Chris White Tech Reporter
October 26, 2019 10:35 PM ET
Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom is warning citizens that they could be in for a long weekend as the state’s public utility announced Saturday plans to shut down huge sections of the electric grid.
The Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s move could black out an estimated 940,000 homes and businesses in parts of more than 30 counties up and down California. PG&E is trying to prevent potential wildfires from spreading through the state while keeping tabs on downed power lines.
Newsom, who is under pressure as gas prices increase, told Californians things are going to be tough for the next few days.
“The next 72 hours will be challenging,” the Democrat said at a news conference. “I could sugarcoat it, but I will not.”
The rolling blackouts could surpass those of the 750,000 customers who dealt with similar shut-offs earlier in October. Newsom started to circulate blame for many of the problems Californians are facing, including the blackouts and rising gas prices.
“These are difficult calls,” he said at Saturday’s conference. “But a society as industrious and entrepreneurial and innovative as ours should not have to face a choice between public safety and public blackouts. We can do both together. And that is what path we are on.”
Newsom also lit into PG&E. (RELATED: Gavin Newsom Stumped By High Gas Prices In California — Where Gas Taxes Outstrip The Other 49 States)
“It’s more than just climate change. It’s about the failure of capitalism to address climate change,” he told reporters Friday as he spoke about the utility’s continued use of rolling blackouts.
Newsom also leaned in on oil companies as the state faces staggering gas prices.
The Democratic governor asked his attorney general Oct. 23 to investigate oil companies for conspiring to keep gas prices artificially high. Newsom based his request on a report suggesting California drivers are paying $1 more per gallon of gasoline than the rest of the country, according to The Associated Press.
As for the blackouts, PG&E said the utility is keeping tabs on wind conditions.
“We are working vigilantly to forecast conditions, and the weather is dynamic and changing,” PG&E spokeswoman Suzanne Hosn said in a statement Saturday. “We are adjusting start times based on the weather forecast.”
Newsom’s office has not responded to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
Politician blames non politicians for the problems politicians caused.
It serves Californians right to suffer. They elected these clowns. And they deserve to be the victims of the politicians misfeasance.
Maybe they will learn their lesson. but, probably not. Look at Argentina. Once the fourth richest country in the world. Peronism destroyed it economically, and yet they are about to put the Peronistas back in office.
“It serves Californians right to suffer.” No, the ones who really deserve to suffer are not suffering. Life for them is great and the guilt is relieved by having the “correct” political and environmental positions.
Obama said straight out that the policies he was proposing would make energy prices “skyrocket”. The overwhelming voted for that. They are now skyrocketing. Not only do they deserve it, they demanded it.
The Republicans in the state ought to challenge the”100% Renewable Energy by 2030″ campaign with a counter campaign: “100% RELIABLE Energy by 2030”. (lol) Assuming there are any Republicans left?
So spot on. This issue is not PGE problem it is liberal govt mgmt problem in CA. 60 years of disaster waiting to happen. 90s request made to thin dead debris and tree huggers and liberals in office prevented it, results are in our faces and lungs daily. Newsom should be recalled and many in office in jail.
Your spot on brother. Libs are bad for our country.
Rex—It does seem that way. Northern California is suffering, while Southern California put in place the things that caused these problems.
Really ignorant take. Northern liberals have way more power in California.
Sheri,
Not sure of that – seems to be an awful lot of this foolishness comes from the Bay Area.
Yes, this is the truth. The “pod” that has delivered many an insane idea originates from the BAY. I heard many a goofy idea when I lived in Berkeley and Oakland 30 and 40 years before they made their way to Colorado and beyond.
Only the poor will suffer, i am talking about people making 100k or less, the others have generators and so they is not blackout for them.
Just wait Winston, soon the leftist politicians will be promising a generator to heat every pot.
All Humboldt County folks need is a lighter to heat their pot…😵
Why there has not been a massive attack on government in CA is a mystery. Those people who are destroying freedom and the state need to be removed, ballot box or no ballot box.
Compliance (wordsmithed as “tolerance”) has been indoctrinated into most of the population for decades now, and not just in CA. No significant “attack” is forthcoming.
Hate to burst everybody’s bubble those fires are intentionally set. The PG&e it’s just a cover story.as well as the fires that burnt down Paradise California. Most parts of northern California are predominantly white. Governor of California should be arrested for treason. This is a textbook case of socialism. Which history teaches us socialism either turns into fascism, Marxism ,communism ,or totalitarianism. Either way it’s all bad. California is the Pinnacle of what’s about to happen in this country. Wake up people. Pay attention quit listen to the liberal media.
Has anyone noticed that the conservative counties in California overlap most of the power outages?
Because we live in the foothills. Nothing nefarious this time
Probably because all the conservatives live in rural California, and all the socialists that vote Democrat live in the big cities. But maybe they are turning the power off with glee for the rural folk that are a majority conservative.
