Green Energy
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Environmentalists Vs. Renewable Energy
Virginia-based power firm AES has plans to build a 40-acre battery facility in the Coyote Valley hard up against a conservation area not far off U.S. 101. The valley is “a key wildlife corridor,” says the Sierra Club, that features “open space, trees, and agricultural fields.” The project would be sited on ...
Blog
A public bank in California would be costly, risky and unnecessary
But lawmakers were pushing forward anyway. AB 2243 would have established a taxpayer-funded commission to study the feasibility of a public bank and how it could act “as an additional financial tool to lower borrowing costs, strengthen local lending partnerships and help finance urgent public needs like affordable housing, infrastructure, ...
Blog
California’s ‘Scarcity Mindset’
The late, great comedian Sam Kinison once said that instead of sending food to starving nations, we should send U-Hauls because, he would scream, “there wouldn’t be world hunger if you people would live where the food is! You live in a desert, understand that?! Nothing grows out of here!” ...
Blog
Trading Road Repairs For Green Jet Fuel — Is This A Deal That Californians Want To Make?
Only one state, Alaska, has worse roads than California. Tens of billions are needed to repair the crumbling, cracking and cratered infrastructure. Nearly a decade ago, legislators passed a $52 billion bill to fix the problems. So, what is Sacramento thinking about? Moving fuel tax revenue dollars that should be used for road repair to fund a scheme to ...
Blog
LA divorces itself from coal. Is it really a defining moment?
With the immodesty of an experienced braggart, the city of Los Angeles announced on Dec. 4 that it has ended its relationship with coal. No longer will it receive power generated from that particular fossil fuel. Mayor Karen Bass called it “a defining moment” that will take the city closer “building a clean energy ...
Blog
Look Out for the ‘Lid Lifters’ Looking for Organic Waste in Your Trash Bin
They are for now “lid lifters,” compliance officers whose job is to make sure the citizens of the city of San Diego are sorting their refuse correctly. The local Fox affiliate says they “are conducting checks on trash bins across the city to prevent fires caused by combustible waste, following ...
Blog
There Is No Mystery Surcharge Driving Up California’s Gasoline Costs
Gov. Gavin Newsom continues to puzzle over a “mystery surcharge” for gasoline. The enigmatic fee was first identified in 2017 by Severin Borenstein, an energy economist at the University of California, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. It explains, he says, “the extra amount we pay for gas that can’t be ...
Blog
California’s Great Gasoline Panic of ‘25
“California’s Refinery Rethink” Politico Pro, Oct. 22 “Newsom Courts Big Oil as Gas Prices Threaten Political Ambition” Bloomberg, Sept. 29 “Faced with looming gasoline shortage, California’s governor backs off oil companies” Le Monde, Oct. 11 “Gas Price Map Shock: Why Gas Is $4.60 in California but $2.60 in Oklahoma?” Autoblog, ...
Commentary
Valley residents are growing alarmed by solar-and-battery project taking over farmland. Here’s why.
We’ve been assured for quite some time that wind and solar are the energy sources of the future. If so, their development needs to be accelerated because they are not being well received by locals. Their low energy density is partly, if not largely, to blame. Fresno County residents are ...
Blog
Get the inside scoop on what's going on under the Capitol dome
Three Big Issues to Watch as 2025 Legislative Session Draws to Close
Assembly Bill 84: Yet Another Attack on California Charter Schools Ever since charter school supporter Gov. Jerry Brown left office in 2019, charter schools have been under attack in Sacramento. The latest attack is Assembly Bill 84 (Muratsuchi), which would – if enacted – would impose huge new restrictions that ...
Environmentalists Vs. Renewable Energy
Virginia-based power firm AES has plans to build a 40-acre battery facility in the Coyote Valley hard up against a conservation area not far off U.S. 101. The valley is “a key wildlife corridor,” says the Sierra Club, that features “open space, trees, and agricultural fields.” The project would be sited on ...
A public bank in California would be costly, risky and unnecessary
But lawmakers were pushing forward anyway. AB 2243 would have established a taxpayer-funded commission to study the feasibility of a public bank and how it could act “as an additional financial tool to lower borrowing costs, strengthen local lending partnerships and help finance urgent public needs like affordable housing, infrastructure, ...
California’s ‘Scarcity Mindset’
The late, great comedian Sam Kinison once said that instead of sending food to starving nations, we should send U-Hauls because, he would scream, “there wouldn’t be world hunger if you people would live where the food is! You live in a desert, understand that?! Nothing grows out of here!” ...
Trading Road Repairs For Green Jet Fuel — Is This A Deal That Californians Want To Make?
Only one state, Alaska, has worse roads than California. Tens of billions are needed to repair the crumbling, cracking and cratered infrastructure. Nearly a decade ago, legislators passed a $52 billion bill to fix the problems. So, what is Sacramento thinking about? Moving fuel tax revenue dollars that should be used for road repair to fund a scheme to ...
LA divorces itself from coal. Is it really a defining moment?
With the immodesty of an experienced braggart, the city of Los Angeles announced on Dec. 4 that it has ended its relationship with coal. No longer will it receive power generated from that particular fossil fuel. Mayor Karen Bass called it “a defining moment” that will take the city closer “building a clean energy ...
Look Out for the ‘Lid Lifters’ Looking for Organic Waste in Your Trash Bin
They are for now “lid lifters,” compliance officers whose job is to make sure the citizens of the city of San Diego are sorting their refuse correctly. The local Fox affiliate says they “are conducting checks on trash bins across the city to prevent fires caused by combustible waste, following ...
There Is No Mystery Surcharge Driving Up California’s Gasoline Costs
Gov. Gavin Newsom continues to puzzle over a “mystery surcharge” for gasoline. The enigmatic fee was first identified in 2017 by Severin Borenstein, an energy economist at the University of California, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. It explains, he says, “the extra amount we pay for gas that can’t be ...
California’s Great Gasoline Panic of ‘25
“California’s Refinery Rethink” Politico Pro, Oct. 22 “Newsom Courts Big Oil as Gas Prices Threaten Political Ambition” Bloomberg, Sept. 29 “Faced with looming gasoline shortage, California’s governor backs off oil companies” Le Monde, Oct. 11 “Gas Price Map Shock: Why Gas Is $4.60 in California but $2.60 in Oklahoma?” Autoblog, ...
Valley residents are growing alarmed by solar-and-battery project taking over farmland. Here’s why.
We’ve been assured for quite some time that wind and solar are the energy sources of the future. If so, their development needs to be accelerated because they are not being well received by locals. Their low energy density is partly, if not largely, to blame. Fresno County residents are ...
Get the inside scoop on what's going on under the Capitol dome
Three Big Issues to Watch as 2025 Legislative Session Draws to Close
Assembly Bill 84: Yet Another Attack on California Charter Schools Ever since charter school supporter Gov. Jerry Brown left office in 2019, charter schools have been under attack in Sacramento. The latest attack is Assembly Bill 84 (Muratsuchi), which would – if enacted – would impose huge new restrictions that ...