The Brief

The day after the fire broke out in Tustin, some students at Heritage Elementary were given plastic bags to collect and bring home charred pieces of the historic hangar that had floated onto school property, according to several parents.

One parent, who asked to remain anonymous in order to protect her family's privacy, told LAist that on Nov. 8 her fifth-grade daughter brought home a Ziploc bag with a small piece of black debris from the fire.

Her daughter told her she had picked it up with her bare hands. The parent said "the teacher was fully aware."

That same day, air quality authorities reported that debris from the fire contained up to 37% asbestos. The school sits less than a mile from the 7-acre hangar that was destroyed by flames.

The parent said she immediately threw the bag with the fire debris away. The material her daughter had collected, she said, was "paper-light" and easily breakable. Asbestos is most dangerous when the individual fibers are released into the air and can be inhaled and get trapped in the lungs.

A second parent posted a photo on social media of a plastic bag full of large black and gray pieces of debris, according to a screenshot shared with LAist by another parent of a Heritage student. The parent who posted the photo wrote in the post that their son had brought the bag home from Heritage.

In response to an interview request, Heritage principal Courtney Smith referred LAist to district communications officer Rina Lucchese. Lucchese and other Tustin Unified officials have not responded to repeated requests for an interview.

Tustin Unified board member Allyson Muñiz Damikolas told LAist she didn’t have a response to reports from parents about the incident and added that district leaders responded to public health warnings and "reacted to the information as soon as we received it."

The fire debris incident is one of what parents describe as several missteps taken by Tustin Unified School District during its early response to the fire. And this week, as hundreds of students return to Heritage and Legacy Magnet Academy — the two schools closest to the fire that had been closed for testing and cleaning — private test results in adjacent neighborhoods are raising new concerns about toxic fallout from the fire. The findings are heightening concerns among some parents about whether the newly reopened schools are truly safe from potentially toxic fire debris.

The historic hangar in Tustin caught fire in the early hours of Nov. 7. The massive World War II-era wooden hangar was built to house military blimps based in Southern California.

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Jae C. Hong

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What happened at Heritage Elementary after the fire

Classes continued as normal at Heritage for two days after the fire began.

A photo shared with LAist by a parent shows Heritage students sitting on the blacktop on campus. It was taken at 8 a.m. on Nov. 8, according to the metadata. Meanwhile, Heritage principal Courtney Smith told parents in emails reviewed by LAist that were sent on Nov. 7 and Nov. 8 that students would remain indoors during recess and lunch. The email on Nov. 8, stated that school leaders continued "to minimize student and staff time outdoors."

In the same Nov. 8 email, she told parents that "the minimal debris that has been found on campus has been safely removed by our custodial staff."

Later that evening, Tustin Unified officials announced that all school campuses would be closed following testing by the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) that found asbestos in fire debris.

In the days after the fire broke out, asbestos-laden debris was detected at Tustin schools as far away as Hicks Canyon Elementary, which is about three miles from the burn site, and at Tustin High School, which is two miles from the site, according to the county's initial report of the incident to state authorities.

Most schools in the district were reopened by Nov. 15 after receiving clearance from the district-contracted asbestos consultant. Students at Heritage and Legacy were dispersed at schools across the district by grade level until this week.

Tustin school board member Jonathan Abelove, whose district includes Heritage and Legacy, did not respond to an email request for comment. LAist was unable to reach him at several listed phone numbers.

For one parent, regrets and worries

The parent whose daughter brought home fire debris said she regrets sending her two children to Heritage on the two days after the fire broke out. "That's eating us alive to this day," she told LAist in a phone interview.

She said she and her daughter developed a bad cough a week after the fire broke out. The family ended up leaving their Tustin home for a week to stay in Newport Beach in order to limit their exposure to potential toxins while the fire was still heavily burning.

The fire was finally declared extinguished by Orange County fire officials on Dec. 1.