Trump had the 3rd highest total of votes cast by state from California. Almost the same as Florida and not far behind Texas. Its just that California has a third more population than Texas and double that of Florida
Its still a lot of Trump supporters.
And by the time Barr gets finished with Deep State prosecutions, there may not be more than a handful of Democrats willing to admit that’s what they are! Oh, well!!
“They elected these clowns,” They? I didn’t; I just got stuck with the results of other people voting for these clowns. There are many millions of Californians who didn’t vote for these socialist clowns who are stuck with their policies and have been for years. Not everybody can just pack up and leave. A little compassion is called for here.
There comes a time in the development of tyranny… political, economic, social where it becomes literally too late to leave. Some wish to stay to avoid loss of economic establishment (pensions etc.) which will become near worthless in the coming years due to massive under-funding,inflation, and outright confiscation.
Ask a once middle class Venezuelan, or the ghost of a German Jew.
Amen!
My family and I didn’t vote for these assholes
But we’re stuck with the suffering from their stupid decision-making.
Well said dave
It is obvious that the Californian government is taxing gas at the pump and causing the high prices.
If the prices were because of poor supply, gas would be imported from neighboring states which would stabilize the prices.
You are right, whoever are running California are clowns!
Cheers
Roger
Roger Surf
re: Importing gasoline from neighboring states to stabilize prices
Literally can’t (legally) be done. CA regulators mandate specific gasoline blends for various CA micro-climates (address air pollution). If a specific area runs out of its specific blend, OTHER GASOLINE CANNOT BE BROUGHT IN TO ADDRESS THE SHORTAGE.
I work for a Oil company. We “Import” gas all the time to Ca. They add all the bullshit, and hike up the taxes/prices in state at refineries. Quite the criminal enterprise California has.
I can assure everyone that Walter is right on the money, to wit: I am writing from Mendoza, Argentina, and today is the Presidential voting day, with a winner only if over 50% or 10% ahead of second place, and the leading candidates are Peronists, socialists, and the VP candidate on the ticket is under multiple indictments for (very profitable) corruption. As a Natural Resources Geologist I can assure everyone that the mining potential is second to no other country on the face of the planet we call Earth, because it is both well-mineralized and the corruption has prevented mining for a long time. Some day? Be careful what you vote for, it might bite you.
He doesn’t look like a clown. He looks quite pretty, a bit like Justin Trudeau. How could he screw things up?
In Shakespeare’s words, “Oh villain, villain, smiling damned villain”.
Walter, not all of us voted for the miscreants, yet we suffer as well.
Don’t worry while the peons are out of power the rich and powerful will have theirs kept on. The rich will have all the electricity in the world while everyone else suffers don’t worry nothing to see here peasants move along.
“Walter Sobchak October 27, 2019 at 10:20 am
Politician blames non politicians for the problems politicians caused.
It serves Californians right to suffer. They elected these clowns. And they deserve to be the victims of the politicians misfeasance.
Maybe they will learn their lesson. but, probably not. Look at
Argentina[] [ : ] Once the fourth richest country in the world. Peronism destroyed it economically, and yet they are about to put the Peronistas back in office”.
____________________________________
The problem of Argentina is not “peronism”.
The problem of Argentina is growing a quasi landlocked State.
Before UN regulations and ECB Chile was happy to accept export carriage from Argentina, getting transport fees from Argentina when shipping their goods to their customers.
With the new regulations Argentinas transport fees skyrocketed to the advantage of Chile.
So now Argentina has to transfer it’s goods 1,000 miles to the south to its own freight havens.
And to ship their goods a 1,000 miles min. back north to their customers.
With “just in time” orders Argentina plain simple lost its competivness – and had to queue in to other economical “deplorables”.
The times they ar’a changing.
California should post the following text as warning signs at its borders:
“Per me si va ne la citta dolente,
per me si va ne l’etterno dolore,
per me si va tra la perduta gente.
Giustizia mosse il mio alto fattore;
fecemi la divina podestate,
la somma sapienza e ‘l primo amore.
Dinanzi a me non fuor cose create
se non etterne, e io etterno duro.
Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate.”
“Through me the way to the city of woe,
through me the way to everlasting pain,
through me the way among the lost.
Justice moved my maker on high.
Divine power made me,
wisdom supreme, and primal love.
Before me nothing was but things eternal,
and eternal I endure.
Abandon all hope, you who enter here.”
http://etcweb.princeton.edu/dante/pdp/
Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri,
Book Inferno, Canto III: 1-9
I guess the “tipping point” was when Paradise burn to the ground last year.
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
‘Till it’s gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
A parking lot doesn’t burn. It would have been much better.
It does if it’s asphalt.
Here’s another fitting song-
Okay, it burns much, much slower.
