Earlier this week, the Los Angeles City Council’s Energy & Environment Committee voted to reject an appeal sent by environmental groups on the Scattergood hydrogen retrofit project. The appeal was rejected in a 3-0 vote. Two other committee members, Councilmembers Katy Yaroslavsky and Nithya Raman, were not present to vote.

Andrea Vega, Food & Water Watch Los Angeles Organizing Manager, released the following statement:

“The LA City Council’s Energy and Environment Committee’s recommendation to double down on LADWP’s misguided decision to move forward with retrofitting the Scattergood Gas Plant to burn a mix of methane gas and hydrogen is a major betrayal and deeply concerning – especially for the Angelenos living near the facility. Hydrogen is an extremely water intensive industry scheme intended to keep us reliant on fossil fuels instead of investing in true climate solutions.

“LADWP failed to examine water and energy use impacts from the production and transportation of hydrogen, did not consider the uncertainty around the availability of hydrogen fuel, and did not fairly consider non-combustion alternatives like long duration energy storage (LDES) technology. We urge the full City Council to rectify this erroneous decision and grant the appeal. Hydrogen has no place in Los Angeles’ energy future.”

The groups who sent the appeal include Food & Water Watch, Los Angeles Waterkeeper, Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity, Communities for a Better Environment and Physicians for Social Responsibility – Los Angeles. 

Background: 

• In 2022, LADWP announced plans to retrofit the Scattergood Gas Plant to burn a mix of methane gas and hydrogen – rather than decommission the facility as was originally planned.
  • This plant is located near communities like Inglewood, Hawthorne and Lennox whose air quality has already long been negatively impacted by fossil fuel infrastructure.
  • By retrofitting the plant instead of decommissioning it, we are keeping Angelenos dependent on fossil fuels and distracting from real, affordable clean energy solutions.

• In late 2024, LADWP put out the long-awaited Draft Environmental Impact Review –  which failed to take into account the true emissions and ratepayer impact.
  • Analysis from Food & Water Watch shows that it would take over 1.5 billion gallons of water to realize plans to make Los Angeles a “Hydrogen Hub” by 2045.

• Despite public concern, in 2025, LADWP certified the Environmental Impact Report for Scattergood.

• Food & Water Watch and other environmental organizations sent an appeal to Los Angeles City Council calling on them to reject LADWP’s decision to move forward with retrofitting Scattergood.