LOS ANGELES, June 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Southern
California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) today announced it will continue its
grant program that helps California cities become more resilient in the
face of climate change risks such as flooding, wildfires, extreme
heat, drought, sea level rise, and other extreme weather events.
The competitive grant program provides $50,000 to each of two municipalities in the
utility's service territory and is designed to help cities and
counties reduce the impact of climate change-related threats, which
are expected to increase over the next decade. An advisory panel of
planning and sustainability experts from Climate Resolve and the
American Planning Association-California Chapter (APA-California)
will select the winning applications from across Southern and
Central California.
"Having a diverse energy supply that includes natural gas gives
cities the ability to recover more quickly from disasters,
increasing their resiliency," said George
Minter, regional vice president of external affairs and
environmental strategy for SoCalGas. "And when natural gas is
derived from renewable sources like wastewater, landfills, or dairy
farms, it reduces greenhouse gases that contribute to climate
change."
"Climate change demands proactive and immediate responses across
all planning sectors, including land use, transportation, natural
resource management, public health and economic
development," said Ashley
Atkinson, director of the American Planning Association's
Los Angeles section. "This kind of
investment in planning is critical to creating stronger
communities."
"Climate change is upon us. The impacts of climate pollution are
already being felt in Southern
California in the form of prolonged and more severe
droughts, larger and more intense wildfires, more intense
precipitation events, hotter heat waves … the list goes on," said
Bryn Lindblad, Climate Resolve's
deputy director. "Cities and counties must take stock of this 'new
normal' and plan for ways that they can improve their climate
resilience."
Grant proposals will be assessed according to the following
criteria:
Collaboration: The extent to which the proposal reflects
coordination and partnerships with a diverse range of stakeholders
such as energy and water utilities, transportation, housing
agencies, etc.
Disadvantaged Communities: SoCalGas encourages applicants
to address vulnerabilities in disadvantaged communities.
Co-Benefits: The extent to which the proposal identifies
potential added benefits of the adaptation work, such as benefits
to public health, air quality, reductions in greenhouse gas
emissions, and the economy.
The annual grants will be funded by shareholders and will not
impact natural gas bills. The deadline to submit proposals is
September 20, 2019.
Last year, the City of Redlands
and the City of Artesia were
awarded the two SoCalGas adaptation and resiliency grants. Both
cities used the funds to update their hazard mitigation plans,
which help cities plan and prepare for natural disasters and
extreme weather events. Because of the grants, Redlands and Artesia became eligible for Federal hazard
mitigation awards that require matching funds from local
sources.
SoCalGas is a leader in developing and investing in technologies
that reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions linked to
climate change. Earlier this year, the company announced plans to
offer renewable natural gas to its 21 million customers in Central
and Southern California. The
program is part of SoCalGas' overall vision to be the cleanest
natural gas utility in North
America. As part of this plan, the utility committed to
displacing 20 percent of its traditional natural gas supply with
RNG by 2030 and replacing five percent of the traditional gas
supply with RNG by 2022.
Research shows that replacing about 20 percent of California's traditional natural gas supply
with RNG would lower emissions equal to retrofitting every building
in the state to run on electric only energy and at a fraction of
the cost. Using RNG in buildings can be two to three times less
expensive than any all-electric strategy and does not require
families or businesses to purchase new appliances or take on costly
construction projects.
For more information about SoCalGas' environmental initiatives,
go to socalgas.com/smart-energy.
About SoCalGas
Headquartered in Los
Angeles, SoCalGas® is the largest natural
gas distribution utility in the United States. SoCalGas delivers affordable,
reliable, clean and increasingly renewable natural gas service to
21.8 million customers across 24,000 square miles of
Central and Southern California, where more than 90 percent of
residents use natural gas for heating, hot water, cooking, drying
clothes or other uses. Natural gas delivered through the company's
pipelines also plays a key role in providing electricity to
Californians—about 45 percent of electric power
generated in the state comes from gas-fired power
plants.
SoCalGas' vision is to be the cleanest natural gas utility in
North America, delivering
affordable and increasingly renewable energy to its customers. In
support of that vision, SoCalGas is committed to replacing 20
percent of its traditional natural gas supply with renewable
natural gas (RNG) by 2030. Renewable natural gas is made from
waste created by dairy farms, landfills and wastewater treatment
plants. SoCalGas is also committed to investing in its natural gas
system infrastructure while keeping bills affordable for our
customers. From 2014 through 2018, the company invested
nearly $6.5 billion to upgrade and modernize its natural
gas system to enhance safety and reliability. SoCalGas is a
subsidiary of Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE), an energy
services holding company based in San Diego. For more
information visit socalgas.com/newsroom or connect with
SoCalGas on Twitter (@SoCalGas), Instagram (@SoCalGas)
and Facebook.
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SOURCE Southern California Gas Company