Guest essay by Larry Hamlin
The Wall Street Journal published a superb article that exposes the government lunacy in California where its climate alarmist propaganda driven Democratic politicians have wasted tens of billions of dollars on energy schemes that are totally useless in having any meaningful impacts on global emissions levels while ignoring the statewide wildfire disaster that is destroying massive amounts of property, thousands of homes and taking hundreds of lives.
The article notes the following Democratic Party California government driven climate alarmist absurd climate actions being taken while ignoring the critical need for aggressive statewide highest priorities and resources commitments to addressing long standing failures by the state in addressing its forest management responsibilities.
“State law mandates that utilities obtain 33% of electric generation from renewables such as wind and solar by 2020 and 60% by 2030.
Utilities must spend hundreds of millions of dollars each year to reduce the cost of green energy for low-income households. PG&E has prioritized political obeisance over safety.
In 2018 PG&E spent $509 million on electric discounts for low-income customers in addition to $125 million for no-cost weatherization and efficiency upgrades for disadvantaged communities.
Utilities also receive allowances from the state’s cap-and-trade program—$7.5 billion since 2012—to pay for other “ratepayer benefits” that reduce emissions.
For instance, the Legislature in 2015 mandated that utilities spend $100 million annually on solar systems in low-income communities.
This is on top of the $2.2 billion in customer rebates for rooftop solar installations, which utilities charged to ratepayers between 2007 and 2016. Under the state’s net-metering program, solar customers also get a break on their bills.
Last year PG&E invested more than $150 million in battery storage and “sustainable” technologies, which was paid for by a special charge on ratepayers. PG&E is also spending $130 million over three years to install 7,500 electric-car charging stations and offers drivers a $800 “clean fuel” rebate.
All of this has been part of a Democratic political strategy to use PG&E to advance their climate agenda without raising taxes.
But Californians have instead paid through higher electric rates —PG&E rates are twice as high as in Oregon and Washington—while utilities have had to redirect capital and ratepayer revenue away from fortifying the grid and tree-trimming.”
“PG&E has prioritized serving its political overlords above all else. California’s return to the dark ages is a direct result of the Democratic political monopoly in Sacramento.”
Democratic Party politicians in Sacramento have created this colossal wildfire debacle mess by their hugely misguided, monumentally incompetent and totally useless climate alarmist policy priorities wasting tens of billions of dollars on globally meaningless actions while ignoring the disastrous failures of the state to deal with its forest management responsibilities.
No doubt the states Democrats will hide their mind-boggling failures and try to shift blame and responsibility elsewhere most likely with the full support of the states corrupt media.
Whatshot wall street journal you will get impeached !!!!
When I lived in a socialist country, socialism had four main enemies:
spring, summer, autumn, winter.
Now I live in California, and the Democratic establishment has five main enemies:
climate change, drought, wind, rain, capitalism.
We had our power turned on after a 40 hour blackout (for fire prevention, did not prevent any fires). If you can not afford a generator, you lose your food, your goldfish, vegetables in your garden.
If you live in zillion dollar house, BUY A F*****GENERATOR!!!!!
Even the Titanic had lights when it sunk.
What did Californians use before candles?
Ans: Electricity.
The following two statements were published by my co-authors and me in 2002 and are clearly correct-to-date:
“Climate science does not support the theory of catastrophic human-made global warming – the alleged warming crisis does not exist.”
“The ultimate agenda of pro-Kyoto advocates is to eliminate fossil fuels, but this would result in a catastrophic shortfall in global energy supply – the wasteful, inefficient energy solutions proposed by Kyoto advocates simply cannot replace fossil fuels.”
In contrast, all the CAGW alarmists’ very-scary climate predictions have failed to materialize. The global warming / climate change alarmists have a perfectly negative predictive track record, and nobody should believe them.
What I did not see clearly in 2002 was how incredibly stupid the warmists would continue to be, as the overwhelming evidence of their egregious errors should have become obvious to even the most obtuse of their followers.
