Hi California Climate Champions,

Governor Newsom, and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) that he appoints, have an opportunity to accelerate the fight against climate change in California, and you can take action to help! 

Recently, a coalition of environmental and indigenous groups submitted a legal petition to CARB requesting that dams and reservoirs be added to the State’s “Mandatory Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Reporting Regulation.” (See the press release here.)

The evidence for these GHG emissions has been shown for over 30 years – more than 750 peer-reviewed scientific journal articles discuss how reservoirs create greenhouse emissions. Microorganisms in reservoirs produce methane, a potent greenhouse gas, by consuming organic matter in anaerobic (oxygen-free) underwater environments. In fact, starting in 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) calculated and reported these reservoir methane emissions to the U.N. under guidance from the IPCC.

That EPA reporting has now been cancelled by the Trump Administration, but Newsom and CARB can step up in California and help set climate policy across the planet.

The petition to CARB includes a scientific paper estimating that the emissions from California’s 368-biggest reservoirs totaled at least 5.3 million metric tons of CO2e per year. That’s the same amount of emissions from approximately 1.2 million gas-powered vehicles driven on California’s roads in one year. 

Currently, CARB requires GHG reporting from “facilities and entities with more than 10,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MTCO2e)…” However, dam and reservoir emissions are not currently counted or reported even though, as just one example, the Klamath River dam facilities that were recently removed were estimated to emit 25 times more GHGs than CARB’s minimum requiring reporting.

Governor Newsom has been a leader on climate, and specifically on the issue of addressing methane emissions. In 2023, Newsom launched California’s “Methane Initiative.” In November of 2025, Newsom directed CARB to launch the “California Methane Satellite Project.” In December of 2025, Newsom attended the COP30 meeting in Brazil where he announced new agreements with other countries to stand “shoulder to shoulder” “cutting methane.”

Not requiring dam and reservoir emissions to be counted and reported is a blindspot for the state. Without proper accounting of all emissions, we will not meet our climate goals.  

It’s time to Tell The Dam Truth — we’ve created a Call2Action that allows you to click through and sign a letter of support asking CARB to accept the petition and start a rulemaking process that requires dam and reservoir operators to count and report their greenhouse gas pollution. We will convey your support to CARB along with thousands of other Californians.

Please click through here to sign a letter of support to CARB.

Thank you for taking Climate Action in California!