Wouldn’t it be nice if we could outlaw wildfires? Or legislate against Polar Vortexes? That’s what California Governor Gavin Newsom is trying to do with carbon emissions from natural gas, the state’s largest generator of electricity. Just declare it zero-carbon and that’s that. At the end of September, Newsom signed into law Senate Bill 423, controversial legislation that considers natural gas a firm zero-carbon resource by default. But natural gas, a mixture of methane and other hydrocarbon gases, creates copious amounts of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide when burned – whether on a stove, in a furnace, or at a...
