announcer: building a better bay area, moving forward, finding solutions. this is abc news. kristen: i'm kristen sze. you are watching getting answers live on abc seven. . we are asking experts your questions every day at 3:00 to get answers in real-time. today and another controversial decision, the supreme court stripped the epa of some of its powers to curb emissions. we spoke with energy secretary jennifer granholm this afternoon to get the administration's response and the next steps. thank you for joining us today. >> glad to be on. kristen: president biden calls this ruling limiting the ep's powers a setback, but of course

the administration has other tools including the energy department. what does president biden's plan include in terms of pushing forward with his climate agenda? >> clearly, this is a devastating decision for the regulatory side of government, but there's also a lot going on on the investment side and clean energy side. for example the bipartisan infrastructure law that was passed earlier, funds significant amount of funding to go into projects that will reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, related to clean hydrogen and battery storage for utilities that are generating energy through solar and wind. just a lot of efforts on the climate side through clean energy investments. believe me, those are full throttle. we are on the accelerator. kristen: even though that is the case in terms of pursuing long-term clean energy, in the

short term, can we talk about the crisis facing americans, gas prices? this fourth of july weekend, many will feel the pain at the pump. in california, we are paying six dollars per gallon. the administration has pointed out some other nations pay more, that is true, but do you accept americans paying six dollars right now? dan: no, it is not acceptable and this is why the president has called for domestic oil and gas producers to increase supply and other producers around the world to increase supply. it is a supply and demand problem. when russia invaded ukraine, russia was a major exporter. all sorts of countries rightfully said we will not buy the russian oil. that took all . catch up -- that took all the russian oil off the market. we have to catch up. we are domestic oil and gas

producers. by the end of this year, we will have increased by about one million barrels per day. the president has used the biggest tool he has, the strategic petroleum reserve, to release about one million barrels per day so we are doing everything we can about supply and demand. kristen: another aspect of demanding so high is a function of people coming out of the pandemic, and the economy having pretty done well in the last year so people want to spend money. sec. granholm: and one of the reasons why it is such a challenge is because during the pandemic, nobody drove so the oil and gas companies really cut back on production. it is hard to flip the switch and increase production to get back up to where demand is. that is part of the challenge. there is a lag between the amount of supply you can bring on and increasing demand. we are seeing it right now as we go through the summer driving season entering into the fourth of july weekend. that is one of the reasons the president has called for

congress to pass a gas tax holiday. i know governor newsom has proposed putting out a sort of rebate to consumers for the amount of money they are spending on gas. kristen: you mentioned supply should be increasing pretty soon due to those agreements and i know you met with oil refiners and producers recently. did they also agreed to pullback prices in the meantime? sec. granholm: no peer they definitely don't agree to that. the problem for us as consumers is that oil is created on a global market. in the u.s., we are paying $110 a barrel or something, but they are also paying the same in france. they pay the same in singapore. it is a global problem. re long as supply and deouofmana whack, they are benefiting from that. what we want them to do is increase supplies so that it will come down, but it is a tough moment.

although i know every president, every prime minister and every governor would love to say bring your prices down right now, it is a free market and it is traded globally. kristen: you mentioned governor newsom. in california, the state has led on clean energy. do you have any data on our policies impact on prices and jobs? sec. granholm: california created an additional 29,000 jobs in clean energy. you've already got over 400,000 jobs in clean energy. you're totally leave -- leading the nation which is exciting. it is a huge economic action -- opportunity. california is leading the nation in so much of this. we want people to see the example that california has provided, which is that you can have a clean energy economy. clean energy, like solar, is the cheapest form of energy in most places. it is one of three since why it

is so important to move to electric vehicles as soon as we can and get the price down so real people can buy them. then you would be plugging in and driving on sunshine. my house is in oakland. we've got solar panels. i have an electric vehicle that i lease. i plug it in on the garage and drive on sunshine. but i'm lucky enough to be able to afford to lease that. we want to make sure that those are affordable for every citizen. that's why we are working on battery technology to bring down the price. kristen: you have economies of scale. you have to produce more of it. as that happens, prices will come down. i want to ask in the meantime, the utilities are warning us of a possible summer with rolling blackouts. how concerned are you about that? sec. granholm: we are all over this. we are concerned about the energy shortages in california and the west, because of reliance on hydroelectric. dams and water. if the dams are very short, you will have a shortage of power

