Under federal and state law, the SCAQMD is required to ensure state and federal air quality standards are met within the district’s South Coast Air Basin, which includes Orange and Riverside counties, as well as most of Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties.

According to the SCAQMD, the proposed rule changes (Rules 1111 and 1112) require replacing natural gas heating systems and/or natural gas hot water heaters with zero-emission models like electric.

When finalized (expected this year), the rule changes would take effect in two to five years but would only be required when gas appliances break or are voluntarily replaced.

However, there is some flexibility in the proposals. For example, exceptions would be allowed for construction or utility upgrade delays, high-altitude areas, and owners of multifamily buildings.

SCAQMD is working on an incentive program to provide rebates for residents, building owners, and businesses that will be required to make costly equipment updates, including hiring licensed electricians to run new power supply lines and, for some owners, installing new electric panels.

The SCAQMD’s proposals, otherwise known as zero-NOx rules, are in line with efforts by the California Air Resources Board that aim to reduce building-related greenhouse gas emissions.

Several California cities already have codes in place that require all-electric appliances. For example, the city of Los Angeles requires new residential and commercial buildings to be built all-electric, with exceptions for commercial cooking.

In the South Coast Air Basin, more than 75 percent of households use gas appliances for cooking, which accounted for about 11 percent of total residential combustion emissions in 2018, according to the SCAQMD.

Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed AB 2513, which would have prohibited the sale of gas stoves in California unless the appliances contained specified warning labels alerting consumers to health risks associated with the products.

The SCAQMD states that pollutant emissions from residential cooking appliances are not currently regulated by the district or any other agencies.

Language in support of SCAQMD’s proposed zer0-NOx rules states that there are health benefits associated with zero-emissions heaters and water heaters, including the prevention of: 4,000 premature deaths, 16,000 cases of newly onset asthma, and 4,000 emergency room visits.

SoCalGas, which serves Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, has about 5.9 million customers, according to the utility.

SCAQMD has already held public meetings about the proposed rule changes for natural gas heaters and water heaters. The next two events on the calendar are a March 6 “public consultation,” followed by a May 2 public hearing. Get more information here.

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The California Public Utilities Commission on Thursday voted 4-0, with one commissioner recused, to approve a judge’s proposed decision that Aliso Canyon should remain open for the time being, the Southern California News Group reported.

But commissioners said the vote created a pathway to lowering or eliminating reliance on Aliso Canyon in future years by establishing a target for the level of demand for natural gas in Southern California that can be met without the need of the facility.

“This decision puts forward a path to the closure of Aliso Canyon that is achievable, realistic, and protective of families and businesses who are struggling to pay energy bills,” CPUC President Alice Reynolds said in a statement. “Huge progress is underway to bring online clean energy resources and drive down demand for natural gas-fired power plants.”

Opponents of the facility want it closed immediately. Craig Galanti, a Porter Ranch resident living near Aliso Canyon, was unhappy with the commission’s vote.

“Am I surprised? No. Am I disappointed? I’m exceedingly disappointed,” he told the news group. “The CPUC continues to support the best interests of the utilities at the expense of the community’s health and safety.”

The 2015 Aliso Canyon gas leak, which took four months to control, released more than 120,000 metric tons of methane and other gases into the atmosphere over communities in the San Fernando Valley.

Thousands of residents were forced to move out of their homes to escape a sulfurous stench and maladies including headaches, nausea and nosebleeds. SoCalGas and its parent company, Sempra Energy, agreed to pay up to $1.8 billion in settlements to more than 35,000 victims in 2021.

Last year, the company reached another settlement with the utilities commission, agreeing to pay more than $70 million to the Aliso Canyon Recovery Account to address the impacts from the leak on air quality and public health.

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BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union governments agreed Tuesday to reduce consumption of natural gas this winter to protect themselves against any further supply cuts by Russia amid its invasion of Ukraine, although the measure contains exemptions for some countries.

EU energy ministers approved a draft European law designed to lower demand for gas by 15% from August through March. The legislation entails voluntary national steps to reduce gas consumption, but if that does not yield enough savings, mandatory actions in the 27-member bloc would be triggered.