“It’s more than just climate change. It’s about the failure of capitalism to address climate change,”
Funny, other states don’t seem to have this problem.
And socialism is the obvious answer. Always.
That is an outrageous lie — as anyone who has ever been involved with the total regulation of any utility . The State cannot escape culpability because they oversee and sign off on every decision made .
It is the State which has responsibility for the now burning commons . And if the powerline right-of-ways were not properly trimmed and cleared , they share responsibility with the utility for not budgeting and executing the needed clearing and preventive maintenance .
Exactly Bob. An entity that is state control is, by definition, *not capitalist.
(and that’s putting aside the fact that “Climate change” has absolutely nothing to do with it. Even if the “climate’ was exactly that of 100 years ago, the problem would still be there because it’s the failure to keep the lines clear and properly maintained, the failure to properly manage the forests, etc)
It’s more than just climate change. It’s about the failure of capitalism to address climate change,” he told reporters Friday…. – Oh, shut up, Gavin, you incredible moron. You’re an incompetent gasbag. If the only excuse you can crank up to explain your incompetence is ‘”climate change this, climate change that”, you should be fired and sent packing. You’re an idiot. And yes, it IS your fault – ALL OF IT, ALL OF IT, ALL OF IT.
Rant over.
To be fair, he inherited all of it. But he certainly doesn’t show any aptitude for anything but blame someone/something else.
And he will pass it to the next Progressive Socialist in worse shape than he inherited it.
He may have inherited it, but he also supported the actions taken that have created the conditions that California’s residents now suffer. It’s interesting that now that the “bill has come due” that Newsom is trying to shift the blame away from legislation and regulations that created the problems to begin with.
To be fair, just who did he inherit it from?
Who voted for those people and policies?
There are many conservatives in California, but they don’t vote because they think there is no point. When you don’t vote, that is half a vote for those who are destroying your state and the future of your children. Your children. Your choice. Your vote.
Jon Jewett
Specifically, he inherited it from Jerry “Moonbeam” Brown, and was elected with a 62% margin.
Who do you think votes for these people – it’s CA citizens, not the tooth fairy. Voting is free & secret; there may not be as many conservatives in that goofy state as you think.
Plenty of conservatives, but the lefties control the vote count.
The fall of conservative influence is more of a result from non-participation than failure to vote. If you get a chance, make sure to visit the caucuses in your district. Apparently these events trigger a lot more changes than just nominating a candidate into office. Unfortunately, from what I’ve witnessed in 2017, very few Republicans show up to these sessions compared to the large turnouts from Democrats.
Uh, no, not really. Our Governor was the Lieutenant Governor under Jerry Brown. He was and is complicit.
Thanks Sara, you said it about perfectly.
I’m one of those Kali conservatives, been here since 1961 (7 years old), would love to leave but it’s not going to happen soon.
Randle Dewees
Here’s a “leaving CA” story for you:
After 40 years in the Bay Area, I retired and moved to the Atlantic coast of Florida.
I lease zippy higher-end 5-series BMWs, and leasing means paying sales tax on the monthly lease payment (about $980/mo).
At the time I left CA, sales tax was 10% or an additional $98/mo; in FL with a 6% tax, it dropped to $58/mo.
That’s a $40/mo ($480/year) savings – ON SALES TAX.
I won’t even mention FL has no state income tax, so I can deduct all the FL sales tax I pay (the IRS has a nifty table to calculate it).
Im dealing wjth my 96 year old dad, who is basically at the end of the line. Really not going to jerk him around the country because of my distate for living here. Afterwards, who knows, I cant think that far ahead.
Up thread some mention of conservative CA voters giving up and not voting. Huh, not me.
I agree with you wholeheartedly Sara. However, Gavin needs to be told this directly via an email campaign or any other means. Telling him on this site how much of a moron he is, is preaching to the choir. Most of us on here know that you’re correct but he needs to hear this. I’m from Alberta and we know here that this AGW hoax is an excuse for Liberals to peddle their nonsense. How do we get a large number of voices to confront him and his ilk?
Sara, I live on the central coast CA. Only been here a few years. After getting acquitted I began hearing complaints about Jerry Brown. I said, don’t get too critical the next one will be worse. I’ve never been more right about anything in my life. We know there’s an AOC out there just waiting to replace Newsom….Yes, he’s a pathetic excuse for anything. His blaming capitalism for this democrat mess is a new low. But he’s not the problem. It’s the LA and SF voters, the government employees, especially the education “industry” and taxpayer funded “social” programs, It’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better. But hey, I’m old, the weather is great and I absolutely love it here! Eat, drink and be merry……..
Californians traversing the country for the last few years have been well aware that gas prices have been around a dollar a gallon more expensive in California. Has this man been living under a rock?
When do you suppose was the last time he pumped his own gas. He is being chauffeured around with a state supplied body guard. he doesn’t have to pay for gas or own a gun to protect himself.