you would normally rely on. that is because of climate change. we are focused on making sure that we have stable and reliable power on the grid. we don't want to energy resources to come off-line before we have replacement power. we have to add power to the bridge took this is why we are accelerating as fast as we can the cleanup of energy sources. we have to make sure we are doing this in a responsible way so we don't have rolling blackouts. we at the department of energy work with the electricity sector across the country to make sure we have enough power going in. i'm in touch with the california independent -- the grid operators to make sure they have enough powers. they are already at the moment -- all right at the moment, but we are in an extreme climate environment. at any given moment, anyone of these could knock something out. there's no guarantee on anything

in this environment where you have extreme weather events. we know there will be some kind of blackout. we just don't want that to be as a result of not having enough power as opposed to an extreme weather event. kristen: speaks to the need for clean energy. thank you so much. secretary granholm, thank you for speaking with us.

i had no idea how much i wamy case was worth. c call the barnes firm to find out what your case could be worth. we will help get you the best result possible. ♪ call one eight hundred, eight million ♪ kristen: a key part of abc 7's work to build a better bay area is bringing you information about issues that matter. despite pressing issues facing the chinese-american community such as violent attacks on elders, the community finds itself without a clear leader in

this critical moment. media partners at the san francisco standard are taking a deep dive into this issue including who is emerging and where the community goes from here. joining us to discuss his story is the san francisco standard reporter, mr. lee. thank you for having us. let's get your microphone up. i don't know if it is on your end. >> can you hear me? kristen: i can hear you now. the title of your story is "fracture: san francisco's chinese political leaders struggle to unify." let's talk about how it became fractured. it was not long ago where the community had strong visible clear community leaders. talk to us about who they were and what they did. >> so san francisco, we have a

quarter about the population that are chinese-american. this is a huge community and they can be politically powerful. traditionally, asian americans in san francisco may not be that popular. so before, we had rose pack, the phenomenal asian american leader, and we had the first asian-american mayor in san francisco. those are great leaders that have since passed away. so that makes a lot of fractures and some division in the community now and that's where we are right now.

kristen: let's break down the leaders, specifically rose pak. talk to us about what she did, her influence with mayor willie brown how that lead to a whole bunch of firsts. >> so rose pak was born in hunan and grew up in hong kong and macau, and later moved to the u.s. and started as a journalist in san francisco. later she chose community activism to be her lifelong passion. she not only has deeply rooted connections in the chinese-american community but also strong connections with city politicians like former mayor willie brown. that unique situation makes her very powerful of making appointments and influencing the

city's policy to help the asian-american community. one of the influences in san francisco, we always had asian americans but we never had a police chief. public safety is always a huge concern and high-priority. rose pak turned to then mayor elect willie brown and asked if he can have the first asian-american police chief. on his first inauguration day, mayor brown named the chinatown native fred lau to be the first asian-american police chief. ed lee is one of the examples, our first asian-american mayor and rose pak was widely considered to be the backroom master of making it happen. kristen: that's right, his first

term, he was not elected, he was sort of put forth and then he did win a second term and helped bring about what you are seeing here at the warriors parade, instrumental in bringing about chase center as one of his legacies. of course both lee and rose pak have since passed. that gets to what we have explored in your article, what happened once you lost them. who is stepping in now to fill that void? what insight do you have? >> if you are chinese-american living in san francisco the last few years, you might feel helpless with some of the public safety issues and education issues. there is a vacuum of chinese-american leaders. after the covid crisis, all this controversy, public safety, violence against asian americans, we see a new generation of younger asian

americans rising right now. i interviewed some young active asian americans right now. their political beliefs and the approach to solve those problems might be different but they have heart for the community. kristen: we do have some, not a whole lot, but some prominent asian-american leaders in the city. you have fill -- phil ting, david shu the city attorney. their politics though skill the spectrum. while that lacks unity, doesn't it also speak to the diversification of the demographic, that it is not monolithic, that people do have different backgrounds and opinions, and could that be a good thing? >> san francisco's asian-american community, like it or not, identity is a big