The conclusion is that nobody (with rare exceptions) could be this stupid for this long. Therefore, they must have a covert agenda, and they do:
The Cost To Society Of Radical Environmentalism, July 4, 2019
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/07/04/the-cost-to-society-of-radical-environmentalism/
★★★★★
Included in Governor Newsom’s latest caterwauling was 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 the consequences of exactly what they sowed over the last couple of decades.
Warren will let it go bust then pick up the profitable bits for peanuts.
Warren?
Hosea 8:7
Sadly, I’ve steadfastly voted AGAINST every single one of these politicians and policies. But I’ve LOST every election … including all that State money for an idiotic euro-kewl train doomed for station FAILure. I am seething anger after my second PG&E shutdown (this time for 48hours) despite living in an innocuous suburb (not some shockingly HIGH Fire Zone. And in the saddest irony that was nearly tragic … I was almost evacuated because just blocks from my powerless neighborhood in Lafayette CA … an active PG&E transformer EXPLODED sparking a 10acre fire that threatened to spread with the wind. I guess PG&E needs to shut off EVERYONES power because their infrastructure ROT. NONE of PG&E’s infrastructure is safe. None of it. But I am supposed to be a happy ratepayer because I funded discount power for Tesla charging stations?
OK … I get it. My fellow Californians HATE me and “my type” (fellow “deniers”). I know where I am not wanted. My family and I are no longer “wanted” in the State my Great Grandparents first made their home in 1919. Yes. I will be leaving.
Just for a laff…
https://babylonbee.com/news/texas-luring-jobs-away-from-california-with-promises-of-electricity
P.S. My sister left Napa about 5 years ago and now lives in a nice house in St. Pete. Power 24/7
Conservatives in California today are like Jews in 1935 Berlin.
I hope your sister left any idiot liberal (pardon the redundancy) attitudes at the state line. CA leftists are 2-legged locusts — they turn their new homes into the same manurehole they created. They have ruined OR, WA & CO. They will ruin AZ unless the state fish & game bureau issues “no bag limit” hunting licenses on them. (Good thing AZ is an open carry state.)
Buffett already owns a good slice of PGE stock (now effectively worthless). Don’t be surprised if he gets some sweetheart deal from Newsom, at taxpayer/ratepayer expense. Buffett is no longer a value investor; he is now a crony investor and bailout investor, starting when Obama became POTUS.
These actions when taken by an individual when life is lost would be called murder. When taken by government are seen as virtue signaling.
Has California equipped itself to derive meaningful scientific progress towards understanding the ‘climate crisis’ that is being used to influence policy?
There is super-heated air moving downwind of these fires. This air contains elevated levels of CO2. How is this CO2 with an ‘overabundance’ of heat behaving? Each of these CO2 molecules must be spewing massive amounts of energetic photons that are fiercely heating the surface. I’m not aware of the apparatus being used to measure this ‘property’ of CO2. If CO2, not heated by fire, can radiate the same energy transmitted from the surface back towards the surface thereby ‘trapping’ (?) heat, how are these super-heated CO2 molecules manifesting this ‘property’ that can’t be measured? We measure solar activity but we can’t measure CO2 activity? Would measuring this be more worthy of investment (billions) than a speculative high speed rail system?
CO2 molecules radiate “energy” randomly in every direction, regardless atmospheric / wind direction – a 0 sum game.
Maybe distributing over a greater area without wind – a 0 sum game either.
The fools in Cali really think there is some kind of magical connection between the burning of fossil fuels and weather events. Instead of the real world providing a reality check they see it as proof of their quasi religious imaginational musings.
“The fools in Cali really think there is some kind of magical connection between the burning of fossil fuels and weather events” Uh, Cali isn’t the only place where those fools exist. It’s pretty wide spread.
And therein lies the problem.
When fictitious scary stories become societal priorities, disaster looms!