"The saddest part," the parent told LAist, is how distraught her fifth-grader became when she found out that she had been exposed to a potentially dangerous material, asbestos. "She was asking, 'Am I going to get cancer?'" the parent added.

Cranes were needed to safely lower the entrance doors to the hanger, which remained after the rest of the structure went up in flames.

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Jill Replogle

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LAist

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What did school officials know?

It's unclear whether school officials were initially aware of the likelihood of asbestos and other chemicals present in the massive blimp hangar that burned to the ground. But some parents said the district should have erred on the side of caution considering the circumstances.

Building fires are generally more toxic than wildfires because of the widespread, and often unknown, presence of toxic materials in homes and businesses. The hangar was widely touted as one of the largest wooden structures in the world — 180-ft. tall, three football fields long and one football field wide.

It was built in 1942, when asbestos and lead paint were widely used in construction.

Documents on the city of Tustin's website note the extensive use of asbestos-containing materials and lead paint in the building's construction.

According to a 2000 report commissioned by the Navy, asbestos was present in roofing materials, wall panels, pipe insulation and floor tiles. Some of this asbestos was "friable," meaning it breaks or crumbles easily and therefore poses a greater risk of being inhaled, which can cause long-term health consequences.

A 2020 report from the Orange County Grand Jury also noted that hazardous materials, including "asbestos, lead, biological contaminants, and groundwater contaminates," had been identified in the hangar's nearly identical twin hangar, which also sits on the 84-acre former military base in Tustin.

According to Chris Dunne, a Navy spokesperson, samples of treated wood from the hangar had been analyzed in the past and found to contain "detectable concentrations of aluminum, arsenic, boron, barium, calcium, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, copper, iron, potassium, magnesium, manganese, sodium, nickel, phosphorus, lead, silicon, and zinc."

Dunne told LAist the Navy had not communicated directly with the school district about potential public health concerns after the fire broke out. "The city of Tustin is the lead agency for cleanup efforts, interagency coordination, and public communication," Dunne wrote in an email.

Tustin Mayor Austin Lumbard, who has three children at Heritage, told LAist that he didn't know "in an official capacity" that there was asbestos and other toxins in the hangar building until he was alerted to the test results by the South Coast Air Quality Management District on Nov. 8. Still, "we all knew there was something in there," he said.

"I think the community that lives out here was aware that these were constructed in the ‘40s and that there was material used in that construction that potentially is not used now," Lumbard said.

The mayor also said people had wandered onto the property for years. In 2019 firefighters had to rescue a teenager who had climbed onto the roof of the hangar.

Asked whether he was concerned about the school district's initial handling of the fire response, Lumbard said: "I know the school district is taking this very seriously and they're leaning on and relying on information that they're getting from the Navy and from the Orange County Health Care Agency."

Regina Chinsio-Kwong, who heads the county health care agency, told LAist she first learned there could be toxic materials in the burning hangar that could pose a health risk when a consultant for AQMD called her on the evening on Nov. 7.

"I didn't have a full report, it was more of a verbal concern," she said.

Chinsio-Kwong said she had a call with AQMD staff the following morning to better understand the concerns. AQMD issued a smoke advisory on Nov. 7. It wasn't until Nov. 8 that they issued an advisory noting the presence of asbestos in testing results of ash and debris from public areas near the hangar fire.

Jeff Lawrence, whose daughter attends Heritage, emailed district and city officials twice on the morning the fire broke out, urging them to immediately start testing the air and soil for toxins.

The hangar building contains "all sorts of potential hazardous materials raining ash all over our neighborhood," he wrote. In one of the emails, he also excoriated school officials for keeping Heritage open "when you have literally zero idea if it is at all safe."

In an interview with LAist earlier this month, Lawrence said "the county and everyone had these reports,” referring to the Orange County Grand Jury report and documents on the city's website.

“From a logical perspective, as soon as you knew that that thing was burning, [toxic material] was going all over the place," he added.

