Infrastructure

Hydrogen is touted as a solution for helping address California's energy and climate crises. However, a hydrogen economy would involve serious risks, and may not actually help the climate.

It’s another make-or-break week at the Legislature before its month-long summer recess. By Friday, bills that have already passed either the Assembly or Senate must get through policy committees in the other chamber to stay alive this session. Most measures have, but there are some that are still in jeopardy as committees busily go through […]

The package of laws aims to speed up lawsuits for solar farms, reservoirs and other infrastructure, and relax protection of some species. Environmentalists and business groups call them a good compromise.

Scheduling note: WhatMatters will observe the Juneteenth holiday on Monday and be back in your inboxes on Tuesday. From CalMatters politics reporter Alexei Koseff: As legislative leaders continue to negotiate a budget deal with Gov. Gavin Newsom ahead of the start of the fiscal year on July 1, expansive “trailer bills” proposed by the governor […]

After weeks of rain, the long-dry Tulare Lake is rising from the San Joaquin Valley floor, endangering farms, towns, livelihoods. Now record snow on the Sierra Nevada is melting. Will the Central Valley be ready?

Between 1949 and 2017, the federal government invested only $10 billion in high-speed rail with $4 billion of that dedicated to the California project, compared to investments of $777 billion in aviation and over $2 trillion in highways. The federal government can’t expect transformative results with piecemeal funding. We must go big.

The infrastructure problems facing California have been exposed this month as Silicon Valley's economy, the state's transit future and the Central Valley's floodplains faced various threats. The speed at which the state and others responded has been revealing.

During the interstate highway construction boom, urban neighborhoods were sliced apart, often isolating the homes of minorities and low-income residents. California lawmakers are exploring ways to undo some of that harm by reconnecting neighborhoods.

Transit expenses are one part of the high cost of college that is pushing many low-income students out of the state’s higher education systems. Some campuses have partnered with local transit agencies to reduce or waive all fares for students, but recent efforts to create more partnerships with state funding have failed.

We need to avoid "solutions" that cut allocations to an industry that feeds the nation and supports the economy of the Central Valley.