California can do more to ensure a just energy transition, climate activist says
Good morning, happy hump day and welcome to the A.M. Alert!
A JUST TRANSITION?
Even one of the most anti-oil environmental justice advocates said California needs to do more to ensure an equitable transition away from fossil fuels.
Miguel Allatore Jr., co-founder of environmental justice group UNIDOS Network, Inc. and board president of Fossil Free California, said electric vehicles and energy efficient homes are “not accessible” for rural and low-income communities. Allatore spoke Tuesday at a California Air Resources Board event in Sacramento to unveil a fleet of new mobile air quality monitors for pollution-heavy communities.
“I really want to push the legislature, CARB and the state of California as a whole to help us make our homes more efficient,” he told The Bee after the event.
Allatore comes from a family with a history of environmental activism: in the 1980s his grandparents organized neighbors in their small Central Valley town of Kettleman City to successfully block construction of a chemical waste incinerator.
A century ago, the town “was founded by the oil industry, but then they pulled out and the gift that they left our community is a really degraded water quality,” he said. “The groundwater was completely polluted by that fossil fuel infrastructure.”
Despite its distrust of oil companies, the rural community isn’t immune to the struggles over the cost of utilities.
On a recent 104-degree day, “there were some community members that didn’t turn on their AC because they were like, ‘How am I going to afford the bill?’” Allatore said. “That was just one day. What’s the whole summer looking like?”
Allatore wouldn’t comment on California’s high gasoline prices, which have become the center of debate in the state Capitol over how much the state’s aggressive climate goals contribute to the high cost of living.
“CARB is directly responsible for the affordability crisis in California,” Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains, D-Delano, told The Bee after she called on CARB Chair Liane Randolph to resign and faced criticism from some fellow Democrats.
“Everybody wants air that they can breathe that’s clean. But do you want to do it off the backs of poor people? This transition has happened in a way that is unjust to people that cannot keep up,” Bains said.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office criticized Bains — who represents oil-rich Kern County — as “join(ing) Trump in carrying water for big polluters.” Environmental groups pointed out Bains has taken tens of thousands in campaign contributions from oil companies.
Randolph was slated to attend the CARB news conference Tuesday but was not present.
A CARB spokesperson said there was a “scheduling conflict” and in a statement said Randolph “has dedicated her life to public service and remains committed to working with the legislature to address affordability concerns.”
SENATE CONTINUES EFFORTS TO PROTECT TRANS CALIFORNIANS
Via Molly Gibbs…
Rising tension between President Donald Trump and Gov. Gavin Newsom isn’t slowing down state legislators’ efforts to protect transgender Californians. Two trans rights bills, authored by state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, passed the Senate with votes of 28-10, with strong Democratic support.
“As the Trump Administration wages all-out assault on the very existence of transgender people, this vote sends a powerful signal that they will always have a home in California,” Wiener said in a news release Tuesday.
In 2022, Newsom signed SB 107 and established California as a state of refuge for transgender people. Wiener’s SB 497, aims to further protect transgender Californians by limiting access to their health care records. Providers would be barred from complying with subpoenas that require them to disclose medical information related to gender affirming care.
The bill would also expand the states’ transgender shield laws, which are meant to protect transgender people’s right to receive gender affirming care. These laws prohibit cooperation with out-of-state investigations related to a person’s care. Under the new bill, warrants would be required for law enforcement to obtain information from the state’s healthcare database. Accessing and knowingly sharing that information with law enforcement without a warrant would be punishable as a misdemeanor.
The second bill that passed Monday, SB 59, would extend protections of the Transgender Youth Privacy Act, to individuals over 18. The bill would retroactively make all records held by courts about a name, gender and/or sex change confidential. This protects transgender people’s right to privacy outside of the health care realm.
The bills advanced amid an ongoing battle between Trump and Newsom over transgender athletes. On Monday night, Trump threatened “large scale fines” in a Truth Social post after a transgender athlete was allowed to compete in the State Track and Field Championship over the weekend.