Lawrence was livid that kids were outside while the fire burned, and that the school allowed kids to touch and take home debris from the fire. He said he blames the school district for not ensuring that students were kept inside and away from potentially toxic material.

"Ultimately, the buck stops with them," he said. "They made the decision to keep these schools open. They did not insist that the principal at [Heritage] keep all the kids inside."

Lawrence said he wished the district had immediately closed Heritage and offered distance learning instead. At nearby Legacy, school officials canceled in-person school when the fire broke out on Nov. 7 and instead held virtual classes.

Public health experts weigh in

LAist reached out to public health experts to better understand the risks associated with asbestos. Richard Castriotta, a pulmonologist at the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine, said reports of children handling asbestos and potentially bringing it into their classrooms or homes were "concerning."

"We don't really know what a safe level [of asbestos] is," he said.

But, he added, "in order to be dangerous, the asbestos has to be in a form that people can inhale." He said large chunks of asbestos-containing material, if disposed of properly, are less dangerous.

Tustin Unified recently released the results of surface and air testing done in November at Heritage and Legacy that showed no asbestos was detected on either campus. The testing was done in high-traffic areas including the main office and gym at Legacy and the administrative office and several kindergarten classrooms at Heritage.

Orange County Public Health Officer Regina Chinsio-Kwong said her office had also tested for lead at Legacy and Heritage on the heaviest days of smoke and did not detect elevated levels. She said as a whole, the official results from air quality and surface testing in the community nearest to the fire had been "reassuring." (Private testing has shown otherwise, as we explain below.)

In a Dec. 13 letter to Lumbard, the Tustin mayor, and the rest of the city council, Chinsio-Kwong said testing by multiple agencies, including the EPA, "suggests that the main concern for asbestos exposure was from bulk debris while asbestos fibers in the air played a limited role."

Chinsio-Kwong also wrote that environmental experts on the fire's emergency response team had concluded that testing indoor spaces "is not necessary, thanks to reassuring test results from nearby facilities," including public schools, local parks and community centers.

Nevertheless, Tustin officials announced Wednesday evening that they plan to sample soil and interior spaces for toxins from the fire.

"The City appreciates [the O.C. Health Care Agency]’s scientific conclusion that interior residential testing is unnecessary based on the extensive available data," Lumbard said in a news release. "However, in a collective effort to go above and beyond what is required to address lingering community concerns, the City is moving forward with performing exterior soil and interior air/dust sampling for asbestos and lead.”

He said the timing and location of sampling was being developed in consultation with the EPA and would be shared in the coming days.

More than 600 disaster remediation workers have been dispatched to clean up fire debris tainted with asbestos on the former military base and in surrounding neighborhoods.

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John Balmes, an air pollution expert and physician member of the California Air Resources Board, echoed Chinsio-Kwong, saying the reported results from air and surface tests at Tustin schools were "pretty reassuring."

"If they tested several classrooms a week after the fire started when smoke was the highest concentration, that's probably good enough in terms of the schools," he said.

Balmes said the people most likely to be exposed to dangerous, airborne asbestos fibers were the firefighters who responded to the fire, not children attending a nearby school weeks after the fire burnt out.

Disaster experts contracted by the city of Tustin have sealed in place the dust and debris immediately around the former hangar site with an adhesive substance.

Work to take down the hangar doors and adjacent structures — which Chinsio-Kwong had recommended be completed before schools reopened — was finished on Monday, according to the city's latest update.

The Navy announced this week that it had finalized a $6 million contract with a remediation company to clean up and dispose of debris from the fire. But Navy officials said they don’t know when the work will actually start.

“Before we can take action, debris removal plans must be reviewed and approved by state and federal regulatory agencies to ensure the safety of both the community and the environment,” said Gregory Preston, who directs the Navy's base closure program, in a news release.

