News

When wind or solar energy displace conventional generation, the reduction in emissions varies dramatically across the United States. Although the Southwest has the greatest solar resource, a solar panel in New Jersey displaces significantly more sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter than a panel in Arizona, resulting in 15 times more health and environmental benefits. A wind turbine in West Virginia displaces twice as much carbon dioxide as the same turbine in California.

The move to find a permanent home for the Silicon Valley branch of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has been put on indefinite hold.

Reform of the state of California’s landmark and controversial environmental law, CEQA, is starting to get more complicated.

An effort is under way in the Capitol to require local governments to perform comprehensive economic impact studies of so-called “superstores” before approving the projects.

In this Friday’s print edition, I take a closer look at whether Gov. Jerry Brown’s decision to kill the state of California’s enterprise zone program will actually work. The controversial decision to phase out the program and replace it with a range of other incentives was a hot topic last week when the California Legislature approved the governor’s reforms.

We told you earlier this month that Silicon Valley’s long-sought regional patent office is facing an indefinite delay. Now, the region’s congressional delegation has introduced a measure to get the project back on track.

SACRAMENTO — The Assembly Local Government Committee Wednesday approved legislation that would effectively force charter cities to require higher prevailing wages for all public works project contracts regardless of where the money comes from.

The developer of a huge proposed solar power project that was once slated to cover 12.5 square miles of still-intact desert habitat has walked away from the idea, according to documents released by the California Energy Commission (CEC). The Calico Solar Project, proposed for land north of Interstate 40 between the hamlets of Ludlow and Newberry Springs, attracted opposition even from die-hard supporters of desert solar projects.

In another nod to San Francisco’s increasingly upbeat economy, the Planning Commission called Thursday for an end to a 3-year-old fee deferral program designed to prop up the then-struggling local construction industry. “The commission has seen big increases in permit activity,” said AnMarie Rodgers, manager of legislative affairs for the Planning Department. “Certainly everyone agrees that the economic situation is far better now than when the program started.”

In January, Los Angeles Times business columnist Michael Hiltzik wrote a piece dealing with the movement of a manufacturing firm out of California. He used the loss of the firm to lament the difficulties faced by the state’s manufacturers and the fact California lacks any industrial development policy. In March, the paper’s Sacramento columnist, George Skelton, wrote an article citing the difficulties being created for the state by misuse of the CEQA process. Key observers thus appear to be starting to understand that our state government, with Democrats now controlling every constitutional office and veto proof majorities in both houses, has done little to worry about California’s prosperity and the huge portion of its residents with high school or less educations. As the Chief Economist of the Inland Empire Economic Partnership, I have had to worry about these facts as they directly affect the region about which we are concerned.

. . . considers the changes in the State’s employment structure over the past two decade, looking at the growth and contractions in its core industries. This report then analyzes some of the factors that have led to these employment changes, in particular those factors affected by government policies.

Expert evaluation of the Boston Consulting Group report

“. . . analyzes the job impacts of AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, and highlights the policy design options that can best promote both lower greenhouse gas emissions and good jobs. “

. . . estimates the total potential economic activity that is being held up by the delay in permits.

Analysis of manufacturing in California and factors affecting the industry trends