Environment
Commentary
Do polystyrene bans actually accomplish anything?
The California rush to ban foam takeout food containers is starting to look like a frenetic race that would embarrass even the most aggressive Black Friday shoppers. Currently, 119 cities and counties in California prohibit businesses from providing customers with takeout food packaging made of polystyrene. San Diego is in ...
Electric Vehicles
“Costly Subsidies for the Rich” Cited in Moneywatch Story on EV Tax Credits
Can Trump yank GM’s electric vehicle tax credit? By Rachel Layne On Tuesday, President Donald Trump vented his anger at General Motors after the company announced several plant closings and more than 14,000 layoffs. The president threatened to eliminate tax credits for GM’s electric vehicles along with other tax breaks and subsidies. ...
California
Statewide Polystyrene Ban Would Bring Unintended Consequences
Supposedly civic-minded prohibitions on consumer conveniences always have unintended consequences. California’s single-use plastic bag ban, for instance, has led to a surge in E. coli infections, created a swarm of thicker plastics bags that are a greater environmental hazard than the outlawed single-use plastic bags, boosted shoplifting, and been the ...
California
San Diego Ignores Alternatives in Rush to Ban Styrofoam
San Diego has just dreamed up a Styrofoam prohibition so harsh that it will require consumers to change their foam containers to alternative packaging when they visit city property. The City Council recently voted 5-3 to approve an ordinance banning “the distribution of egg cartons, food service ware, and food trays which ...
Agriculture
How We Can Fund California’s Roads if Proposition 6 Passes
Next week, Californians will vote on Proposition 6, which, if approved, would kill last year’s $52 billion fuel tax hike. Opponents are telling us we will doom ourselves if repeal the tax hike. How, they ask, will the state repair its miserable roads without that money? California’s transportation infrastructure is ...
Commentary
The Latest Target Of The Eco-Fundamentalists: Plastics
By Hank Campbell and Henry I. Miller A recent op-ed harangue in the Washington Post — “Scientists know plastics are dangerous. Why won’t the government say so? — by radical activist Paul Thacker seeks to create concern about the health effects of plastics and plasticizers. It reads like a cross between a trial attorney’s plea ...
Commentary
Banning Polystyrene Won’t Help California’s Environment — But It Will Hurt Jobs, Economy
Having successfully outlawed plastic bags and straws, the next target of California lawmakers, who seem intent on criminalizing as many consumer conveniences as possible, just might be those foam containers used to hold take-out food. Polystyrene, often called by its brand name Styrofoam, is used for more than packaging food — ...
Blog
Apparently, California Officials Can’t Rest Until the State Has America’s Highest Fuel Prices
Fuel prices in California are soaring like it’s 1979. A gallon of regular gasoline was averaging $3.82 across the state on Oct. 18, nearly a full dollar higher than the national average, according to AAA. Only in Hawaii are prices higher. With the summer travel season over, we expect some ...
Blog
California Doubles Down on Folly of Electric Vehicle Tax Credits
California officials want to eventually force everyone on the road out of their gasoline- and diesel-powered automobiles and into electric vehicles. But it’s a radical shift that can’t be decreed into existence overnight. So, expect a boost in the government bribe to encourage more consumers to buy zero-emission vehicles. Sacramento ...
Blog
BART Blues
In this November election, it’s unfortunate that there’s only one seat up on the BART board (for non-Bay Area readers, BART is the region’s electric train line), because if I had one command as Queen for a day – a question Tim Anaya likes to ask our podcast guests — ...
Do polystyrene bans actually accomplish anything?
The California rush to ban foam takeout food containers is starting to look like a frenetic race that would embarrass even the most aggressive Black Friday shoppers. Currently, 119 cities and counties in California prohibit businesses from providing customers with takeout food packaging made of polystyrene. San Diego is in ...
“Costly Subsidies for the Rich” Cited in Moneywatch Story on EV Tax Credits
Can Trump yank GM’s electric vehicle tax credit? By Rachel Layne On Tuesday, President Donald Trump vented his anger at General Motors after the company announced several plant closings and more than 14,000 layoffs. The president threatened to eliminate tax credits for GM’s electric vehicles along with other tax breaks and subsidies. ...
Statewide Polystyrene Ban Would Bring Unintended Consequences
Supposedly civic-minded prohibitions on consumer conveniences always have unintended consequences. California’s single-use plastic bag ban, for instance, has led to a surge in E. coli infections, created a swarm of thicker plastics bags that are a greater environmental hazard than the outlawed single-use plastic bags, boosted shoplifting, and been the ...
San Diego Ignores Alternatives in Rush to Ban Styrofoam
San Diego has just dreamed up a Styrofoam prohibition so harsh that it will require consumers to change their foam containers to alternative packaging when they visit city property. The City Council recently voted 5-3 to approve an ordinance banning “the distribution of egg cartons, food service ware, and food trays which ...
How We Can Fund California’s Roads if Proposition 6 Passes
Next week, Californians will vote on Proposition 6, which, if approved, would kill last year’s $52 billion fuel tax hike. Opponents are telling us we will doom ourselves if repeal the tax hike. How, they ask, will the state repair its miserable roads without that money? California’s transportation infrastructure is ...
The Latest Target Of The Eco-Fundamentalists: Plastics
By Hank Campbell and Henry I. Miller A recent op-ed harangue in the Washington Post — “Scientists know plastics are dangerous. Why won’t the government say so? — by radical activist Paul Thacker seeks to create concern about the health effects of plastics and plasticizers. It reads like a cross between a trial attorney’s plea ...
Banning Polystyrene Won’t Help California’s Environment — But It Will Hurt Jobs, Economy
Having successfully outlawed plastic bags and straws, the next target of California lawmakers, who seem intent on criminalizing as many consumer conveniences as possible, just might be those foam containers used to hold take-out food. Polystyrene, often called by its brand name Styrofoam, is used for more than packaging food — ...
Apparently, California Officials Can’t Rest Until the State Has America’s Highest Fuel Prices
Fuel prices in California are soaring like it’s 1979. A gallon of regular gasoline was averaging $3.82 across the state on Oct. 18, nearly a full dollar higher than the national average, according to AAA. Only in Hawaii are prices higher. With the summer travel season over, we expect some ...
California Doubles Down on Folly of Electric Vehicle Tax Credits
California officials want to eventually force everyone on the road out of their gasoline- and diesel-powered automobiles and into electric vehicles. But it’s a radical shift that can’t be decreed into existence overnight. So, expect a boost in the government bribe to encourage more consumers to buy zero-emission vehicles. Sacramento ...
BART Blues
In this November election, it’s unfortunate that there’s only one seat up on the BART board (for non-Bay Area readers, BART is the region’s electric train line), because if I had one command as Queen for a day – a question Tim Anaya likes to ask our podcast guests — ...
