Chris White Tech Reporter
October 23, 2019 6:29 PM ET
ProPublica reporter Abrahm Lustgarten suggested California’s rolling blackouts contain one silver lining: It highlights for people the gravity that awaits them if climate change is not addressed.
California’s largest public utility’s decision to shutter large sections of the energy grid forces citizens to notice what things will be like if climate change is not addressed, Lustgarten noted in a New York Times Magazine editorial Tuesday. He did remember to emphasize the blackouts are bad for a lot of people.
“But a mandatory blackout does have one radically positive effect,” he wrote. “By suddenly withdrawing electrical power — the invisible lifeblood of our unsustainable economic order — PG&E has made the apocalyptic future of the climate crisis immediate and visceral for some of the nation’s most comfortable people.”
Lustgarten added: “It is easy to ignore climate change in the bosom of the developed world. But you can’t fail to notice when the lights go out.” (RELATED: What Do Rolling Blackouts And Sky-High Gas Prices Mean For Gov Newsom’s Job As Governor?)
“The blackouts have laid bare the uncomfortable fact that the infrastructure we’ve built and maintained over the course of many decades isn’t matched to the threats we face in our rapidly unfolding climate emergency,” he noted.
Lustgarten’s comments came after California’s public utility Pacific Gas & Electric began a days-long power shutoff on Oct.9 to curb the risk of wildfires in the northern part of the state. Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom, the former mayor of San Francisco, is dealing with several problems as he struggles with PG&E’s move.
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. Parts of Northern California struggled to deal with massive wildfires in 2018, which torched large tracks of land and killed several people.
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Where is the Warren Plan for the Kalifornia problem?
I found it
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2017/12/20/jerry-brown-vetoed-enhanced-requirements-for-undergrounding-power-lines-blames-ca-wildfires-on-nebulous-climate-change/
“In September 2016 California Governor Brown vetoed Senate Bill 1463
which enhanced requirements for the CPUC and state Forestry and Fire Protection to facilitate the undergrounding of power lines in high fire risk areas across the stately by requiring the states involvement with cities and counties facing high fire risks and by requiring the prioritization of high fire risk regions.”
I disagree with the notion that either climate change or climate policy is the reason for these blackouts.
PG & E spends enormous amounts of money on lobbying rather than doing their jobs.
The City of San Francisco just offered $2.5B to buy out PG & E’s infrastructure in SF so they could take over distribution, but PG & E refused. Wolf Street has an article with pictures on just how well maintained this SF PG & E infrastructure is.
Nor is this the only example. Not long ago, there was an explosion from a pipeline in the suburbs of the Bay Area that killed a bunch of people.
I’ve seen links that showed PG & E paying $14m+ in 1983 and 1984 just for lobbying the California Public Utility Commission – more than the oil driller’s association.
The reality is that PG & E is just another corporation that focuses more on paying huge dividends than delivering to their charter as a public utility.
As a practical point, who would want to move to California under the present circumstances?
This can’t be good for business in California. The exodus will get bigger.
The California Democrats are going to have trouble funding illegal alien healthcare what with numerous Californians leaving the state and taking their money with them.
We have Venezuela as an example of how not to govern, and now we are going to have California as another example of how not to govern.
Socialists/Leftists don’t have the answers. For anything.
Very much like claiming famine is exactly what people should expect if we insist on improving agriculture.
So, what this clown is telling us is that decades of catastrophic grid maintenance and forest management have induced climate change and all its usual bad consequences (blackouts, fires, …).
The climate clown show must go on !
These Marxist idiots have been proclaiming the end of society as we know it for at least 200 years now. Turns out that idiots don’t easily catch on to intellectual fraud, even after a few hundred years. The bad thing is, these idiots are so adamant in their beliefs that economic meltdown is a self fulfilling prophecy in places where they outnumber the rational.
The bad thing is, these idiots… are able to procreate.
Alarmists say the darndest things, don’t they? Too bad Art Linkletter is no longer around.
