Chris White Tech Reporter
October 12, 2019 9:50 PM ET
- Wildfires might be the least of California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s concerns as his state’s citizens struggle with power blackouts.
- A previous California governor who struggled to deal with rolling energy blackouts was recalled in 2003.
- High gas prices, rolling blackouts, and wildfires are weighing on California citizens.
Recent history might explain why Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom is lashing out at the public utility company responsible for rolling blackouts in his state as citizens wrestle with increasing gas prices.
California’s public utility Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) began a days-long power shutoff to curb the risk of wildfires in the northern part of the state. Newsom, the former mayor of San Francisco, is dealing with several problems as he struggles with PG&E’s move.
“What’s happened is unacceptable. And it’s happened because of neglect,” he said at a news conference Thursday, referring to the decision to shutter power across the state. “This current operation is unacceptable. The current conditions and circumstances are unacceptable.”
Power went out for 513,000 northern California homes and businesses Wednesday morning, USA Today reported, and roughly 234,000 customers were expected to lose power later Wednesday night.
A previous Democratic governor in the state to confront similar blackouts was recalled in the early 2000s. (RELATED: Here’s Why Californians Pay Way More For Gasoline Than Everyone Else)
Former Democratic Gov. Gray Davis of California was recalled in 2003 after increasing the state’s car registration fees and for the perception that he didn’t do enough to forestall rolling blackouts across the state. Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger won the election November of that year.
California’s blackouts at the time hurt many businesses that were dependent upon a reliable supply of electricity. Newsom is also confronting blackouts, though his situation is considerably different from the one Davis faced.
Thousands of people have lost power in California as PG&E enacted preemptive shutoffs, a move the bankrupt public utility thought would prevent potential wildfires. The company pursued bankruptcy protection in January after its CEO stepped down after fallout from the utility’s wildfire debt.
Investigators determined PG&E’s power lines and converters sparked at least a dozen major fires in 2017. California officials are still investigating the causes of several major 2018 fires, including the Camp Fire that killed 86 people and all but destroyed the town of Paradise.
PG&E is also still dealing with the taint of being convicted of violating safety regulations in 2016 after one of its natural gas lines exploded.
Wildfires are still reeking havoc in the state despite PG&E’s best efforts. California officials ordered the evacuation of roughly 100,000 people from their homes Friday as a wildfire plows through the northern edge of Los Angeles.
Newsom, for his part, took over $200,000 from PG&E to help buttress his 2018 run for governor, ABC 10 reported in July. The company allegedly gave $58,400 to his campaign and another $150,000 to a group called Citizens Supporting Gavin Newsom for Governor 2018.
The blackouts won’t help the governor’s already poor standing in the polls.
The Public Policy Institute of California found in a September survey that more likely voters disapprove of Newsom’s job performance than approve, with 43% approving, 44% disapproving and 13% who didn’t know. Nearly 15% of Californians who were surveyed listed “homelessness” as a top concern and 11% named housing, both of which are big problems aside from high gas prices and electricity outages. The survey was conducted between Sept. 16 and 25 among 1,705 adult California residents with a margin of error at ±3.2%, but varied among subgroups of the poll.
To make matters worse, the price of a gallon of gas in California is slowly increasing. The average cost in the state has skyrocketed to $4.18 while drivers in other areas are paying as much as $5 per gallon, CNN Business reported Tuesday. California’s gas taxes are already some of the highest in the country, so the price increases are a double-whammy.
Newsom has not responded to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s multiple requests for comment. A response will be added should one be received.
As ye sow, so shall ye reap.
Should she get her way, this is what Greta’s future will actually look like.
Oh No. It will be far worse. At least we can still buy gasoline.
Yet another short coming in their philosophy:
How will people evacuate from any natural disaster without ANY power electrical or otherwise?
Answer: Start sailing/paddling/swimming south and west.
“Wildfires are still reeking havoc …”.
Reeking? Seriously? Try “wreaking” havoc. Sad!
Have you ever smelled a wildfire? they definitely reek while they wreak.
“…Wildfires are still reeking havoc…”
Author needs to learn reeking vs. wreaking.
Are you saying that the author’s writing style reeks?
Please “Wreck a nice beach!”
Please “Recognize speech!”
Allow me to coin a phrase.
Spellcheck Literacy!
People can blame their spellcheck software for only so long.
Lang may yer lum reek?
