Water

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

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

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

The Fight for Greater Transparency in Public Schools

One of the big fallouts of the COVID pandemic has been the revelation of what is being taught in the regular public schools.  Some of the most publicized revelations have occurred in California. Last year, it came to light that the Santa Clara Office of Education had conducted a series ...
Agriculture

Farmers and Ranchers – The Unsung Heroes of 2021

What do evergreen trees, ham, turkey, eggnog, and champagne all have in common? The holidays, yes, but also America’s agriculture — most notably the great agricultural states of the West. Let’s start with Thanksgiving dinner.  Our colleague Pam Lewison of the Washington Policy Center, and a farmer herself, recalls growing ...
Blog

Cadiz Water Project a Victim of Can’t Do/Won’t Do California

An innovative project to squeeze water from the desert to help quench perpetually thirsty Southern California showed some promise – until the Biden administration decided to halt the plans. The courts might rule against the White House, but for now it looks just like another day in Can’t Do/Won’t Do ...
Blog

Is Gann Limit Next Item on Budget Chopping Block?

Last week, I wrote about the “key values” put forward by Senate Democrats for their approach to the 2022-23 state budget process.  Assembly Democrats quickly followed up by releasing their own “budget blueprint,” which like their Senate counterparts, would spend the state’s budget surplus largely on new and expanded government ...
Agriculture

No Water Yet Says DWR

The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) announced a zero percent water allocation on Dec. 1. The water agency said that the drought has forced state water regulators to prioritize “health and safety water needs” and that water deliveries are essentially on hold until the state recovers from the ongoing ...
California

The nuclear option can keep the lights on in California

A funny thing has happened on the way to California closing all of its nuclear power plants. Biden administration official Jennifer Granholm says the state should rethink its commitment to scrapping atomic energy. In an interview that will be released at an energy conference this week, the U.S. energy secretary ...
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

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

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

The Fight for Greater Transparency in Public Schools

One of the big fallouts of the COVID pandemic has been the revelation of what is being taught in the regular public schools.  Some of the most publicized revelations have occurred in California. Last year, it came to light that the Santa Clara Office of Education had conducted a series ...
Agriculture

Farmers and Ranchers – The Unsung Heroes of 2021

What do evergreen trees, ham, turkey, eggnog, and champagne all have in common? The holidays, yes, but also America’s agriculture — most notably the great agricultural states of the West. Let’s start with Thanksgiving dinner.  Our colleague Pam Lewison of the Washington Policy Center, and a farmer herself, recalls growing ...
Blog

Cadiz Water Project a Victim of Can’t Do/Won’t Do California

An innovative project to squeeze water from the desert to help quench perpetually thirsty Southern California showed some promise – until the Biden administration decided to halt the plans. The courts might rule against the White House, but for now it looks just like another day in Can’t Do/Won’t Do ...
Blog

Is Gann Limit Next Item on Budget Chopping Block?

Last week, I wrote about the “key values” put forward by Senate Democrats for their approach to the 2022-23 state budget process.  Assembly Democrats quickly followed up by releasing their own “budget blueprint,” which like their Senate counterparts, would spend the state’s budget surplus largely on new and expanded government ...
Agriculture

No Water Yet Says DWR

The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) announced a zero percent water allocation on Dec. 1. The water agency said that the drought has forced state water regulators to prioritize “health and safety water needs” and that water deliveries are essentially on hold until the state recovers from the ongoing ...
California

The nuclear option can keep the lights on in California

A funny thing has happened on the way to California closing all of its nuclear power plants. Biden administration official Jennifer Granholm says the state should rethink its commitment to scrapping atomic energy. In an interview that will be released at an energy conference this week, the U.S. energy secretary ...
Scroll to Top