Environment
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 ...
Commentary
Why can’t California be more like Europe – and Puerto Rico?
While rational energy policies are being followed elsewhere, even in regions that had loudly and proudly gone “green,” California can’t kick its net-zero obsession. Or maybe the right word is “won’t,” because the state refuses to deviate from its reckless plans. Read the op-ed here:
Blog
Read the latest on California's post-wildfire response
Newsom Right to Waive CEQA for Wildfire Rebuilding, But Lawmakers Should Also Act
The broken clock that has been state government’s response to the Southern California wildfires was right once on Sunday when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order waving numerous environmental requirements that threatened to add unnecessary delay and expense to the rebuilding process. Under the Newsom executive order, California Environmental ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Why can’t California be more like Europe – and Puerto Rico?
While rational energy policies are being followed elsewhere, even in regions that had loudly and proudly gone “green,” California can’t kick its net-zero obsession. Or maybe the right word is “won’t,” because the state refuses to deviate from its reckless plans. Read the op-ed here:
Read the latest on California's post-wildfire response
Newsom Right to Waive CEQA for Wildfire Rebuilding, But Lawmakers Should Also Act
The broken clock that has been state government’s response to the Southern California wildfires was right once on Sunday when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order waving numerous environmental requirements that threatened to add unnecessary delay and expense to the rebuilding process. Under the Newsom executive order, California Environmental ...