So they dont need to do this in other States. They dont need to do this in other countries. But if they do it in California its an indication of climate , rather than local mismanagement. This guy is a genius.
Actually, the rolling blackouts are what socialist and communist countries experience NOW.
Pass the Green New Deal and spotty electricity, empty grocery store shelves, and breadlines.
What the Californian blackouts really reveals is what happens when all other energy options have been banned no oil, no gas, no wood burning and all you are left with is electricity, you had better be sure the supply is constant and not intermittent.
You had also better be sure, the suppliers are not prone to political pressure that leads to the shutting down of the only allowed energy supply available to you.
Putting all your eggs into one basket has never been regarded as a safe option….
California’s rolling blackouts are a warning of what will happen everywhere if the hysterical lunacy of “Climate Change” frenzy is allowed to permeate society.
Why have blackouts based on wind if wind speeds are dropping? because the models said so?
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/12/05/study-global-wind-speed-dropping-wind-farms-victim-of-atmospheric-stilling/
“Cart before horse” comes to mind. Mr PleasureGarden lives in an arse over elbow universe.
But a mandatory blackout does have one radically positive effect,” he wrote. “By suddenly withdrawing electrical power — the invisible lifeblood of our unsustainable economic order —
That invisible lifeblood is likely the the same Dark Web source of the horrible videos that make Hillary lose the election:
Be afraid. Nobody can find them and you’re going to see them.
Well, it’s hearly Halloween. What do you expect?
I haven’t read all the above article so someone might have covered this. the problem isn’t in the generation of the power the problem is in the transmission of the power. even if they were going to go 100 % renewable(I use at term loosely) the transmission of the power will remain the same.
Less kW hours on yer bill though.
What would Greta do?
This article was written by an extremely ignorant climate alarmist propagandists.
California wildfires are out of control because for decades the state failed to maintain healthy forests and allowed environmental extremists to delay, prevent or make too costly needed actions to maintain the states forests as addressed in detail by the Legislative Analyst report on this topic released in April 2018.
Climate change had no impact whatsoever in creating the state’s wildfire debacle which is solely driven by California’s incompetent government.
So let’s see if I understand: The blackouts are good because they will show people how bad things will be if we DO NOT do more of what caused the blackout? Alice. Rabbit hole. 10/6.
I’ll give you a clear positive for the rolling black-outs: At least a few million people are taking their first essential preps to surviving and EMP. Now, get ready for the black out to last 9 months and be part of the <5% survivors.
The California blackouts are a demonstration project for the potential effects of The Green New Deal. This journalist is confused.
Exactly my thought. This is the “training” period for the eventual 100% renewable energy plan.
The rolling blackouts are because of mismanaged forests and unchecked litigation. PG&E isn’t reducing risk of fire, it’s reducing the chance it gets sued for fires. The fires are still there. That’s because environmental whackos think that thinning the forest of fuel is a bad thing.
Climate? No! PG&E? No! Rampant ignorance among environmental activists and Cali politicians, You betcha! These controlling interests seek to obtain a mythical pristine ‘natural’ primordial woodland, without human impact or influence. This absurd goal is impossible amidst a thriving human population.
Natural forces; wind, water, and fire, need to be acknowledged and either managed or adapted to, to protect the populace and its infrastructure. California authorities should look to Europe for time-tested methods. The German Black Forest, for example covers many square miles. For centuries it has provided reliable firewood (bio-fuel), lumber for construction and crafts, with recreation and agriculture areas intermixed. These lands are jointly managed by private and public interests. There are similar areas in the Scandinavian countries.
Apples and oranges comparison. Bogus. The more likely scenario is conversion to 100% reliablity on solar and wind will result in power outages when it is night and/or when the wind stops blowing. That is a truer likihood. It is not partical to use batteries to make up the difference given the present battery technology.
Climate Change causes price controls and over-regulation? Maybe we *should* do something about that.
The PUC is basically a blight. I can’t imagine why anyone would accept the job of running PG&E under these circumstances.