California Official Urges Utilities To Craft Stronger Climate Adaptation Plans

A senior California energy official leading a new regulatory proceeding on climate change adaptation says utilities must develop stronger climate vulnerability assessments that include adequate prevention and response planning, arguing that current voluntary assessments are ignoring extreme events and scenarios. "I think we need to do them to a much more robust degree," said Kristin Ralff-Douglas, a senior policy analyst with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) during an Aug. 14 National Academies of Science (NAS) conference on climate assessments...