From home of the weather station that started it all, Marysville, CA their small town newspaper writes a scathing opinion on the California Air Resources Board.
They get it. The problem is that people that make up CARB are like clueless Al Gore clones. With a recent 340% error exposed, CARB is going along like nothing has happened. The problem is CARB chief Mary Nichols, who sees herself and her organization as above the democratic process.
Our View: Air board’s arrogance damaging
California seems intent on traveling a road to self-destruction paved with government mandates and regulations that drive businesses and jobs out of state while discouraging new job creation. A prime job-killing, business-punishing scheme is the insistence on achieving radical environmental goals, despite their real-world economic liabilities.
The California Air Resources Board has adopted a mandate that utility companies produce 33 percent of their electricity from so-called renewable resources by 2020. That’s a drastic increase over the previous 20-percent requirement, which the state still is nowhere near achieving. For some perspective, Congress, firmly controlled by a Democratic majority, refused to hike its renewable requirements even to the 20-percent level.
Compounding the state air board’s error is its arrogance. Even the state Legislature, controlled by left-leaning Democrats, failed this year to impose such an over-the-top requirement. But neither Congress nor the state Legislature’s reluctance dissuaded the Air Resources Board’s unaccountable bureaucrats from going where elected representatives fear to tread.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that air board boss Mary Nichols says the 33-percent standard is important because it “sends a strong, positive message to the market.” The market will get the message, alright. That’s part of the problem.
The message is that California energy prices will soar, on top of the added costs of huge taxpayer subsidies that will be needed to finance so-called renewable energy sources. Wind, solar and geothermal energy are all economically infeasible without massive subsidies.
Like the huge amounts of taxpayer dollars already wasted in government subsidies for the ethanol industry, other renewable-energy endeavors are likely to face similar fates. In Spain, where large tax-financed subsidies spurred its solar industry, 50,000 subsidized solar entrepreneurs now “face financial disaster” as the government realizes it can’t afford to continue propping up the industry with price guarantees, Bloomberg reports. Not only can’t Spain afford to continue subsidies that paid 10 times the wholesale price per kilowatt-hour, but for every new “green” job created by the subsidies, more than two normal jobs were lost.
Without generous tax breaks and subsidies, wind power costs $149 per megawatt hour compared with $100 for coal, according to estimates from the Energy Information Administration.
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Read the full editorial here
IMO, CARB is a clear and present danger to the livelihood of people of California, it is unchecked bureaucracy gone mad.
Addendum:
Since November 2nd, I’m getting a 3x increase in SPAM inviting me to move to/incorporate my business in Nevada. Given what lies ahead for business in California, the idea has merit.
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Maybe CARB can mandate buying the Spanish equipment at bankruptcy sales. Huge savings on hardware would make the costs somewhat better 🙂
You have to understand. I dont even like Beck but he is correct is in his mantra. If you want change in a established country, you have to collapse the original system first. Its not some unknowing-bungling bureaucracy going awry here. Its a well thought out, well funded organization built with a purpose other than the one they front as being for. This group is designed to cause anger and dissatisfaction among the general population. After all Revolutions never occur when things are stable.
Can the EPA do on a national scale, what CARB is doing to California? Reduce or outlaw the production of C02?
Further proof that yes, California is indeed the Lindsay Lohan of states. NFW we in NH are gonna bail these fools out financially either.
California is plain screwed. On one hand CARB wants the energy companies to get 33% from renewables in 10 years but on the other hand the environmentalists fight every renewable project because of its impact on the environment. Caught between a rock and a hard place.
In 2016 all US cars will have to comply with CARB rules and not EPA rules, IIRC. Something to look forward to.
>>wind power costs $149 per megawatt hour compared with $100 for coal
I find that very hard to believe. Costing wind power must also include the cost of power storage sufficient to provide a reliable supply.
I imagine the air bureaucrats got the go ahead from some politician but then I only imagined it.