Folks are blaming the severity of the current wild fires on climate change. They ignore the fact that California has suffered great droughts for as long back as we can see. link The dryness is what allows the wild fires to propagate.
The fuel load is due to bad forest management. IMHO, it’s the biggest problem. The economic damage is due to the fact that many more people are living in proximity to burnable areas. Climate change is a red herring.
commieBob, climate change is the CA government’s tool to shift the blame away from themselves.
“The size of the lie is a definite factor in causing it to be believed, for the vast masses of the nation are in the depths of their hearts more easily deceived than they are consciously and intentionally bad. The primitive simplicity of their minds renders them a more easy prey to a big lie than a small one, for they themselves often tell little lies but would be ashamed to tell a big one.” Adolf Hitler
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
Joseph Goebbels
“Climate change is a red herring.”. It’s much more than that, it’s a ‘get out of jail free’ card. And that card is used for much more than forest fires.
I’ve lived in CA for 64 of my 64 years … I have NEVER witnessed so many fires STARTED by PG&E equipment FAILure. Every physical product and structure has a serviceable life. It’s patently obvious that a majority of PG&E’s equipment is PAST its reliable, serviceable life. THAT can be the ONLY reason for these widespread catastrophic FAILURES. However PG&E has been distracted from its primary function … including proactive inspection, repair and maintenance of their infrastructure.
Kenji,
I wonder how much of the failure of PG&E’s equipment is due to their having to build extremely long transmission lines from wind and solar farms? The lines they have to maintain are many miles more now than when they had to just run them from fairly close fossil fuels plants to their destinations.
I don’t know if that has any effect or not but it seems to me it might be a factor.
Also, a factor might be California’s decades long refusal to allow people to clear any brush or trees from around their homes, to do prescribed burns and clearing. Other states woke up to the need to fight the “greenies” long ago and passed legislation so projects could not be stopped by them, esp., after the massive wildfires suffered in the early 2000s. Calif., learned nothing from them and are paying the price.
“I wonder how much of the failure of PG&E’s equipment is due to their having to build extremely long transmission lines from wind and solar farms? The lines they have to maintain are many miles more now than when they had to just run them from fairly close fossil fuels plants to their destinations.”
Good question.
Kenji:
Perhaps the competent staff at PG&E were long ago driven from California?
That is, the employees who could read the coming signs of equipment failures and knew they would be the first blamed, took their high house and land values and headed towards cheaper low tax neighborhoods less burdened by self guilt?
Kenji October 29, 2019 at 11:07 am
In all machine&Tool industries there is something called “P.M.” It stands for “preventative maintenance”. When it is not preformed in a timely manner it is called “Postmortem”.
I don’t think the Governor grasps the level of cost this nonsense is causing. Cali gets up to half its electricity from outside the state. If that power is part of what they are shutting off, do they still have to pay for it?
michael
Correct….I worked for the NSW state government transmission line section for many years. Vegetation control around the transmission line conductors took up around 65% of the maintenance budget….Regular inspections, reporting and prompt follow ups are essential, in preventing tree contact with live conductors.
mike the morlock October 29, 2019 at 6:13 pm
Cali gets up to half its electricity from outside the state. If that power is part of what they are shutting off, do they still have to pay for it?
Of course Cali doesn’t pay for shut up energy.
That’s California’s advantage!
commieBob
Interestingly, the pictures I have seen of Paradise suggest that the natural fuel load — trees — survived better than the homes. It was building practices in the downtown area, of flat roofed business buildings sealed with asphalt, that doomed the buildings from flying embers. A further tragedy is that Magalia, just north of Paradise, has a large reservoir. There was lots of water to protect homes with sprinklers on the roofs and in the yards, but nobody thought to install them. It was lack of planning, not climate change or drought that caused the catastrophe.
