In a conversation with Quitting Carbon, the Building Decarbonization Coalition’s Beckie Menten gives an update on the rollout of SB 1221, landmark legislation that authorizes 30 neighborhood decarbonization pilots across California.

To deliver gas to millions of homes and businesses in California, gas utilities operate more than 100,000 miles of transmission and distribution pipelines across the state. But maintaining that vast network of pipelines is expensive – $3 million per mile on average in California, according to the Building Decarbonization Coalition, a non-profit advocacy group focused on eliminating fossil fuels from buildings.

Policymakers know California cannot meet its long-term climate targets unless the state’s fossil gas dependency is broken. But if customers leave the gas system on a one-off, ad hoc basis by, for example, retrofitting their homes to run only on electric appliances like heat pumps, the customers who remain on the system will have to pick up a larger share of the cost of maintaining the sprawling gas distribution network.

This reality prompted then-state Senator Dave Min (D) to introduce legislation last year that aims to being the process of pruning branches from the gas network. Signed by Governor Gavin Newsom (D) in September 2024, SB 1221 authorizes California’s gas utilities to launch up to 30 voluntary pilot projects – so-called “neighborhood decarbonization zones” – and retire aging gas pipeline sections over the next five years.