Yep. The CHP handles all that for him.
Let’s start by looking into how much of that $1 per gallon premium (it’s actually more than that) is state and local taxes. Most sheeple in CA are probably unaware how much their government has artificially jacked up gas prices. It’s time they sat up and took notice.
Yes, what are the total taxes that make up the Californian price and how does that compare to other states?
Tonyb
Tonyb-
See this article:
https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/9734844-181/california-gas-tax-increases-monday
It says Californians pay approximately $0.80 taxes per gallon. It varies because part of the taxes are state and local sales taxes, which means the tax varies with the cost of the gasoline and where you are in the state.
Because of Utah’s isolated location, our oil fields provided plenty of crude for our refineries, making our fuel prices one of the lowest in the country. Because California, which has plenty of its own oil, refused to build any more refineries for its growing population… they built a pipeline, nearly 20 years ago, from Salt Lake to Las Vegas. The pipeline from California to Las Vegas that supplied Nellis Air Force Base and southern Nevada now flows backwards providing Southern California with fuel from Utah. Because of supply and demand, our prices for fuel are now very high. Recently I was at a gas station when a trucker was delivering fuel. I asked him where it was from? He said he used to deliver fuel to the neighboring states from Utah, now the company he works for increases it’s profits by buying fuel from New Mexico, 700 miles away, instead of buying it 10 miles away. Thanks California.
He’s only governor because the D party out there is more like a huge corporation. He started low, paid his dues, failed upwards by being popular in San Francisco, and now is attempting to tell the weather what to do.
Is there a better word than hubris? I can’t think of one.
Newsom, like his supporters, has failed to learn this fundamental lesson:
“If you want to make the world a better place, take a look in the mirror and make the change!”
They refuse to see the cascading failures lie within themselves. They market catastrophic climate change fraud as the justification for their avaricious socialist agenda, which is driving California rapidly into Venezuela style 3rd world failure.
PG&E’s finances are public record. It is interesting the Main Stream Media have not bothered to examine where rate payer money is going. California electric rates are among the highest in the nation. That should have triggered some sort of investigation. But wait…
If MSM did look at the finances, they would have discovered that most of customer rate money goes directly to state, county, and local agencies. This also covers paying off bonds left over from the Gray Davis “Deregulation” fiasco a decade ago. It is common for cities to require the Investor Owned Utilities to collect a tax added to utility bills as a percentage of the total bill before the tax. Of course, the IOWs must buy their electricity through the states agencies, not through direct contracts.
What goes to the utility is less than a third of the bill. From that money, must come operating costs, maintenance costs, state required green projects, CPUC required loans and bonds to cover costs during high electricity prices, and all the various franchise and wheeling fees.
Remember, the CPUC does not allow PG&E to keep enough cash on hand to cover costs during high energy price times. They are required to borrow money each year to cover high costs and then pay it back during low cost times. How would you like to operate a company the is required by law to NOT keep enough money on hand to cover emergencies?
So study the financial data? Nope. The answer would conflict with the Democrat/ MSM story line.
Part of the reason gas prices are high in California is the EPA’s requirement of different gasolines for different regions, claiming that air pollution is reduced this way. Gives the refiners an excuse to charge more for the different blends. Kills us here in Chicago too, and it is a complete, non-scientific absurdity.
“…It’s more than just climate change. It’s about the failure of capitalism to address climate change…”
What planet do these people live on? It is the fault of climate change and capitalism? Pull the string attached to a Democrat’s back, and that’s what it spits-out.
His predecessor had a UNANIMOUSLY passed bill on his desk to help address this issue in 2016, and he vetoed it saying the issue was already covered. Even as a staunch promoter of fears concerning climate change, he thought it was ok. He thought capitalism and other sources were addressing it just fine.
We can go back to over-regulation and any number of anti-capitalistic reasons for this issue as well.
“Pull the string attached to a Democrat’s back, and that’s what it spits-out.”
Lol, I’m nabbing that one.
Message to normal Californians, i.e. those not part of the political elite, If you make bad decisions expect bad things to happen. You voted for the democrat governor.Do not make that mistake again, the lights do not need to go out, that is simply a sign of how awful your political leader is.
Newsom is just the visible tiny tip of that awful iceberg of bottom-feeding Democrats in Sacramento. Democrats beholden to special interest campaign cash to get re-elected. The special interests include Tom Steyer and his rate-payer fleecing PAC, the public unions of municipal and state worker, the public teachers union, the environmental lobby that gets its money from the GreenSlime, and the aerospace-defense industry lobbyists that need environmental regulation exemptions to remain in California.
You might want to re-examine your accusation against the aerospace defense firms. They have been moving business out of California over the last decades owing o the environmental regulations, and the high cost of doing business.
