It’s Not Climate Change, It’s Because We Stopped Logging

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Audio:  A brief recap of what is really causing catastrophic wildfires. For over a century we have gotten better and better at suppressing natural wildfires. Then over the past 40 years, we have regulated California’s timber harvesting industry almost out of existence. California’s forests are now so overgrown that no fires are natural anymore. They are catastrophic because the fuel is made of trees that are dried out from overcrowding. Climate change is secondary. Edward Ring with host Jon Slavet on the State of Gold podcast.

How California’s Political Machine Controls Election Outcomes

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Audio: Voting laws in California have made it easy, and legal, to manipulate election outcomes. With poorly maintained voter rolls, 29 days of “early voting,” provisional ballots, same-day voter registration, automatic motor-voter registration, universal mail-in ballots, a seven-day post-election grace period for mailed ballots to still be counted, ballot harvesting, and county elections offices under oversight by Democrat politicians and staffed by Democrat-leaning bureaucrats, there are means, motives, and opportunities for fraud. But laws governing elections in California are tools—all of them completely legal—that turbocharge California’s ruling political machine. To rig an election in California, fraud isn’t necessary. To focus on fraud, without also critiquing the system itself, is a fruitless distraction – 10 minutes on KNRS Salt Lake City – Edward Ring on the Rod Arquette Show.
(segment starts at 2:50)

California’s Water and Energy Policies are at a Critical Crossroads

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Audio: My appearance last week on AgNet News Hour with Nick Papagni and Josh McGill, broken into three parts:

Part 1 (May 20, 2026): Focuses on California’s water crisis, Delta management, dredging, desalination, storage, and farming challenges.
https://agnetwest.com/edward-ring-california-water-crisis-farming-solutions/

Part 2 (May 21, 2026): Continues on water solutions, SGMA, Delta pumping, storage, and broader policy/farming issues.
https://agnetwest.com/edward-ring-part-two-california-water-solutions/

Part 3 (May 22, 2026): Shifts to energy policy, oil/gas production, gas prices, refinery issues, and impacts on agriculture.
https://agnetwest.com/edward-ring-california-gas-prices-oil-agriculture/

Part 4 (May 26, 2026 – Memorial Day): Wraps up the series covering California’s energy crisis, government overreach, water infrastructure failures, the governor’s race, and broader implications for agriculture and the state’s future.
https://agnetwest.com/edward-ring-california-energy-water-crisis-series/

California’s Affordability Crisis Began Decades Before Trump

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AUDIO: California’s climate policies extend into every aspect of the economy, not just in the price of gasoline and electricity. Housing developments, water projects, road improvements, mining, forestry, literally everything is now evaluated and regulated in terms of climate impact. Along with other environmentalist regulations that have become extreme, this is the reason people can’t afford to live in California anymore. Rather than confront this environmentalist and “climate crisis” overreach that has been getting worse for decades, Democratic politicians blame it on Trump.  – Edward Ring on the Rod Arquette Show (segment begins at 4:55) – KNRS Salt Lake City

Can Trump’s New EPA Save Americans Money and Still Protect the Environment?

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Audio:  What’s happening with the new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency? Trump supporters say it revives oil and energy, ends wasteful climate spending, and saves Americans money. Republicans, conservatives, and many others praise the changes. Democrats, liberals, and environmentalists are furious, blaming Trump for weakening EPA rules and endangering the Clean Air Act. Reporter David Nazar hears both sides from experts at the California Policy Center and Buro Happold.

The Grand Bargain Between Environmentalists and Advocates for Genuine Abundance

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AUDIO: This is a two part discussion of water and energy policies in California, with an emphasis on solutions that deliver more water and energy. Not only enough to deliver economic abundance, but enough to offer options for ecological restorations that environmentalists have only dreamed of  – Edward Ring on the AgNet News Hour.

Part One: Dredging the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the grand bargain.

Part Two: The options that are opened up when energy abundance is achieved.

 

Can Friendship Hold America Together?

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AUDIO: Is it possible for reasonable people to stay friends in these polarized times, even if they disagree? How big is America’s remaining political center, comprised of people still willing to talk to each other with mutual respect? Can ideas and policies be evaluated on their merits, or must we disparage good ideas because they come from an allegedly bad source? – 10 minutes on KNRS Salt Lake City – Edward Ring on the Rod Arquette Show.

 

Practical Infrastructure Lowers Welfare Dependency

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AUDIO: Creating a reasonable social safety net in the 1930s was accompanied by massive investment in practical public works that we still benefit from today. But our government’s spending priorities have flipped, with excessive and unaccountable government benefits using up the vast proportion of the federal budget, while remaining investment in infrastructure is both diminished and often directed into impractical projects that will not yield economic benefits. If we can return to the priorities set nearly a century ago, we can reduce welfare dependency at the same time as we can upgrade the civil engineering assets that deliver affordable and abundant energy and water, the foundations of prosperity and affordability – 10 minutes on KNRS Salt Lake City – Edward Ring on the Rod Arquette Show.

California’s Coming Energy Crisis

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AUDIO: With drilling permits virtually halted for five years, pipeline capacity reaching below the minimum required to even operate, and two major refineries shutting down in 2026, California’s state legislature has created a situation where it will be extremely difficult to avoid shortages of gasoline and diesel fuel. How this happened and ways to cope. A 45 minute discussion on the National Review’s Radio Free California, Edward Ring with host Will Swaim.

Politically Contrived Energy and Water Shortages in California

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AUDIO: Edward Ring on how outsourcing oil production is causing environmental destruction elsewhere in the world and harming California’s economy. Also covered are policy driven water shortages and ways that can be fixed. An in-depth discussion with host Barry Fisher on his podcast “Protecting What Matters,” November 25, 2025.