News

A new wave of natural gas power plants planned for Southern California has stoked a high-stakes debate about how best to keep the lights on throughout the region.

California drivers still pay more for gasoline than motorists in virtually every other state, but there are signs their pain at the pump won’t be quite as bad in the coming months. . . The ExxonMobil refinery in Torrance went back into full operation Tuesday, a little more than a year after an explosion at the plant injured two people and prompted state regulators to fine the company more than a half-million dollars for safety violations. . . The Torrance plant generates 10 percent of the state’s refined gasoline capacity and 20 percent of the capacity in Southern California.

This is the time of year when water utilities set their rates, which almost inevitably go up. But this year, the rate hikes are likely to be higher than usual, as water utilities cope with the unexpected impact of mandatory conservation on their budgets. . . In 1990, water was sold for $222 per acre-foot by Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which provides about half the water used in San Diego County. For 2016, the price was nearly $1,000 an acre-foot.

In a decision that could have a sweeping impact across California, a new state appeals court ruling may ease approval of local tax increases if they are placed on the ballot by citizen’s initiative instead of by a government agency.

There’s a simple reason reform always is derailed. “CEQA provides a way for anybody who wants anything out of a public agency to get some leverage over the situation – whether that’s unions, environmentalists, businesses, developers and even local governments themselves,” wrote William Fulton, in a California Planning & Development Report article last year. And no one from any interest group wants to give up leverage.

To meet the city of San Diego’s goals for fighting climate change, a lot of people will have to get out of their cars and start walking, biking or taking public transportation to work.

Opponents can always make a fair argument that any proposed project warms the planet (or harms a stickleback or some other fish or species), so every project potentially can drag on through years of legal challenges. The obvious result: fewer housing projects of all sorts will be built, and those that are built will have additional costs. Many developers won’t even bother proposing such projects. People opposed to growth might be happy with that outcome, but those cheering probably already own their piece of the California dream.

But Irvine-based business-relocation consultant Joseph Vranich, whose company Spectrum Location Solutions did the study, charted businesses that relocated offices and facilities, remained in state but expanded elsewhere, outsourced work, cancelled a planned California expansion project or mulled an in-state location but ultimately chose another locale. Relying on public records and media reports, Vranich found 1,510 such events – and used a multiplier to account for data showing that more than five disinvestments are not known for every one that is publicized.

Currently, California voters must approve public-works projects that are funded through general-obligation bonds paid from the general fund. These are taxpayer dollars, so the thinking is taxpayers ought to approve these outlays. This initiative would also require voter approval for projects larger than $2 billion that are financed through “revenue bonds.”

Auditors found the agency’s projects to be over budget a whopping 62 percent of the time. Caltrans spends three times the national average on its per-mile road spending, making California one of the least-efficient users of existing tax dollars. Meanwhile, the state’s infrastructure is crumbling.

Dreams that solar manufacturing might take root in San Diego have faded as French solar company Soitec shuttered its Rancho Bernardo assembly line and seeks to sell off related assets, including permits for two local solar farms that never came to fruition.

“Other cities will likewise find limited ability to raise new revenues as CalPERS continues its plan to ramp up its bill for cities that participate in its pension plan. Yet Sacramento officials act as if the pension problem is gone. There’s hardly an issue legislators didn’t try to address in the recently concluded legislative session, yet nothing of substance to deal with growing pension debts. The good-government group California Common Sense confirms that the state’s unfunded pension liabilities continue to show a pattern of steady increases.”

Federal data indicates Californians paid $171 billion in higher costs for power over the last 20 years, compared to the national average. For perspective, this works out to roughly $12,300 per household, but bear in mind the total includes residential, industrial, commercial and government usage.

Water shortages aren’t that different than food shortages that arise in some parts of the world. The weather is the proximate cause, but the real problem stems from failed public policy. Quite simply, California policy makers have not been building and permitting sufficient water projects to carry this state through dry years.

A report out Wednesday by sociologists at the University of Southern California asserts that San Diego’s economic growth will depend mightily on reducing income inequality, racial disparities and other examples of inequity.