So, how many WUWT posters correctly guessed what the California liberal Democrats would be blaming their self-imposed troubles on, …… to wit:
And just why would a Public Utility have need of their own personal meteorologist for forecasting weather conditions, to wit:
Makes me wonder just who hired Suzanne?
” investigate oil companies for conspiring to keep gas prices artificially high.”
California’s gas prices are the highest in the country. Not because of oil companies’ price fixing, but due to draconian taxation from the feds and the state.
California also has “enhanced” fuel requirements as mandated by CaEPA, CARB, SCAQMD and other air quality management districts. It costs more to produce the fuels sold in CA.
Cal’s Democrats are facing a Trifecta of converging problems of their own making.
That gas price differential is growing to around $1.50 now. And with Cal’s cap and trade carbon tax steadily increasing with each year, that differential will keep climbing. Cal’s residents see that of course.
San Francisco $4.50/gal then fly to Phoenix $3/gal. San Diego’s $4/gal gas then fly/drive to Tucson and its $2.50/gal. Same for Dallas.
Add to that they have electric bills that are already 50% or more higher than states around them and guaranteed to skyrocket in the coming years under Democrat’s close Diablo Canyon Power plant and other anti-fossil fuel policies kick-in and a bankrupt PG&E delivers blackouts to boot.
And the third element hitting Sacramento Democrats hard is the Federal income tax cap on State and Local Taxes (SALT) at $10,000 that is now driving an increasing outflow of wealthy Californians who can move. Cal’s high taxes on its high earners means the Federal taxpayers are no long subsidizing the high tax states like Cal with 36% markdowns on their Federal tax bills. Those high earners got whacked pretty hard this year paying their 2018 Federal IRS taxes which were much higher. Even pro athletes are demanding much higher salaries to come play for California teams to offset the huge tax disadvantage high incomes face in California.
Newsom’s caterwauling reportedly included a plea for Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway to buy PG&E.
Buffett isn’t dumb enough to put a large chunk of capital where it can be constructively expropriated by ambulance-chasers, economically-illiterate demagogic politicians and crypto-communists.
California rate-payers and voters are currently reaping what they sowed over the last couple of decades.
Warren Buffett has B.H. shareholders to answer to. Do they think he’s like the Sultan of Brunei?
If you want to see illiterate Democrat Congresspeople like AOC of NY and Al Green of Texas in action, then watch this FoxNews Greg Gutfield piece on House Democrats asking questions to Mark Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg was there of course being questioned about his FaceBook’s views on censorship and ad-revenue controlling ways.
It is fricking hilarious.
https://video.foxnews.com/v/6097466233001/
Both Al Green and AOC earned Billy Madison’s for their inane questions and grimace-worthy performances.
A direct result of California Greening? (Sorry Mammas and Pappas) Oh dear. What a shame. Never mind.
Wow! what utter rubbish! Everything is climate change these days, its like greta, dull, grey and utterly boring!! Even the mighty California is lost without fossil fuels.. imagine if they had none at all, California would be a third world state.
It’s more than just climate change. It’s about the failure of capitalism to address climate change,
Sorry I forgot to add, that its climate changes fault, yet he wanta fossil fuel companies to help, Lolol This is to funny….
Newsom also leaned in on oil companies as the state faces staggering gas prices.
“Newsom also leaned in on oil companies as the state faces staggering gas prices.”
Which is due to CA’s outrages taxes and regulations, not the oil companies.
Free Enterprise is a hard sell.
It produces lots of Billionaires and often leaves unproductive and unmotivated and unlucky individuals impoverished. This tweaks the normal human sense is fairness.
Most of these individuals got to be billionaires by being exceptionally creative, inventive. and very productive. Most of the money they accrue gets EFFICIENTLY invested which generates even more wealth.
Under Socialism incentives are lacking for doing
anything better or more efficiently. Workers might bitch about implementing ways of doing something EASIER, but never more productively. Nearly half the midsized and smaller corporations in the US produce or provide products and services that nobody would think of without the profit motive.
Billionaires sometimes use their wealth in ways destructive to civilization (like making large donations to Democrats)…THIS is the worst aspect of Free Enterprise.
Otherwise, the more Billionaires the better.
The first thing to do before trying to solve a problem is to identify the causes.
So, this climate change clown (and his predecessors) has no chance of solving anything, instead, he will certainly worsen every issue he will try to solve.
The only issue(s) anyone in California is trying to resolve is their “re-election” issues.
An interesting tweet and thread by Michael Shellenberger:
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1188520695866593280
Shellenberger made an ill-fated independent bid for governor of California. When it comes time to replace Newsom, they could do a lot worse.
“Find out why California’s gas prices are a dollar more than other states”??? Is he really that stoopid? Or is it that he thinks Californians are that stoopid?
I’m guessing it’s both. What a piece of work.
And btw here in Alabama it’s more like two dollars less.
