Solar power fries ratepayers

Dec. 29, 2012 By Joseph Perkins Most lawmakers in Sacramento have no idea who Robert K. Merton was. But they almost certainly are familiar with terms the late great American social scientist introduced into the popular lexicon, including “unintended consequences.”

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Schools pooling up to oppose arbitrary storm-water tax

Dec. 27, 2012 By Wayne Lusvardi Why is only Los Angeles County being singled out to comply with a new state law to clean up so-called dirty storm water flowing to beaches?  And how can this law be only imposed

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Rail Series: CA should consider Medium-Speed Rail alternative

Editor’s Note: The following is a complete compilation, in one posting, of the six-part series we ran on Medium-Speed Rail as an alternative to High-Speed Rail. Dec. 26, 2012 By Stan Brin By now, everyone in California knows the voter-mandated

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Will California media ignore fracking’s long, safe history?

Dec. 26, 2012 By Chris Reed The escalating battle over using hydraulic fracturing — better known as fracking — for highly promising oil and natural gas exploration in California isn’t just another front in the state’s long-running war between environmentalists

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No ‘time out’ for city in rail authority’s cross-hairs

Dec. 21, 2012 By Chris Reed The nervousness is growing in Bakersfield as the California High-Speed Rail Authority moves toward locking into a route that will disrupt the lives of thousands of people — and maybe for no reason. The

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Rail Series: Who will own it? Who will pay for it?

This is Part 6 of a series on Medium-Speed rail alternatives to California’s High-Speed Rail project. Click to read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5. Dec. 18, 2012 By Stan Brin In any discussion of rail expansion, two gorillas always appear: How

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Rail Series: Surmounting the Tehachapi Barrier

This is Part 5 of a series on Medium-Speed rail alternatives to California’s High-Speed Rail project. Click to read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 and Part 6. Dec. 17, 2012 By Stan Brin Now comes the hard part. As Ned Ryerson, that great observer

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Rail Series: Medium-speed train tracking costs less than high-speed rail

This is Part 4 of a series on Medium-Speed rail alternatives to California’s High-Speed Rail project. Click to read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 and Part 6. Dec. 14, 2012 By Stan Brin How much does it cost to lay an additional pair of

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Regulations stalling power plant conversion

Dec. 14, 2012 By Wayne Lusvardi In George Orwell’s novel “1984,” “doublespeak” meant the reversal of the meaning of words: “war is peace,” “ignorance is strength” and “freedom is slavery.” Ever since the California Electricity Crisis of 2000-01, California has been

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Rail series: A capitalist solution for California train travel

This is Part 2 of a series. Click to read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 and Part 6. Dec. 12, 2012 By Stan Brin Before I go any further, I would like readers to understand that this proposal is strictly a real-world alternative

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