“I know that the decision was not easy, but I think, at the end, everybody understands that this sacrifice is necessary. We have to, and we will, share the pain,” Czech Industry Minister Jozef Sikela said after chairing the meeting in Brussels.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen welcomed the move, saying in a statement that “the EU has taken a decisive step to face down the threat of a full gas disruption” by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The energy ministers approved the compromise legislation a day after Russian energy corporation Gazprom said it would cut gas flows through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany to 20% of capacity starting Wednesday. Natural gas prices jumped Tuesday to their highest level since early March, according to Europe’s TTF benchmark, and more than five times what they were a year ago.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February and the West moved to punish Moscow by imposing economic sanctions, 12 EU countries have faced halts to, or reductions in, their Russian gas deliveries.

Russia supplied about 40% of Europe’s natural gas before the war, but that has dropped to about 15%, sending prices through the roof and straining energy-intensive industries. Companies warn that they often can’t switch overnight to other energy sources.

The disruptions in Russian energy trade with the EU already are stoking inflation to record levels in Europe and threatening to trigger a recession just as the bloc was recovering from a pandemic-induced slump.

The energy squeeze also is reviving decades-old political challenges over policy coordination. While the EU has gained centralized authority over monetary, trade, antitrust and farm policies, national sovereignty over energy issues still largely prevails.

Under the ministerial agreement that was sealed in less than a week, the EU’s member nations are free to decide how best to meet the target of cutting 15% of their average annual gas use over the last five years.

France, for example, wants to save energy by turning down office thermostats in winter and ensuring that air conditioners in public buildings and shops are used more efficiently.

Exemptions are allowed for countries that might have specific vulnerabilities or find themselves particularly exposed to difficulties from certain cuts. The ministers diluted elements of the original proposal, including exemptions for island countries like Ireland, Cyprus and Malta, which don’t have as many energy alternatives.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, can ask members to consider triggering a mandatory system of cuts if it still fears a supply shortage in the next eight months. Any five member countries could also trigger a vote if they declare a gas supply alert at the national level.

The energy ministers scrapped a provision in the draft law that would have given the European Commission the power to decide on any move from voluntary to mandatory actions. Instead, the ministers ensured any decision on mandatory steps would remain in the hands of national governments.

The legislation was based on a July 20 proposal from the commission, which is eager to maintain a common EU front over a war that shows no sign of ending. It said coordinated rationing would enable the bloc as a whole to get through the winter should Russia stop all gas deliveries.

Tuesday’s deal still marked another milestone in EU policy integration and crisis management. Past EU legislative initiatives in the area of energy often involved months or years of negotiations among national governments.

“We have a blueprint to act together in a coordinated way,” EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson said after the agreement was sealed. “This was a test for the unity and resolve of the union.”

Although the EU has agreed to embargo oil and coal from Russia starting later this year, the bloc has refrained from sanctioning Russian natural gas because Germany, Italy and some other member states rely heavily on imported gas.

“Germany made a strategic error in the past with its great dependency on Russian gas and faith that it would always flow constantly and cheaply,” said German Economy Minister Robert Habeck, who is also responsible for energy and serves as the country’s vice chancellor. “But it is not just a German problem.”

Russia’s Gazprom has said the Nord Stream 1 cutbacks were necessitated by delays in receiving a repaired turbine for the pipeline. The turbine, which was repaired in Canada, has not been reinstalled yet, and another is expected to go offline because it needs repairs, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday.

“The situation has been critically complicated by the restrictions and sanctions imposed on our country,” Peskov added. “If not for those restrictions, all maintenance, warranty, and service operations would have been carried out in a usual, routine, and prompt manner, without causing situations like the one we’re seeing now.”

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WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish and Bulgarian leaders accused Moscow of using natural gas to blackmail their countries after Russia’s state-controlled energy company stopped supplying them with gas Wednesday. European Union leaders echoed those comments and were holding an emergency meeting on the Russian move.

The gas cutoff to Poland and Bulgaria came after Russian President Vladimir Putin said that “unfriendly” countries would need to start paying for gas in rubles, Russia’s currency, which Bulgaria and Poland refused to do.