With other men’s coal!
Seems to fit here…
In the style of Rabbie Burns…. Ode Tae A Fart
http://moreteavicar.me.uk/ode.html
Depends on what’s burning. The reeking could be wreaking havoc on your nose.
Too much reliance on spell checker instead of reading it over before sending it off.
Everyone in CA should have a CO2 charged fire extinguisher with them at all times, much like they now carry cell phones. [Note this will store a lot of CO2.]
Most fires are NOT caused by downed lines, so at the first sign of a fire, it could be swarmed by 97 people spewing CO2. Problem solved.
This would be a totally acceptable solution in California.
Please send my consulting fee soon.
They will blame Trump and all the really cool kids will say , oh yeah. Then the echo chamber will go full speed. Besides climate and Exxon
I find that hard to believe! You can’t fool all of the people all of the time. And the people of California are getting a green belly full of being treated like fools by their socialist government. When they’re fully sick of being powerless and living in 3rd world conditions because of the imaginary threat posed by the naturally occurring 0.04% CO2 in the atmosphere, they will be ready to tar and feather the lying SOBs and run them outta town on a rail! And I’ll helping them, if I can, and raising a glass to them and cheering them on, if I can’t!
Yeah but you can fool some of the people all the time. And it seems the far left who
inhabitinfest California are more than willing to be fooled all the time.This is the second time PG&E has been in bankruptcy. The other time was 2001.
PG&E isn’t allowed to operate like a proper capitalist, profit making, company. It is regulated like crazy. The government of California has the major responsibility for the ongoing circus.
California should buy PG&E and take responsibility for the consequences. Else wise, California should deregulate the industry.
California gets to enact stupid regulations and PG&E’s hands are tied and yet PG&E gets the blame when the obvious things happen. That really doesn’t pass the sniff test.
The good citizens of California want everything but they’re not willing to pay the price. link It doesn’t help that the government seems to want to attract illegal immigrants, and pay for them with money that should clearly be spent elsewhere.
PG&E hasn’t EVER been a “proper capitalist” company … it is an energy MONOPOLY. Can we get it through our heads that MONOPOLIES have nothing whatsoever to do with Free Market Capitalism. Nothing. PG&E is (supposedly) regulated by the CA PUC … but in reality the CA PUC and PG&E have become corrupted interlocking directorates. The PUC’s primary mission is to PROTECT the CONSUMER from monopolistic rate-rape by PG&E. Check your latest PG&E bill and ask yourself how well the PUC has achieved their mission. FAIL is the only word I can think of.
If you want to open CA to TRUE Energy competition … then, I’d be all for it. But that competition would also have to free of any FAKE eco-nonsense, such as Co2 is a pollutant. And let a fossil-fuel energy generator COMPETE with the deserts covered in solar panels and windmills run by a “green” energy provider. Ha! Which one do you believe would be cheaper and more efficient.
re: ” it is an energy MONOPOLY”
Utility. Its supposedly a “utility”, as in “public utility”.
Formal definition: “Utility – an organization supplying the community with electricity, gas, water, or sewerage.”
Wiki (excerpt):
A public utility company (usually just utility) is an organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public service (often also providing a service using that infrastructure). Public utilities are subject to forms of public control and regulation ranging from local community-based groups to statewide government monopolies.
The term utilities can also refer to the set of services provided by these organizations consumed by the public: Coal, electricity, natural gas, water, sewage, telephone, and transportation. Broadband internet services (both fixed-line and mobile) are increasingly being included within the definition.
…
In the United States, public utilities are often natural monopolies because the infrastructure required to produce and deliver a product such as electricity or water is very expensive to build and maintain. As a result, they are often government monopolies, or if privately owned, the sectors are specially regulated by a public utilities commission. The first public utility in the United States was a grist mill on Mother Brook in Dedham, Massachusetts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_utility
Yes, but there are very good Public Utility Districts across the US . PG&E is its own entity.
Unanswerable to the people it serves. Thousands have power in windy conditions. Even during fire weather. It is the state of their dilapidated infrastructure that is the problem .. Theyt and the State are cronys. What needs to happen is the Company broken up and replaced by local PUDs
then tha twill change-at least a start.
here is a real experience with PG$E-Relative lives just outside of Eureka-they have no power.No fire danger,either..
The word monopoly conjures up images of capitalists like Daddy Warbucks exploiting the consumer for every penny possible.
