Southern California Gas Co. v. California State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission

Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas) and the California Energy Commission (CEC) agreed to settle a lawsuit in which SoCalGas contended that the CEC was unlawfully implementing a policy to eliminate use of natural gas. Details of the settlement were not available, but a CEC spokesperson said the CEC had not taken, and did not have plans to take, the steps SoCalGas sought in the lawsuit, which included preparation of certain new reports.

A gas distribution utility, the union representing its workers, and a company that provides renewable natural gas for the transportation market filed a lawsuit in California state court alleging that the California Energy Commission (CEC) had disregarded state law by deciding “to substantially eliminate” use of natural gas in the state. The plaintiffs alleged that the CEC violated the California Natural Gas Act when it issued a 2019 Integrated Energy Policy Report (IEPR) with an appendix intended to satisfy its Natural Gas Act obligations. The plaintiffs said the CEC was required to publish a Natural Gas Act Report “as a separate document that identifies strategies and options to maximize the benefits of natural gas” for each of 10 statutory criteria. They contended that the “Anti-Natural Gas Policy” embodied in the 2019 IEPR was an “underground regulation” that violated the California Administrative Procedure Act’s rulemaking requirements.

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