The grid has been a mess in California for decades as the mantra for all things “green” was shouted far and wide. Fires like the Kincade, started by transmission line to vegetation contact began in the 1980s after the enviros screamed and sued over cutting trees. Smoky Bear’s success coupled with destroying the timber industry over the spotted owl and other shill species added to the build-up of fuels. 2007 the Angora Fire in Lake Tahoe was a result of if you clean-up the vegetation and debris, you will get sued over Lake Tahoe water quality and the consequences were much worse in more ways than one.
All in all, the WSJ nails it. Environmental policy by a one-party system has gone amuck with an unlimited supply of steroids to really screw things up massively.
Indigenous peoples in California used fire to manage land resources. They apparently did a decent job doing so, possibly better than government today.
https://www.amazon.com/Tending-Wild-Knowledge-Management-Californias/dp/0520280431
We have the same issue in Australia. Big fires due to heavy fuel loads caused by the hand wringing fools they call ‘progressives’. The Aborigines burned regularly, as frequently as once every two years. The current mantra is minimum 7 years, and some areas haven’t been hazard reduced for up to 60 years! The authorities don’t seem to get it. Big fires kill koalas, that survived when confronted with regular burning.
Scissor
What seems to have been forgotten is that fire was so common in the towns in the Gold Country along Highway 49, in the late 19th century, that a unique architecture was developed. Buildings were built of local stone, and fitted with iron doors and iron shutters over the windows. Today, all the new buildings in the Mother Lode country are built just like in the SF Bay area and the rest of the country. Even the massive firestorm in the Oakland Hills in October of 1991 was a lesson ignored by those fleeing the cities to live in the country.
There are many old theories behind socialism, from Marx to Keyenes and Krugman, to Obama and the Democrats. But a new and practical understanding seems to be developing:
The movement is made up of chronically anxious people who really believe if they force someone else to do something they would not otherwise do, relief will be obtained.
They get worried about the weather, and other people must stop using airplanes and must use electric cars with electricity not from tabooed sources.
But it no matter what others are forced to do, it will never relieve personal anxieties.
Thus, the drive to intrude never ends,
Until it ruins the economy, which prompts popular uprisings as we see over the last couple of years.
The last successful uprising took down the Berlin Wall and official Communism.
I’m optimistic, today’s equivalent to tearing down the Wall is draining the swamp.
Good insights. Thanks.
Their version of fiddling while Rome burns.
Pelosi fiddles while LA burns….
Nero may have been guilty of many things, but the story of him fiddling while Rome burned belongs firmly in the category of popular legend. The viol class of instruments (to which the fiddle belongs) was not developed until the 11th century AD. If Nero played anything, it would probably have been the Cithara, a heavy wooden Lyre with four to seven strings—but there is still no solid evidence that he played one during the Great Fire.
So, Pelosi the lyre, harps on whilst LA burns….
I suppose you could say that they’re fear-os, nibbling away while their home burns.
Isn’t it strange that there were never blackouts or uncontrollable forest fires back when California was a Red State?
+777.
Or any other of the 49 States of the Union this week
I live in California’s northern neighbor where PG&E is also a big supplier of power. We are almost as nutty and whacky as California and have similar beliefs/laws coming out of our state capital. Oregon is not as dry overall as California the late spring to early fall typically are very dry, low humidity, extremely high fire danger with lots of fuel. That said we don’t have PG&E running around starting fires on us nor cutting power every time a computer model warns of high wind. Since it’s the same utility for both states I’m going to guess that they are not the problem…
PG&E is NOT a supplier of electricity in Oregon. PGE is. PG&E is Pacific gas and electric and doesn’t even serve the two most northern counties of California. PGE is Portland General Electric, which services the Portland Metro area. Two totally different companies. PGE is much smaller than PG&E. The problem is that Google thinks that PGE and PG&E are the same, so when you try to check on Portland General Electric, you get Pacific Gas and Electric.
CA was more a purple state. The parties regularly switched power. That all changed after 1980, when the first tranche of illegal aliens were given green cards.
