California motorists in a traffic jam. (Photo: Shutterstock)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.
A California physician examines a patient's medical information. (Photo: bikeriderlondon, via Shutterstock)Californians eat more fruits and vegetables than other Americans, refrain from smoking, keep their blood pressure under control and do a decent amount of physical activity. But our health, overall, is still worse than the residents of 21 other states, according to a recent report. Why? A big reason might be a category in which California ranks at the very bottom of all 50 states — health disparities, according to an annual report published by the United Health Foundation.
As rush hour approaches, traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge. (Photo: Frontpage)OPINION: The oil company partisans and their legislative allies apparently failed to read past the first five pages of the bill. Buried in the back pages of SB 350 is a full codification of the 2030 and 2050 climate targets that the industry thought it defeated, along with a powerful new set of directives to state energy agencies to meet those targets.
A powerplant at sunset. (Photo: David Crockett)California is in the midst of multiple regulatory efforts to reduce methane emissions from natural gas and oil operations throughout the state. It’s a key opportunity to make a real dent in the state’s climate impact since methane, the primary component of natural gas, packs over 84 times the warming potential of carbon dioxide in the first 20 years after it is released unburned.
California motorists in a traffic jam. (Photo: Shutterstock)As a physician – especially a physician living in Los Angeles – I am deeply concerned about the effects of air pollution on lung health. Southern California is home to some of the most entrenched air pollution in our nation and it affects the millions of our residents living with asthma, heart and lung disease and other chronic health conditions.
Lancaster officials say the Antelope Valley’s gusting winds will carry the plant’s 546 tons of pollution — and the problems that will come with it – straight to Lancaster.
It’s no secret Californians pay some of the highest gas prices in the nation. And even though consumers and the economy have just gotten over last year’s historic gas prices, another spike seems to be knocking on our door. For more than 20 years I have focused on creating efficient energy markets – ranging from helping the prosecution of Enron executives to working on market manipulation issues across the U.S. and Canada. Over the past 18 months California gasoline prices have spiked repeatedly – with little relationship to world oil prices, or supply and demand.
Recently California’s clean energy and pollution law, AB 32, observed its first auction of pollution permits. Much has been said about the impact of this auction on California’s economy, with competing interests making differing claims.
As economists and academics, we believe the auction and AB 32’s carbon market will help California meet its environmental
It was kind of like eBay.
For three hours on Wednesday, millions of dollars worth of pollution credits were expected to be sold to scores of companies at California’s first auction under the state’s 2006 law to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
The auction, which went forward despite legal challenges, is unique among the states,