Russian energy giant Gazprom said in a statement that it hadn’t received any payments from Poland and Bulgaria since April 1 and was suspending their deliveries starting Wednesday. And if those countries siphon off Russian gas intended for other European customers, Gazprom said deliveries to Europe will be reduced by that amount.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the announcement by Gazprom “is yet another attempt by Russia to use gas as an instrument of blackmail.”

Europe is not without some leverage in the dispute, since it pays Russia $400 million a day for gas, money Putin would lose with a complete cutoff.

Russia, however, rejected the idea that it was using blackmail while warning it may halt gas supplies to other European customers if they also refuse to switch to paying in rubles.

Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, argued that the Russian demand to switch to paying for gas in rubles resulted from Western actions that froze Russian hard currency assets. He said those were effectively “stolen” by the West in an “unprecedented unfriendly action.”

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told Poland’s parliament that he thinks the suspension was revenge for new sanctions against Russia that Warsaw imposed over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Morawiecki called it an “attack on Poland” and an example of “gas imperialism” while vowing that Poland would not be cowed by the cutoff. He said the country was safe from an energy crisis thanks to years of efforts to secure gas from other countries.

“We will not succumb to Russia’s gas blackmail,” he told lawmakers, to applause. He also sought to assure citizens that the gas cutoff would not affect Polish households.

Some Poles and Bulgarians welcomed the cutoff for moving them closer to independence from Russian energy.

“I don’t know what the results will be for regular citizens like myself,” said Nina Rudnicka, a lecturer at Poznan University. “But I believe that one should not bow to Russia’s blackmail. It was the right decision not to change to payment in rubles.”

Dobrin Todorov, a resident of Sofia, the Bulgarian capital, said given a “choice between freedom and dignity or gas, the answer is clear, in favor of freedom and dignity.”

“So we will go through this ordeal. It cannot be compared to the hardship and tribulations that the Ukrainian people are currently suffering,” Todorov added.

The new Polish sanctions against Russia, announced Tuesday, targeted 50 Russian oligarchs and companies, including Gazprom. Hours later, Poland said it had received notice that Gazprom was cutting off its gas supplies for failing to pay in Russian rubles. Poland’s gas company, PGNiG, said the gas supplies from the Yamal pipeline stopped early Wednesday.

Russian gas supplies to both Poland and Bulgaria already were expected to end later this year anyway.

Poland relies on coal for 70% of its energy needs, with gas only making up around 7% of its energy mix. Several years ago, the country opened its first terminal for liquefied natural gas, or LNG, in Swinoujscie, on the Baltic Sea coast. A pipeline from Norway is to due to start operating this year.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, whose government has been cutting many of the country’s old ties with Russia, called Gazprom’s suspension of gas deliveries “a gross violation of their contract” and “blackmail.” He vowed to defend the country’s interests and “support military-technical assistance to Ukraine.”

“Unfortunately, in the recent past we were treated as Russia’s fifth column. And there are many political and economic circles that protect Russia’s interests,” he said. “We and our party will protect only Bulgarian interests.”

In Bulgaria, the main consumers of gas are district heating companies. Bulgaria’s energy minister said his country can meet the needs of users for at least one month.

“Alternative supplies are available, and Bulgaria hopes that alternative routes and supplies will also be secured at the EU level,” Energy Minister Alexander Nikolov said.

Russia’s move raised wider concerns that other countries could be targeted next as Western countries increase their support for Ukraine amid a war now in its third month.

The Greek government held an emergency meeting Wednesday in Athens. Greece’s next scheduled payment to Gazprom is due on May 25, and the government must decide whether it will comply with the demand to pay in rubles.

Greece is ramping up its liquefied natural gas storage capacity, and has contingency plans to switch several industry sectors from gas to diesel as an emergency energy source. It has also reversed a program to reduce domestic coal production.

“It appears there is some posturing by Gazprom,” said Gianna Bern a University of Notre Dame finance professor. “There are probably fewer consequences to turning off natural gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria than larger countries in Europe. Russia is definitely sending a message.”

If European nations decide not to pay in rubles, Russia can sell its oil elsewhere, such as to India and China, because oil primarily moves by ship.

It has less options with natural gas, because the pipeline network that carries gas from Russia’s huge deposits in northwestern Siberia’s Yamal Peninsula does not connect with pipelines that run to China. And Russia only has limited facilities to export super-chilled liquefied gas by ship.

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