Environment
Blog
Latest Attack on “Big Gulps” Would Hurt Poor, Infringe Upon our Freedom
With great fanfare, a group of Democratic lawmakers announced last week their latest effort targeting people who commit the worst social faux pas imaginable – drinking a Big Gulp! Led by Bay Area Democrat Assemblyman Rob Bonta, lawmakers introduced legislation attacking the scourge of so-called “big soda”, including bills limiting ...
Tim Anaya
February 25, 2019
Blog
Green New Deal is Already Here in California
A lot has already been said about the Green New Deal, including my favorite: “What planet is she on?” from Brian Kilmeade of FOX. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is on planet California, that’s where. The “green dream or whatever” as Nancy Pelosi dismissively called it, is being realized in her own home ...
Rowena Itchon
February 14, 2019
Commentary
The GND: Glitter, Nonsense, and Devitalization
By Andrew I. Fillat and Henry I. Miller The latest public policy bandwagon is the “Green New Deal,” or GND, whose acronym could well stand for Glitter, Nonsense, and Devitalization. Some of its proposals are so outlandish that they would be more appropriate coming from enthusiastic (but not very smart) ...
Pacific Research Institute
February 13, 2019
CEQA
CEQA: How to mend it since you can’t end it
By Daniel Kolkey It’s no coincidence that California’s housing prices began to diverge from the rest of the country in 1970 – the very year that the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) was enacted. According to California’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst, “Between 1970 and 1980, California home prices went from 30 ...
Pacific Research Institute
February 13, 2019
Blog
Newsom Eats More Cake in First State of the State
A few weeks back, in writing about Gov. Newsom’s first budget proposal – I noted that the Governor was demonstrating how one could have his cake and eat it, too, in his spending plan for the state. As I watched the Governor’s first State of the State address yesterday, it’s ...
Tim Anaya
February 13, 2019
Agriculture
Do organic farms really produce ‘chemical free, healthier food’?
In “The Wealth of Nations,” the 18th century economist and philosopher Adam Smith observed about the chicanery of some businessmen, “People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.” ...
Henry Miller, M.S., M.D.
February 12, 2019
California
California’s Carbon Fixation Allows Lawmakers to Avoid Hard Choices
Sacramento hasn’t yet outlawed gasoline- and diesel-driven automobiles. But it’s on the agenda. In the meantime, the state remains committed to former Gov. Jerry Brown’s goal of flooding California roads with zero-emissions vehicles. The transition, of course, won’t be free. In fact, it could cost as much as $14 billion. ...
Kerry Jackson
February 6, 2019
Agriculture
CAPITAL IDEAS: The Ripple Effects of Scientific Illiteracy Can Have Dire Consequences
DOWNLOAD THE PDF There is currently a trend toward misunderstanding or misrepresenting science, and it starts early. A grade-school teacher asked the class whether a whale is a fish or a mammal. One boy raised his hand and offered, “Let’s take a vote!” This phenomenon, variously dubbed “the death of ...
Robert Wager and Henry I. Miller
February 6, 2019
Agriculture
This May Be the Worst Regulation Ever
By Henry I. Miller, M.S., M.D., and Drew L. Kershen The U.S. Department of Agriculture has created what may be the most bewildering, least cost-effective regulation ever. In July 2016, Congress passed a law mandating that all food containing genetic material that has been modified with recombinant DNA or “gene-splicing” ...
Pacific Research Institute
January 31, 2019
Blog
Will Lawmakers Ever Be Held to Account For Their Legislative Malpractice?
California continues to rank last, or so near the bottom that it makes no difference, in quality-of-life lists, and it’s not quite clear if the news has made it to Sacramento yet. Because there are no efforts being made to turn things around. Instead, it seems the majority of lawmakers ...
Kerry Jackson
January 30, 2019
Latest Attack on “Big Gulps” Would Hurt Poor, Infringe Upon our Freedom
With great fanfare, a group of Democratic lawmakers announced last week their latest effort targeting people who commit the worst social faux pas imaginable – drinking a Big Gulp! Led by Bay Area Democrat Assemblyman Rob Bonta, lawmakers introduced legislation attacking the scourge of so-called “big soda”, including bills limiting ...
Green New Deal is Already Here in California
A lot has already been said about the Green New Deal, including my favorite: “What planet is she on?” from Brian Kilmeade of FOX. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is on planet California, that’s where. The “green dream or whatever” as Nancy Pelosi dismissively called it, is being realized in her own home ...
The GND: Glitter, Nonsense, and Devitalization
By Andrew I. Fillat and Henry I. Miller The latest public policy bandwagon is the “Green New Deal,” or GND, whose acronym could well stand for Glitter, Nonsense, and Devitalization. Some of its proposals are so outlandish that they would be more appropriate coming from enthusiastic (but not very smart) ...
CEQA: How to mend it since you can’t end it
By Daniel Kolkey It’s no coincidence that California’s housing prices began to diverge from the rest of the country in 1970 – the very year that the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) was enacted. According to California’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst, “Between 1970 and 1980, California home prices went from 30 ...
Newsom Eats More Cake in First State of the State
A few weeks back, in writing about Gov. Newsom’s first budget proposal – I noted that the Governor was demonstrating how one could have his cake and eat it, too, in his spending plan for the state. As I watched the Governor’s first State of the State address yesterday, it’s ...
Do organic farms really produce ‘chemical free, healthier food’?
In “The Wealth of Nations,” the 18th century economist and philosopher Adam Smith observed about the chicanery of some businessmen, “People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.” ...
California’s Carbon Fixation Allows Lawmakers to Avoid Hard Choices
Sacramento hasn’t yet outlawed gasoline- and diesel-driven automobiles. But it’s on the agenda. In the meantime, the state remains committed to former Gov. Jerry Brown’s goal of flooding California roads with zero-emissions vehicles. The transition, of course, won’t be free. In fact, it could cost as much as $14 billion. ...
CAPITAL IDEAS: The Ripple Effects of Scientific Illiteracy Can Have Dire Consequences
DOWNLOAD THE PDF There is currently a trend toward misunderstanding or misrepresenting science, and it starts early. A grade-school teacher asked the class whether a whale is a fish or a mammal. One boy raised his hand and offered, “Let’s take a vote!” This phenomenon, variously dubbed “the death of ...
This May Be the Worst Regulation Ever
By Henry I. Miller, M.S., M.D., and Drew L. Kershen The U.S. Department of Agriculture has created what may be the most bewildering, least cost-effective regulation ever. In July 2016, Congress passed a law mandating that all food containing genetic material that has been modified with recombinant DNA or “gene-splicing” ...
Will Lawmakers Ever Be Held to Account For Their Legislative Malpractice?
California continues to rank last, or so near the bottom that it makes no difference, in quality-of-life lists, and it’s not quite clear if the news has made it to Sacramento yet. Because there are no efforts being made to turn things around. Instead, it seems the majority of lawmakers ...