Environment

Blog

Read the latest on California's water wars

California Water Works

The company “plans to anchor about two dozen 40-foot-long devices, called pods, to the seafloor several miles offshore and use them to take in saltwater and pump purified fresh water to shore in a pipeline,” the Times reports. Before that, though, the concept has to be proved, which is why ...
Blog

Should the Dodgers Have to Cancel their Phillips 66 Sponsorship? A Lawmaker Says Yes.

In a March 11 letter, Senate Majority Leader Lena Gonzalez, a Long Beach Democrat, asked owner and Chairman Mark Walter “to end the Los Angeles Dodgers’ sponsorship deals with fossil fuel companies.” “Ending the sponsorship with Phillips 66,” which owns the 76 brand (formerly Union 76) that partners with the ...
Blog

California’s Policy Responses Risks Worsening a Bad Situation

Based on the bills legislators are considering, policymakers are learning the wrong lessons. Consider SB 222 (the Affordable Insurance and Climate Recovery Act) introduced by state Sens. Scott Wiener and Sasha Renée Pérez. By allowing plaintiffs to sue oil and energy companies for the costs created by natural disasters, SB ...
Commentary

Growing LNG Exports Demonstrate The Benefits Of Deregulation

Less than three years ago, Germany was capping energy prices and considering rationing fuel as Europe scrambled to replace cheap Russian oil and natural gas. Today the German market is well supplied and, as of March 10, 2025, no shortages are anticipated. Transformative investments in U.S. based liquefied natural gas ...
Commentary

Newsom’s misguided climate priorities endanger Californians

The state and local governments’ responsibility for the failures that led to the cataclysmic Los Angeles wildfires in January 2025 will eventually be determined. But even at this juncture, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and his legislative majority cannot escape their responsibility for their budget priorities that have funded a misguided ...
Blog

Should State Government Take Over Gasoline Production in California?

Some are small but add up over time. Others are large, their negative effects almost immediate. In this last category belongs the idea that the state should take ownership of one or more oil refineries. It’s among a number of proposals offered by the California Energy Commission, which was tasked ...
Blog

Put Up Your Nukes, California

An endling, the last member of an endangered species, lives above a cove in San Luis Obispo, County. Having endured on those grounds for four decades, it is likely to go extinct sometime in the 2030s. There is, however, a growing effort to not only save it, but to breed more ...
Commentary

President Trump Unleashes a New Energy Future Benefiting Americans

On January 20, the U.S. Department of Energy ended the Biden Administration’s misguided pause on processing new Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) export applications. This is great news. The Biden policy never made sense and unwisely inhibited efforts to export more LNG, particularly to our EU trading partners. Read the entire ...
Agriculture

Point Reyes settlement a tragic misstep

In rural areas it has recently come back in vogue to say, “Everyone wants to be a cowboy until it’s time to do cowboy stuff.” Infusions of cowboy hats, boots, and western wear in popular culture have been called the “Yellowstone effect.” Are you a Beth, a Casey, or a ...
Blog

Moss Landing Fire Shows Renewable Energy Exacts a Price, Too

“Our true goal is to guarantee safety for the community,” Assemblymember Dawn Addis said a week after the Moss Landing lithium-ion battery storage facility in Monterey County caught fire – and not for the first time  – on Jan. 16. So alarmed was Addis that she introduced a bill that ...
Blog

Read the latest on California's water wars

California Water Works

The company “plans to anchor about two dozen 40-foot-long devices, called pods, to the seafloor several miles offshore and use them to take in saltwater and pump purified fresh water to shore in a pipeline,” the Times reports. Before that, though, the concept has to be proved, which is why ...
Blog

Should the Dodgers Have to Cancel their Phillips 66 Sponsorship? A Lawmaker Says Yes.

In a March 11 letter, Senate Majority Leader Lena Gonzalez, a Long Beach Democrat, asked owner and Chairman Mark Walter “to end the Los Angeles Dodgers’ sponsorship deals with fossil fuel companies.” “Ending the sponsorship with Phillips 66,” which owns the 76 brand (formerly Union 76) that partners with the ...
Blog

California’s Policy Responses Risks Worsening a Bad Situation

Based on the bills legislators are considering, policymakers are learning the wrong lessons. Consider SB 222 (the Affordable Insurance and Climate Recovery Act) introduced by state Sens. Scott Wiener and Sasha Renée Pérez. By allowing plaintiffs to sue oil and energy companies for the costs created by natural disasters, SB ...
Commentary

Growing LNG Exports Demonstrate The Benefits Of Deregulation

Less than three years ago, Germany was capping energy prices and considering rationing fuel as Europe scrambled to replace cheap Russian oil and natural gas. Today the German market is well supplied and, as of March 10, 2025, no shortages are anticipated. Transformative investments in U.S. based liquefied natural gas ...
Commentary

Newsom’s misguided climate priorities endanger Californians

The state and local governments’ responsibility for the failures that led to the cataclysmic Los Angeles wildfires in January 2025 will eventually be determined. But even at this juncture, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and his legislative majority cannot escape their responsibility for their budget priorities that have funded a misguided ...
Blog

Should State Government Take Over Gasoline Production in California?

Some are small but add up over time. Others are large, their negative effects almost immediate. In this last category belongs the idea that the state should take ownership of one or more oil refineries. It’s among a number of proposals offered by the California Energy Commission, which was tasked ...
Blog

Put Up Your Nukes, California

An endling, the last member of an endangered species, lives above a cove in San Luis Obispo, County. Having endured on those grounds for four decades, it is likely to go extinct sometime in the 2030s. There is, however, a growing effort to not only save it, but to breed more ...
Commentary

President Trump Unleashes a New Energy Future Benefiting Americans

On January 20, the U.S. Department of Energy ended the Biden Administration’s misguided pause on processing new Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) export applications. This is great news. The Biden policy never made sense and unwisely inhibited efforts to export more LNG, particularly to our EU trading partners. Read the entire ...
Agriculture

Point Reyes settlement a tragic misstep

In rural areas it has recently come back in vogue to say, “Everyone wants to be a cowboy until it’s time to do cowboy stuff.” Infusions of cowboy hats, boots, and western wear in popular culture have been called the “Yellowstone effect.” Are you a Beth, a Casey, or a ...
Blog

Moss Landing Fire Shows Renewable Energy Exacts a Price, Too

“Our true goal is to guarantee safety for the community,” Assemblymember Dawn Addis said a week after the Moss Landing lithium-ion battery storage facility in Monterey County caught fire – and not for the first time  – on Jan. 16. So alarmed was Addis that she introduced a bill that ...
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