The word is grossly misused, particularly by Government and leftists.
My Oxford English dictionary gives the following definition :-
Monopoly – “Exclusive possession of the trade in some commodity;
This conferred as privilege by the State.”
Note: CONFERRED AS PRIVILEGE BY THE STATE
Contrary to popular opinion, monopolies do not exist in free markets, it is simply impossible. The moment any business starts to make above normal profits in a free market, others move in and competition does the rest.
However when the State grants control of a commodity to an individual (or cartel) then no one can compete (legally). This is a true monopoly.
Monopolies have (access to) the power of legislation to throw their competitors in Jail.
+1 Ken
When governments sued Microsoft I kept asking why is the media not talking about Apple as a competitor…look at Apple now 🙂
IIRC, Microsoft had to prop up Apple just so they could say there was some competition.
Apple wasn’t Microsoft’s only competitor back then, just one of their biggest, well known competitors. Non-MS,Apple competing OSes included, Unix, Solaris, RISC OS, Novell Netware, and OS/2 just to name a few. At that’s OSes, there were competing products for Word, Exel, IE, and every other MS product on the market – it’s just that no one company competed with Microsoft across ALL products at once and MS had by far the largest marketshare for most of it’s product base at the time.
And the deal MS made with Apple was, in large part, to get apple to drop a lawsuit accusing MS of copying it’s OS as much as it was a means of claiming to the government “look we have competition” .
Apple was not a competitor of Microsoft in the early days.
If I remember correctly, Microsoft would work with most every vendor that wanted to create equipment or software that would ‘interface’ with MS-DOS as long as they paid a “licensing agreement”, ….. Apple would not permit said.
As a result, thousands of new companies designed equipment that operated via MS-DOS and hundreds-of-thousands of DOS compatible software packages/programs were developed …… and Microsoft got paid for each and every PC, etc. that MS-DOS was installed upon. And everyone wanted a PC with the “programs” that caught their “fancy” …….. and the “Dot.com explosion” resulted.
And Apple was left in the “dust” of MS-DOS because it could not offer or provide the variety of software packages that the public was desperately wanting. Iffen Apple had only permitted customer “interfacing” to their OS in the early days …………..
Apple not doing things like MS-DOS was doesn’t make them not a competitor. Just the opposite, they were making a competing product to the PC (the Mac) with a competing platform (Mac OS) to that used by the PC that their product was not as open as their competition and as a result their competing product held a small percentage of the total market does not negate the fact that their competing product was just that: a competing (i.e. an alternative choice on the market) product. Remember the market was *not* third party vendors, the market was the end-user (businesses and individuals).
In a way it’s similar to VHS vs Beta. VHS (like MS) was open to use by other venders, Beta was proprietary/single source to Sony (much like the Mac was to Apple). No one would honestly claim Beta wasn’t a competitor of VHS because Beta wasn’t open to third party vendors like the VHS format was.
IMHO, the PC dominated because IBM published the Technical Reference Manual That meant many companies could build PC clones. Microsoft reaped the rewards.
Apple took the opposite tack.
Prior to the PC, there was a rich ecosystem of computers and software. Afterward, most of those products went away. There were holdouts that could do specific tasks. The Commodore Amiga, for instance, was good at video editing.
Probably the thing that kept Apple going was that graphics people preferred it a lot.
Apple and MS both offered computing devices that ran programs that in many cases performed similar functions.
They were competitors.
Most people either bought a MAC or a PC. Very few people bought both.
MS’s strength was also it’s weakness.
Anybody could write and sell programs to run on the PC, and many of those programs weren’t very good. A lot of people blamed MS when it was the software developer to blame.
Apple on the other hand certified every program before it could be sold.
The result was Apple programs were way more stable, and way more expensive.
A lot of people, especially the tech savvy who knew how to work around the bugs, or those on a limited budget, were willing to put up with the problems.
Apple’s biggest advantage was they managed to penetrate the classroom environment early. As a result, a lot of rug rats learned computing on a MAC, so they looked for a MAC when it was time to buy their own computer.
Apple’s biggest advantage was they built hardware & software that actually worked.
And the Microsoft and the PCs biggest advantage was they build lots more hardware and software that actually worked good enough with a lot more choice and variety all for a lot less than Apple was charging.
