Chris White Tech Reporter August 19, 2020 9:07 PM ET
- Wildfires are scorching California amid a massive heatwave, which is prompting citizens to consume more energy in hopes of staying cool. The increase in consumption resulted in rolling blackouts, as energy regulators managed an over-taxed energy grid.
- The wildfires and blackouts are also coming amid a severe economic downturn caused in part by government-imposed lockdowns designed to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
- At the same time, a recent fuel tax increase is forcing Californians to pay more at the gas pump. California now has the highest gas prices in the country, data show.
Californians are struggling with raging wildfires, roving blackouts, and sky high gas taxes while simultaneously dealing with government-imposed economic lockdowns and a pandemic that has so far killed more than 11,000 people in the state.
Northern California had roughly 33 active wildfires Wednesday that had burned more than 141,000 acres as they spread, media reports show. The ongoing fires are accompanied by an intense heatwave, Reuters reported, that has prompted citizens to crank up their air conditioners, placing pressure on California’s already-taxed energy grid and triggering roving blackouts.
The blackouts and fires come amid a pandemic, which originated in China before spreading to the United States, where it has reportedly killed more than 170,000, according to data from John Hopkins University. Gov. Gavin Newsom imposed lockdowns on the state in March to slow the spread, and then rolled back reopening the state in July following a surge in cases.
California also has the highest gas prices in the country, according to data from AAA Gas Prices. The high prices are due in part to a 3.2 cent fuel tax increase in July, bringing the total tax to around 50.5 cents per gallon. Former Gov. Jerry Brown’s signed legislation in 2017 raising the tax, which is expected to bring in $7 billion in 2020, media reports from July show.
Wildfires burning through California
The LNU Lightning Complex fires which started Monday and Tuesday, have burned more than 32,000 acres in Napa, Sonoma and Solano counties, state officials said. Evacuations were ordered early Wednesday for citizens in Vacaville, a city of 100,000 residents between San Francisco and Sacramento, CNN reported Wednesday.
More than two dozen wildfires are burning their way across the state, torching tens of thousands of acres as of Wednesday.
Evacuations were issued for the Carmel Fire in Monterey County, local TV station KSBW reported Tuesday. The Carmel Fire has burned about 1,200 acres, Cal Fire reported, and has not yet been contained. (RELATED: Gov. Gavin Newsom Declares State Of Emergency As Wildfires Char California, Gives Evacuation Orders)
There are two other zones of wildfires blazing across Northern California, CNN reported. The SCU Lightning Complex fires have raged through Santa Clara County, creating 20 separate fires and burning 85,000 acres in the process. At least two first responders have been injured, according to CNN.
Separately, the CZU August Lightning Complex is flowing through San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties, both of which are composed of five larger fires burning about 10,000 acres, CNN noted. Three first responders have been hurt fighting these fires in an operation entailing nearly 600 personnel and seven helicopters.
California has experienced numerous wildfires in the past. State officials evacuated roughly 100,000 people in 2019 from their homes as a wildfire burned through the northern edge of Los Angeles, officials said in October of that year. The fire burned more than 25 homes and 23,000 residences were ordered to evacuate, officials said at the time.
The Woolsey Fire was one of two wildfires that burned through Ventura and Los Angeles counties in 2018. The two blazes scorched tens of thousands of acres, reports in 2018 showed. More than 80 people were killed in the Camp Fire, which ripped through the northern part of the state at approximately the same time as Woolsey.
Rolling blackouts
The state’s energy system operator, California Independent System Operator (CAISO), issued a Stage 3 emergency Friday for the first time in 20 years which allows them to institute rotating outages to deal with high power demands, according to a statement. (RELATED: ‘Gaps’ In Renewable Energy Led To Blackouts For Millions Of Californians, Gov Newsom Says)
CAISO said the blackouts are due to the unexpected loss of a 470-megawatt power plant, as well as a loss of nearly 1,000 megawatts of wind power in another statement on Saturday. Newsom, a Democrat and former mayor of San Francisco, vowed in a statement Monday to conduct an investigation into why CAISO imposed two nights of rolling blackouts on Aug. 15 and 16.
