Author: Edward Ring

Edward Ring is the director of water and energy policy for the California Policy Center, which he co-founded in 2013 and served as its first president. The California Policy Center is an educational non-profit focused on public policies that aim to improve California’s democracy and economy. He is also a senior fellow of the Center for American Greatness. Ring is the author of two books: "Fixing California - Abundance, Pragmatism, Optimism" (2021), and "The Abundance Choice - Our Fight for More Water in California" (2022).

Ringside: California is Hardly Harvesting the Deluge

February 8, 2024 2:55 amFebruary 8, 2024 11:15 am

A historic barrage of atmospheric rivers hit California. Across the Sierra Nevada and down through the foothills into the valley, rivers turned into raging torrents, overflowing their banks and flooding entire communities. California’s Central Valley turned into an inland sea,...

Ringside: Comparing the Delta Tunnel versus Desalination

February 1, 2024 6:57 amFebruary 2, 2024 6:27 am

Debates over the efficacy of water projects often focus on the monthly cost to end users. For example, in May 2022, a few days before the California Coastal Commission voted unanimously to deny the final permit to build a desalination plant in...

Ringside: Half of California’s Energy Comes from Crude Oil

January 25, 2024 6:15 amJanuary 26, 2024 8:13 am

Here’s a reality check that ought to keep politicians up at night in California. Despite being a sunny, solar friendly state, with ample areas blessed with high wind, California still derives 50 percent of its total energy from crude oil. Another...

Ringside: The Klamath Basin ‘Restoration’ is at What Cost?

January 18, 2024 2:30 amJanuary 18, 2024 2:31 am

If you scan news reports and search results for Klamath Dams removal, the news is universally upbeat. “The river will run free again.” “A step towards justice.” “Largest river restoration project in American history!” But as waters now drain out...

Ringside: Water Rationing is the Worst Way to Build Resiliency

January 11, 2024 2:45 amJanuary 11, 2024 2:46 am

When a public policy decision is flawed, and the reasons it is flawed are simple and obvious, and the consequences are huge and costly, the appropriate response for a concerned observer is to call attention to the looming debacle. Not...

Ringside: Challenging the Water Orthodoxy

January 4, 2024 3:30 amJanuary 4, 2024 3:31 am

Along with energy, water abundance is a nonnegotiable prerequisite for conditions we value and aspire to achieve: prosperity, affordability, resilience, and equity. But judging from California’s restrictive policies over the past fifty years, continuously escalating in severity and scope, you...

Ringside: The Price of Scarcity

December 27, 2023 6:00 pmDecember 27, 2023 6:01 pm

How much water does $7 billion buy? In so many ways that it almost defies description, California’s lawmakers have relied on flawed logic to justify recently passed laws that will impose punitive urban water rationing. Rather than undertake the Sisyphean...