LOS ANGELES, Jan. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- SoCalGas today
announced the City of Loma Linda,
the City of Malibu and
Los Angeles County each have been
selected to receive $50,000 grants as
part the utility's Climate Adaptation and Resiliency Planning Grant
program. The grants will support local efforts to prepare for
climate-change risks such as wildfires, drought, sea level rise,
flooding, and other events.
The winning applications were selected from across Southern and
Central California by an advisory
panel of planning and sustainability experts from the Los Angeles
Regional Collaborative for Climate Action and Sustainability
(LARC), Climate Resolve, and the American Planning
Association-California Chapter (APA-California). Recipients
were judged based on their proposal's emphasis on: collaboration
among various agencies; addressing vulnerabilities in disadvantaged
communities; and benefits beyond resiliency, such as to public
health, air quality, reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, and
the economy. The grant program is funded by SoCalGas
shareholders and does not impact natural gas bills. Photos of the
grant presentations are available here.
"Collaboration between energy providers and local governments
will be critical to fight climate change, prepare for its impacts,
and to ensure that our collective planning efforts deliver diverse
and affordable clean energy options for families and businesses,"
said Sharon Tomkins, SoCalGas chief
environmental officer and vice president of strategy and
engagement.
"Inclusive, community-centered planning practices are needed to
develop climate adaptation strategies that work best for local
residents," said Bryn Lindblad,
deputy director of Climate Resolve. "This year's awardees really
exemplify that collaborative spirit of co-creating solutions
alongside their constituents. The projects also aim to enhance
equity by prioritizing the needs of vulnerable populations."
"Cities and agencies across our region understand the immediacy
of the need to plan their responses to climate change," said
Ashley Atkinson, Los Angeles section director for the American
Planning Association. "The support of this program enables them to
engage in necessary resilience planning and create stronger
Southern California
communities."
Los Angeles County will use its
grant to prepare an Adaptive Capacity Assessment for disadvantaged
communities in unincorporated Los Angeles
County, which will inform and be incorporated into the
County's Safety Element Update.
"This grant will support L.A. County's efforts to help the
unincorporated area communities adapt and develop resiliency in the
face of climate change," said Amy J.
Bodek, AICP, Director of Regional Planning for Los Angeles County. "The County's Department
of Regional Planning will use the grant to prepare an Adaptive
Capacity Assessment, which will create adaptation strategies for
the 2,600 square miles of unincorporated Los Angeles County as well as for County
department operations."
The City of Loma Linda will use
its grant to update its local hazard mitigation plan as well as the
Safety Element of its General Plan. Both plans will look at
ways to alter the built environment so that life and property
losses from natural hazards can be avoided or reduced. The SoCalGas
grant will also make the city eligible for federal hazard
mitigation grants which require matching funds from local
sources.
"The City's Hazard Mitigation Plan (HMP) includes a
comprehensive assessment of the threats that Loma Linda faces from both natural and
human-caused hazards, as well as a set of coordinated policy
recommendations to reduce these threats," said Shannon Kendall, emergency services coordinator,
for the Loma Linda Fire Department
and East Valley Fire Command. "The updated HMP will be incorporated
into out city's General Plan, which will create a stronger
mechanism for implementing hazard mitigation activities."
Malibu will use its grant to
create a comprehensive and actionable Community Resilience and
Adaptation Plan that will be integrated into the Safety Element of
the City's General Plan.
"The City of Malibu's
mountains-meet-the-sea landscape is especially vulnerable to
extreme weather events and climate change," said Shea Cunningham, Malibu's environmental programs coordinator.
"This grant award provides the City with a critical jumpstart to
craft an actionable resilience and climate adaptation plan to help
protect the community."
"The City Council recognizes we are in a state of climate
emergency, and we must take positive steps toward reducing the
impacts of climate change on the City of
Malibu's population and infrastructure. We sincerely
appreciate the support of SoCalGas to create a comprehensive plan
to become a more resilient community," said City of Malibu Mayor Karen Farrer.
A study on the impacts of four climate-related disasters on the
energy sector found that natural gas infrastructure exhibited
significant resilience because it is underground. In
addition, the study showed that backup generation powered by
natural gas pipelines can provide on-site electricity generation
for hospitals, relief centers and other critical facilities during
a disaster. A summary of its findings may be found here.
SoCalGas is a leader in developing and investing in technologies
that reduce greenhouse gas emissions linked to climate change. The
company has been working to increase the amount of renewable
natural gas (RNG) produced in California, and has
committed to replacing 20 percent of its traditional natural gas
supply with RNG by 2030. Renewable natural gas is made from methane
emissions captured from landfills, wastewater treatment plants,
dairies and other waste sources. It can be used in any way
traditionally-sourced natural gas is used. SoCalGas is also
promoting the development of technology that stores surplus
renewable energy in the form of renewable gas. This "power-to-gas"
technology uses existing infrastructure to store renewable energy
and can store it for months or longer.
To learn more about what SoCalGas is doing to reduce emissions
linked to climate change click here.
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