Californians were subjected to similar blackouts in 2019. California public utility Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) imposed blackouts that year to forestall wildfires. PG&E told state regulators in an October 2019 filing that one of the utility’s snapped wires was found on a transmission tower near where the 2019 Kincade Fire began.
The Easy Fire and Maria Fire in southern California also charred 1,860 acres and 9,412 acres, respectively, that year.
Another fuel tax increase, high gas prices
Brown signed a bill in 2017 imposing a 12-cents-per-gallon increase on gasoline and raising the percent tax on diesel fuel by about 20 cents a gallon. Those sales tax amounts rise as the underlying price of fuel increases.
The State Board of Equalization, the agency responsible for administering California’s tax policies, sometimes annually adjust the state’s two excise taxes to help offset changes to the sales tax. The recent increase has still makes California the second-highest gas tax in the country behind Pennsylvania, according to gas price trackers.
An unpopular gas tax will be on the November ballot.
Analysts say taxes contribute to the pain Californians feel when they fill up at the pump.
“The bottom line is that the first $1.12 per gallon paid at the pump goes to ever-increasing state taxes and to California’s extensive regulatory regime,” Kevin Slagle, vice president of communications for Western States Petroleum Association, told the Daily Caller News Foundation in March.
The July 1 tax increase coincided with the pandemic lockdowns, which resulted in an economic recession and record unemployment rates nationwide. Newsom’s stay-at-home orders in March forced non-essential businesses to close, prompting millions of Californians to file for unemployment. He predicted in May that the state would hit 18% unemployment.
Some have called for reduction in taxes amid the economic hardship.
“Do you really want to depress behavior that could help the economy in the midst of a pandemic and recession?” Rob Peroni, a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin who focuses on tax issues, told the Los Angeles Times in June.“This is a complex thought for many people.”
Peroni added: “They want lower prices and they want them now.”
Oh dear, what a shame, never mind!
Windsor Davies will long be remembered…
The biggest fight in CA should be against the fools who have created the mess. Never mind, they created it themselves.
Sell California to Mexico.
If they aren’t willing to pay, just give it to them. We’d still come out ahead.
Except all their media outlets have the population convinced their working for them.
The progressive press – public enemy number one.
California’s Dysfunctional Electricity Policies may lead to more Blackouts – Shuttering of in-state power plants, “leaks” the generation and emissions to other states.
As a result of California’s intermittent electricity from wind and solar being unable to provide continuous uninterruptable electricity in-state, California imports more electricity than any other state as a result of “leakage” to other states from them to generate emissions for the generated electricity needs of California. At the same time, the states “green” religion remains adamantly against in-state coal, natural gas, nuclear, and hydro power plants. Can you see the conundrum the https://www.foxandhoundsdaily.com/2020/08/californias-dysfunctional-electricity-policies-may-lead-to-more-blackouts/
Every year in the late summer it gets hot and dry in Kalifornia. Then the fireflies and fruitloops start fires, some due to inappropriate conduct and some intentionally. Every year it is due to global warming, greedy republicans, SUV’s, prior administrations, and Trump. Never is it due to an incredible accumulation of stupidity and mismanagement. Save this story and change the date next year, no problem. As a geologist I find myself wishing that the San Andreas fault would remove the problem part of Kalifornia so the rest of California could get on with their lives.
but of course the heatwave and then the fires are due in large part to warming – just as they were 3 years ago.
you can’t keep sticking your heads in the sand as – surprise! – it happens again and again and again
In whatever weird world griff lives in, there were no heatwaves or wildfires prior to 1950.
ITYM 1975,the year the anthropogenic warming signal was first detected above the natural variation in T. Or have they reanalysed the adjusted data again?
