Environment

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Prop. 54 Tames Wild Late Nights at the State Capitol

For political nerds like me, there’s no rush quite like the last night of the legislative session. Every year, legislators and staff literally work around-the-clock to pass final bills before the clock runs out.  To keep going, they drink too much coffee and eat lukewarm pizza and take-out Chinese food.  ...
Blog

An entitlement for… moi?

If you think this is going to be one of those hard-hitting policy pieces that you get from the likes of Anaya and Jackson, or one of those brainy blogs from Winegarden.  It’s not.  It’s all about me, and my yearning for that fabulous, subsidized Tesla. I’m in the market ...
Blog

A Scientific Basis for the EPA on the Clean Power Plan

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt will make official on Tuesday what we knew all along – the Administration is officially withdrawing the controversial Clean Power Plan rule on power plant emissions. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has railed against the repeal of the Clean Power Plan (CPP) claiming that the EPA’s ...
Blog

Government Policy, Not Hurricanes, Main Contributor to High California Gas Prices

Download Capital Ideas, October 2017 Gasoline prices spiked more sharply in some states after deadly storms in Texas and Florida than at any time since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. But in California, steep fuel prices are an everyday event. The average gallon of gasoline cost $3.02 in California in August, ...
California

Proposed California Gas Car Ban Is A Farce Worthy of The Onion

When a New York Times reporter called the Pacific Research Institute asking for a reaction to a story reporting that Gov. Jerry Brown is entertaining the idea of outlawing the sale of cars with internal combustion engines, the initial response was that it just can’t be true — not even ...
Blog

Sacramento Tries to Dictate Our Choices Again with Proposed Gas Car Ban

Last week, within the space of three days, we learned that Gov. Jerry Brown is considering phasing out fossil-fuel powered automobiles in about 10 years, then we found out that Assemblyman Phil Ting, a San Francisco Democrat, is planning to introduce legislation that would outlaw the sale of new cars ...
Blog

“Gov. Windmill” Takes His Crusade Around the World

Jerry Brown was tagged with the nickname “Gov. Moonbeam” while in office during the 1970s and 1980s. It was a fitting handle, because he was an unorthodox politician who represented the state’s increasingly curious behavior. Now in his second life as the state’s chief executive, it might be time to ...
California

End of Legislative Session Brings Brief Respite from Higher Energy Prices

Legislation that would have required all electric power sold in the state to be generated by renewable sources by 2045 was held up in the final days of the recently-completed legislative session. But it will come back. Should the idea ever become law, we’ll remember these as the easy days ...
California

Talk of a Ban on Non-Electric Cars

What if California did away altogether with cars powered by fossil fuels? Gov. Jerry Brown is said to have considered the question. According to a report in Bloomberg, he asked a state regulator about a plan by China to phase out sales of fossil-fuel vehicles. “I’ve gotten messages from the ...
Blog

Is State’s Plastic Bag Ban Causing Rise in Hepatitis Cases?

A deadly hepatitis A outbreak in San Diego County has residents on edge. Since last November, at least 17 people have died and nearly 300 others have been sent to the hospital in what public health officials are calling the deadliest outbreak of the disease in the U.S. in decades. ...
Blog

Prop. 54 Tames Wild Late Nights at the State Capitol

For political nerds like me, there’s no rush quite like the last night of the legislative session. Every year, legislators and staff literally work around-the-clock to pass final bills before the clock runs out.  To keep going, they drink too much coffee and eat lukewarm pizza and take-out Chinese food.  ...
Blog

An entitlement for… moi?

If you think this is going to be one of those hard-hitting policy pieces that you get from the likes of Anaya and Jackson, or one of those brainy blogs from Winegarden.  It’s not.  It’s all about me, and my yearning for that fabulous, subsidized Tesla. I’m in the market ...
Blog

A Scientific Basis for the EPA on the Clean Power Plan

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt will make official on Tuesday what we knew all along – the Administration is officially withdrawing the controversial Clean Power Plan rule on power plant emissions. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has railed against the repeal of the Clean Power Plan (CPP) claiming that the EPA’s ...
Blog

Government Policy, Not Hurricanes, Main Contributor to High California Gas Prices

Download Capital Ideas, October 2017 Gasoline prices spiked more sharply in some states after deadly storms in Texas and Florida than at any time since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. But in California, steep fuel prices are an everyday event. The average gallon of gasoline cost $3.02 in California in August, ...
California

Proposed California Gas Car Ban Is A Farce Worthy of The Onion

When a New York Times reporter called the Pacific Research Institute asking for a reaction to a story reporting that Gov. Jerry Brown is entertaining the idea of outlawing the sale of cars with internal combustion engines, the initial response was that it just can’t be true — not even ...
Blog

Sacramento Tries to Dictate Our Choices Again with Proposed Gas Car Ban

Last week, within the space of three days, we learned that Gov. Jerry Brown is considering phasing out fossil-fuel powered automobiles in about 10 years, then we found out that Assemblyman Phil Ting, a San Francisco Democrat, is planning to introduce legislation that would outlaw the sale of new cars ...
Blog

“Gov. Windmill” Takes His Crusade Around the World

Jerry Brown was tagged with the nickname “Gov. Moonbeam” while in office during the 1970s and 1980s. It was a fitting handle, because he was an unorthodox politician who represented the state’s increasingly curious behavior. Now in his second life as the state’s chief executive, it might be time to ...
California

End of Legislative Session Brings Brief Respite from Higher Energy Prices

Legislation that would have required all electric power sold in the state to be generated by renewable sources by 2045 was held up in the final days of the recently-completed legislative session. But it will come back. Should the idea ever become law, we’ll remember these as the easy days ...
California

Talk of a Ban on Non-Electric Cars

What if California did away altogether with cars powered by fossil fuels? Gov. Jerry Brown is said to have considered the question. According to a report in Bloomberg, he asked a state regulator about a plan by China to phase out sales of fossil-fuel vehicles. “I’ve gotten messages from the ...
Blog

Is State’s Plastic Bag Ban Causing Rise in Hepatitis Cases?

A deadly hepatitis A outbreak in San Diego County has residents on edge. Since last November, at least 17 people have died and nearly 300 others have been sent to the hospital in what public health officials are calling the deadliest outbreak of the disease in the U.S. in decades. ...
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