So what’s the word on the ground re how this most recent fire started? PG&E had a wire live that wasn’t supposed to be, but that doesn’t mean it is the source of the fire. I’m wondering if there has been any news on this? Google is and all I get is articles laying blame without foundation.
I wonder how the everyday normal person in Calizuela is feeling this morning?
“The People have spoken … and they must be punished.”
– Ed Koch
California historical fact Santa Ana winds, semi arid prone to drought, naked high voltage cables suspended on rickety wooden poles, building permits issued for homes in intensley wooded areas with trees known to burn, correct forestry management ignored because of environmentalist pressure, people who want to live in wooded areas because they like the ethos. Politicians who endorse rabid environmentalism and enforce tax payer funded rhetoric that enforces belief that wind and solar farms can mitigate climate change and you have a recipe for diaster which is now being served up as a main course.
Had California spent the billions spent on wind and solar on burying electric cables wild fires would have been dramically reduced. I find it incomprehensible that not one single person in California made the inevitable connection between Santa Ana winds semi arid naked cables sparks trees and fire.
But thought wind and solar might have a mitigating effect on wind speed electric cables sparking and trees catching fire as a result. Or did they think fires could be used to enforce belief in climate change?
I watched Adam Schiff chairing a hearing on IBES it was painfully obvious he would pull any stroke to pour scorn and derision on Patrick Moore and Marc Marono he could not conceal his smile at putting the knife in. Makes you think about 911
Naked cables?
Power transmission and distribution cables exist in every place in the world, as do trees, wind, homes near trees, occasional and even frequent windy dry weather (also known as Fire Weather).
Power lines are rarely buried in the ground over wide areas, and are generally not insulated except in specific limited locations and circumstances. There are reasons for why things are done the way they are done, but economic and technical ones.
-Some of the cost differences for burying vs overhead are extreme.
-Some of the technical challenges and limitations are extreme.
-Some of the operational challenges and limitations are extreme.
– Some of the maintenance and repair issues are extreme.
These things are true in any location.
In earthquake country, or in rough terrain, potential problems are multiplied and magnified.
The entire question of overhead vs underground is one every power company and electric infrastructure project has looked at, and this has been true for nearly 150 years…the entire history of electric power generation and distribution.
If it was even a close call between one way and the other, it would likely be the case that many large area would have all electric power lines underground.
That it is currently only done in a relatively small number of places and over limited geographic extent attests to the way the pro/con assessment stacks up.
Here is a interesting read on the issue:
https://www.eei.org/issuesandpolicy/electricreliability/undergrounding/Documents/UndergroundReport.pdf
Isnt the answer , which has been implemented to a bigger extent by the electric utility around San Diego, a voltage cutoff device which activates in milliseconds when a break on the line occurs. At the moment a current will continue to flow when the line is earthed. that is what causes the fire
Thought I had made my point but I will try again. With all the billions spent on wind and solar to pretend we cant tackle climate change California could have buried the cables especiaĺly when there is such a high fire risk. Plus another 40 bilion every year to repair all of the damage caused by the fires. It is as they say a no brainer.
Salute!
The underground power lines do the most good at the distribution end of the grid. Think subdivisions.
They reduce many vulnerable lines and transformers and……
Come here to Florida to see great examples. And we have forests and vegetation and……
We also prune the trees around the high voltage lines every year before hurricane season
Gums sends…..
Isn’t this the state which has a fire season?
Yes.
This is the second widespread instance of something which will for years to come be a regular occurrence in California, unless some very major changes are made in regard to several areas of state law.
Few seem to see the long term implications of what is happening.
At least the people with solar panels can relax.
snarling Dolphin-
This from the “Third Sun Solar” website:
“Most homeowners have no source of backup power when the grid goes down. Even homes with solar may lose power in the event of a grid outage if their system does not include some form of energy storage.”
That is if their inverter is grid-tied (In the US AFAIK). Grid goes, so does power, unless you have a backup.
LOL. Good one.
Most home solar installations shut down if they’re not receiving grid power. Many of those who paid for such systems are just discovering that now.
To work around it, you generally need batteries and a controller that will disconnect from the grid when there’s no power coming in. This adds another $10-20k to the price of a decently-sized home solar system, unless you’re competent enough to build it yourself.
Snarling, probably should have added the /sarc’. Grid connected home solar is a different “animal”Without a huge expensive battery it doesn’t work. If anything home solar dumping massive current on the grid for a few hours around noon, much of which has to be re-dumped for lack of demand causes problems. shuffling around this “grid poison” stress’s electrical equipment and contributes to the potential for failure.
” Grid connected home solar is a different “animal”Without a huge expensive battery it doesn’t work”:
That’s why every “environmental conscious” citizen ought to buy a Tesla. And leave it “installed” in the household undercellar vaults.
