In December of 2024, we proclaimed to a room of SoCalGas executives our anger and disappointment at their rushed, reckless attempt to build massive pipelines to move hydrogen throughout the city of Los Angeles. Known as the Angeles Link Project, we knew that we needed to stop this dangerous boondoggle. We and our allies walked out, resigning from the project’s community-based stakeholder group in protest. 

But our advocacy didn’t end when we walked out. We’ve since been pulling every lever possible to stop this dangerous, expensive, and unsustainable fossil fuel project from moving forward. Earlier this summer, just that happened. SoCalGas quietly announced it canceled Angeles Link.

Angeles Link’s Dire Threat to Angelenos

Our work to stop the Angeles Link Project began in 2022 when it was announced. Our opposition was simple: SoCalGas claimed that this hydrogen project would provide a clean source of energy, but hydrogen is not the climate solution it is purported to be. 

It’s water-intensive — extremely dangerous for a city like Los Angeles, where we’re constantly in drought or at risk of drought. Moreover, burning hydrogen to generate electricity can produce six times more nitrous oxides (which can cause respiratory illness and contribute to smog) than natural gas 

And finally, SoCalGas always planned to mix the hydrogen with natural gas — ultimately entrenching fossil fuel infrastructure in Los Angeles. Angelenos have already borne the brunt of pollution and climate change. The Angeles Link Project would have made it worse.

Spotlighting Angeles Link’s Safety Hazards From the Start

We knew we needed to stop this Project. When the California Public Utilities Commission-mandated community stakeholder group was announced, we knew we needed to be a part of it. 

For nearly two years, we and other Los Angeles groups — including Physicians for Social Responsibility Los Angeles, Communities for a Better Environment, and Protect Playa Now — met with SoCalGas and pushed the company to disclose the basics of the project. 

We demanded answers to simple questions. Where would the miles of pipelines go? Why were key stakeholders, like the affected tribal communities and SoCalGas ratepayers, left out of the conversation? At every point, we were met with disregard for basic community safety standards and environmental justice. 

Still, we pushed at the table with SoCalGas and out in the community, where we alerted Angelenos to SoCalGas’s plans. We shared information about the project at local colleges and farmers’ markets, and we held webinars and virtual press briefings. We built a strong coalition of other environmental organizations and local advocates who spoke at public hearings, sent letters, and held press events across the city. 

We also had countless meetings with our local Los Angeles elected officials, including County Supervisor Holly Mitchell, Assemblymember Tina McKinnor, and Los Angeles City Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky. Councilmember Yaroslavsky became a local champion in demanding transparency around hydrogen infrastructure. 

Thanks to our work, SoCalGas couldn’t push Angeles Link through without the public’s notice. The pushback grew.

Our Opposition Made Angeles Link Untenable

After nearly two years, SoCalGas still had yet to bring in the appropriate stakeholders — namely, ratepayers and local tribes — or sufficiently answer any of our questions about the health and safety impacts of the project. Despite this, the company recklessly asked the California Public Utilities Commission to move to Stage Two of the permit process.

We had had enough. With our allies, we stood up and told SoCalGas that it had consistently failed to meet essential standards of transparency, safety, environmental justice, and meaningful community involvement in the process. We raised how the company’s project analyses failed to account for the long-term financial impacts on ratepayers and failed to provide a comprehensive safety plan to address hydrogen’s unique risks, such as flammability and leakage. 

In December 2024, we formally resigned from the stakeholder committee. But our work wasn’t done. We continued to raise our concerns with Angelenos, local councils, and local electeds for over a year. 

Then, when the Trump administration canceled funding for a host of energy projects, including Angeles Link, SoCalGas proposed an outrageous plan to raise the needed funds. It asked the California Public Utilities Commission for permission to make ratepayers pay a whopping $266 million for Angeles Link. 

This was unacceptable. Communities demanded that ratepayers be protected from such a reckless project. In May, the Public Utilities Commission made an incredible call and voted to stop SoCalGas from recouping costs from ratepayers. 

Unable to get the needed funds from the federal government, the state, or their own ratepayers, SoCalGas finally and quietly announced the Angeles Link Project would not be moving forward. 

The Defeat of Angeles Link is a Victory Against Dirty Hydrogen 

This win is a testament to the work of thousands of Angelenos, elected officials, and environmental advocates who don’t want dangerous hydrogen pipelines in their communities.

Though Trump pulled major federal dollars from hydrogen projects in the Golden State, the industry’s dream of hydrogen is far from dead. We’ll continue working with communities to keep these dangerous projects out of our neighborhoods and fight expensive climate boondoggles.

This win is also a story about how we win campaigns with persistence and creativity. For nearly two years, we pushed for the Public Utilities Commission to reject the Angeles Link Project. We raised the major safety concerns of hydrogen and its water and climate impacts. We also pulled every lever available, including the funding. In the end, we were able to prove (and the Commission agreed) that fossil fuels are not the best option for ratepayers. 

When we advocate for safe air, clean water, and a livable future, we must be creative and utilize every tool and argument available to us. And we must always be persistent. Whether at a negotiation table, in an advisory committee, or in front of a city council, we will never stop fighting.