Thousands still without power in California

by Zack Budryk and Rachel Frazin - 02/27/23 7:22 PM ET

Energy & Environment

The Big Story

Californians brace for more snow amid power outages

Rare snowfall in California left thousands of residents without power after a weekend of winter weather.

As of Monday afternoon, about 60,000 Californians were still without power, including 12,000 in Los Angeles County, according to the tracking site PowerOutage.us.

More than 9,000 of those without power are located in the Golden State’s central Mariposa and Madera counties.

National Weather Service estimates put the mountain snow at more than 7 feet in parts of San Diego’s mountainous regions. Down the coast, some areas received more than 3 inches of rain.

Our colleague Sharon Udasin has more on the weather at TheHill.com.

Welcome to The Hill’s Energy & Environment newsletter, we’re Rachel Frazin and Zack Budryk — keeping you up to speed on the policies impacting everything from oil and gas to new supply chains.

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Essential Reads

How policy will affect the energy and environment sectors now and in the future:

Judge won’t block Nevada lithium mine

A federal judge on Friday declined to block a proposed Nevada lithium mine, the second consecutive defeat for a coalition of environmental groups seeking to halt the project.

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UN secretary-general knocks ‘climate-wrecking corporations’ in human rights remarks

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called on “climate-wrecking corporations” to be held accountable through legal challenges in remarks to the Human Rights Council on Monday.

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Thousands of Californians still without power; parts of state brace for more snow

Tens of thousands of Californians were still without power on Monday morning, after an unusual bout of winter weather battered the state with rain and snow this weekend.

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In Other News

Branch out with a different read from The Hill:

People in Maryland, West Virginia find mysterious dust on cars. What is it?

Residents of western Maryland and eastern West Virginia on Friday morning found their cars and other things outside coated in dust.

Scott Bachmeier, with the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS), said meteorologists were tracking blowing dust in New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma. The dust layer moved from the Great Plains over to West Virginia.

Full Story

What We’re Reading

News we’ve flagged from other outlets touching on energy issues, the environment and other topics:

Maryland governor taps gas industry official to help regulate gas industry (The Washington Post)
More than 13 million people to see new hurricane wind risks (Axios)
‘We can’t find people to work’: The newest threat to Biden’s climate policies (Politico)
In 1996, the EPA was ordered to test pesticides for impacts on people’s hormones. They still don’t. (Environmental Health Network)

On Tap

Upcoming news themes and events we’re watching:

The House Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing Tuesday on a permitting reform bill
The House Energy & Commerce Committee’s Energy, Climate, and Grid Security Subcommittee will hold a markup on nine bills.
The House Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing on the Transparency and Production of American Energy Act of 2023 and the Permitting for Mining Needs Act of 2023
The House Science, Space and Technology Committee will hold a hearing on creating a national science and technology strategy
The full House is set to vote this week on a Congressional Review Act resolution seeking to take down a rule that eased restrictions for financial advisers on Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) investing.

What Others are Reading

Two key stories on The Hill right now:

COVID origin report reignites firestorm over ‘lab leak’ theory

A new federal assessment saying a lab leak was the likely origin of COVID-19 is feeding new oxygen into Republican calls for further investigations, even as scientists and the intelligence community say the issue is still far from resolved. Read more

Fox lawsuit docs show Murdoch acknowledged several hosts backed Trump’s fraud claims

Rupert Murdoch, the billionaire conservative media mogul who owns Fox News Channel, acknowledged that top hosts at his network endorsed former President Trump’s false claims of a fraudulent election in 2020, court documents filed on Monday show. Read more