To prepare for grid connection emergency –
The Tesla’s huge, heavy battery pack as work-around in case of brown outs incl. blackouts.
Yeah right Gov. the state has no responsibility for any of this. Californians, you built this…
California is circling the drain.
California is well on its way to Venezuelan status under the same kind of political leadership. Large and growing homeless encampments, streets littered with human excrement, crumbling infrastructure, and now loss of reliable electricity, which makes modern life possible. Meanwhile Californian lemmings, anxious to jump off any nearby cliff, continue to vote the same politicians into power, while wondering how all these problems could be happening in their once great state.
The power outages and higher prices are basically a Californian own goal and however much you yell at the ref it ain’t going to be overturned by the VAR.
If Exxon knew why didn’t PGEC know all those years ago. and prepare for these events decades ago?
heh … maybe they should put a mentally unstable 16 year old in charge of energy production …
There is an old joke about California. Many years ago the country tipped up and everything that was loose rolled into California. And of course that old favorite that California is the land of fruits and nuts. And of course how many Californians does it take to change a light bulb? They have no electricity. Why would they ever need to change a light bulb? Or, two Californians, one to change the light bulb and the other to pedal the bicycle that runs the generator. (I really do like California. But man they are looney tunes out there.)
“…It’s more than just climate change. It’s about the failure of capitalism to address climate change…”
Try again, the capitalist USA has been reducing CO2 emissions; Communist China has the largest CO2 emissions and continues to increase emissions.
Newsome declares: “We can do both public safety and public blackouts”. What an idiot.
It is too bad that the gov wouldn’t understand if someone sent him a mirror.
If utilities and fossil fuel companies are to blame for this, just boot them out of the state. Problem fixed. And you can congratulate yourself for solving the global warming problem too.
Unfortunately, the industriosnous has been directed at consumers for years by Dems and their advocacy armies of policy distortion. Now the combined effects of intended consequences are piling up.
Capitalism isn’t failing. It’s being strangled to death. Maybe that’s why California is such a blue state. Cyanosis!
It seems ironic that a state which loves wind turbines so much should shut down the electricity because the wind is blowing.
Neat.
My understanding is that California, under Jerry Brown, from 1978, pursued a policy influenced by Amory Lovins. Up until 5 years ago Lovins was regarded as the most influential thought leader with the renewable/sustainable energy crowd. His ‘Soft Energy Paths’ essay was supposed to be some kind of bible.
For electricity, he advocated
* small scale generation
* mixed generation of renewables and fossil fuel
* decentralized, widely distributed grid
* no nuclear power
Very in much in the ‘Small is Beautiful‘ school of hippy idealism.
Consequently by the late 1990s, California had a deficit in electricity; importing vast amounts of electricity from North and East. It was all very market driven so Enron and others exploited it. The whole thing crashed in the early noughties with Enron bankrupt in 2001. It was then regulated to hell. Recently California upped its renewables mandate to 50% by 2030.
The fires are a different issue; with PG&E required to keep a very big grid going without any control over surrounding vegetation. Basic weed-killers banned, etc.
Perhaps there’s merit to nationalization after all? If politicians are going to regulate you to hell so that you can’t control your business, wouldn’t it be better to put them in charge – to teach them a lesson. On reflection, that’s just too cruel to the put upon customers.
This is exactly why the voters recalled Gray(out) Davis. It’s high time for it to happen to Governor Newsom, and I would like to join or start such a petition effort.
https://recallnewsom.us/
Already happening
Leftist marxist pigs all. I have zero sympathy for any of them. Now the others living there that are not leftists? I have pity.
“…to investigate oil companies for conspiring to keep gas prices artificially high. ….’It’s more than just climate change. It’s about the failure of capitalism to address climate change,’…Newsom started to circulate blame for many of the problems Californians are facing, …”
Will the real conspiracy theorists please stand up?
This is what happens when you continually vote Democrats into office. How to solve the problem ? It won’t be solved because the clowns of California will continue to vote in more of the same but expect different results. I hope Gavin’s vineyard gets burnt to the ground so that he suffers like the rest of Californians have to because of his ‘leadership’.
I thought high fuel prices were good, because they encouraged people to stop producing CO2? So how can they now be complaining that oil companies are pushing up prices? Shouldn’t they be complaining that oil companies aren’t pushing up prices enough?
California needs $20-a-gallon gas to save the world.
That’s exactly what they were saying soon after Obama won the presidency. Fuel prices will necessarily sky rocket. 97% of scientists agreed.
There’s just something ironic about PCers, who buy into green energy, vote for socialist politicos, and buy electric cars – now buying gas generators to charge their electric car batteries. I imagine they won’t see the connection
They won’t get it, they will never get it, they’re brain washed
“But a society as industrious and entrepreneurial and innovative as ours should not have to face a choice between public safety and public blackouts. We can do both together.”
