Californian politicians are rushing to make it easier for residents to rebuild their homes incinerated in the Los Angeles firestorms. That means waiving green construction mandates designed to combat climate change – which is driving such conflagrations by making conditions hotter and drier – as well as suspending environmental reviews and promising to expedite permits.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass issued an executive order last week to ease rebuilding nearly 3000 houses destroyed in Pacific Palisades. The order suspends an ordinance that would have required replacement homes to be all-electric, which would have greatly reduced the use of natural gas in a high-risk fire zone.
