[Source: Melanie Turner/ California Air Resources Board, Office of Communications] A new scientific study using satellite technology provides clear evidence that California’s tough clean air programs are working to reduce emissions of fine particle pollution throughout the state. Scientists from Emory University, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the California Air Resources Board worked together to Read More…
Category: California News
Green jobs still a small fraction of the California economy
[Source: California Center for Jobs and the Economy] As part of its ongoing research and analysis of trends and policies affecting the California economy, the California Center for Jobs and the Economy issued a new report today assessing the extent to which the state has transitioned to a Green Economy and concluding that green job Read More…
State’s progress on 5 million zero emission vehicles by 2030: Q1 2018 results
[Source: California Center for Jobs and the Economy] The latest new vehicle sales data from California New Car Dealers Association shows that, as expected, the above-trend ZEV sales in Q4 2017 were likely consumer responses to the potential sunset of related federal subsidies. The Q1 sales of true ZEVs (battery and fuel cell vehicles) were Read More…
California’s Brown pegs bullet train future to Democratic wave
[Source: Bloomberg] California’s $77 billion high-speed rail project, which has been dogged by cost overruns and delays, could receive much-needed federal funding if Democrats take control of Congress in November, Governor Jerry Brown said Wednesday. “When the Congress shifts” and lawmakers draft an infrastructure bill, Brown said he is optimistic they will provide $6 billion Read More…
Legislatures kill transparency pricing at the pump
[Source: Fox & Hounds] Californians now pay as much as $1.00 more per gallon of fuel than the rest of the country. Shouldn’t the motoring public know why? A bill in the California Legislature to do just that was Senate Bill 1074, by state Sen. John Moorlach, R-Costa Mesa. Called “Disclosure of government-imposed costs,” it Read More…
The bullet train is California’s biggest infrastructure project — but it’s seldom discussed in governor’s race
[Source: Los Angeles Times] It’s the biggest infrastructure project in state history, but the California bullet train gets hardly any attention on the campaign trail. The leading candidates for governor have said little publicly about how they would fix dire problems in the $77-billion mega-project that has already overrun its initial cost estimate by $44 Read More…
Proposed California solar mandate could add $10,500 to cost of a house
[Source: San Francisco Chronicle] California may soon become the first state in the nation to require that virtually every new home be equipped with solar panels. The California Energy Commission on Wednesday is expected to mandate solar arrays on almost all new single-family houses built after Jan. 1, 2020, as part of the state’s fight Read More…
Southern California air quality officials will craft rules governing warehouse, rail yard pollution
[Source: Los Angeles Times] Southern California air quality officials voted Friday to craft rules governing warehouses, distribution centers and rail yards in a controversial bid to combat transportation emissions in the nation’s smoggiest region. The governing board of the South Coast Air Quality Management District moved to begin devising rules to regulate freight facilities as Read More…
California warns of a second energy crisis
[Source: Bloomberg] California’s chief utility regulator is warning that the state could find itself in the throes of another energy crisis if it doesn’t address the droves of customers defecting from utilities. The state is going to find it increasingly difficult to ensure it has enough electricity to keep the lights on as more Californians Read More…