29-07-2025
POLITICO Names Noah Baustin as California's Energy and Environment Reporter
POLITICO Press Team
Dana Beckman Communcations Specialist, POLITICO dbeckman@
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Senior Publicist, POLITICO avasquez@ Hugo Bebbington
Communications Manager, POLITICO EU hbebbington@
POLITICO Names Noah Baustin as California's Energy and Environment Reporter
Announcement from California Policy Editor Debra Kahn, Senior Policy Editor Joel Rubin and Editorial Director Christopher Cadelago:
We're thrilled to announce a new addition to the California team: Noah Baustin, who starts today as an energy and environment reporter.
Noah comes to us from the San Francisco Standard, where he covered local government, transportation and public safety, among other areas, as a data reporter on the enterprise desk. He wowed us not only with his series of scoops uncovering municipal corruption — see his stories on a department head who directed city contracts to a man she lived with, bribery at the Department of Public Works , and a classic case of familial ties at the Department of Building Inspection — but also with his intuitive grasp of POLITICO's singular blend of policy, politics and power.
We're extremely excited for him to join Alex Nieves and Camille von Kaenel on the climate team, contributing to the California Climate newsletter and helping connect the dots across our Pro and consumer coverage on one of the most dynamic and consequential storylines of our time.
Covering the environment and energy beat is something of a coming home for Noah. Before he began his journalism career, he worked on dairy and vegetable farms in his native Massachusetts (he's from western Mass, despite his name) and in New York before working for the Massachusetts Food Policy Council and a nonprofit supporting farms in western Massachusetts.
His first journalism gig was writing the agriculture column for his hometown newspaper, the Daily Hampshire Gazette. He's also worked as a producer on American Public Media's farm-focused Field Work podcast; for KQED's California Reporting Project, where he helped build a database of law enforcement internal investigations; and for the New York Times' graphics desk, maintaining a database of information about people accused of crimes during the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
When Noah isn't pounding the halls of power or working the phones, he enjoys exploring the East Bay's parks and playing the piano. But he's been taking music lessons for less than a year, so please, no song requests.
Please join us in extending Noah a warm welcome.
