Wildfires

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Read the latest on California's post-wildfire response

Newsom Right to Waive CEQA for Wildfire Rebuilding, But Lawmakers Should Also Act

The broken clock that has been state government’s response to the Southern California wildfires was right once on Sunday when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order waving numerous environmental requirements that threatened to add unnecessary delay and expense to the rebuilding process. Under the Newsom executive order, California Environmental ...
Blog

Time to pursue emergency reforms to battle wildfires

Time to pursue emergency reforms to battle wildfires by Daniel M. Kolkey  |  January 15, 2025 Editor’s note: This article is adapted from the Pacific Research Institute’s 2021 book, “Saving California.” We’re reprinting this in the wake of the devastating Southern California wildfires, as its policy prescriptions provide a blueprint ...
California

Southern California wildfires show just how destructive the ‘California Way’ can be

You’ll forgive Southern Californians for throwing up their hands in frustration as destructive wildfires rage across the region. Watching their homes burn and loved ones evacuated, California’s ruling class hasn’t exactly channeled their inner-Rudy Giuliani on 9/11. Read the entire op-ed here.
Blog

An insurance emergency after officials let crisis fester

An insurance emergency after officials let crisis fester Horrific wildfires in Los Angeles have focused attention on California’s ongoing insurance troubles, but because of the state’s inaction its insurance industry is facing an “existential crisis,” as a recent New York Post headline put it. The Wall Street Journal quotes a ...
California

Tim Anaya Explains Many California Policy Problems

Anaya previews his latest book, The California Left Coast Survivor’s Guide, co-written with PRI’s Kerry Jackson. Listen to the entire interview here:
Agriculture

Wildfires need more than money thrown at them to put the flames out

It has been an extraordinary year for California fires. The Park Fire currently raging as of this writing in Butte and Tehama Counties has destroyed nearly 300 homes and businesses and remains just 18 percent contained.  More than 200,000 acres of have burned so far, well above the five-year average ...
Blog

Read about Canada's recent wildfires

Bad Policy Could Make Canada’s Recent Fires Regular Occurrence in California

When California is on fire, the rest of the country looks on with the same morbid curiosity it has when yet any of the many Old Testament plagues that shake, rattle, parch, blister and sometimes flood the Golden State. But tables do sometimes turn.  Canada’s recent wildfires meant that for ...
California

California’s misguided climate change priorities

According to a new study released last month, California’s wildfires in 2020 spewed nearly 127 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere.  This was twice the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions that California had achieved over 18 years, according to the UCLA-University of Chicago study. Likewise, California’s 2018 ...
Blog

A To-Do List for the California Legislature

When Californians go to the polls in November, they will be choosing from many new faces seeking to represent them in the state legislature. Thanks to redistricting and a wide swath of retirements, there will be at least 22 new State Assembly Members elected this fall and 10 new State ...
Blog

Hot Nights In The City

California’s failure to control wildfires isn’t just a rural problem Facing longer dry seasons and hotter weather, California has experienced 18 of its 20 largest wildfires since 2000.[1] And while most urban dwellers have escaped the fires’ immediate wrath, they cannot escape its consequences. For one thing, wildfires have a significant ...
Blog

Read the latest on California's post-wildfire response

Newsom Right to Waive CEQA for Wildfire Rebuilding, But Lawmakers Should Also Act

The broken clock that has been state government’s response to the Southern California wildfires was right once on Sunday when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order waving numerous environmental requirements that threatened to add unnecessary delay and expense to the rebuilding process. Under the Newsom executive order, California Environmental ...
Blog

Time to pursue emergency reforms to battle wildfires

Time to pursue emergency reforms to battle wildfires by Daniel M. Kolkey  |  January 15, 2025 Editor’s note: This article is adapted from the Pacific Research Institute’s 2021 book, “Saving California.” We’re reprinting this in the wake of the devastating Southern California wildfires, as its policy prescriptions provide a blueprint ...
California

Southern California wildfires show just how destructive the ‘California Way’ can be

You’ll forgive Southern Californians for throwing up their hands in frustration as destructive wildfires rage across the region. Watching their homes burn and loved ones evacuated, California’s ruling class hasn’t exactly channeled their inner-Rudy Giuliani on 9/11. Read the entire op-ed here.
Blog

An insurance emergency after officials let crisis fester

An insurance emergency after officials let crisis fester Horrific wildfires in Los Angeles have focused attention on California’s ongoing insurance troubles, but because of the state’s inaction its insurance industry is facing an “existential crisis,” as a recent New York Post headline put it. The Wall Street Journal quotes a ...
California

Tim Anaya Explains Many California Policy Problems

Anaya previews his latest book, The California Left Coast Survivor’s Guide, co-written with PRI’s Kerry Jackson. Listen to the entire interview here:
Agriculture

Wildfires need more than money thrown at them to put the flames out

It has been an extraordinary year for California fires. The Park Fire currently raging as of this writing in Butte and Tehama Counties has destroyed nearly 300 homes and businesses and remains just 18 percent contained.  More than 200,000 acres of have burned so far, well above the five-year average ...
Blog

Read about Canada's recent wildfires

Bad Policy Could Make Canada’s Recent Fires Regular Occurrence in California

When California is on fire, the rest of the country looks on with the same morbid curiosity it has when yet any of the many Old Testament plagues that shake, rattle, parch, blister and sometimes flood the Golden State. But tables do sometimes turn.  Canada’s recent wildfires meant that for ...
California

California’s misguided climate change priorities

According to a new study released last month, California’s wildfires in 2020 spewed nearly 127 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere.  This was twice the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions that California had achieved over 18 years, according to the UCLA-University of Chicago study. Likewise, California’s 2018 ...
Blog

A To-Do List for the California Legislature

When Californians go to the polls in November, they will be choosing from many new faces seeking to represent them in the state legislature. Thanks to redistricting and a wide swath of retirements, there will be at least 22 new State Assembly Members elected this fall and 10 new State ...
Blog

Hot Nights In The City

California’s failure to control wildfires isn’t just a rural problem Facing longer dry seasons and hotter weather, California has experienced 18 of its 20 largest wildfires since 2000.[1] And while most urban dwellers have escaped the fires’ immediate wrath, they cannot escape its consequences. For one thing, wildfires have a significant ...
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