California’s environmental regulatory agencies are among the world’s best. But occasionally the state’s environmental goals and policies are incompatible and leaders must consider the real-world impacts of their decisions. 

Some industries regulated by our environmental agencies are themselves critical to achieving our environmental goals. Take, for example, the metal-recycling industry. California produces tons of scrap metal every single day, enough to fill our biggest stadiums. This includes end-of-life cars and trucks, old household appliances, motorcycles and bicycles, boats, metal furniture and BBQs – just about anything you can think of that is made of metal.