As an adjunct to comprehensive planning for future electricity supply/demand in the state, California needs a widespread re-articulation of its policies and programs on natural gas, according to Joseph Desmond, California Energy Commission chairman, speaking Monday at the opening session of the three-day American Public Power Association (APPA) national meeting in Anaheim, CA.

Noting that the state imports about 85% of the gas it currently uses, Desmond said the bottom line is that California need a lot more gas, and from that perspective, the state currently is looking at “all of its options.”

Among the options are to increase the amount of natural gas produced domestically in some of the historically plentiful gas production fields in the central valley of the state, expanding the pipelines serving the state (both interstate and in-state transmission), and the importation of new supplies through liquefied natural gas (LNG).

“All of these are on the table, and we continue to focus on the environmental impacts and the need and safety issues,” Desmond said. “But when I said California needs more gas, I think we’ll find a way to express that.”

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