What happened as students returned to Heritage this week

In an email last week to parents announcing the reopening of Heritage and Legacy, school district officials said both schools would undergo extra cleaning, including of ducts, carpets and rugs, "out of an abundance of caution and in response to potential concerns within our community."

Tuesday was Heritage students’ first day back on campus following a more than month-long closure due to the fire.

During afternoon pick-up, Heritage students streamed out of the school gates carrying handmade ornaments and construction paper Santa Claus cutouts. Ravi Chilakapati, who was picking up his kindergartener and third grader, said he had had some concerns about the school reopening but felt good about the information he had received via school emails detailing extra cleaning that would take place before students returned.

"At least for now, we are happy to be back," he said, adding that the past weeks of dropping off and picking up his kids from far-away school sites was "kind of horrible."

Still, he said he wished school leaders had closed Heritage as soon as the fire broke out. "We would have zero concerns if that had happened," he added.

Peter Thok, who also has two kids at Heritage, said he was "really happy" that the school had reopened and he no longer has to drive his kids to alternative campuses. He said he was satisfied with the school's asbestos testing and cleaning protocols.

"They took extra precautions, which is good," he said.

But he echoed Chilakapati in saying he thought the school should have been closed during the first two days of the fire.

"That's when the fire was raging the most," he said. "That's when it felt like we had the most debris in our house so for sure, it should have been closed."

Heritage students returned to campus on Dec. 19, more than a month after a fire broke out and consumed a massive World War II-era hangar less than a mile away.

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Thok and Chilakapati were both unaware that students at Heritage were allowed to bring home debris from the fire until they were asked about it by LAist.

Thok said, across the board, communication and direction from local authorities has been poor throughout the fire response.

"You could've had guidance that let the teachers know and the parents know what not to do and what we can do," he said.

Nearby homes test positive for asbestos and lead

Sean Storm, who has a child at Legacy and another at Heritage, told LAist he was concerned that authorities hadn't done enough testing at the schools and hadn't tested for a full range of heavy metals. He also said he and other parents would like to see the results of the lead testing Chinsio-Kwong said her department had done at the schools in November. "I just want to know it's safe," he said.

On Wednesday, Storm shared with LAist and school and district officials the results of testing done earlier this month in his neighborhood, which is across from the hangar burn site and about a mile from Heritage. The tests, conducted by AQS Environmental Services and paid for by a local homeowners association, found asbestos and lead in all 20 samples of suspected fire debris collected from buildings throughout the community.

Federal public health officials say even low levels of exposure to lead can damage children's health and development.

Storm also shared testing ordered by his insurance company and conducted on the inside and exterior of his home that showed lead levels in soot on his windowsills exceeded the EPA’s lead hazard levels in dust by at least 14 times.

The testing also found elevated levels of arsenic and barium. The report recommended that the family move out "until all cleaning is completed."

The EPA is monitoring air quality around the perimeter of the former military base and in multiple locations in the surrounding community.

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Jill Replogle

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The test results left Storm uneasy. If his home less than a mile from the burn site wasn’t safe to occupy, he wondered how the school could be safe for kids.

"Were the tables power washed and clean?" he asked. "There are gazebos that cover the picnic tables [students] eat off of. Was that cleaned? I just want to know …is the school truly, actually clean?"

Tustin’s fire clean up costs over $45 million so far

Balmes, the air pollution expert, said public health officials could do additional testing of outside areas on local school campuses for arsenic and lead, the two heavy metals initially detected in smoke plumes from the fire, to "assuage parents' fears." "That's not unreasonable," he said.

Balmes added that the rain this week should wash away much of the remaining ash and soot from the fire in the community, significantly reducing people's likelihood of exposure.

According to the latest update from Tustin officials, work to remove potential asbestos-containing fire debris from homes near the former hangar is about 85% complete. In a news release earlier this week, city spokesperson Stephanie Najera said Tustin’s clean up costs for the fire total over $45 million.

