel .

Over the next five years, California is on the verge of having 120 to 140 methane digesters from dairy farms capturing and exploiting fugitive methane that warms the climate – with the help of significant subsidies from the United States. ;State. "Milk biogas is way too expensive" to be used in homes or businesses, Boccadoro said, five to ten times more expensive than fossil fuel.

According to the emails obtained by the Climate Investigations Center, C4Bes and SoCalGas are aware of Boccadoro's "important warnings", but continue to promote biogas as a better alternative to electrification.

"I publicly support the SoCalGas project that will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, the points raised by Michael [Boccadoro] should be taken seriously and deserves careful consideration, "wrote chairman Matt Rahn in an email to members of C4Bes' board of directors in March. Rahn also called for a "fair, open and transparent" discussion on the future of renewable gas.

In an interview, however, Switalski described Boccadoro's findings as "the opinion of a single individual". Switalski suggested that renewable gas could be subsidized like solar energy.

"It does not solve the problem and it does not make much sense from the environmental point of view," Boccadoro said. "It's a chimera."