Starting today, Governor Newsom has convened a special session of the California Legislature. The special session is intended to “safeguard California values and fundamental rights in the face of an incoming Trump administration”. Climate action is listed as one of the topics of the special session. 

National grassroots environmental organization Food & Water Watch applauds Governor Newsom for his quick action in convening the session and urges him and the legislature to follow through with concrete, bold actions to protect our state from federal threats to California’s climate programs, and to also use the opportunity to rein in major polluters operating in the state. 

Governor Newsom should direct the California legislature in the special session to: 

1. Commit to further study of and strict regulation of hydrogen – one of the latest greenwashed false climate solutions that puts communities at risk. 
2. Stopping the egregious misuse of California’s water by Big Ag and Big Oil, including banning new and expanding mega-dairies and placing an immediate moratorium on new and expanding oil and gas operations in California.
3. Reject false solutions like factory farm biogas, carbon capture and storage and the Delta Conveyance Project. 
4. Pass a Climate Superfund Act that makes major polluters pay for climate impacts. 

This action should also not be limited to the legislature. Governor Newsom must take this moment to direct his administration to take real climate action. He can do so by: 

1. Ordering the California Public Utilities Commission at its December 19th meeting to reject its preliminary decision which could keep Aliso Canyon open indefinitely. 
2. Ordering the California Geologic Energy Management Division (CalGEM) to fully implement SB 1137 and stop permitting new drilling in the health and safety buffer zone between communities and wells. 

“If Governor Newsom wants to really show California’s leadership on the national stage, and preserve his climate legacy, he must use this special session to take bold action – and keep his climate promises to Californians,” said Nicole Ghio, California Director of Food & Water Watch. “Preserving California’s climate programs from federal intervention will be a vital fight over the coming years, but Newsom must also turn promises into action by implementing effective programs to hold Big Oil accountable and protect Californians from the climate crisis.”