California Proves That Environmental Regulations Don't Kill Profits

WIRED
August 23, 2017

To anyone who believes environmental regulation is poison for profits, California must be infuriating. The state’s pollution policies rarely wilt its perennially blooming economy. For the past nine years, a Golden State-centric think tank Next 10 has been releasing its California Green Innovation Index. The results this year show a continuing trend: For two and a half decades, California’s GDP and population have continued to rise, while per capita carbon dioxide emissions have stayed flat.

Editorial Don’t let Trump roll back California’s environmental gains

Los Angeles Times
August 23, 2017

California has long been an environmental leader, adopting strong laws to protect the air, water and land that often, eventually, become national policy. Yet the task of setting and enforcing environmental standards is a huge one, and even Green California has relied on the federal government to handle much of that work.

Tom Werner

“Solar power development at all levels is a significant economic force in California, creating over 100,000 jobs, driving innovation and reducing the cost of energy.  Thanks to Senator de León and his distinguished colleagues in the legislature, SB 100 is a bold initiative that will accelerate economic opportunities and further improve our environment.  The world is watching California as it leads the global transition to a clean, reliable, affordable energy future.” 

Nancy Rader

“Collectively, we have learned so much on the way to achieving 33% renewables – technically, legally and commercially – that we are confident that advancing the 50% renewables target to 2026 and setting a 100% clean-energy target for 2045 are both technically and affordably achievable.  Further, raising the 2023 target to 45% will provide a much-needed boost to the near-term renewables market, which is important to spur the repowering of many 1980s-generation wind projects in Kern, Riverside, and Alameda counties.”

Jim Woodruff

"Not only is this vision essential for the world at large, but a fully renewable grid also secures California’s place at the forefront of one of the most significant economic transformations in the history of our planet.”