Since then, about half of all illegal aliens turned residents have settled in CA. That’s about 15 million people, so far. About 80% of them vote Democratic. That’s given the Democratic party a lock on CA. It’s been one long descent into madness, since then.
Gramethecat
Well, blackout are certainly a new phenomena. However, I remember 60,000 acre burns up around Redding in the 60s. Its just that there weren’t a lot of people living in the area at the time. Then there was the massive Oakland Hills firestorm in 1991!
Now that they’ve created this hysteria by shutting down power to millions, all the fire bugs are out there rubbing their hands. There’s been some arrests, and some fires we’l never know.
No rain in the forecast, it’s going to be a long November.
Another dangerous cold front approaching from the mountains to California.
Utility companies shouldn’t be penalized when they are forced by political mandates to contend with “off spec” poor quality power from a dozen wind farms with a dozen turbines and thousands of solar panels all operating at different times and producing different quantities and qualities of electricity from different directions. With this junk power being dumped on the grid is it any surprise that a transformer overheats?
Eventually it will become undeniable that worth-less-than-nothing wind and solar junk power is nothing but “grid poison” and should be “landfilled” (most of the material is non-recyclable).
A power plant needs to do more than just provide raw power. It needs to be able to maintain inertia for frequency, which means you need a large spinning turbine. Nuclear has this, as do hydro, coal, and natural gas. Solar and wind do not. Combined cycle gas turbines now & small scale modular nuclear when it’s available (soon).
Increased CO2 and reduced O2 reduces fires.
But increased CO2 grows trees faster so the deadwood is building up faster. More wildfire is therefore a natural consequence of a greener planet.
Native Americans knew enough to burn off the forest and chaparral, eco-nuts have no clue what a western forest and chaparral needs. If you let the fuel build up, when fire comes its not good, notice I said when not if.
Isn’t it ironic how the many Californians who profess such admiration for indigenous peoples, and want to emulate their ways, eschew their wisdom and practices in this regard.
Not really ironic at all. It’s merely another indication of their utter ignorance when they profess to admire only their false image of what the indigenous stone-age lifestyle entailed. Those admirers probably have never even been camping.
What is ironic is that as they are being forced to live that lifestyle, even the smallest amount, by not having electricity they wail loudly an gnash their teeth.
Good point
Why do the media continue to call the ruling scabs of California democrats? The ruling scabs are socialists thru and thru. You see the agenda in policy, in action and the press releases. I’m willing to guess that when the mirrors aka solar panels reach end of service, no one has thought of where to put heavy metal waste. Perhaps these morons will dig a deep pit and bury them. Hello contaminated water supply’s.
When the pinwheels aka wind turbine’s reach end of service, what will the fate of them? Won’t have the equipment to remove them, will not have the equipment to replace them.
As for the fires in Southern California here’s a link to a article by Mike Davis and it’s a good read. Think 1835 https://la.indymedia.org/news/2007/10/208946.php
Here is a clue. Democrats are part of a larger political group known as Liberals. The liberal philosophy is group related. Socialist, communist, Marxist are other names for the liberal tribes.
Given the increasing cost and decreasing reliability of California power, we should expect a sharp rise in the use of home generators, especially where natural gas is available. We should also expect the State to attempt to ban them through onerous permitting requirements, using air quality as their excuse.
Generac stock (GNRC) is soaring. Up 78% since the Camp fire.
This is as close to a glimpse of what socialism produces as you’re going to get in the U.S. Take notice kids. Is this what you really want? Really?
And the frosting on this misery cake? The frosting is it’s all for naught; makes no difference whatsoever in terms of staving off climate change. None.
Take note and remember who told you it would. That’s not all they’re wrong about.
people on another weather site are claiming it is confirmed that climate change is THE CAUSE of the recent fires on the west coast……amazing how stats from the past exert control over current events so much so those PAST stats cause weather today…….the climate is NOT a force and has NO power and has NEVER caused even one weather event.
“people on another weather site are claiming it is confirmed that climate change is THE CAUSE of the recent fires on the west coast”
I would like to see that “proof”. That ought to be good for a few laughs.