“A Biological Male competed in California Girls State Finals, WINNING BIG, despite the fact that they were warned by me not to do so,” part of Trump’s post reads, referring to his demand that a specific trans female athlete be banned from competing.
While the athlete was not banned, the California Interscholastic Federation did change its policy ahead of the championship. Cisgender female athletes that lost a qualifying position to a transgender athlete in the high, triple and/or long jump were able to compete. Medals were also different in those events, allowing a cisgender female athlete to share a placement with a transgender athlete.
Outrage over call to rename USNS Harvey Milk
Via Rebecca-Ann Jattan…
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wants to rename the USNS Harvey Milk, a Navy ship named after the LGBTQ activist, according to defense department officials.
Upon reviewing a memorandum from the Office of the Secretary of Defense and interviews with unnamed officials, Military.com reported the renaming of the navy oiler.
The anonymous defense official noted the intentional timing of the announcement during Pride month and confirmed the Navy’s movements towards the change ordered by Hegseth. The news was set for public release on June 13.
Harvey Milk was a lieutenant in the United States Navy, politician and gay rights leader. He served in the Navy during the Korean War but resigned in 1955 after being questioned about his sexual orientation.
In 1977, he was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, becoming one of the first openly gay elected officials in American history. He was assassinated almost one year after taking office.
“Secretary Hegseth is committed to ensuring that the names attached to all DOD installations and assets are reflective of the Commander-in-Chief’s priorities, our nation’s history, and the warrior ethos. Any potential renaming(s) will be announced after internal reviews are complete,” Sean Parnell, chief Pentagon spokesman, said in an email statement.
The USNS Harvey Milk is an oiler in the John Lewis class, a group of Navy vessels named after prominent civil rights figures.
California Lawmakers condemned Hegseth’s decision.
In a post on X, Gov. Gavin Newsom rebuked the move by the Trump administration while praising Harvey Milk.
“Stripping his name from a Navy ship won’t erase his legacy as an American icon, but it does reveal Trump’s contempt for the very values our veterans fight to protect,” Newsom said.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, released a statement highlighting Milk and John Lewis’ contributions to American civil society. She called the “spiteful move” a “shameful, vindictive erasure of those who fought to break down barriers for all to chase the American Dream,” while urging the Navy to reconsider this decision.
Sen. Alex Padilla, D-California, reprimanded the “petty culture wars” driven by Trump and Hegseth’s attempt to undermine the LGBTQ community, in an X post. He called on Hegseth and Navy Secretary, John Phelan, to reconsider and maintain Milk’s legacy.
State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, joined his fellow Bay Area lawmakers in criticizing Hegseth’s order.
“Brave LGBTQ veterans worked for years to achieve the naming of a ship for Harvey,” he said in a social media post.” “Now they’re wiping it away due to straight up bigotry. They’re determined to erase LGBTQ people from all aspects of public life.”
Other lawmakers across the state chimed in, too.
“This order is not only outrageous — it is a profound insult to the countless LGBTQ+ service members, both past and present, who have bravely defended this nation,” said Assemblymember Mark González, D-Los Angeles, who is a member of California’s Legislative LGBTQ Caucus.
The Secretary of the Navy’s office did not respond to SacBee’s request for comment.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Sacramento delivers a lot of mandates to Californians, and voters spoke loud and clear in sending a mandate back to Sacramento with their overwhelming support (for) Prop 36. Now these reforms need to be funded.”
— Candidate for governor Antonio Villaraigosa on the debate over funding for Prop 36
Best of The Bee:
Republicans’ Spanish-language ad criticizes Democrat on tax vote. Is it fair? via David Lightman
Hwy. 50 construction, already behind schedule, will last another year in Sacramento, via Ariane Lange
Judge dismisses Gavin Newsom’s lawsuit challenging Trump tariffs — for now, via Lia Russell