Posts Tagged: innovation

Defining a groundwater management system

Watering crops in California's Central Valley. (Photo: CRSHELARE, via Shutterstock)

by SCOTT SLATER posted 06.20.2016

OPINION: In the past 30 years, perhaps no legislative effort to bolster the state’s water policy has received as much attention as the management of groundwater. This effort lead to the expansion of water district powers, the creation of special act districts with unique powers, the authorization of voluntary plans and finally culminated in the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA).

LCFS: A crucial tool to fight climate change

California motorists in a traffic jam. (Photo: Shutterstock)

by SIMON MUI posted 02.02.2016

OPINION: Just as the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard requires electric utilities to phase in a specific amount of clean energy in our electricity mix, the LCFS mandates that the oil industry phase in cleaner fuels to tackle the state’s biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions: the fuel that runs our cars, trucks, and buses.

OPINION: One of the next great areas of innovation is at risk because of SB 142, which would make it an offense to fly a small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) over private property at an altitude of 350 feet or below – regardless of the reason – without the permission of each private property owner in the flight path.

Court ruling could jeopardize California redistricting

by JOHN HOWARD posted 01.26.2015

California and Arizona are two states that couldn’t be further apart in temperament and size. But in one crucial issue – the drawing of political boundaries – they are joined at the hip, as California’s redistricting commission made clear Friday to the U.S. Supreme Court.

OPINION: Advances in technology are changing the way we live, work and play. By simply going online, a bed and breakfast in San Luis Obispo can book rooms, a salon owner in Pasa Robles can market her team of stylists, and farmers in Watsonville can let buyers around the world know when to expect their shipments of strawberries.

Making a case against fracking

The San Ardo oil field, Monterey. Photo: Loco Steve, Wikimedia

by Ruben Guerra posted 04.16.2014

Fracking is taking place in urban and rural communities throughout the state, and continues to be a regular practice in California’s ocean waters. Concerned about potential impacts, Congresswoman Lois Capps has called for a moratorium on fracking in federal waters until more is understood about the risks of the practice.