JF
Hey Groll (griff + troll)
California has had heatwaves and massiive fires LONG before it was ever “California”. It is the nimrods in Sacramento how continue to think this is a new phenomenon. The only new part about it is the houses near brush/trees that can not be cleared due to “environmental” concerns… Two options, dont let the houses be built or let them clear the brush…
Sequoioideae are pyrophytes, their strobili only open after a wildfire.
Seems, these trees know fires a time longer as griff is believing or even living 😀
I grew up in California. I left 12 years ago. While I can’t speak to anything since then, I can say for certain that I remember much more severe heatwaves where I lived in the 70’s than anything I experienced afterward. And with one exception, the wildfires I remember (that I helped with disaster relief on) in the 80’s were the worst I witnessed before leaving.
It seems like history just doesn’t exist.
From what I understand the seventies were a hot time for Arizona also.
Gift somehow forgot or never knew that when white men arrived in what is now Calistupid. The Indians referred to the LA basin as the valley of smoke. Griff was that due to those native Americans use of SUVs?
griff,
fire isn’t caused by heat but by drought. Time for you, to learn some basics, finally !
The first thing you have to learn is that Grift isn’t here to learn.
But of course heatwaves have occurred in Kalifornia on a regular basis for a very long time having nothing to do with CO2 in the atmosphere – surprise – it happened again but certain people stick their head in the sand and pretend that this is a new phenomenon .
Oh and so if we agreed to emission control it would stop immediately will it Griff?
Oh wait the IPCC says if we stopped it returns to 1950’s sometime after 2100.
Hence no-one cares because it’s meaningless the wildfires will occur deal with them.
griff
You are unbelievable! The coastal redwoods and chaparral biome are adaptations to a Mediterranean climate with cool, wet Winters and hot, dry Summers. Fires were a part of the California environment even before humans arrived. However, mature redwoods are relatively impervious to fire, and the ceanothus and manzanita of the Sierra Nevada foothills recover nicely from burns. The problem is people building in fire-prone areas with building practices that are inappropriate for where they live. The early settlers in California’s Mother Lode built with native stone and used either slate or corrugated iron for roofing and put up iron doors and window shutters because fires so frequently destroyed mining towns.
It is the geography of California that is responsible for heat waves, not the minuscule warming that may be in part anthropogenic. Do you have any interest in buying a bridge? If so, I might be able to help you out.
A typical remark by a leftie. Sarcasm and no facts to back it up.
Forest fire frequency has decreased a lot in the last 200 years or so. link
Sarcasm and snide remarks don’t replace actual thinking and data.
See https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2020/08/20/are-californias-heatwaves-getting-worse/#respond
The fires are due COMPLETELY to lightning.
Saying they “are due in large part to warming” is akin to counting car accident victims who are COVID positive as COVID deaths.
Griff you’re right that “warming happens again and again and again”
History informs us that “there is nothing new under the sun”
And this is demonstrably true when it comes to this planet’s climate(s).
For example, I’m currently reading Dee Brown’s book of collected records covering the initial settlers’ journeys into the north western country of USA.
At one point in June 1866, the army-led 200+ wagon train battled temperatures they recorded of 113 degrees F for day upon day in what later became known as Wyoming.
Can you imagine what headlines of horror The Guardian would run if anyone experienced such weather today?
How appropriate that this article comes on the 110th anniversary of what is now called the Great Fire of 1910 or the Big Blowup. Have lived all my life in the western US and fires suck whether they are caused by people or weather (dry lightning is the worse). Have a year with low snow pack and sparse rain in the spring and you get a bad fire year. Add houses encroaching into the fire prone areas and it just gets worse. There are lots of things to blame as to why this has happened before, is happening now and will happen in the future but global warming doesn’t make the top ten. Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.
https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5444731.pdf
WHAT WARMING? An average temperature going up doesn’t mean maximum temps are going up. When you take an average you totally lose all data associated with the temperature envelope!
Did you take 6th grade math? Do you know any 6th graders? Ask them to explain it to you.
