Infrastructure

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No Shortage of Water Mythmakers

APRIL 5, 2011 By WAYNE LUSVARDI Does California have enough water? Peter H. Gleick of the Pacific Institute in Oakland thinks not. He wrote yesterday in “Myths of California water shortfalls” that it is a myth there is enough water

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Water Board Dunks 'Animal Farm’ Policy

MARCH 24, 2011 By WAYNE LUSVARDI California policy makers are busy mandating wind and solar farms in its deserts. But along its coastline, the Water Quality Resources Control Board is busy enforcing inconsistent environmental policy right out of George Orwell’s

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California's High-Speed Railroading

MARCH 16 There’s not a lot of humor in California’s proposed high-speed rail project. It’s a massive undertaking, which will cost at least $43 billion, and probably twice that – money that isn’t exactly lying around these days. Its 800-mile

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End of Nuke Power in CA, America

John Seiler: One solution to California’s need for electricity would have been to construct more nuclear power plants. Doing so also would have helped the state meet the requirements of AB 32 to reduce greenhouse gases. Nuke plants don’ t

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CA Confused on "Drought" Meaning

MARCH 7, 2011 BY WAYNE LUSVARDI California’s drought barometer and vocabulary need to be reformed. The bureaucratic apparatus in California perpetually says the state is in a “drought.” In fact, with snowpack running at 124 percent of normal, the California

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Energy Prices Are Going Up

MAR. 4, 2011 By KATY GRIMES Renewable energy standards are increasing from 20 percent to 33 percent, “whether you like it or not.” Borrowing  a phrase used by California’s Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, back when he was mayor,  seems the

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CPUC Floats $3.4 Billion Green Water Tax

MARCH 4, 2011 BY WAYNE LUSVARDI Call it the Green Water Tax. It’s a proposal advanced in a White Paper on the Web site of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to impose a $3.4 billion surcharge on the energy-related costs

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Even Silicon Valley Ruined

John Seiler: The disastrous policies of federal, state and local governments have not spared even Silicon Valley. Sure, the top digital geeks still trek there. Companies like Facebook still locate there. But Facebook has only about 2,000 employees, many of

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Does Not Compute

John Seiler: Over the years I’ve written many times how it  remains a mystery that the state that continues to produce the Internet Revolution can’t get its government computers to work right. That pretty much tells you all you need

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Utility Surcharge Funds Green Research

FEB. 11, 2011 By WAYNE LUSVARDI If you look at the bottom of your electricity bill you will see a cluster of surcharges with abbreviations that conceal what the charge is going for, unless you call your utility company and

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