[Source: Orange County Register Editorial Board] CNBC’s annual state-by-state “business climate” study is out. No surprise, we’re dead last — No. 50 — among the states for “cost of doing business.” Here’s an area where you don’t want to say, “As California goes, so goes the nation.” Almost all of California’s business-climate problems are self-inflicted, Read More…
Newsroom
Fading electric vehicle support in US and China could delay peak oil demand
[Source: GTM] The U.S. Energy Information Administration and International Energy Agency are likely to upwardly revise their oil demand projections, a new report says. Policy support for electric vehicles is waning in key markets around the world, potentially softening EV sales and pushing back forecasts for a peak in global oil demand, according to a Read More…
California’s latest descent into liberal madness – Berkeley bans natural gas
[Source: FoxNews] From sanctuary cities to brutally high taxes, California is the undisputed center of gravity for today’s far-left. If you want to see how liberal policies would look on a national level, you don’t have to imagine it. You can just look at the thousands fleeing the once-great state. In the latest chapter of California’s descent Read More…
The Energy 202: EPA’s new ‘no surprises’ inspection policy has some critics worried
[Source: The Washington Post] The Environmental Protection Agency will no longer have inspectors drop by power plants and other potential illegal polluters without giving states notice, a move Trump administration critics say will limit the agency’s ability to enforce environmental laws. A July 11 memo from Susan Bodine, the EPA’s top enforcement official, to regional administrators spelled out the Read More…
Berkeley becomes first U.S. city to ban natural gas in new homes
[Source: San Francisco Chronicle] Berkeley has become the first city in the nation to ban the installation of natural gas lines in new homes. The City Council on Tuesday night unanimously voted to ban gas from new low-rise residential buildings starting Jan. 1. It’s not the first time Berkeley has passed pioneering health or environmental Read More…
Governor Newsom champions measures that would take us back to medieval times
[Source: Fox & Hounds] Governor Newsom is vocally supportive of the Green New Deal that would take us back to medieval times. The Governor’s statement on July 12th was scary. He is looking into putting a moratorium on fracking for oil and wants to reduce the state’s reliance on fossil fuels. The Governor seems to Read More…
San Francisco trial court ruling a temporary setback for Prop. 13
[Source: Los Angeles Daily News] Recently, a San Francisco judge upheld the validity of a local special tax that failed to secure a two-thirds vote of the city electorate as required both by Proposition 13 (1978) and Proposition 218 (1996), also known as the Right to Vote on Taxes Act. Both initiatives were sponsored by Read More…
Governor Newsom names appointee to South Coast AQMD board
[Source: Office of Governor Gavin Newsom] Negar “Nikki” Noushkam, 44, of Los Angeles, has been appointed to the South Coast Air Quality Management District Board. Noushkam has been senior project manager at Environmental Remediation Services Inc. since 2007 and chief engineer for the Aerospace Corporation since 2015. Noushkam held several positions at Northrop Grumman from Read More…
The war on Southern California smog is slipping. Fixing it is a $14-billion problem
[Source: Source: Los Angeles Times] The war on smog has been called one of America’s greatest environmental successes. Decades of emissions-cutting regulations under a bipartisan law — the 1970 Clean Air Act — have eased the choking pollution that once shrouded U.S. cities. Cleaner air has saved lives and strengthened the lungs of Los Angeles Read More…