The Navy owns the property where the fire took place and has committed $11 million to the clean-up thus far.

Najera said the total cost of recovering from the disaster could exceed $100 million.

California students are likely to see fewer cell phones and more gender-neutral bathrooms next year as new state education laws go into effect.

Protecting students from immigration raids was a priority for state legislators this year, resulting in several new laws, including one prohibiting school staff from allowing immigration officers to enter campuses or providing student or family information.

The most controversial of the new laws is one meant to target antisemitism, although amendments made during the legislative session resulted in a bill that defines discrimination more broadly.

New Office of Civil Rights to open

Assembly Bill 715 establishes a state Office of Civil Rights to help school districts identify and prevent discrimination based on antisemitism, gender, religious and LGBTQ status. It will also handle questions and complaints.

The legislation, along with Senate Bill 48, creates four positions to track and report discrimination. These positions will be appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate after Jan. 1.

“California is taking action to confront hate in all forms,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom in a statement. “At a time when antisemitism and bigotry are rising nationwide and globally, these laws make clear: our schools must be places of learning, not hate.”

The legislation has been controversial, with some organizations saying it infringes on academic freedom and prioritizes the rights of certain students over others. The California Teachers Association and California Faculty Association have said the legislation could result in the censoring of educators.

Parents can’t be jailed for truant kids

Beginning Jan. 1, parents of chronically truant children will no longer be fined or face jail time.

Assembly Bill 461 amends the state’s Penal Code to remove a section that makes it a criminal offense for a parent to have a child who is chronically truant, which is defined as missing school without a valid excuse for 10% or more of the school year.

California law requires students age 6 to 18 to attend school.

The Penal Code called for a fine of up to $2,000 or up to a year in jail for parents whose children habitually missed school.

“Criminalizing parents for their children′s truancy ignores the root causes of absenteeism and only deepens family hardships, especially as many immigrant families now fear sending their children to school,” said Assemblymember Patrick Ahrens, D-Sunnyvale, in a statement. “(This bill) ensures support and resources to keep students in school and on track for success.”

Gender-neutral bathroom required

Beginning on July 1, all California school campuses, except those that have only one bathroom for male students and one bathroom for female students, are required to have a gender-neutral bathroom.

Senate Bill 760, which was signed by the governor in 2023, requires that posted signs identify the designated bathroom as being open to all genders and that it be kept unlocked and available to all students.

“SB 760 is a measure that aims to create a safe and inclusive environment not only for non-binary students, but to all students, by requiring each public school to establish at least one all-gender restroom,” said former Sen. Josh Newman, author of the bill.

Cellphone use to be limited

School districts, county offices of education, and charter schools have until July 1 to adopt a policy limiting the use of cellphones during school hours.

Assembly Bill 3216, renamed the Phone-Free School Act, was approved in an effort to curb classroom distractions, bullying, and addiction to the devices. At least five other states, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, South Carolina and Ohio, have similar laws.

Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom sent a letter to school district leaders urging them to restrict cellphones. Excessive smartphone use increases anxiety, depression and other mental health issues in children, he said. 

Shielding schools from immigration raids

Protecting students from immigration raids was a priority for legislators this year, resulting in several pieces of new legislation.

Assembly Bill 49, known as the California Safe Haven Schools Act, was passed amid a series of immigration raids that have resulted in the arrest of thousands of people. It went into effect as an urgency measure in September.

The bill prohibits school staff from allowing immigration enforcement officers on school campuses or sharing student or family information with them without a warrant or court order. School districts have until March 1 to update school policies to align with the law.

Senate Bill 98, also effective in September, requires leaders of school districts, charter schools, universities and colleges to notify staff and parents when immigration officers are on a campus. School safety plans should include an official procedure for making these notifications by March 1.

This bill, which is in effect until Jan. 1, 2031, does not prevent governing boards from establishing stronger standards or protections.

