Air conditioning

A federal judge has ruled that extreme heat in Texas prisons violates inmates' constitutional rights, ordering the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) to install air conditioning across its entire prison system by December 31, 2029. U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman's order caps years of advocacy by inmate rights groups, who cited medical research showing serious health risks once temperatures exceed 85 degrees. The court estimated the retrofit could cost roughly $1.5 billion.

The decision follows repeated failed legislative efforts to mandate cooling in state prisons. Houston Mayor John Whitmire, a longtime opponent of such mandates during his decades chairing the Texas Senate's Criminal Justice Committee, cited cost, security risks from retrofitting, and concerns about spending on violent offenders, though he said age and health should factor into decisions. TDCJ has said it plans to appeal the ruling. The agency reported about 53,676 air-conditioned beds as of September 1, with plans to reach nearly 90,000 by early 2028; only about a third of its 104 facilities are currently fully air-conditioned.

An illegally operating Bitcoin mine in El Reno, Oklahoma, drained roughly 3.8 million gallons of the city's water supply in August, traced to a fire hydrant connected to a private line at a property owned by Athlon Blockchain Technology LLC. The resulting pressure loss forced school cancellations and a courthouse closure during a heat wave. City officials say Athlon had been under a stop-work order since 2023 over code and construction violations, but continued operating without their knowledge.

The incident has drawn attention to Oklahoma's 2024 Blockchain Basics Act, which supporters billed as bringing regulation to crypto mining but which critics say instead strips cities of power to zone against or otherwise restrict mining operations, mirroring model legislation pushed nationally by the Satoshi Action Fund, a Bitcoin mining advocacy group. Some lawmakers who backed or abstained on the bill now say they regret it, arguing it favored industry interests over local control and left towns like El Reno with few tools to stop noncompliant operators from jeopardizing public infrastructure.

California lawmakers and Gov. Gavin Newsom declined to extend CalSHAPE, a state program that used nearly $1 billion in utility funds to help schools assess and upgrade aging HVAC and plumbing systems. The California Energy Commission abruptly closed applications in 2024, leaving $191 million unspent, which by law must now be returned to utilities such as San Diego Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison, and Pacific Gas & Electric for ratepayer relief.

A last-minute budget trailer bill gives schools that already received funding three extra years to finish projects, but a separate measure to reopen applications was dropped after failing to gain Newsom's support. The program had helped over 4,500 schools assess HVAC systems, with 172 completing major upgrades. Critics, including advocacy groups and school officials, argue the returned funds amount to negligible per-customer savings while schools continue struggling with heat-related disruptions, pointing to recent heat waves that forced class cancellations and schedule changes across districts including Los Angeles and San Diego. The governor's office declined to comment.

California's Demand Side Grid Support program, launched in 2022, pays households with solar-and-battery systems to send stored power back to the grid during heat waves and price spikes, functioning as a "virtual power plant." Last year more than 200,000 home batteries discharged over 1 GW at peak times, roughly matching a nuclear plant's output and San Francisco's peak demand. The program has cost $13 million to administer while paying out $66 million to participants, with enrollees in 53 of 58 counties and strong uptake among lower-income households. PG&E has credited the network with helping keep the lights on during recent test events.

The program, along with a linked school HVAC electrification effort (CalSHAPE) with nearly $200 million unspent, is set to run out of funding by year's end unless California lawmakers act. A state Senate budget proposal to extend both programs was not included in the final adopted budget, leaving their future uncertain as another heat wave strains the grid.

Lineage, owner of the cold-storage warehouse damaged in a June 17 fire, is expanding utility relief to hundreds of East Los Angeles households after weeks of pressure from residents and L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis. The company had initially provided $50,000 in utility assistance limited to 218 Los Angeles Department of Water and Power customers in Boyle Heights, leaving unincorporated East L.A. residents near the site without support.

Southern California Edison confirmed Lineage provided funding for $200 credits to 133 East L.A. households within a designated "Zone 2" boundary, with automatic credits applied to qualifying accounts. Lineage has since said relief will extend further, as far as Herbert Avenue, though the total funding amount has not been finalized. Officials acknowledge confusion over how the zone boundaries were drawn, and residents outside them continue pushing for broader assistance as the mayor's office and county officials seek additional funding. Residents outside relief zones can still access existing income-based and payment-plan programs.