Bishop - Head of DWP spotlights city’s greener policies

David Nahai, CEO for LADWP, tells a large crowd Thursday night in the Methodist Church Fellowship Hall in Bishop about the company’s future plans for dealing with climate change. The talk was part of a three-day symposium focusing on climate change in the Eastern Sierra. Photo by Mike Bodine

The man in charge of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power explained to an audience in Bishop his and his company’s position on energy and water conservation and its dedication to limiting further greehouse gas emissions.
David Nahai, CEO and general manager for LADWP, was one of the keynote speakers for this week’s conference on climate change, “Climate. Ecosystems and Resources in Eastern California” or CEREC.
Prior to addressing the near-capacity crowd at the Methodist Church Fellowship Hall Thursday night, Nahai noted that “no other energy company in the world is doing more to redirect their approach toward utilizing Renewable Power Sources (RPS).”
He also said that climate change and global warming from man-made greenhouse gases is obvious and something any rational person would admit to as real.
Nahai was invited to the CEREC to present LADWP’s visions for dealing with climate change in a talk titled, “Looking to the Future: A Climate Strategy for LADWP.”

Nahai was introduced by Geoff McQuilken, executive director for the Mono Lake Committee. McQuilken began by expressing his relief that someone in Nahai’s position has such proactive views on climate change and looked forward to working with him. He said Nahai was also asked to speak because “climate change plays such a big role in water supplies.”
McQuilken also spoke of Nahai’s impressive resume that included a Master’s degree in Economics from UC Berkeley and his stint as a senior member of the L.A. Water Quality Control Board. He added that Nahai had only been in the driver’s seat of one of the largest power companies in the world for a year, then McQuilken shook Nahai’s hand and gazed out into the audience, some of whom have openly expressed their discontent with DWP policy, and said to Nahai, “Welcome, and good luck.”
Nahai opened the meeting by congratulating the conference on its successful turnout then got down to the business at hand.
“The debate about climate change and about what causes it is over,” Nahai said, and a soft, collective sigh could be heard from the crowd, comprised of many CEREC participants.
“You’d have to have had your head in the sand” not to believe in the recent flood of evidence proving “global warming is happening and human-caused,” he noted.
Nahai also said that global warming has its costs, like hurricanes or the fires in Southern California.

“Tell me where the environment stops and the economy begins?” he would say later.
But, he added, that in light of global warming evidence, especially the well attended CEREC with so many distinguished scientists, “The key question is really, what is not acting going to cost?”
Nahai then went on to detail and show by example the City of Los Angeles’ plans and commitments to use renewable energy sources and conserve and recycle as much water and energy as it can in preparation for the unpredictable weather changes ahead.
He said LADWP is trying to get away from one of the major causes of greenhouse gases, coal-burning power plants.
A pie-chart, displayed on a large screen behind Nahai, was cut into slices representing the sources LADWP utilizes for energy production. Principal to this chart, Nahai explained, was the slice for coal, at 46 percent, and the slice for renewable energy sources, at 8 percent. The rest of the chart had another large slice for natural gas, as well as hydroelectric and nuclear power sources.
He said two years ago, renewable sources made up only 2 percent of the pie. He said this was the most rapid pace of change to renewable energy of any utility in the country.
“A beacon to the world” was how Nahai then referred to California legislation AB 32 that requires carbon emissions from utilities to be down to 1990 levels by 2020 and, SB 1368 that prohibits the import of energy from sources that cause greenhouse gases.
Nahai went on to say that LADWP has refused to renew contracts with coal-generating power plants.
Nahai then explained that the problems with any legislation trying to control greenhouse emissions is the lack of regulation. “The largest problem in the world is trying to be fixed state by state and city by city.”
He was then loudly applauded when he said that he was confident in the newly elected administration’s support of climate change regulations.
“DWP supports a direct regulatory program,” Nahai said. “How many CEOs of a major energy company are going to say that?”
He continued to say that L.A. is committed to going beyond the mandated state legislation requirements of 33 percent from RPS to 35 percent. Nahai added that, “LADWP has adopted a written policy that a new transmission line being built to connect with a Salton Sea geothermal plant will be dedicated for RPS use only.”
Before opening the floor to questions from the audience, Nahai spoke on the benefits from LADWP’s many Energy Efficiency Program including the refrigerator exchange program and the Small Business Direct Install that offers up to $2,500 in free lighting upgrades to qualifying companies.
The first comment from the public came from another member of the Mono Lake Committee who told Nahai he was so pleased to see someone with Nahai’s vision in such a key position concerning the environment.
Although he said at the beginning of the meeting that “he was here to talk about climate change, not water,” the opportunity to ask the CEO of DWP about the Owens Valley’s most precious resource could not be passed up.
Daniel Pritchett from the local Bristlecone Chapter of the California Native Plant Society first lauded him about his ideology and forward thinking, then asked him, “Does your plan include recovering the water table?”
“We will meet the obligations to the Owens Valley,” Nahai replied, adding that L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the rest of his staff and LADWP are working hard to meet those obligations.
Pritchett asked him again, this time with more specific details, to which Nahai repeated, “Whatever the obligations are, we will meet them.”
Nahai then gave Pritchett some direct examples of LADWP’s commitment to water conservation, like L.A.’s policy on new construction that requires rain-catching mechanisms and recycling waste water for irrigation and even drinking water. Nahai said people are now being ticketed for wasting water in L.A. Nahai added LADWP has committed to a $1.6 billion water recycling program.
“We don’t want anyone to think L.A. is wasting water,” Nahai said.
Then Bishop resident Sam Glass told Nahai that, if his and LADWP’s programs rely on the theory that current climate change and global warming are based on causation from man-made greenhouse gases, “then you need to do some research.” Glass then informed Nahai of a NASA Web site that showed proof that global temperatures were actually decreasing and that current climate change is just following chronic patterns.
Nahai replied that he had already addressed that issue at the beginning of the meeting and said, “We’ll have to agree to disagree.”