There are some seriously delusional people occupying this planet. So delusional that they are dangerous, like the fools on that other weather site.
My grandson was deployed to California yesterday to help fight the fires. We argued last Spring because he predicted that the cooler and wetter than normal winter they had had last winter was going to result in a worse than normal fire season when it inevitably dried out. My now losing argument was that this was not necessarily so. Damn smart Aleck kid.
This is another example of how global warming caused cool and wet weather that has now resulted in a worse than normal fire season.
I’m always amazed when raking out dead leaves from under bushes during a wet winter, the leaves are always tinder dry.
No kidding Steven, that crazy CO2 causes it to be dry then wet, then wet, then dry, then dry.
Magical CO2 indeed
Your grandson is quite right.
I grew up in the Mid-west and noted that farmers are never happy–it’s always too wet or too dry and it’s never just right. When we moved to the SW, I noted the State Forest Service was just like the farmers. It was always too wet or too dry and they bemoaned wet Springs because more vegetation would grow, dry out and become tinder for fire. If Spring was dry, they bemoaned a dry Spring as, without moisture, it would lead to fires in the Summer. It’s never just right.
Be that as it may, the forest services do say the same thing your grandson says about wet Springs.
I became very well-versed in forest fires as, three days after moving to our new home, I woke up to a house full of smoke. The entire town was perilously close to burning down which happened before at the turn of the 20th century. We were lucky as all Forest fire assests were close by and there were no other fires going on. Without that and our firemen maintaining trails into forests over HOA objections, the outcome may have been much different. After that, my State took aggressive actions to limit greenie lawsuits and our forests are now in pretty good shape. Other states did the same things but not Calif. You do reap what you sow.
“The article notes the following Democratic Party California government driven climate alarmist absurd climate actions being taken while ignoring the critical need for aggressive statewide highest priorities and resources commitments to addressing long standing failures by the state in addressing its forest management responsibilities.” – WUWT
TPTB are never, ever going address practical matters like forestry management or upgrading infrastructure. The brain-dead clowns running that state are completely responsible for the damage that has been done, but unless they are kicked out by voters – and perish that thought!!! – nothing will be done to stop this until the entire state is ablaze and a wasteland. I think they want it that way.
I am very, very glad I live in an area where the Dept. of Natural Resources has enough common sense to weed out the trees and give the various fire departments around here permits for planned burns, so that these things do NOT happen to us.
It does not matter whether it is a wet year or a dry year – it will be the worst fire season, ever. Hear it every year. The public policy selection towards a non-carbon energy future is just about shifting the historic money flow through new channels (vendors), enriching like-minded people ( acolytes). While I once thought folks went into “public service” to serve the public, I,ve come to realize it’s about retiring at 55 at 70 percent of your taxpayer paid salary. We (the tax payer) are an infinite supply of energy to be abused.
I’ve yet to see on TV a resident whose house has been saved, complaining that brave and fearless firefighters were not using electric fire-fighting vehicles armed with pumps running on green energy. And the magnificent pilots dropping water and retardant were flying aircraft on …. gasp … fossil fuels.
The goal is too often seen as a lowering of emissions. The actual goal is to prevent climate change or reduce warming.
When looked at from that view and noting that the effect will not be enough to be discernible it is shown to be a total waste of money. There are so many useful ways the money could be better spent.
The environmental elites in California have for decades tried to restrict development and stop growth. For years they tried the “if you don’t build it, they won’t come approach”. This has let to sky high rents. They’ve tried exorbitant energy and fuel prices to battle smog and climate change, this lead to a trickle of lower middle Californian’s to leave. The current fires, caused by bad forest management and lack of maintenance on the grid, coupled with recurring blackouts during fire season may finally be the ticket that smokes out the much more of the middle class. As absurd as many of California’s policies may seem to the rest of us, its often the well healed incumbents who benefit most by them.