Leadership in the California Legislature claim they’re aware of the cost of living and doing business in the state. In the special session called by Governor Newsom to “Trump proof” the state, Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D, Salinas) said “We must chart a new path forward and renew the California Dream by focusing on affordability.” We welcome...
As reported in Politico on 10/29, “Westlands Water District, which supplies some of California’s driest farmland in the Central Valley, is making plans to convert some 200 square miles of it — an area roughly the size of Detroit — into what would be the largest solar installation in the world.” The motivation for this is understandable enough....
Farmers in the San Joaquin Valley require roughly 15 million acre feet of water per year to irrigate their crops. In return they produce more than half of all California’s agricultural output. But everything is changing. Since 2000 the amount of water the farmers receive from the State Water Project and the Central Valley Project has...
As we celebrate one of America’s finest traditions this week, one of the things we are surely thankful for is the energy we often take for granted. We are particularly lucky in America, because the energy we use is nearly always reliable and abundant. Just how abundant? Here are some numbers. Most energy economists report...
With national election results that have delivered a surprisingly unequivocal result, California’s business interests now find themselves on a political tightrope. On one side, the incoming Trump administration will pursue deregulation that may help businesses remain in California, and on the other side, the Newsom administration is going to do everything in its power to...
On November 8, a Friday evening, after a day long marathon of public comment, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) approved updates to the state’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard. According to the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, the price impact of compliance with the new rules “could be $0.65 per gallon in the near term, $0.85 per gallon...
California’s state legislature is determined to eliminate fossil fuel as soon as possible, with oil at the top of the list. This goal is shared by the Governor and Attorney General, along with leadership and staff at every one of the many state agencies that collectively regulate the industry. But even if this goal is...
A few years ago a group of volunteers, myself included, attempted to qualify a state ballot initiative called “The Water Infrastructure Funding Act.” Those of us involved with this project remain convinced that had it qualified for the ballot and been approved by voters, it would have solved water scarcity in California forever. Included within...
With the right combination of new policies in California, abundant energy ought to be just around the corner. Nearly all new energy development can be privately financed, and it can be delivered while creating tens of thousands of high paying jobs. But for this to happen, California’s state legislators will need to accept the following...
There isn’t a major water project in California in the last 30 years or more that hasn’t been subject to relentless litigation. Usually the litigators represent powerful environmentalist organizations, sometimes they represent social justice groups, and sometimes they represent labor. But in every case, they hit water projects from every legal angle imaginable, either completely...
Earlier this year the New York Times published an opinion piece “What Will We Do With Our Free Power?,” written by David Wallace Wells. The sheer optimism of the piece was a breath of fresh air. Rather than emphasizing the existential terror of a climate crisis that renewable energy may help us avert, the author focused on...
In California today, we have given unelected state bureaucrats the power to make decisions that affect millions of people and cost billions of dollars, and there is almost no recourse. There is also very little public criticism of the decisions these agencies make. That’s because the people who are most familiar with the extraordinary power...