LA City Council Votes to Allow Billion Dollar Scattergood Gas Plant Retrofit to Move Forward

The Los Angeles City Council voted 10-3 to reject an appeal from environmental groups and let the Department of Water and Power move forward with a $1 billion retrofit of the Scattergood gas plant. The plan would let Scattergood burn a mix of natural gas and hydrogen. LADWP first announced the retrofit in 2022 as part of its path to 100% renewable energy by 2035, but critics say the city has no real source of hydrogen to burn, especially after a related hydrogen pipeline project, Angeles Link, was recently canceled. Council members Yaroslavsky, Raman, and Hernandez voted to back the appeal; Councilmember Soto-Martinez recused himself over hydrogen-related investments.

Opponents, including the Sierra Club, Food & Water Watch, Los Angeles Waterkeeper, and other groups, argue the plant will likely just run on gas for decades, since green hydrogen isn't available and is costly and water-intensive to produce. They say LADWP is falling behind on its own solar and storage goals and that ratepayers could be paying off this gas plant for 50 years. The plant sits near Inglewood, Hawthorne, and Lennox, communities that already deal with pollution from fossil fuel infrastructure.

For homeowners, this doesn't change any rebate or program you can apply for. It's a reminder that Los Angeles's broader shift to clean electricity is moving slower than planned, and that ratepayers may see costs tied to this gas plant investment show up in utility bills over time.