Really? He said that? So they can have both public safety AND public blackouts?
Not only does he want to do both, but “that is what path we are on”. so having safe public blackouts is the goal rather than being safe without blackouts.
These crazy California blackouts and wildfires were caused by insane Leftist enviroMENTAL politicians 30 years ago, who passed laws severely restricting the clearing of dangerous trees running along side power lines, severely restricted clearing out deadfall, slashed logging rights in their state by 90%, prohibited controlled burns to reduce the buildup of deadfall, severely restricted thinning out trees, greatly restricted the building of forest/fire roads, severely restricted the removal of diseased trees so forests are now inundated with diseased trees which exacerbate excessive deadfall (which can’t be removed anyway), severely restricted the construction of of fire breaks, severely restricted homeowners of clearing deadfall and Removing diseased trees, severely restricted the building of much needed new water reservoirs, etc….
So, in the spirit of creating “environmentally friendly” forests, Leftist political hacks created a massive man-made artificial tinder box ready to explode.
But, of course, rather than fixing all these insane Leftist policies that created all these massive blackouts and wildfires, Leftists blame Global Warming, and nothing is resolved…
Leftism is a mental disease…
So recall him already.
I’m with you I signed the petition ranf.org.
“… It’s more than just climate change. It’s about the failure of capitalism to address climate change, …”
>>>>
Actually, it’s a failure of the public to elect viable political leaders that have a clue, but he’s not likely to mention that.
Newsom’s campaign took $58,000 in contributions from PG&E.
What is a bankrupt corporation doing making campaign contributions?
What is Gavin Newsom doing accepting those contributions?
California is corrupt.
I am sure Warren Buffet just spit up a few cherrios followed by a belly laugh.
Look, you have power lines serving 38 million people.
They cross federal, state, and private lands.
PG&E is prevented from doing what needs to be done to clear those lines.
But there is a huge problem with the law here.
If that utility is going to be held liable for lives amd property, you cannot also prevent them from taking steps to protect lives and property.
You will also have civil lawsuits if you try and go onto private property and do what needs to be done.
Who would want that company?
No one smart would want the company, your right! The litigation will go on for decades and fingers will still point the blame. But nothing will happen until our government is changed?
This will, for sure, solve the problem:
“On Sunday, as PG&E consumers called for the company to be taken over and electricity declared a public utility, Newsom reached out over the airwaves to Warren Buffett, begging the investor to purchase PG&E, per Business Insider. ”
It’s already a public utility.
OBTW: Has anyone calculated how much CO2 these fires are producing? And how does that compare to what us mere mortals do in the same period of time?
Shhhhh…forests are renewable! DRAX may have to start burning coal rather than N. American wood.
Per UN, CO2 produced from biomass combustion doesn’t count as the thinking goes that it recently came from the atmosphere.
On Sunday, as PG&E consumers called for the company to be taken over and electricity declared a public utility,
Electricity is already a Public Utility in California. PG&E is already overseen by the California Public Utilities Commission. The hint is in the name.
Newsom also leaned in on oil companies as the state faces staggering gas prices.
Jeesh. What about leaning on CA lawmakers about the high CA gasoline taxes?
AOC announces that wildfires are climate change:
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/10/28/ocasio-cortez-brush-fire-what-climate-change-looks-like/
“The Democratic governor asked his attorney general Oct. 23 to investigate oil companies for conspiring to keep gas prices artificially high. Newsom based his request on a report suggesting California drivers are paying $1 more per gallon of gasoline than the rest of the country, according to The Associated Press.”
They are paying way more than a buck a gallon more than the rest of the country but he wants oil companies investigated? Can Newsom really be so dumb he doesn’t realize the difference between a gallon of gas in Cal. and the rest of the country is the gas taxes imposed on every gallon by his State?
Maybe they can recall him as they did with Davis, then the Republicans will nominate another Ahnold!!!
Ahnold turned out to be not much better than Davis.
That was my point. Just another example of filthy Koch-sucking Rove Republican swill. But I am surprised they didn’t carpetbag Mittens in instead!
There is a Chinese saying roughly translated as ‘feed the people control the waters’. It meant that the Government should store up rice in the good years so that there is some in the bad years and that the government should keep the dikes in good repair so the rivers didn’t flood. Floods and famine were indications that the dynasty had lost the favor of heaven.
http://www.recallnewsom.us. Download the petition, follow the instructions and mail it in. It would be refreshing to have someone who doesn’t use double speak as their first language, but in order to do that, just don’t vote for a Democrat.
California is going to have to hit rock bottom before it can even begin to recover from the years of Democratic control and malfeasance.
Imagine what would happen if there was a major earthquake in the state right now.
I’ll tell you, chaos absolute chaos. Fire crews are out of position, even in other counties, other emergency services are already assisting in the fire areas.