Environment
Agriculture
Embrace Genetically Engineered Crops to Mitigate Climate Change
By Henry I. Miller and Kathleen Hefferon Popular wisdom is often wrong. Consider, for example, how it views organic agriculture, which has grown to a $48 billion a year industry in the U.S. Organic products are sold at outlets ranging from local farmers’ markets to large supermarket chains, and many ...
California
How NIMBYS and CEQA Undermined a World-Class California University
Recently, Bay Area NIMBYs made international headlines when they convinced an Alameda County judge to order UC Berkeley to freeze enrollment. Casting students as an environmental nuisance, the decision could result in 5,100 fewer admission letters going out next month, and nearly $60 million in losses for the University of ...
Agriculture
Feckless Feds Freeze Out Frost Fix
“That morning I squeezed every orange and it felt like a wet sponge – I knew I lost the whole crop,” said Natalia Derevianko, a small farmer in the tiny Florida town of Archer, somewhere in the void between Orlando and Tallahassee. Florida’s peninsular climate offers farmers an opportunity to grow ...
Blog
Measure HHH: LA’s Homelessness Reduction Bond
A Case Study of What’s Wrong with California Government In 2016, generous Angelenos approved Measure HHH, the $1.2 billion Homelessness Reduction and Prevention, Housing and Facilities Bond aimed at combatting Los Angeles’ homeless crisis. At the time, there were more than 30,000 people living on city streets or in shelters. ...
Blog
Will Californians Ever See Relief from Rising Gas Prices?
On Feb. 21, the price of a gallon of gasoline reached $4.68 in Bakersfield, a record high for the city – which happens to sit almost in the middle of the county that pumps 75% of all oil produced in California. Not that Kern County motorists can drive to the ...
Blog
California Should Embrace Nuclear in Race to Meet All Renewables Mandate
DOWNLOAD THE PDF California is the first state to surpass a million plug-in electric vehicle registrations. It’s a proud moment for those who are determined to eliminate fossil fuel vehicles. But it’s not the grand achievement they think it is. At the end of 2021, 663,014 electric cars and 379,125 ...
California
CEQA: The high cost of good intentions
By Chris Carr and Ken Broad California is in a quagmire due in no small part to the weaponization of CEQA, the California Environmental Quality Act. We are not providing the physical infrastructure befitting the world’s 5th-largest economy and leading crucible of innovation. Too often, critical projects don’t get built, ...
California
New Report Shows How “CEQA Gauntlet” Hinders Housing, School, Infrastructure, Climate Projects
With 3,000 prospective UC Berkeley students facing rejection due to a California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) lawsuit, the nonpartisan Pacific Research Institute today released “The CEQA Gauntlet,” a new research project detailing how CEQA adds expense and delay to – and in some cases halts – critical California projects including ...
California
Watch Videos from 2022 PRI California Ideas in Action Conference
Conference Theme: Saving California As PRI’s new book Saving California suggests, market-based reforms can help solve California’s biggest policy problems and even advance the goals of the state’s most progressive legislators. Come hear policy experts and real life changemakers discuss reforms that could push the state onto a better track and ...
Blog
Living With The Climate Karens
A recent Politico headline over a story that should have never been written read: “Soak up the February sun? Not without climate change guilt in California.” From there, it got worse. Lead paragraph: “Californians are lounging in parks, wearing shorts to the beach and dining al fresco without heat lamps ...
Embrace Genetically Engineered Crops to Mitigate Climate Change
By Henry I. Miller and Kathleen Hefferon Popular wisdom is often wrong. Consider, for example, how it views organic agriculture, which has grown to a $48 billion a year industry in the U.S. Organic products are sold at outlets ranging from local farmers’ markets to large supermarket chains, and many ...
How NIMBYS and CEQA Undermined a World-Class California University
Recently, Bay Area NIMBYs made international headlines when they convinced an Alameda County judge to order UC Berkeley to freeze enrollment. Casting students as an environmental nuisance, the decision could result in 5,100 fewer admission letters going out next month, and nearly $60 million in losses for the University of ...
Feckless Feds Freeze Out Frost Fix
“That morning I squeezed every orange and it felt like a wet sponge – I knew I lost the whole crop,” said Natalia Derevianko, a small farmer in the tiny Florida town of Archer, somewhere in the void between Orlando and Tallahassee. Florida’s peninsular climate offers farmers an opportunity to grow ...
Measure HHH: LA’s Homelessness Reduction Bond
A Case Study of What’s Wrong with California Government In 2016, generous Angelenos approved Measure HHH, the $1.2 billion Homelessness Reduction and Prevention, Housing and Facilities Bond aimed at combatting Los Angeles’ homeless crisis. At the time, there were more than 30,000 people living on city streets or in shelters. ...
Will Californians Ever See Relief from Rising Gas Prices?
On Feb. 21, the price of a gallon of gasoline reached $4.68 in Bakersfield, a record high for the city – which happens to sit almost in the middle of the county that pumps 75% of all oil produced in California. Not that Kern County motorists can drive to the ...
California Should Embrace Nuclear in Race to Meet All Renewables Mandate
DOWNLOAD THE PDF California is the first state to surpass a million plug-in electric vehicle registrations. It’s a proud moment for those who are determined to eliminate fossil fuel vehicles. But it’s not the grand achievement they think it is. At the end of 2021, 663,014 electric cars and 379,125 ...
CEQA: The high cost of good intentions
By Chris Carr and Ken Broad California is in a quagmire due in no small part to the weaponization of CEQA, the California Environmental Quality Act. We are not providing the physical infrastructure befitting the world’s 5th-largest economy and leading crucible of innovation. Too often, critical projects don’t get built, ...
New Report Shows How “CEQA Gauntlet” Hinders Housing, School, Infrastructure, Climate Projects
With 3,000 prospective UC Berkeley students facing rejection due to a California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) lawsuit, the nonpartisan Pacific Research Institute today released “The CEQA Gauntlet,” a new research project detailing how CEQA adds expense and delay to – and in some cases halts – critical California projects including ...
Watch Videos from 2022 PRI California Ideas in Action Conference
Conference Theme: Saving California As PRI’s new book Saving California suggests, market-based reforms can help solve California’s biggest policy problems and even advance the goals of the state’s most progressive legislators. Come hear policy experts and real life changemakers discuss reforms that could push the state onto a better track and ...
Living With The Climate Karens
A recent Politico headline over a story that should have never been written read: “Soak up the February sun? Not without climate change guilt in California.” From there, it got worse. Lead paragraph: “Californians are lounging in parks, wearing shorts to the beach and dining al fresco without heat lamps ...
