ROSEMEAD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 17, 2025--
The entire Edison International, Southern California Edison and Trio community is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of John Bryson, who served as Edison International’s chairman and CEO from 1990 to 2008. John passed away Tuesday, May 13 at age 81. He was a groundbreaking leader whose remarkable career ranged from a founding role in the environmental movement to public service as the U.S. Secretary of Commerce.
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“Our industry has lost a true legend, and I have lost a mentor,” said Pedro Pizarro, president and CEO of Edison International. “John’s steady leadership during the California electricity crisis and the industry’s restructuring two decades ago set a guiding model for me as we navigate a changing utility landscape.”
After graduating from Stanford University and Yale Law School, John co-founded the Natural Resources Defense Council in 1970. He was one of the earliest to sound the alarm about the impacts of climate change and was a vocal advocate to advance energy efficiency, renewable energy and electric transportation. He later chaired the California State Water Resources Board (1976-79) and served as president of the California Public Utilities Commission (1979-82).
John joined SCE in 1984 as senior vice president for legal and financial affairs. His first major assignment was to analyze whether the company should develop a competitive power business, newly permitted under changes in federal law, which would be independent of the utility. John strongly recommended its development. Subsequently, the company developed a series of successful cogeneration projects in California and the western United States; created a new parent company, Edison International; and formed a new subsidiary that became Edison Mission Energy.
As chairman and CEO during the 1990s and early 2000s, John’s background as a regulator and environmentalist benefited the company through California’s utility deregulation and electricity supply crisis, while prioritizing customer and shareholder interests. John also helped clear a path for Edison’s leadership role in today’s clean energy transition.
Under his direction, Edison Mission Energy grew from a small operation with about 300 people to a major part of Edison International's business — one that employed 1,900 people and contributed more than $500 million to the parent company's earnings. It was the sale of most of EME's international assets that enabled Edison International to return to financial health following the collapse of the independent power producers’ market in 2002. SCE soon became one of the nation’s leaders in supporting the growth of renewable energy.
“John worked tirelessly with state officials and other stakeholders to achieve legislative and regulatory changes in the public interest that strengthened Edison and California’s entire economy,” Pizarro said.
After retiring from Edison International, John later served as U.S. Secretary of Commerce under President Barack Obama from 2011 to 2012.
Our most heartfelt sympathy goes out to John's wife, Louise, their four daughters and their families. He will be deeply missed.
John Bryson was former Edison International Chairman and CEO, former U.S. Secretary of Commerce and co-founder of the Natural Resources Defense Council.
NUUK, Greenland (AP) — President Donald Trump said Wednesday that NATO should help the U.S. acquire Greenland and anything less than American control is unacceptable, hours before Vice President JD Vance was to host Danish and Greenlandic officials for talks.
In a post on his social media site, Trump reiterated his argument that the U.S. “needs Greenland for the purpose of National Security.” He added that “NATO should be leading the way for us to get it” and that otherwise Russia or China would — “AND THAT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!”
“NATO becomes far more formidable and effective with Greenland in the hands of the UNITED STATES,” Trump wrote. “Anything less than that is unacceptable.”
Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark, is at the center of a geopolitical storm as Trump insists he wants to own it — and residents of its capital, Nuuk, say it isn't for sale. The White House hasn't ruled out taking the Arctic island by force.
Vance is to meet Denmark’s foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart Vivian Motzfeldt in Washington later Wednesday to discuss Greenland.
Along the narrow, snow-covered main street in Nuuk, international journalists and camera crews have been stopping passersby every few meters (feet) asking them for their thoughts on a crisis which Denmark’s prime minister has warned could potentially trigger the end of NATO.
Tuuta Mikaelsen, a 22-year-old student, told The Associated Press in Nuuk that she hoped American officials would get the message to “back off."
Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen told a news conference in Copenhagen on Tuesday that "if we have to choose between the United States and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark. We choose NATO. We choose the Kingdom of Denmark. We choose the EU.”
Asked later Tuesday about Nielsen's comments, Trump replied: “I disagree with him. I don’t know who he is. I don’t know anything about him. But, that’s going to be a big problem for him.”
Greenland is strategically important because, as climate change causes the ice to melt, it opens up the possibility of shorter trade routes to Asia. That also could make it easier to extract and transport untapped deposits of critical minerals which are needed for computers and phones.
Trump said in Wednesday's post that Greenland is “vital” to the United States' Golden Dome missile defense program. He also has said he wants the island to expand America’s security and has cited what he says is the threat from Russian and Chinese ships as a reason to control it.
But both experts and Greenlanders question that claim.
“The only Chinese I see is when I go to the fast food market,” heating engineer Lars Vintner said. He said he frequently goes sailing and hunting and has never seen Russian or Chinese ships.
His friend, Hans Nørgaard, agreed, adding “what has come out of the mouth of Donald Trump about all these ships is just fantasy.”
Denmark has said the U.S. — which already has a military presence — can boost its bases on Greenland. For that reason, “security is just a cover,” Vintner said, suggesting Trump actually wants to own the island to make money from its untapped natural resources.
Nørgaard said he filed a police complaint in Nuuk against Trump’s “aggressive” behavior because, he said, American officials are threatening the people of Greenland and NATO.
Mikaelsen, the student, said Greenlanders benefit from being part of Denmark, which provides free health care, education and payments during study, and “I don’t want the U.S. to take that away from us."
Following the White House meeting, Løkke Rasmussen and Motzfeldt, along with Denmark’s ambassador to the U.S., are due to meet with senators from the Arctic Caucus in the U.S. Congress.
Two lawmakers — Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican — have introduced bipartisan legislation that would prohibit the use of funds from the U.S. Defense or State departments to annex or take control of Greenland or the sovereign territory of any NATO member state without that ally’s consent or authorization from the North Atlantic Council.
A bipartisan delegation of lawmakers is also heading to Copenhagen at the end of the week to meet with Danish and Greenlandic officials.
Last week, Denmark’s major European allies joined Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in issuing a statement declaring that Greenland belongs to its people and that “it is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland.”
On Wednesday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot told RTL radio that his country plans to open a consulate in Greenland on Feb. 6, following a decision last summer to open the diplomatic outpost.
“Attacking another NATO member would make no sense; it would even be contrary to the interests of the United States. And I’m hearing more and more voices in the United States saying this,” Barrot said. “So this blackmail must obviously stop.”
Geir Moulson in Berlin, Lisa Mascaro in Washington and Catherine Gaschka in Paris contributed to this report.
A fisherman carries a bucket onto his boat in the harbor of Nuuk, Greenland, on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
A boat travels at the sea inlet in Nuuk, Greenland, on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
People walk near the church in Nuuk, Greenland, on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
A bird stands on a boat at the harbour of Nuuk, Greenland, on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
People walk along a street in downtown of Nuuk, Greenland, on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