Excel is MN electricity provider; MN through legislation has guaranteed that any Of Excel’s new investments in MN will not lose money. Guess which electricity utility is going all in on renewables in the north 🙁
Guess whose electricity costs are going to rise 🙁
Get Newsom,Becerra removed.
I hope my fellow Californians understand that these blackouts will become everyday affairs should wind and solar become mandated. GO NUCLEAR!
Go nuclear??????
How would randomly blasting the state with nuclear weapons help anything?
Now, do not get me wrong. Many of us agree with the notion for other reasons, but I still fail to see how it would help.
https://instantrimshot.com
r/woosh
Well, random… No. Properly targeted, however, it would be a boon to the State, the nation, and, arguably, the world.
Maybe if they weren’t random, but rather strategically targeted?
Start with Sacramento.
Extremely high temperatures will sterilise not only the poo, but also the used drug needles.
Problem solved. Clean streets.
A few minor safety issues that we might need to consider, but going nuclear on California has been my dream for a while now, and you know what El Greto the Magnificent says about stealing people’s dreams.
Who said anything about random blasting? It would obviously have to be strategically target strikes. As Walter Sobchak points out, Sacramento would be a good start. San Francisco would be another. /sarc (for those whose sarcasm detection is impaired)
But this is just a taste of the green future. The gas price is going up, and there will be even more blackouts.
Don’t complain. Get with the program. Your next job could be with Uber Rickshaw.
Sarc off, sort of.
So no sooner than you commit cultural appropriation, you go and belittle and marginalize that culture you have so callously apprpriated?
Get woke man…Get woke!
Nic, haven’t you ever heard when you get woke, you go broke.
PG&E has systematically expanded their primary mission from providing, cheap, efficient, safe power to their ratepayers into everything but.
Insulation programs.
Energy efficient Appliance programs.
Affirmative-action hiring programs.
“Green” initiatives.
Solar programs.
Renewable Energy.
Ad nauseam.
Is it any wonder PG&E ratepayers pay the highest energy rates in the USA? And pay attention ratepayers … there are many MORE shocking rate increases already in the pipeline. What has been lost in the shuffle? Basic repairs, maintenance, and improvements to their energy infrastructure. Where is the PUC? Oh yeah! They’re the one encouraging all the “green” energy programs diverting PG&E from their primary mission.
The Utility I grew up with … which delivered cheap, plentiful, safe energy has morphed into an unrecognizable monstrous quasi-government operated shitshow. It’s far more than “executive pay” as Gavin Socialist-Newsome will claim. It’s the imposition of politically-correct energy programs that have ruined a once-proud company. Oh, but make no mistake … the Executives operating the utility are not qualified to sit on the Board of my local 200-family swim club.
Which would be the portfolio to have at PGE:
VP in charge of solar, wind and renewables.
VP in charge of brush clearing.
The former gets to attend all the cool conferences in D.C. and around the world, rubs shoulders with the power players in govt and industry, and makes contacts for very lucrative positions outside PGE, sitting on boards, etc.
The latter gets to hire contractors who use illegal immigrants and gets to fight with “activists” who think nature is too wonderful to touch. And, gets the blame for any fires, all his efforts not withstanding.
Well … I suppose all the “Environmental Studies” graduates would rather preside over some Co2-reduction program, than trim the ACTUAL environment clear of PG&E’s wires.
Which begs a question … are the “Environmental Studies” programs teaching that the hockey-stick graph is really a hokey-stick graph? Or are they still being taught LIES as “truths”
….and it just keeps getting better
Gavin Newsom Bans Manufacture, Sale of Fur Products and Circus Animal Performances
The manufacture and sale of fur products is now banned in California, according to new legislation signed over the weekend by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/10/13/gavin-newsom-bans-manufacturing-sale-of-fur-products-and-circus-animal-performances/
He should be banning synthetic fibers and synthetic furs.
Leather shoes, belts, purses, car seats and couches too? Those are fur products.
Hey. Furs are renewable. Minks breed like… minks.
Unless they also ban the possession of fur and other animal products, this will only affect stores in CA that sell the stuff.
The rich will just start buying furs when they take their long distance vacations.
“Lookie Luuk October 13, 2019 at 5:51 pm
Leather shoes, belts, purses, car seats and couches too? Those are fur products.”
As the word “Leather” tells – not furs. Cowhide.
