LA Times: When Gov. Jerry Brown spoke to a crowd of beaming environmentalists and renewable energy advocates at the launch of a solar farm last year, he turned heads by praising another form of fuel: oil.
It was a surprising pivot from the man credited with helping to usher in the modern environmental movement as California's governor nearly four decades ago.
Back then, Brown enacted the nation's first energy-efficiency standards, signed strict anti-smog laws and blocked offshore drilling. But in his...