Regulation

Guest Blogger Ken Alex: Big Data and the Renewable Revolution

Ken Alex is a Senior Advisor to Governor Jerry Brown and the Director of the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research.  The views expressed in this blog post are his own. Earlier this year, UCLA’s Center for Sustainable Communities launched an interactive energy map for energy use in most of Los Angeles.  It was a …

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Protecting the Safety of Food Imports

Food safety, particularly for imported foods, is a serious problems.  Help is on the way — but slowly, very slowly. According to the NY Times: About 15 percent of food that Americans eat comes from abroad, more than double what it was just 10 years ago, including nearly two-thirds of fresh fruits and vegetables. And …

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Guest Blogger Ken Alex: Saving Electricity for a Rainy Day

Ken Alex is a Senior Advisor to Governor Jerry Brown and the Director of the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research.  The views expressed in this blog post are his own. We are making progress in two more key areas, although California, for now, is not in the lead.  Thanks to new developments and a …

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Guest Blogger Ken Alex: An EV in Every Garage

Ken Alex is a Senior Advisor to Governor Jerry Brown and the Director of the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research.  The views expressed in this blog post are his own. Four years ago, the number of electric vehicles on California roads was pretty close to zero.  At the end of this year, it will …

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The Congressional Back Door Attack on California’s Environmental Programs

California’s Environmental Programs

Today’s Los Angeles Times reports on disturbing, broad-based efforts in Congress that threaten to eviscerate a host of California’s cutting-edge environmental initiatives, most prominently its “Green Chemistry” program. The saga begins with the California Legislature’s enactment of the state’s “Green Chemistry Initiative” (GCI) in 2008.  The overarching principle behind GCI is to mandate the design of chemical products …

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Guest Blogger Ken Alex: Climate Science and Public Belief

Ken Alex is a Senior Advisor to Governor Jerry Brown and the Director of the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research.  The views expressed in this blog post are his own. In the book Collapse, Professor Jared Diamond asks, why do societies destroy themselves through disastrous decisions, even after they perceive the problem?  Why, for …

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Guest Blogger Ken Alex: California’s Road to 2020 and Beyond

Ken Alex is a Senior Advisor to Governor Jerry Brown and the Director of the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research.  The views expressed in this blog post are his own. Four years ago, when I was the head of the Attorney General’s environment section,  I wrote a series of guest blogs for Legal Planet …

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Is the Golden State Warriors’ Proposed Basketball Arena a Proper Public Trust Use?

The Bay Area’s NBA franchise, the Golden State Warriors, is collaborating with San Francisco city officials to develop a new, state-of-the-art basketball arena on a site that literally sits atop San Francisco Bay.  Few would argue that the region’s basketball team–a perennial second-division NBA franchise until it surged into contention last season–needs a new arena.  …

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The Retrospective Greening of Bill Clinton

Last week, the EPA building was renamed for Bill Clinton.  This a bit ironic — not that he was anti-environmental, but the environment wasn’t exactly his top priority.  As you may recall, Clinton’s guiding philosophy was expressed by the motto, “It’s the economy, stupid.”  There’s no reason to think he has any particular passion about …

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Ninth Circuit Rejects Water Agency’s “Area of Origin” Water Rights Claim

Responding to the current drought conditions confronting California, state and federal water project officials have announced cutbacks in anticipated water deliveries this summer and fall from both the Central Valley Project (CVP) and State Water Project.  It’s with that sobering backdrop that a recent decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit …

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