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).

The Abundance Choice, Part 13: The Lords of Scarcity

June 9, 2022 2:30 amJune 14, 2022 6:50 am

One of the farmers who supported our attempt to qualify the Water Infrastructure Funding Act for the November 2022 ballot was John Duarte. It was a privilege to speak with Duarte, because his reputation had preceded him. Duarte is the...

The Abundance Choice, Part 12: Numbers Don’t Lie

June 7, 2022 2:30 amJune 7, 2022 4:13 pm

Scope insensitivity happens whenever a statistic has huge emotional impact but in reality has little relevance to the issues and challenges it purports to illuminate. It is scope insensitivity that makes conscientious Californians willing to put a bucket in their shower....

The Abundance Choice, Part 11: The Desalination Option

June 5, 2022 2:30 amJune 6, 2022 5:09 pm

On May 12, the California Coastal Commission Board of Directors voted 11-0 to deny the application from Poseidon Water to build a desalination plant in Huntington Beach. Since 1998, Poseidon has spent over $100 million on design and permit work for this plant. At least half...

The Abundance Choice, Part 10: Time to Stop Wasting Wastewater

June 3, 2022 2:30 amJune 4, 2022 3:59 pm

If there is any source of water that ought to be optimized, it is the wastewater produced by California’s urban centers. Perennially issuing from sewage treatment plants throughout the state, every year this torrent of mostly treated effluent is equivalent in volume...

The Abundance Choice, Part 9: Can Reservoirs be Part of the Solution?

June 1, 2022 2:30 amJune 2, 2022 7:02 am

In May 1957, Harvey Banks, then director of the California Dept. of Water Resources, submitted “The California Water Plan” to the governor and state legislature. On page 14 of part one of this comprehensive document, Table 3 depicts what Banks and his...

The Abundance Choice, Part 8: The Union Factor

May 28, 2022 2:22 amMay 31, 2022 4:47 pm

The moment we met Robbie Hunter, then president of the State Building and Construction Trades Council, we knew we were in the presence of a man who does not lose. Assemblyman Devon Mathis had urged me to contact the construction unions...

The Abundance Choice, Part 7: An Environmentalist Juggernaut

May 26, 2022 2:25 amMay 30, 2022 1:32 pm

Environmentalists in California, who constitute much of the vanguard of environmentalism in the world, have normalized extremism. The solutions they’ve proposed to supposedly save the planet, and the premises they’ve convinced millions of people to accept as beyond debate, constitute...