Vector illustration of Fresno skyline. (YurkalMMortal, via Shutterstock)OPINION: With the recent landmark victories in our state climate policy, California has a unique opportunity to meet our ambitious climate goals with equity at the center.
Capturing energy from the air in the Tehachapi Pass, California. (Photo: Patrick Poendl)OPINION: Programs established through AB 32 have helped us implement several key projects, and have given a leg up to advanced energy companies across the state. Benefits from these programs extend to sustainable buildings, advanced energy businesses, clean energy schools and sustainable transportation, and reflect the growing importance of clean energy investments to California’s economy.
Environmental activist Tom Steyer at a conference of the Center for American Progress. (Photo: File/Associated Press)While media reports keep predicting that billionaire Tom Steyer will run for California governor in 2018, Steyer says he has not made a decision yet. There are a lot of factors to consider first, including the coming election, said the 59-year-old former hedge fund manager. “I’m going to keep working on the issues. I’m passionate about it,” he said. “I don’t know the best format to do that yet.”
A potato field in the San Joaquin Valley gets a drink. (Photo: Richard Thornton, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Our wet winter increased the state’s water supply and filled many of our reservoirs. But in many ways, the much-needed relief exposed the failure of the current water system and the lack of a cohesive federal and state plan to secure water for California residents and businesses.
Oil rigs in a Kern County oil field. (Photo: Christopher Halloran)OPINION: What do comedian Stephen Colbert, the Washington Post editorial board and Gov. Jerry Brown have in common? They recognize the necessity of hydraulic fracturing. In an interview on The Late Show with Colbert last November to promote his award-winning movie, Spotlight, actor and anti-fracking activist Mark Ruffalo scoffed, “What the hell. Who thought of fracking?” Without missing a beat, Colbert replied, “People who need oil. They’re called Americans.”
A sugar factory , Puunene, Maui, Hawaii. (Photo: Mike Brake)OPINION: Political pundits are saying Gov. Brown, Senate Leader Kevin de León and Sen. Fran Pavley suffered a major political defeat when SB 32 was pulled back and the fuel reduction provisions of SB 350 were removed. We don’t see it that way. This was one skirmish in a long-term battle to balance our environmental, social and economic goals.
A sugar factory , Puunene, Maui, Hawaii. (Photo: Mike Brake)Hawaii last month became the first state to establish a goal of relying 100 percent on renewable energy, setting 2045 as the year to reach this ambitious target. Meanwhile, legislation moved forward in California that would significantly expand its pioneering efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and combat climate change. The Golden State has an economy larger than all but six nations in the world, and almost anything it does has the potential of having global impact.
Sen. Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills, chair of the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee, addresses colleagues on the Senate floor.(Photo: Rich Pedroncelli/AP)To environmentalists in California, across the nation and around the world, she is a trailblazing leader. To the California Chamber of Commerce and many Republicans, she is the unrealistic author of job-killing, la-de-da legislation. To some, she is a futurist who predicts gas stations will disappear in 10 years. She is Fran Pavley, a pleasant, gray-haired Democratic state senator from Southern California who does not come across as a firebrand but can grow passionate about protecting the environment.
Felicia Marcus, chair of the State Water Resources Control Board, is at the heart of California's efforts to deal with an unprecedented drought. (Photo: Phil Kampel for Capitol Weekly)No matter what you might have heard, Felicia Marcus wants you to know she doesn’t hate your lawn. At least not on general principle. “No, no, no,” Marcus, the chair of the Water Resources Control Board, says emphatically when asked about a quote from California Farm Bureau Federation president Paul Wenger that claimed Marcus has a personal vendetta against green lawns.
An oil derrick at work in Kern County, 2013. (Photo: Christopher Halloran)OPINION: Faced with the decision of whether or not hydraulic fracturing (fracking) should be approved in New York, the state’s Commissioner of Health Dr. Howard Zucker publicly asked, “Would I let my family live in a community with fracking? The answer is no. I therefore cannot recommend anyone else’s family to live in such a community either.” In California, some 5.4 million people (14 percent of the state’s population) live within a mile of at least one of the state’s total of 84,000 oil and gas wells, according to the NRDC.