What does he mean “unacceptable”…like he just heard about it
….they told him they were going to do this a long time ago
And Gavin did NOTHING … because all the eco-frauds sitting on the CA PUC who cheered this power shutdown as the bellwether for MORE power brownouts and blackouts of our new “green” futures … are on his political side of the aisle. The social media outlets were filled with scolds telling us that we should all “learn to live with less”. A wonderful … abstract … idea for shallow thinking “greens”. So Gavin was silent, because it appeared as though “his people” were all IN-FAVOR of this power shutdown. But then … the shutdown ACTUALLY happened … and public opinion has run at least 90% pissed-off at the fkcuing unnecessary inconvenience of it all! So Gavin speaks.
But Gavin should REALLY be replacing every single one of the CA PUC who have allowed, nay engineered PG&E’s degeneration into an absolute mess. An energy company, an energy monopoly that has completely lost the plot. I blame the CA PUC first.
PUC in smaller cities have denied or not offered available assistance,then cut off power,leading to evictions of families that lost incomes for many reasons incl health issues.
one dead already
https://www.sott.net/article/421889-Oxygen-dependent-California-man-dies-12-minutes-after-PG-E-cuts-power-to-his-home
Why did he not have back up.oxygen,or battery powered device in place?
That is the norm for o2 dependents.
Good riddance.
Btw, I think havoc is wreaked, not reeked.
That stinks.
I’m so glad the Progressive Church of Climatology decided to run a test program on American socialism in California for all to see! The rest of the country is watching as the experiment begins to implode. This should give the Republicans talking points against CAGW and the Green New Deal for years if they stop groveling for the MSM urinalists and fight back. A couple more years of this insanity should convince the rest of the country and most Californians as well that this Progressive Church is a cult full of LIES!!
I think we should keep some examples around to teach our children the facts of life, so we should let SF and LA operate as a separate nation and restore the rest of the state to the American system of liberty and prosperity. Refugees from there could become U.S. citizens merely by passing a battery of drug and intelligence tests. Maybe we could even help the poor victims out by offering to help them with the installation of the new and improved VSGPT Gen IV reactors so they can have water and power. NOT!
Tony Heller got it right about the blackouts when he said “They’re Beta Testing the “Green New Deal” in California right now.”
All the social media comments PRIOR to the shutdown appeared to back up that summary. We were all being scolded to … “learn to live with less”. Until … that included losing the internet and ability to recharge your weak-ass Apple iPhone battery. Fine … I will live with “less” … but YOU go FIRST.
They are Beta Testing phase I of the Green New Deal. Subsequent phases will be much much worse.
+10
So what has Newsome done in response?
https://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2019/09/09/banning-supsension-willful-defiance-signed-newsom/
https://lbpost.com/news/gov-newsom-signs-bill-banning-private-for-profit-detention-facilities
It seems unfair to blame the Governor for the results of policies that the electorate asked him to implement. And it sure as heck-fire is out of line to blame PG&E for cutting off power to prevent fires.
Californians want green policies. They just don’t want the results of them.
Well … OTOH … CA voters gave Dianne Feinstein’s husband $Tens of billions of dollars to build a “high speed” train, linking Sacramento with Los Angeles. And Gavin Newsome pulled the plug.
OK, Gavin … I dare you to pull the plug on all green bullshittia diverting PG&E from their core mission. I dare you to replace the entire CA PUC who has presided over this decline.
Steve O:
Yes, Noisome gave his electorate what they (at least thought they,) wanted. On the other hand, implementing bad policy because your voters think it good is Bad Governing. Doing it repeatedly shows you are a bad governor. So the blame may be shared, but it’s his hand signing the laws and appointing the commissions. The Blame may not start there, but it stops there.
Questions for the CA populace:
When your children want candy and to play with the bears, do you let them?
If your brother needs money for his rocket boosted jump over the Snake River, will you send it?
If you answered yes, I’m sorry for your loss, but please don”t vote.
“What’s happened is unacceptable.”
“This current operation is unacceptable.”
“The current conditions and circumstances are unacceptable.”
To sum up, Newsome’s job performance as governor is unacceptable.
Actually, the situation becomes even more interesting. Consider how California got into this mess.
At the start, CA wants to be Progressive and lead the country into a Clean, Green future. Great, sounds wonderful.