thing here. the community might likely vote for that person. we see a lot of asian-american elected officials in san francisco right now. they are from all different backgrounds. they might have different perspectives on certain issues but they still represent the asian-american community. for the past couple elections, asian americans supported the recall, but some of those, they oppose the recall. there is a fracture. this is interesting, the division between the elected official and community here. kristen: and while that continues, i think you said the

chinese-american community is 25%. i think you said 37% were asian americans overall. but the elected officials are not close to 37% in terms of being asian-american so what is being done? you see more civic engagement with younger people and having been energized by other events? han: san francisco still has a very strong asian-american political representation. chinese is about one quarter but asians is about one third. for the younger generation, they are rising up and some are considering running for office. some of the older generations are giving the advice like you have to understand the diversity and also chinese people,

traditionally parents are not active but now they might wake up, they might know enough is enough. if they engage in the political process, they can be a powerful voting bloc. kristen: han li, thank you so much for sharing your insights. a great article. check out more of the "san francisco

kristen:kristen: today is the last day of pride month and this year was extra special here at abc 7. full in person celebrations were back and we broadcast the pride parade for the first time. one of our hard-working and talented that it is put together a behind-the-scenes look at the hard work and fun that went into the parade and we wanted to share it with you here. ♪

♪ >> welcome to pride 52. people are feeling the love. >> out here, the vibes are immaculate. . everyone is happy to be out here in person. >> let's get some love here. [cheers and applause] >> we are with the walt disney company right now. abc 7 is here. >> our whole team is dressed in rainbows and so proud to be here.

>> this is the feeling today. >> thank you to abc 7 and the family. kristen: what a great parade. as we close out pride month, lgbtq plus seniors are sharing coming out stories. it's amazing how much has changed in their lifetimes. >> being gay would be accursed. it was one of the worst things you could bring upon your family. my name is jim, i'm 75 years old , and i came out as a gay man actually two years ago. >> i'm 21 years old, i'm from

sacramento. i started coming out when i was around 14. >> i never really totally just came out and told somebody. >> it is always scary no matter who you are telling, even if you know for a fact they will be supportive. >> i went to work for chevron in the 1980's. i was 32 years old. but i would have never told anyone because i would have been afraid and i might have lost my job. >> i had been in a heterosexual marriage for not quite 51 years and i never came out during that time. i just came out after my wife passed away. about a year into my marriage, i really felt something is not working with me. my father always drilled into me, you make your bed, you lie in it. i said, i guess i'm in this for

the long run, just stifle yourself, get back in the closet and stay there, so i did. that is a complicated question. what made me wait so long? i tried over many years of my marriage to explain that i was not happy and it was nothing she did, although she took it very personally, so she would never want to hear anything about my being gay. >> it was illegal for people to be gay then. literally illegal. we met in college. we were both going to cal state long beach at the time. she was walking through the gym and i was handing out towels and that is when i first saw her. and i said, i've got to know her. we got married when we were 58 years old, because we could not

get married sooner than that. that was the soonest. >> our new i would never lose my job over being gay, which is something i'm grateful for, because i know generations before me did not have that privilege. i know for my grandma, it was a lot more difficult coming out. her sister was also gay. she came out before her. i know that there was a lotf just tension in the family. >> here i am 75 years old, and i'm trying to figure out what my life would have been in my 20's or 30's, and it is impossible. so i'm doing the best i can meeting people, meeting other guys who are gay, who understand me. this is what i need to be with people who affirm, finally, who i am. >> pride means acceptance for

who we are and being able to celebrate that. >> i'm just so grateful to the lgbt generations before me who have paved the way for all of this acceptance that we have. obviously, it is still not perfect now, far from perfect, but it sure is way better than it was 50 years ago or even 10 years ago when i was starting to figure out. >> in many parts of our society, being gay is more accepted and understood, and i guess i am a little jealous in that

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kristen: thank you so much for joining us on this interactive show, getting answers. we will be here every week tonight, the supreme court ending a highly divisive term with two major rulings, then celebrating a landmark moment in american history. on its last day, the court delivering two more significant decisions. a victory for the biden administration on immigration. but a huge blow to the president's fight against climate change. conservative justices restricting the epa's ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. and after overreturning roe v. wade, president biden today criticizing the court for, quote, outrageous behavior. what he now wants done to protect abortion rights in the u.s. today's supreme court term ending with the retirement of justice stephen breyer and the swearing in of justice ketanji brown jackson, the