Energy
Commentary
California Shouldn’t Set America’s Environmental Policy
For decades, California has made environmental policy as if it were a sovereign nation, not an equal member of the Union. The federal government granted it this privilege on the premise that the Golden State faced uniquely urgent challenges requiring special treatment. Over time, that sense of exceptionalism has only ...
Kerry Jackson
July 7, 2025
Blog
Taking The Wind Out Of California’s Net-Zero Sails
“We’re not going to let windmills get built because we’re not going to destroy our country any further than it’s already been destroyed,” Trump said before the June 12 signing ceremony. “You go and look at these beautiful plains and valleys, and they’re loaded up with this garbage that gets worse ...
Kerry Jackson
July 7, 2025
California
Read the latest about CA's government green mandates
Newsom’s ‘California way’ would take away your gas-powered car
Newsom has joined a new coalition with other states to spread the “California Way” across the Sierras. Like Newsom, the other governors in this group want to take away your choice to drive a more affordable gas-powered ride, force you to drive a much more expensive electric vehicle, and outlaw ...
Kerry Jackson and Tim Anaya
June 13, 2025
Commentary
Threatened With Legal Action, State Makes U-Turn on Electric Truck Mandates
Pressured by legal action from seventeen states that would have been impacted, California has agreed to not just drop enforcement of its electric truck mandate, but to repeal it entirely. Following the governor’s 2020 executive order that banned the sales of new internal-combustion engine cars in 2035, the state Air ...
Kerry Jackson
May 21, 2025
Blog
The Spanish Power Outage Flu – Is California Next?
Energy journalist Robert Bryce assures us it is not. “California has already seen blackouts due to the weakening of its grid,” Bryce told PRI, “And no, it’s not too soon to speculate.” On the last Monday in April, “one of the worst” blackouts to ever hit Europe, the Associated Press reports, began ...
Kerry Jackson
May 12, 2025
Energy
PRI’s Earth Week Special – What is the Cost of Going Green?
This week, we feature a special recording of our live webinar featuring PRI scholars and policy experts exploring key green topics being debated and discussed in Washington, DC and in the states – from Cap and Trade and gas and carbon taxes to green appliance mandates. Learn about the latest ...
Pacific Research Institute
April 22, 2025
California
New Study Reveals Soaring Costs of California’s Green Energy Transition
As the US marks Earth Day, a new study released today by the Pacific Research Institute, a nonpartisan, California-based, free-market think tank, reveals the staggering costs California consumers and businesses will incur as the state pursues its aggressive green energy mandates. The paper, “The Cost of Going Green,” provides a ...
Wayne Winegarden and Kerry Jackson
April 22, 2025
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 ...
Wayne Winegarden and Nikhil Agarwal
March 19, 2025
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 ...
Wayne Winegarden
March 10, 2025
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 ...
Kerry Jackson
February 24, 2025
California Shouldn’t Set America’s Environmental Policy
For decades, California has made environmental policy as if it were a sovereign nation, not an equal member of the Union. The federal government granted it this privilege on the premise that the Golden State faced uniquely urgent challenges requiring special treatment. Over time, that sense of exceptionalism has only ...
Taking The Wind Out Of California’s Net-Zero Sails
“We’re not going to let windmills get built because we’re not going to destroy our country any further than it’s already been destroyed,” Trump said before the June 12 signing ceremony. “You go and look at these beautiful plains and valleys, and they’re loaded up with this garbage that gets worse ...
Read the latest about CA's government green mandates
Newsom’s ‘California way’ would take away your gas-powered car
Newsom has joined a new coalition with other states to spread the “California Way” across the Sierras. Like Newsom, the other governors in this group want to take away your choice to drive a more affordable gas-powered ride, force you to drive a much more expensive electric vehicle, and outlaw ...
Threatened With Legal Action, State Makes U-Turn on Electric Truck Mandates
Pressured by legal action from seventeen states that would have been impacted, California has agreed to not just drop enforcement of its electric truck mandate, but to repeal it entirely. Following the governor’s 2020 executive order that banned the sales of new internal-combustion engine cars in 2035, the state Air ...
The Spanish Power Outage Flu – Is California Next?
Energy journalist Robert Bryce assures us it is not. “California has already seen blackouts due to the weakening of its grid,” Bryce told PRI, “And no, it’s not too soon to speculate.” On the last Monday in April, “one of the worst” blackouts to ever hit Europe, the Associated Press reports, began ...
PRI’s Earth Week Special – What is the Cost of Going Green?
This week, we feature a special recording of our live webinar featuring PRI scholars and policy experts exploring key green topics being debated and discussed in Washington, DC and in the states – from Cap and Trade and gas and carbon taxes to green appliance mandates. Learn about the latest ...
New Study Reveals Soaring Costs of California’s Green Energy Transition
As the US marks Earth Day, a new study released today by the Pacific Research Institute, a nonpartisan, California-based, free-market think tank, reveals the staggering costs California consumers and businesses will incur as the state pursues its aggressive green energy mandates. The paper, “The Cost of Going Green,” provides a ...
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 ...
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 ...