So CA makes major investments in Wind and Solar. This runs the gamut of tax breaks, loan guarantees, subsidies, and even direct investments through utilities which the state de facto controls. The money has to come from somewhere. A political imperative is to get the money from relatively unseen accounts to keep true costs hidden. At least as long as nobody looks to closely, that is. So what is the most boring and least vote getting activity the state does.
Maintenance!
All of a sudden, hundreds of millions of dollars of maintenance becomes deferred maintenance. After all, nobody will notice if it is just for a year or two. Which becomes a decade or two. And everything is falling apart.
Now here is where it gets fun.
How on Earth did they think they were going to get the power from their Progressive, Clean, Green renewables installations after they allowed their transmission and distribution to become so decrepit.
Then we have the Liberal Mantras:
Well, We Hope It Will Not Come To That.
We Will Cross That Bridge When We Come To It.
This Was An Unforeseen Event, Nobody Could Have Predicted It.
Please, No Recriminations. I Am Sure There Is Plenty Of Blame To Go Around.
Welcome to California, and ProgressiveLand everywhere.
Newsom will never be recalled because his constituency is a powerful voting block of State Employees who run the state. CALPERS and CALSTRS get everything they want including the highest salaries and pensions in the country. I know many that make 14k a month and there are some who make over 300k in pensions. As long as he can deliver the dough, he will stay in office. Calif is a one-party Blue state and State govt thinks they have a mandate for wealth transfer from the middle class to greenies and illegal aliens. Meanwhile, the working class is fed up and leaving. The majority of Californians are the Silent Majority, powerless to stop the money flowing to the powerful. They are not organized like the State employees, so they have no voice. The only thing that will change is all the productive citizens leaving the state and a disappearing tax base. No more socialist “Utopia”.
… and this was in 2015
https://dailycaller.com/2015/10/06/california-doles-out-pensions-worth-at-least-100000-to-nearly-20000-government-retirees/
I suspect the number has doubled in 4-years.
and they are called democrats – but when they lose the vote they run to the courts
Or run to “Russia” … or run to Deep State corruptocrat “whistle-blowers”.
“…all the productive citizens leaving the state…”
Unfortunately they come to Texas and continue to vote for the same kind of idiotic dolts who ruined California. You would think they might have learned something from the California experiment, but the false allure of socialism is too firmly ingrained.
Socialists are firmly convinced that they are the smartest people in any room.
It’s natural for them to assume that no matter how many times other people failed, they will be the ones who finally get socialism to work.
(That’s assuming they even know about the past failures. The socialists do control the school system after all.)
Why does the article talk about rolling blackouts? these arent rolling blackouts (which are more about demand management), they are switching off entire areas they deem at risk and leaving them that way.
Point taken; but, they are also cutting power to people not in risk areas… because the lines to the customers are in risk areas.
Woke people will love him even more.
A few months ago this truck driver had to team for a run from San Antonio, TX to Hayward, CA (east of San Francisco) then to San Diego, and then back to San Antonio for Toyota. Topped off fuel at the last Love’s truck stop on I-10 in Arizona before entering California. Made it to Hayward, bumped two docks there then drove down the a warehouse 1/2 block from the Mexican border in San Diego and the from there took I-8 to I-10 back east. Did not spend a dime in California. Other states I do not fuel in because of taxes are IL and PA.
I don’t know if it is still the case, but it used to be that many states passed laws requiring trucks passing through their territory to buy gas at least once.
They would even go so far as to have cops pull over trucks just before they leave the state in order to review the log books.
Never heard of that. Could you be thinking of weigh stations and log book inspections, neither of which involve checking to see that you’ve bought gas in-state AFAIK
The days of the paper log book are about over. All “E-logs” in companies of any size now. Tough to cheat and hide it and getting tougher all the time. Most companies have cameras. dash and driver. Sensors, cameras, every minute of a drivers life logged in one of four categories. Big Brother is here in the trucking industry big time.
“What Do Rolling Blackouts And Sky-High Gas Prices Mean For Gov Newsom’s Job As Governor”
A reality check that the population is docile and takes whatever treatment given. Technically speaking a success for those who rock the cradle.
The truck I drive now carries about 220 usable gallons. Years ago I drove one that carried 300. Been in this business 14 years and driven a big truck in all of the lower 48 plus Ontario and Quebec and never heard of any state or province forcing a truck to buy fuel.