Protecting preschools, preparing families

Assembly Bill 495, known as the Family Preparedness Plan Act, expands the pool of relatives that can be authorized to make decisions and care for children if parents are detained by immigration authorities or deported.

Beginning Jan. 1, all adults related to a child by blood or adoption, within five generations, could be authorized to enroll a child in school or make decisions about their medical care while on campus.

The bill also permits courts to appoint a person, nominated by a parent, to have joint custody of a child if they are detained or deported by immigration officials.

It also requires school districts to provide information to parents and guardians regarding the right of children to have a free public education.

The legislation also extends the requirements of AB 49 to child care facilities and preschools, prohibiting staff from collecting information or documents regarding the immigration status of children or their family. Instead, they are required to report requests for this information to the California Department of Education and the state Attorney General’s Office.

Easing the road to college

This year, California high school students will find it easier to be admitted to a California State University campus.

Senate Bill 640 establishes a direct admission program that sends mailers to high school students who are eligible to attend participating campuses, informing them of that status. Qualified students must have completed all the required coursework and maintained the necessary grade point average.

“Tens of thousands of California students are fully qualified to go to CSU, but don’t jump the hurdles of the admissions process,” said Sen. Christopher Cabaldon, D-Napa, the law’s author. “At the same time, nearly half of CSU’s campuses have substantial available enrollment capacity and need more students to sustain their high quality academic programs.”

The legislation also requires the California Community Colleges system to promote the CSU dual admission transfer program, which guarantees CSU admission to eligible community college students.

Student IDs to include suicide hotline number

Student identification cards issued at California public secondary schools and institutions of higher education after July 1 will include the phone number for The Trevor Project, a crisis and suicide prevention hotline for LGBTQ youth.

Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people age 10 to 14, and the third leading cause of death for 14- to 25-year-olds, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“In today’s political climate, LGBTQ+ students face significant levels of bullying, harassment, and discrimination — negatively impacting their mental health and academic success,” according to Assemblymember Mark González, author of the bill. “AB 727 will provide critical resources to support LGBTQ+ youth in crisis and those who have experienced harassment.”

Early education to take seats on board

The next eligible seat that comes open on the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing in 2026 must go to an early childhood education teacher, according to Assembly Bill 1123.

The bill calls for one of the six teacher representatives on the commission to hold a child development teacher permit. It also reduces the number of public representatives on the board from three to two to allow the governor to appoint someone who teaches early childhood development at a university or college.

The commission, which governs the licensing and preparation of the state’s teachers, is made up of 15 voting members, including the state superintendent of public instruction, six practicing teachers, a school administrator, a school board member, a school counselor, a faculty member from a teacher preparation program, a human resources administrator, and three public representatives.

The early childhood representatives will be seated after the next eligible seat is vacated or a representative’s term ends.

In the 60 years since California first began issuing child development permits to early childhood educators, there has never been a voting member on the commission, which governs their licensure and preparation, said Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, D-Torrance, author of the bill.

In 2025, California became the frontline of a federal playbook for more militarized immigration enforcement.

Raids on California streets and lawsuits that followed helped rewrite the ground rules for how agents can operate. What began as before-dawn operations in Golden State farm towns quickly expanded into a broader nationwide strategy: surprise workplace and neighborhood sweeps and roving patrols miles from the border.

CalMatters reporters across California documented how tactics first seen in Kern County, such as warrantless traffic stops and a heavy reliance on appearance-based profiling, spread statewide and then across the country. The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld these methods.

Early in the second Trump administration, the federal government sent Marines to the border, citing a crisis. Those troops have since quietly gone home.

Hundreds of National Guard troops were deployed to Los Angeles following civil unrest about immigration arrests. President Donald Trump threatened to send forces to the Bay Area, then backed off. State officials objected, while federal leaders characterized the moves as necessary. The standoff deepened long-running tensions between California and the White House over the state’s sanctuary policy and federal authority.

