Sammy Roth

Los Angeles

Climate Columnist at Los Angeles Times

Climate columnist @latimes, focused on clean energy. Formerly @MyDesert. Dodgers fan, hiker, co-host @TheHatchPodcast. Trying to be good to people.

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Articles

Commentary: California should move faster on clean energy. Some lawmakers want to take a break

1 week ago | latimes.com | Sammy Roth

Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, one of the most powerful people in Sacramento, just rammed a bill through his chamber that would place a six-year pause on new clean energy rules for homes in California, a few months after Los Angeles County was devastated by ferocious wildfires that demonstrated the urgency of climate change. The Hollister Democrat says he’s not trying to stop progress on confronting the climate crisis.
Boiling Point: Trump loves coal. Lithium-ion batteries, maybe not

2 weeks ago | latimes.com | Sammy Roth

Solar panels and lithium-ion battery units at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s Eland plant in Kern County. I didn’t know much about email newsletters when Sarah Day Owen, an editor at the Desert Sun in Palm Springs, asked if I would start writing a weekly guide to all things energy and water. But it sounded fun and useful. And so the Current was born. Nearly 10 years later, I’m still writing weekly news roundups, now for the L.A. Times. Don’t worry, Boiling Point isn’t ending.
It's 'certainly possible' utility sparked Eaton fire. But climate change made it worse

2 weeks ago | latimes.com | Sammy Roth

Before sitting down with Pedro Pizarro, president and chief executive officer of Edison International, I gave some thought to how I would ask him about the Eaton fire. Pizarro lives in Pasadena, not far from the charred remains of Altadena. His company’s biggest subsidiary — the utility Southern California Edison, which supplies electricity to 15 million people — has been accused in dozens of lawsuits of igniting the fire.
Boiling Point: The rooftop solar debate that never ends

3 weeks ago | latimes.com | Sammy Roth

Solar panels on the roof of Mandalay Bay Convention Center on the Las Vegas Strip. For the latest episode of the “Boiling Point” podcast, I invited two of the most prominent voices in California’s long-running rooftop solar debate to hash out their differences. The result helped explain why it’s so difficult to make faster progress on climate — even in the Golden State. Brad Heavner, executive director of the California Solar & Storage Assn., slammed Gov.
Roth: Time to tame California’s out-of-control electric bills

3 weeks ago | pressdemocrat.com | Sammy Roth

Uncomfortable truth time: The biggest reason California’s electric rates are rising so fast is that utility companies are spending billions of dollars each year to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires. Does that mean Southern California Edison, Pacific Gas & Electric and San Diego Gas & Electric should spend less money trimming trees, burying power lines and funding night-flying Chinook helitankers?
Californians pay too much for electricity. Here are three bold solutions

3 weeks ago | latimes.com | Sammy Roth

Gov. Gavin Newsom walks down the aisle at the State Capitol in Sacramento in December. Politicians love to chase easy answers. Alas, when it comes to California’s rising electric rates, there aren’t any. If limiting rate increases were simple, elected officials would have done it by now. But electric bills keep climbing.
Boiling Point: Speaking truth to Trump on climate change

4 weeks ago | latimes.com | Sammy Roth

The U.S. Constitution, seen at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. The 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” But even if the federal government can’t make laws abridging your freedom of speech (with a few...
Wildfires are driving up California electric bills. Lawmakers need to act

1 month ago | thebrunswicknews.com | Sammy Roth

By Sammy Roth, Los Angeles Times Uncomfortable truth time: The biggest reason California's electric rates are rising so fast is that utility companies are spending billions of dollars each year to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires. Does that mean Southern California Edison, Pacific Gas & Electric and San Diego Gas & Electric should spend less money trimming trees, burying power lines and funding night-flying Chinook helitankers?
Wildfires are driving up California electric bills. Lawmakers need to act

1 month ago | latimes.com | Sammy Roth

Uncomfortable truth time: The biggest reason California’s electric rates are rising so fast is that utility companies are spending billions of dollars each year to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires. Does that mean Southern California Edison, Pacific Gas & Electric and San Diego Gas & Electric should spend less money trimming trees, burying power lines and funding night-flying Chinook helitankers?
Why you shouldn't make deals with the (climate) devil

1 month ago | latimes.com | Sammy Roth

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, flanked by Vice President JD Vance, right, and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, speaks in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 3, 2025. I saw a great meme created by Dustin Mulvaney, an environmental studies professor at San José State University. It has to do with President Trump’s efforts to undo regulations under the National Environmental Policy Act.