Bass, Raman tout their environmental bona fides at L.A. forum

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Set us as preferred Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and City Councilmember Nithya Raman took turns Thursday evening selling their environmental records — and painting starkly different pictures of the city’s performance under Bass’ leadership.The two mayoral candidates, appearing in separate “fireside chats” at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College downtown, cast themselves as strong environmentalists before the crowd of about 200 people.

Raman touted her vote on the City Council to ban and phase out new oil drilling within city limits, and the passage of her ordinance to ban most gas appliances in new constructions, an essential step in the energy transition that does not necessarily raise building costs.1 2 1.

Mayor Karen Bass attends the environmental forum .2.

Mayoral candidate Nithya Raman attends the environmental forum.(Etienne Laurent/For the Times) Bass talked about her efforts to wean L.A.

city completely off of coal-generated power, which it achieved in December 2025, and turning the switch on for one of the largest solar projects in the nation.“I regularly interact with international and national leaders, and I want to assure you, we have an international, a national reputation for our work on environmental concerns,” Bass said at the L.A.Mayoral Environmental Forum, which was hosted by environmental groups, including the Sierra Club and the Los Angeles League of Conservation Voters .Under questioning from LAist’s Erin Stone, Bass was forced to spend much of her time defending her record, including on the Palisades fire and Lineage warehouse fire and her proposal to cut the city’s Climate Emergency Mobilization Office as the city faced a $1-billion budget shortfall.

During her time on stage, Raman described the controversies as a larger trend in the Bass administration.“To me, for this ...