All this fell most heavily on families with deep roots in California. CalMatters found deportations increasingly reached people who have decades-long residence, U.S.-citizen children, stable employment, and even those following legal pathways. ICE detained people at green-card interviews and routine check-ins. The changes destabilized school systems, the agricultural economy, and health care.

A federal lawsuit over a deaf asylum seeker’s prolonged detention exposed gaps in medical care and disability accommodations in immigration facilities. Under Trump, asylum seekers with pending claims lost protection from arrest. A new system is emerging where people trying to follow the rules are easier targets than those evading them. Detention centers drew scrutiny as local authorities shied away from conducting health and safety inspections, while advocates reported worsening conditions inside.

A quieter but equally consequential trend has emerged: The immigrant population shrank. Love them or hate them, Trump’s immigration policies were achieving the administration’s goals. Pew Research found the national immigration population shrank by about 1.4 million people in the first half of 2025, the first decline in half a century. Economists warned about slower growth. State leaders weighed long-term impacts on the workforce, schools, and social service systems.

Enforcement grew more data-driven. Drone surveillance expanded in urban areas, and advocates warned about new uses of artificial intelligence to identify deportation targets and analyze asylum and visa applicants’ digital histories.

2026 outlook

California expects further interior enforcement, additional legal battles over sanctuary laws, funding, and renewed attempts to expand detention capacity. School districts and employers are preparing for more mass removals, while lawmakers are considering new privacy protections.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

Days after 2025 began, two fires scorched through Los Angeles neighborhoods, the most destructive in California’s history. The Eaton and Pacific Palisades fires also renewed attention to issues such as utility oversight, insurance coverage, and the broader challenges of wildfire planning in a changing climate. And their harms rippled outward, leaving thousands of low-income workers and immigrants without jobs. 

But California found pushing its climate agenda forward to be an uphill battle this year: Ambitious climate goals faced a hostile federal government economic pressures.

Anticipating opposition from President Donald Trump, state leaders chose to abandon important clean-air rules before he even took office, including plans to phase out diesel trucks and transition to cleaner trains. Nearing mid-year, Trump and his allies in Congress blocked the state’s clean-car mandate, a blow to emissions reduction plans.

Nevertheless, as part of budget negotiations, Gov. Gavin Newsom sought to reauthorize California’s landmark cap-and-trade program, launching a debate that would resolve in the final hours of the legislative session.

Blaming climate and environmental regulation, Phillips 66 and Valero followed through on plans to shutter oil refineries, raising concerns about gas prices and the future of the state’s oil industry. In Wilmington, Phillips 66 is now closed. A high-profile explosion at Chevron’s El Segundo refinery nearby underscored persistent safety and environmental risks tied to remaining facilities.

By the end of the legislative session, these issues converged, as legislators passed a six-bill deal that included a plan to boost oil drilling, relief for ratepayers who fund wildfire mitigation, and an extension of the now rebranded “cap-and-invest” program.

As lawmakers passed sweeping reforms to California’s landmark environmental review law, critics warned exemptions may make it easier for potentially high-polluting advanced manufacturing facilities to take root in already vulnerable areas.

Longstanding conflicts over water continued to simmer this year. The governor continued pressing to fast-track a $20 billion tunnel around the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to send more water south — to the outrage of Delta lawmakers. And dry conditions led to dire projections for the Colorado River, a vital water supply for Southern California. They ramped up the tensions — and the urgency — as negotiators from states that rely on the river tried, and failed, to reach a deal portioning out water supplies.

2026 Outlook

Affordability, the cost of climate adaptation, and pollution harms, in the skies and in the waste stream, continue to be key issues for California. As Gov. Gavin Newsom’s balancing act continues, the state will navigate tensions with environmental justice advocates unhappy with compromises. Emerging risks include the cost – in energy and water – of data centers, and the environmental consequences of the battery economy.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.