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: Ignoring Role of Bass in Salmon Decline is Negligence

March 20, 2025 2:55 amMarch 20, 2025 2:56 am

A March 5 “Perspective” in the Manteca Bulletin highlights a chronically underemphasized problem impacting every Californian. Bass, as editor Dennis Wyatt succinctly explains, are a “destructive, invasive species, that are a serious threat to the sustainability of the ecosystem.” Wyatt proposes a...

Ringside: How Californians Can Achieve Energy Abundance

March 16, 2025 10:57 amMarch 16, 2025 10:57 am

In May 2023, Governor Gavin Newsom released a report, “California’s Clean Energy Transition Plan,” which provides an updated overview of the state’s official energy policy agenda. The document sets many ambitious goals, perhaps too ambitious, and its summary presents ambiguous...

Ringside: Desalination at Scale is Cost Competitive

March 13, 2025 3:30 amMarch 13, 2025 3:31 am

On May 22, 2022, the California Coastal Commission voted unanimously to deny final approval for a desalination plant in Huntington Beach. It would have produced 56,000 acre feet of fresh water per year, and would have been privately financed. To...

Ringside: The Easy Impossible Path to Water Abundance

February 27, 2025 3:14 pmFebruary 27, 2025 3:14 pm

Coming up with a plan to find sufficient water to maintain 100 percent of existing irrigated farm acreage in the San Joaquin Valley the next time a multi-year drought strikes is not impossible. We can pipe water from Lake Roosevelt...

Ringside: Rehydrating the Los Angeles Heat Island

February 21, 2025 7:00 amFebruary 21, 2025 7:07 am

Along with the fairly recent popularization of terms such as atmospheric river and bomb cyclone, we increasingly hear the term “vapor pressure deficit” (VPD). At any given temperature, the term refers to how much moisture is in the air compared...

Ringside: Twelve Scarcity Enabling Laws to Scrap

February 13, 2025 7:30 amFebruary 13, 2025 7:31 am

Last week, as a representative of the California Policy Center, I had the opportunity to testify before a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee at a hearing on the topic of “California Fires and the Consequences of Overregulation.” While my remarks...

Ringside: Conditions President Trump Can Put on California’s Federal Relief Funds

February 10, 2025 4:45 pmFebruary 10, 2025 5:02 pm

What can President Donald Trump do to pressure Governor Gavin Newsom and the California Legislature to manage the state’s water projects in a way that doesn’t simply offset the federal efforts? What leverage does he have, if for every federal...