There is a new revelation in government that elected officials can accomplish their goals through regulation by bureaucrats and not get the blame when it all goes wrong. To the contrary they can then campaign on solving the problem they either neglected or caused. And they can always declare they never voted for it. What a deal.
e. c. cowan said on November 13, 2010 at 1:17 pm:
They think they can, President Obama has threatened to use that big stick if Congress didn’t pass Cap (prosperity) and Trade (away hope of recovery).
EPA can be overruled by Congressional action, which didn’t seem likely with Obama’s Congress. With the new one coming in, that big stick has been transformed to Nerf.
Are you saying that an appointed board has no legislative oversight? If true that is totally insane!
The other boot to fall from this is going to be huge strikes by those that still have union jobs to get huge wage raises to pay for all of this, which will of course just spur on inflation and cost the Cali economy jobs.
Wow! I think that I will keep my eye on property values there, maybe able to buy a whole town in 10-15 years!
Wind power cannot provide base load supply because of the obvious intermittency of the energy source. Conventional power stations will need to provide back up whether they be coal, gas or nuclear powered. The so called renewable energy sources of wind, solar or even tidal are a mirage which collapse under proper examination.
Is it possible for an entire state to become a permanently economically-depressed ghetto ruled and occupied by unrepentant Green Socialists?
Can it happen? Has it happened?
@ur momisugly e. c. cowan says:
November 13, 2010 at 1:17 pm
Can the EPA do on a national scale, what CARB is doing to California? Reduce or outlaw the production of C02?
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Unless they are stopped, yes. And they are already on that road: http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-20022717-54.html , and the EPA site: http://epa.gov/. You’ll find additional information at the following link, including a chart showing all the current litigation which is well worth spending some time on. http://www.lexisnexis.com/Community/environmental-climatechangelaw/blogs/environmentallawandclimatechangeblog/default.aspx
Partial excerpt from CNET article:
The Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, is marching ahead with rules requiring big polluters like coal-fired power plants, oil refiners, and cement manufacturers to get permits starting January 2 to emit gases blamed for warming the planet.
President Barack Obama has always said the EPA would regulate carbon emitters if lawmakers failed to pass a climate bill.
Republicans, who will control the House of Representatives in January after winning some 60 seats in the midterm elections, are organizing to stop that from happening. They say the regulations will cost industry jobs and billions of dollars as the country struggles to recover from the recession.
The EPA is already under fire from business groups like the Chamber of Commerce, the American Iron and Steel Institute, and the National Association of Manufacturers, who have filed suits to block it from regulating.
But the lawmakers represent a bigger threat. “Congress doesn’t give the EPA nearly as much deference as the courts do, and there are about to be a lot more Republicans and unenthusiastic Democrats,” said Michael Gerrard, the director of the Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School.
The uncertainty about the future of emissions policy could stall billions of dollars of investments in power plants and factories and prove to be a painful hurdle to longer-term growth when the economy begins to recover.
Those of us who live in California seemed doomed to a world of massive increases in energy costs, huge free market job losses and intrusive and burdensome regulations which impact all citizens and businesses in our state. This ludicrous situation is now being pushed by our clueless bureaucrats and politicians in a state which just announced that it is facing a government deficit of 25 billion dollars in the next 18 months.
Southern California Edison (SCE) Company just announced that it has sold its ownership share of 740 Megawatts of the Four Corners coal fueled power plant located in New Mexico to Arizona Public Service (APS) a move required by the loony environmental laws of our state. This sale will increase electricity costs to SCE’s customers by billions of dollars over the years while saving APS customers billions. Arizona has an unemployment rate of 9.7% compared to California’s unemployment rate of 12.4% with California electric rates already about 40% higher than those of Arizona. Multiply this absurd example of self inflicted economic damage to our state by hundreds of times and one can see how the impacts of AB 32 will simply destroy our states economy and push bankruptcy on California.
This is the reality of Mary Nichols loopy “sends a strong, positive message to the market”. This tragic situation provides a clear example of the bizarre self destructive thinking of global warming alarmists.
“As California goes, so goes the nation.”
The question is, where is California going?