BTW I’m posting this from the parking area just past the toll station on I-90 in NY where I’m taking my mandatory 30 minute break. Headed east to deliver freight that came out of Mexico to a place in Lyndonville, NY east of Niagra Falls. They called me to cover this load last night just after my head hit the pillow @ 21:40 after having been up since 05:30 Sunday. Assigned driver called off at the last minute. 378 mi. Behind me and 100 to go. Time to hammer down again.
Rah you are part of the lifeblood of America….thanks
I’m not doing it for free! But if you drink apple cider or drive a car then you may benefit from what I haul on this run. Delivered and now parked for the next 23 hours at a facility in Rochester, NY. Made it here with 6 minutes of drive time left. Pick up perforated tubes here at 11:15 tomorrow then go to Tonawanda, NY and pick up high temp insulation at 13:00 then it’s 8 1/2 hours drive time back to the terminal in Anderson, IN. 48 F., 100 percent overcast with a little breeze out of the west here.
The good thing is that loss of electricity supply may significantly impact some of the wealthier inhabitants who may not care very much about rising prices, fuel costs not being a significant part of their daily cost of living.
When these people start to really feel the consequences of policies they have foolishly embraced then sensible changes for the better might appear on the menu.
For a glimpse of where California (and possibly the rest of the US) is headed:
My Socialist Hell: 20 Years of Decay in Venezuela
https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2019/10/13/my-socialist-hell-20-years-of-decay-in-venezuela/
“Judge’s order strives to reduce the number of fires caused by PG&E”
https://sf.curbed.com/2019/1/10/18177144/pge-power-grid-shutdown-order-wildfire-judge-fires
“PG&E may not take into account the inconvenience to customers or its revenues and profits” over safety, says federal judge
Wonder how many black-out California customers expected their Tesla Solar/Battery systems to save them.
Only to find the Tesla systems don’t work when the “traditional” generation system is offline and/or when their internet connection has been broken.
I place the blame for the blackouts in California square in the lap of the legislature that was so busy catering to the green lobby that they couldn’t bother to refer to their common sense.
Newsom signed laws banning fur coats, circus elephants and tigers, and trying to collect on unpaid school lunch fees.
You gotta wonder what’s next.
well the PETA mobs got gluetraps for ratcatching banned as “animal cruelty” in Sth Aus
did Cali manage to miss that?
im considering buy em up for online sales into SA
Cost of housing and energy are key topics in elections – any elections not just in California.
Get rid of the complacency. Action against the totalitarians is needed-
Newson should get re-elected. He is presently trying out the excuse, blaming the private sector company for the problems. ie; it is those greedy capitalists. So his solution will be either the government will take over, or just keep blaming PG&E and SDG&E for the problems to the grid, where it really is the green policies of prioritizing solar and wind, and de-prioritizing safety.
The blame will also be C02 and global warming, and the voters and politicians that don’t give them complete control over us all.
So my former company installed over 185 Large gas turbine generator packages in states bordering California. A lot of them are just across the border from California. These units are providing power to California while they reside in these other states so the power crosses a state line to access the California market. That means there is a inter state tariff involved for a higher power price to the Californian consumers.
So how did this trickery happen? The former Governor Gerry “Moonbeam” Brown forced these units out of state to reduce California’s emissions while still having them installed to service the increased load demands on the system. At the same time they shutdown Diablo Nuclear plant in southern California which made the demand problem worse. So these 185 units emissions are charged to the state of origin and California gets clean power. Governor Brown was even quoted “About how California’s emissions had plateaued while the other states around him had increased”
Now these units have a relatively small foot print and they can be sited almost anywhere near cities and towns. The beauty of the units is the are fully remotely operated and need only minimal human on site inspections so they could have been situated anywhere there is a gas supply and power lines. We set 19 of these units up next to a switching yard at a local utility and it took only 2 acres of land to bring 105 MW to the local area.
If California had not been so stupid they could have had all of these units situated where the loads are rather than taking the losses in long transmission lines to these same loads. Now with the power lines shutdown there is no power to a lot of remote centers. Just think if the local utility could “Island” their towns and still supply power to the towns how much better it would be than just shutting the whole dam thing down. Just to look good on paper for exhaust emissions even though they are still creating them But Not in California.
There is action to recall Newsom. It may not help California, but it might derail Newsom’s ambition for national office. https://ranaf.org/
Unbelievable. The richest state in the richest country on Earth, is shutting down its primary energy source because they have concerns about the supply lines starting fires!!
