Protecting & Preserving the Environment
Learn about our efforts to promote energy efficiency, renewable energy, clean natural gas and innovation.
As the nation’s largest natural gas utility, we are well aware of our responsibility to implement sustainable practices and remain a sound environmental steward. And, we gladly embrace this role.
We are proud to serve a region that places a high priority on environmental issues, with a wide array of organizations dedicated to important causes, such as urban greening, beach cleanups and clean air initiatives.
Among our activities in 2017
Earth Month 2017
For the month of April, Community Relations gave employees the opportunity to get involved at various locations, with more than 240 participants at seven cleanup sites:
- Bolsa Chica Conservancy
- Keep Riverside Clean
- Greater Bakersfield Green Expo
- Friends of the LA River
- Fairview Gardens
- Friends of Ballona Wetlands
- Ventura Hillside Conservancy.
Environmental Champions Initiative
For the third consecutive year, we sponsored an Environmental Champions Initiative that solicited grant proposals for innovative projects in the areas of clean air, clean energy and clean water. We awarded 42 grants totaling $520,000. Grants ranged from $10,000 - $25,000. Some projects of particular interest include:
- Community Conservation Solutions – help support the development of a four-acre natural park at the Ramona Gardens Housing Development in Northern Boyle Heights
- San Bernardino Valley College – expand their heavy-duty engine repair training program to include new cleaner technologies, including compressed natural gas, electric and hybrid engines.
- Los Angeles Conservation Corps.: SoCalGas funding will support a food waste prevention and rescue project, which will distribute edible food waste to a local food bank and expired food to an anaerobic digester for clean power generation. Up to 2.5 tons of food waste per day will be diverted from landfills.
- Santa Monica Bay Restoration Foundation: The grant will support the organization’s “Table-to-Farm Composting for Cleaner Air” project, which allows restaurants to deliver their organic waste to a four-bin compost system at Environmental Charter School in Inglewood for composting.
- Trust for Public Land: SoCalGas funding will help the organization’s “Green Alleys” program, which repurposes neighborhood alleys into vibrant, outdoor areas.
Other organizations we support:
- CicLAvia – San Pedro Meets Wilmington: More than 200 SoCalGas employees joined forces to help clean the air at CicLAvia’s San Pedro Meets Wilmington event on August 13. CicLAvia connects communities to each other across an expansive city, creating a safe place to bike, walk, skate, roll and dance through Los Angeles. As a proud sponsor of the event, SoCalGas shared information about how natural gas can help clean the air through clean, compressed natural gas (CNGs) for buses, fleets and trucks.
- Environmental Leadership Academy: SoCalGas is a founding member and supporter of the CSU San Marcos Environmental Leadership Academy. The goal of this program is to inform and engage elected leaders, professionals, students, and community members on issues that are consequential to our region, economies, and environment.
- Heal the Bay: Youth Environmental Education Program at the Santa Monica Bay Aquarium - Aquarium visitors are encouraged to explore the touch tanks, which are home to dozens of different local species of animals - from the commonly seen purple sea urchins, hermit crabs, and sea stars to the unique California sea hares, brittle stars, abalone, moray eels and tube worms. All of the algae, plant and marine life on exhibit are native to the Santa Monica Bay (some of the marine life on exhibit were rescued and rehabilitated from intake pipes used to cool nearby coastal power plants). The program provides approximately 15,000 Los Angeles County-based students (Pre-K to 12th grade) annually with:
- Access to high-impact marine science curriculum (which is aligned with California State Science Standards and supports Next Generation Science Standards);
- Hands-on learning opportunities not available in the classroom setting;
- Professional development opportunities for classroom teachers;
- Round-trip bus transportation to the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium (for qualifying schools and youth-serving organizations)
- An opportunity to interact with experts in the fields of marine biology, environmental science and education.