"The blank check for wildfire fighting from the federal government clearly distorts incentives for homeowners. In California, policies regarding insurance markets have compounded the issues. After bad fire seasons resulting in record insurance payouts in recent years, insurers began to raise rates or even get out of the market altogether. In response, the state has sought to freeze policies and rates in what was already the most stringently regulated insurance market in the country."

"Finding bipartisan compromise on the size and scope of an infrastructure bill will be hard enough. But policymakers are ignoring perhaps the most essential issue — permitting, which has become a maze of process obstacles that only Congress can address."

"In 1979, California’s population was a little more than 23 million. Today, it is more than 39 million. Yet in that entire time, California did not construct one additional, large-scale water storage project – meaning water infrastructure that once suited the state’s irrigation, livestock, and human needs has become chronically inadequate to meet its essential tasks."

"Pipelines are controversial, but this isn’t about being for or against the environment. Millions depend on the energy pipelines deliver for their homes, jobs and businesses. Shutting down Line 5 would inflict significant hurt, and it won’t deliver a cleaner energy future."

"Forcing people to take more money out of their hard-earned paychecks to fund the extreme Left’s big-government climate agenda is not only wrong, but it also ensures America will fall behind our adversaries such as China and Russia in pursuit of global energy dominance. Yet, that is exactly what a carbon tax would do."

"These goals cannot possibly be met without major sacrifices for Americans. Some might argue that sacrifices should be made to help the climate. However, this NDC still would make no noticeable impact on global GHG emissions because the real problem comes from countries such as China, Russia and India."

Optimism, though, should be tempered. Under the new pledges, global emissions in 2030 would be expected to be 1,197 million metric tons lower than under the old pledges, but 71 percent of that difference is from the United States alone, meaning Biden’s ambition has not yet been widely reciprocated.