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: 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...

Ringside: Eliminating Water Scarcity

December 20, 2023 10:38 pmDecember 20, 2023 10:38 pm

After the deluge that inundated California during our most recent water season, there is no chance Californians will confront a water supply crisis this year. Water levels, as reported by the California Data Exchange Center, are above the historical average for...

Ringside: Examining the Future of Fossil Fuel

December 13, 2023 2:12 pmDecember 14, 2023 6:30 am

Here’s a question for every oil and gas producer in California. It is especially directed to the five “bad guys” — Exxon Mobil, Shell, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, and BP — that were recently sued by California’s grandstanding attorney general, Rob Bonta: When are...

Ringside: California’s 2023 Legislative War on Affordability and Democracy

December 7, 2023 2:33 amDecember 7, 2023 6:30 am

As we move into the final month of 2023, it is appropriate to review recent legislative actions that will have a significant impact on California’s ability to deliver abundant and affordable energy and water to its residents. There isn’t much...