LOS ANGELES, Jan. 11, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Southern California
Gas Co. (SoCalGas) today announced that the City of Compton, the City of Anaheim and the City of Palmdale have been selected as
recipients of the utility's 2020 Climate Adaptation and Resiliency
Planning Grant program. Each of the three local governments
will receive a $50,000 grant to
support local planning efforts to help prepare for and recover from
climate change risks such as extreme heat, wildfires, drought,
subsidence, sea level rise, flooding and mudslides.
The Climate Adaptation and Resiliency Planning Grant Program is
a shareholder-funded initiative that has awarded $400,000 over the past three years. An
advisory panel of planning and sustainability experts from the Los
Angeles Regional Collaborative for Climate Action and
Sustainability (LARC) and the American Planning
Association-California Chapter (APA-California) reviewed the
project submissions and selected the recipients.
"Our infrastructure continues to support the growth of
renewables like wind and solar, as well as renewable gas to help
reach the states' climate goals," said Jawaad Malik, vice president of strategy,
sustainability and chief environmental officer. "The climate
resiliency and adaptation grants will help kickstart many new
projects across Southern
California, allowing local communities to prepare for risks
from climate change."
The City of Palmdale plans to
use this grant to update the City's FEMA-approved Local Hazard
Mitigation Plan (LHMP) with a specific focus on climate risks.
"As our City moves forward to meet and comply with both State
and Federal environmental regulations, this grant will help us
identify and prioritize the concrete and innovative projects we
will need as we grow," said Palmdale Mayor Steve
Hofbauer. "Our Local Hazard Mitigation Plan will
offer an up-to-date and comprehensive assessment of the risk and
vulnerability from natural hazards to the City's critical
facilities, infrastructure, economy, and population, while helping
to identify the projects needed to mitigate the identified
hazards."
These funds will allow for the City of
Compton to update the safety element of its General Plan and
LHMP to address current and projected climate change impacts. These
changes will be reflective of the issues the population of
Compton currently faces such as
extreme heat and high levels of pollution.
"The City of Compton plans to
use this grant to assist with our communities to better adapt and
become further resilient towards climate change," said
Compton City Manager
Craig J. Cornwell. "With the
help of this grant from SoCalGas, we are excited to begin
implementing these funds to update our local hazard mitigation plan
and the city's safety element of the general plan."
The City of Anaheim is
committed to using this grant to address climate resiliency in a
way that supports forecasted economic and population growth while
recognizing the differing properties of its diverse community.
Their Climate Action Plan focuses on three challenges that the
community is currently facing: wildfire, drought and extreme
heat.
"As shapers of the built environment, planners recognize
our critical role in helping the communities we serve prepare
for the risks associated with climate change," said Ashley Atkinson, president-elect of the American
Planning Association's California Chapter. "We're grateful to
SoCalGas for helping local cities elevate climate adaptation among
competing priorities by providing grant funding for essential plan
updates."
"As LA's regional climate collaborative, LARC
supports cross-jurisdictional collaboration and facilitates
the exchange of information, best practices, and cutting-edge
research" said Erin Coutts,
LARC's executive director. "We are excited to advise a grant
program that encourages partnerships and will help our
cities address climate vulnerabilities in disadvantaged
communities."
Recipients were judged based on their proposal's emphasis on
addressing vulnerabilities in disadvantaged communities;
collaboration among various agencies; and benefits beyond
resiliency, such as public health, air quality, reductions in
greenhouse gas emissions, and the economy.
SoCalGas is a leader in researching and developing new
technologies that improve energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse
gas emissions linked to climate change. The utility is working to
increase the production and use of renewable natural gas, which
turns waste from dairies, farms, wastewater and landfills, into a
source of clean and renewable energy to fuel homes and businesses.
Research into other renewable gases, like hydrogen, is also part of
SoCalGas' mission to be the cleanest, safest and most innovative
energy company in America. SoCalGas recently announced
multiple hydrogen projects, including its hydrogen blending
demonstration program. Learn more about SoCalGas' mission here.
About SoCalGas
Headquartered in Los Angeles, SoCalGas® is
the largest gas distribution utility in the
United States. SoCalGas delivers
affordable, reliable, clean and increasingly renewable 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. 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 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 gas delivery
infrastructure while keeping bills affordable for our customers.
From 2014 through 2018, the company invested nearly $6.5
billion to upgrade and modernize its pipeline 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