Energy and Environment

Alex is determined to fight the existential threat of climate change. Having grown up in a low-income, heavily polluted neighborhood, he is dedicated to ensuring that every family has access to clean air and clean water. He served for six years as Chair of the California State Senate Committee on Energy, Utilities, and Communications, where he led the development of California’s ambitious renewable energy and climate policies that now serve as a model for the rest of the country. Alex’s environmental leadership has continued in the U.S. Senate. In addition to cosponsoring the Green New Deal, Alex introduced sweeping legislation to electrify our nation’s school buses and protect over one million acres of public lands in California, increasing access to nature and preserving California’s natural treasures for generations to come.

Alex understands the threat that increasingly frequent and catastrophic natural disasters and extreme weather events pose to California and the Western United States. That’s why he fought to secure millions of dollars in federal funding for flood control infrastructure to protect communities from catastrophic floods and rising sea levels. His bill the POWER ON Act was signed into law by President Biden to prevent utility outages caused by natural disasters like wildfires and other extreme weather events. And while California continues to face the threat of devastating wildfires, Alex led the successful passage of the FIRE Act, to modernize the way FEMA prepares for and responds to wildfires.

Recent News

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senators Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff (both D-Calif.) introduced legislation to transfer 847 acres of federal land from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) into trust for the Barona...
Padilla has now delivered more than $100 million for grid projects across California WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), a member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, announced $69,814,909 in federal funding to help strengthen California’s electric...
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senators Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Ron Wyden, and Jeff Merkley (both D-Ore.) demanded answers from Department of the Interior (DOI) Secretary Doug Burgum over his role in helping broker deals to build data centers on public lands....
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senators Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff (both D-Calif.) introduced legislation to transfer 847 acres of federal land from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) into trust for the Barona...
Padilla has now delivered more than $100 million for grid projects across California WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), a member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, announced $69,814,909 in federal funding to help strengthen California’s electric...
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senators Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Ron Wyden, and Jeff Merkley (both D-Ore.) demanded answers from Department of the Interior (DOI) Secretary Doug Burgum over his role in helping broker deals to build data centers on public lands....
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senators Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff (both D-Calif.) urged Department of the Interior (DOI) Secretary Doug Burgum to reverse and restore lost compensation for maintenance and service employees at Yosemite National Park after facing pay...
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senators Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff (both D-Calif.), along with U.S. Representative Salud Carbajal (D-Calif.-24), pressed for answers from former White House energy adviser Brittany Kelm who, after spending months advancing the interests of Sable Offshore...
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and U.S. Representative Salud Carbajal (D-Calif.-24) introduced the Ocean Protection and DDT Reduction Act, new legislation aimed at addressing the toxic industrial waste and pesticide pollution dumped off the Southern California coast....
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Senate unanimously passed U.S. Senator Alex Padilla’s (D-Calif.) Pit River Land Transfer Act, a bicameral and bipartisan bill to promote Tribal management of over 500 acres of land in California by transferring federal land to the...
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources advanced U.S. Senator Alex Padilla’s (D-Calif.) bipartisan bill to reauthorize desalination projects and research. Padilla’s Desalination Reauthorization Act cleared committee by voice vote, along with a bipartisan amendment that...
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the Senate unanimously passed U.S. Senator Alex Padilla’s (D-Calif.) Wildfire Emissions Prevention Act (WEPA) of 2026, a bipartisan bill to make it easier for states and communities to use prescribe fire to reduce hazardous fuel and...
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senators Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff (both D-Calif.), along with U.S. Representative Jared Huffman (D-Calif.-02), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Natural Resources, led 38 members of the California congressional delegation in opposing the Trump...