Press Release
New EPA requirement
Face Mask Co2 sensors
Breath in for free – breath out Co2 charge per breath apply.
If you are not current in Co2 charges we will cut off your breath in ability.
Carol Browning
Energy Tsar
I can only watch politicians infected with the Green malaise all around the Western world spout nonsense as they condemn their own economies to failure. Let’s all hope the denouement arrives quickly so that these people either get voted out or their electors rebel.
U.S. President Barack Obama said in a statement that he welcomed the decision to release Ms. Suu Kyi, who he called a “hero,” but he said it “does not change the fact that she, and the political opposition she represents, has been systematically silenced, incarcerated, and deprived of any opportunity to engage in political processes.” British Prime Minister David Cameron hailed Ms. Suu Kyi in a statement, describing her as “an inspiration for all of us who believe in freedom of speech, democracy and human rights.”
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They say all these politically correct things while pushing the carbon fraud and attempting to silence dissenters by calling them “deniers”. So much for democracy and human rights *sigh*
Second for Dr A Burns. $149 seems low for wind power. The source is the DOE (I think) via EIA: http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/aeo/pdf/2016levelized_costs_aeo2010.pdf
This is a 2016 projected cost for the entire U.S. (in 2008 $) amortized over the lifetime of the power generation system. Thus, it is highly optimistic for alternative power. Without knowing their assumptions, it would be impossible to see what they are projecting for actual cost of wind power per kW-hr.
So here in the UK we have the EC and in California you have CARB. Couldn’t we persuade them to join that one way trip to Mars? It would solve their and our problems at a stroke:-)
Am I missing something or is there another law about providing a guaranteed supply.
If by 2020 the renewable energy source is 10% of capacity and 90% is non renewable all they need to do is to shut about 55% of the non renewables so that the % renewables is 20%.
Of course you will need major power cuts to make it work but that isn’t a problem is it. /sarc off
Christopher, leftist Revolutions happen as autocratic oppression and poverty are beginning to ease but still have a strong grip. It’s the revolution of rising expectations. Libertarian revolutions happen when oppression is being applied. They can crank on the oppression, but it won’t lead to the goal you think they have in mind.
I am so loving watching California go bankrupt. The icing on my cake is that they did not pass the marijuana law that would have saved them. I love the smell of state bankruptcy in the morning.
In other news;
This anti-naked body scanner movement is just like the climate change denier movement that succeeded. We won the carbon tax debate and now we are going to win the body scanner debate.
Yes, it’s not just happening there. It was great to listen to Clive James on Question Time the other day. He described Ed Milliband as “a fantasist”, for continuing to insist we cut CO2 emissions 80% by 2040. I suspect we’ll be re-opening the Welsh and Yorkshire coal fields by then.
Christopher says:
“Its a well thought out, well funded organization built with a purpose other than the one they front as being for. This group is designed to cause anger and dissatisfaction among the general population.”
I think that commenters on WUWT are well aware of that snippet of info Chris. Delving a little deeper will bring you to the conclusion that there is a world order in the making that is funded by world (renowned) banks. The EU has already disappeared down that road with unelected bureaucrats, who are now integrated with (guess what?) unelected b’crats within the UN. But maybe you know this already, and you are unwilling to make your name heard amongst these arrogant, ignorant, but very affluent and powerful people. I don’t blame you, but I am maybe older, none the wiser, but unafraid of their relentless propaganda.
What probably irks most of all in this interminable debate is the sheer ignorance of joe & jane public, their quiescence in accepting bogus, crass and sometimes outrageous statements. Their own education was somewhat stultified, certainly compared with 40 or 50 years ago, and now we are experiencing the awful, mind-numbing effect of propaganda within schools, throughout the western world, where the second generation are now telling their parents where they are going wrong, and have been for (in the child’s view) many years. This is unfortunately what happens when one allows the child freedom of expression, so often lauded today. Children should always be seen and not heard, otherwise we, the parents and grandparents find it impossible to pass on our own experiences, which are far more important than some computer-modeller’s analogy of impending doom.