California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a news conference in San Diego near the U.S.-Mexico border on Dec. 5. Aliso Canyon is here to stay. After eight years of study, the California Public Utilities Commission voted unanimously last week not to close the San Fernando Valley gas-storage field, which sprung a record-breaking methane leak in 2015. Instead, the agency will keep studying whether it’s possible to shut down the storage field, probably not until the 2030s, as California continues to shift from fossil fuels to clean energy. Here’s the full story from The Times’ Andrew J. Campa. “Aliso Canyon must be closed for good, but without harming working families with skyrocketing utility bills,” Gov. Gavin Newsom, who appoints the utilities commissioners, said in a statement after the vote. Advertisement He isn’t the only politician talking about affordability and clean energy as if they’re in conflict. As Sacramento Democrats gear up for a legislative session focused on cost-of-living issues — including gasoline and electricity prices — Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D-Hollister) has vowed that California “will continue to lead on climate, but not on the backs of poor and working people,” per this story by Politico’s Wes Venteicher. Newsletter You’re reading Boiling Point Sammy Roth gets you up to speed on climate change, energy and the environment. Sign up to get it in your inbox twice a week. Enter email address You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. That kind of rhetoric is unfortunate because it hides the costs of oil and gas that we tend to ignore, or to accept as inevitable: higher rates of asthma , heart attacks , cancer and deaths; infrastructure damage from heat waves; more dangerous storms and sea level rise driven by climate change ; and exposure to global oil […]