Just a simple question.
Having looked at past wild fires in California via Tony Heller, there is a clear down trend in wild fires over the past 80 years. That period coincides with the growth in electrical power and the reduction in open flame heat sources. It is also worth wondering, how did the wild fires got started before the PG&E company decided it was the prime source?
The world is clearly going mad. The logic of what is safe and sensible in California has disappeared altogether.
” Hey honey that electricity stuff has stopped again” “O lord, fire up the barbecue then, and see if we have any of that oil left for the lamps”. ” We will just have to get a generator if this carries on” I will check out if that nice Mr. Clampett has any more black gold bubbling up in his lower paddock”…..
Newsom has singed laws that mostly ban any new energy generation in any meaningful manner from developing resources in CA to pipelines to pushing the Greenie mythical sustainable cheap forever energy. Next up will be passing a bill that allows CA to become a State of VZ since they share so many things. Any bets on when CA residence will be hunting dogs for food as the VZ folks are now doing?
Expect the State Department to being issuing travel warnings for CA (and likely Portland OR as well).
“Newsom has singed laws ”
If he’s not professionally trained, I won’t buy that album.
I don’t know about albums, I’m just wondering where his arsonist streak came from and which laws he’s been burning.
The good news is blackouts do not cause cancer in California. The bad news is political leadership on forest management, energy, transportation, and housing can kill you.
The good news is blackouts do not cause cancer in California
If so, you’ve just found the only thing that California has not determined as being cancer causing. But give them time, I’m sure they’ll remedy that diagnosis soon enough 😉
I guess blaming melting in Antarctica has run its course in California—right Jerry?
Come on now, Californians love high gas prices, carbon taxes for unrelated budget needs, and high speed rail to nowhere. They also love high electricity prices when they can get it. The world’s sixth largest economy is sick.
I’d say the one silver lining is that Californians will be saving on energy costs this year, but knowing California, they’ll probably find a way to still charge for the energy that wasn’t used.
Probably quite a bit of CO2 reduction too. A win win. I’m sure with a little sober effort that they will learn to live without electricity . Electricity is just a social construct of old white males you know.
For both water and power, the PUC approved higher rates after the citizens reduced consumption. Yes, we were told to reduce our use of power and water in the hot summer months (DROUGHT! BLACKOUTS!). When we did, the utilities revenue went down. The utilities complained to the PUC, who then approved rate hikes so the reduced consumption would produce the same revenue. Now the caps are lifted, but we can’t afford what we used to.
So look, free capacity to supply more residents. How did that happen?
Isn’t it so that PG&E never planned ahead of time, and never did the investment needed?
During 1998 and 2000 I often flew (sorry GT) from Netherlands to Santa Clara. During my visits there, the colleagues told me that they were at risk of brownouts due to too little generating capacity. I was totally baffled back then: Here you come to Silicon Valley, which is super dependent on quality electricity 24/7/365.25 providing the state with an awful lot of profit, and then the state cannot make sure to do a bit of planning and investment in the future!
Mary Greeley News:
Trump Right? Hack-and-Squirt the Forest. Created the Huge California Fire Hazard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEOETb7ttaY
On average, the cost of thinning forests through hack-and-squirt while leaving the dead trees standing is about $250 per acre, said Greg Giusti, a forest advisor with the University of California Cooperative Extension. The cost of cutting and leaving them on the ground is about $750 an acre, while cutting and hauling them away is about $1,000 an acre.
http://marygreeley.com/?p=77654
Andrea Sharp
Absolutely Trump is right! My father-in-love and one of his sons had a logging company that went through California forests daily to cut down and haul away trees. Legislation came in from the left that decided that it would be much more eco friendly to leave almost all of the trees in the forest. NOT a good idea as you can clearly see from all of the forest wild fires in Cali. That is a direct result from not thinning out the forests and removing the wood completely.
Some of the trees (redwoods) require limited fire for good health & growth,
Better use the carbon tax fund to patch the budget, again. Using carbon tax money to pay for gasoline generators for the poor is reasonable. Give them some EVs that don’t work also.
If you want to vote towards people who think “Old Soviet”, you’re gonna get an economy that works “Old Soviet”.
Welcome to your future … six hours of power four times a week (maybe)
Boogie like it’s Bulgaria 1954