Infrastructure

2014 promises water fight over Delta tunnels

Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed twin tunnels under the California Delta will continue to be a major policy issue throughout 2014 and beyond. A spritzer of things to come is a recent article in the Daily News by Conner Everts and Adam

Bullet-train coverage: All the happy talk that fits

Chris Reed December 18, 2013

The Fresno Bee’s editorial page has cheered longer and harder for the bullet-train project than just about any newspaper in the state. But has this enthusiasm affected news coverage? A story in Wednesday’s paper should make Fresno Bee readers wonder.

Can California land Boeing again?

Adam O'Neal December 17, 2013

Boeing, the world’s largest aerospace company, announced last week it would be restructuring its primary research and development unit. The company will be opening new research centers in Alabama, Southern California, Missouri, South Carolina and Washington state. “We are reorganizing and

San Francisco botches energy co-op rollout

Wayne Lusvardi December 16, 2013

Obamacare isn’t the only new government program suffering problems. San Francisco is getting jolted by its new Community Choice Aggregation program, which the U.S. Department of Energy defines in general as, “a state policy that enables local governments to

An open letter to bullet-train board Chairman Dan Richard

Chris Reed December 15, 2013

Dan Richard was at it again in Saturday’s Los Angeles Times. LAT’s Ralph Vartabedian did a good job painting a downbeat picture of the bullet train’s prospects after negative legal and regulatory rulings. But he didn’t ask the question that blows

Solar power no help during CA’s late peak winter hours

Wayne Lusvardi December 13, 2013

Solar power is popular nowadays as a “renewable,” non-polluting energy source. It helps California comply with AB32, the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, which mandates a 25 percent reduction in greenhouse gases in the state by 2020. “Even

George Skelton finally turns on bullet train. Now will Dan Morain?

Chris Reed December 9, 2013

So it’s been clear for years that when it comes to the bullet train, Gov. Jerry Brown has lost Sac Bee news columnist Dan Walters. This weekend’s column makes it clear that the LAT’s George Skelton is about to jump

CA electric rate reform adjusts rates from 2001 crisis

Wayne Lusvardi December 9, 2013

Now that the $42 billion in debt from the 2001 Electricity Crisis has been paid off, California is in the process of re-working electric power rates. It has mostly been high-volume electricity users who have been paying down that debt through higher power rates.

Bullet-train blog urges $29B in new CA taxes to save project

Chris Reed December 7, 2013

These are melancholy and bitter times for the California High Speed Rail Blog. Overseer Robert Cruickshank has reacted to Judge Michael Kenny’s rulings blocking the project by decrying the taxpayer protections in the 2008 ballot measure authorizing $9.95 billion in

Railway safety comes at high price

Adam O'Neal December 6, 2013

Last Sunday, a Metro-North train in New York derailed, killing four passengers and injuring 67 others. Apparently the train engineer had been “nodding off” and was unable to slow the train before it hit a curve on its route, causing it