Wildfires are made bad by WIND, not temperature. Wood won’t burn till it reaches what? 450degF. It will never get that hot unless we are all dead. It’s not the heatwave that is the problem.
It is lightning and wind, not temperature, that causes the fires.
Don’t forget drought 😀
longer no rain……
Gans
California has drought every Summer. It is rare to have any rain between about April and October. That is what a Mediterranean climate is like. However, in the Summer heat, it only takes a few days for things to dry out enough to be very combustible.
Just as they were 3 years ago?
But not 2 years, or 1 year, or 4 years ago.
Just 3 years ago and this one.
Well don’t know about you kids, but I am now convinced.
Griff, I’m curious about a statement of yours in a different posting, ‘climate change clearly signaled it was coming. and will be back again”
Are you agreeing with “the pause?” Suggesting that the next climate change will be different than the last one, perhaps a return to cooling as we continue to retreat from “the little ice age” on our journey to the next real “ice age”. Are you inclined to believe, as I do, that orbital changes have more to do with temperature than CO2 levels? Even orbital induced cycles as short as the 88 year “Cleissberg periodicity?”
If there is one thing all climate scientists agree on, it’s that in the absence of a sufficiently long data history the periodicity of short term climate cycles are not established.
But despite this lack of data, I find interesting the news report that Death Valley recently saw its highest temperature since 1931, 89 years ago, Hmmm , what was that again? …”a strong and stable line at 88.4 ± 0.7 years for the time span of the last ∼11 Gleissberg cycles”
Correlation Is not causation, but I like the idea of cycles better than a CO2 “climate control knob.” What say you?
San Francisco and Sacramento are east of the fault. Unfortunately.
Newsom, a Democrat and former mayor of San Francisco, vowed in a statement Monday to conduct an investigation into why CAISO imposed two nights of rolling blackouts on Aug. 15 and 16.
Any California Democrat: “Absolutely! We have to get out in front of this thing and find a reason for this that doesn’t involve our own ineptitude. Otherwise the public might jump to the wrong conclusion.”
This is typical politician behavior. Something goes wrong … throw someone under the bus.
All he needs to do is look in a Mirror.
is there anyone left is CA that has not already been thrown under the bus? I don’t think Newsome has anyone left to sacrifice. It’s all going to come back to him, just like all the killings in Chicago are ultimately going to come back on Lightfoot. There is no one left for her to sacrifice either.
Newsom, a Democrat and former mayor of San Francisco, vowed in a statement Monday to conduct an investigation into why the wind stopped blowing as Kalifornia demanded, causing two nights of rolling blackouts on Aug. 15 and 16.
“It’s my responsibility as Dear Leader, so I’m going to hold a show trial to blame it on some Evil Corporation. Exactly the same as I did last year.”
It ain’t half hot mum!
All that’s left to complete the array of disasters is .. “The Big One”
Roseanne Bar?
Don’t be sexist Mark.
You know he meant Al Gore.
The Left Coast has become wicked, (and stoopid) from LA to Vancouver. The good folks should get out as it is appearing to be a total lost cause. Maybe really active seismic zones cause people to go crazy, until the pressure is relieved with the “Big One”. What else could explain this horror show and a majority voting for really weird Democrats. Pity about all those people and nice real estate. I won’t be surprised when the various faults start slipping.
I have read that large numbers of California’s citizens are moving to Texas.
And a new word was coined for that… “Texadus”.
Not nearly enough.
My guess is, that as far as Texans are concerned, too damn many. They leave their taxes behind but bring their nut-job political inclinations with them.
You pretty much nailed it. I suspect most anyone can foretell what’s going to happen in the next five years as the leftist virus expands to get away from the destruction they cause. Get your bunkers up to date.
Living in Austin during the 90s tech boom, Californians were flocking to Austin, an already weird, leftist city. They would sell their $1 million West Coast hovels and buy $300K castles in the parched limestone hills of west Austin, now a vassal city to the Kalifornia wokeness. As has been asked too many times to count, would they please just acclimate and learn from the local culture and mores, rather than infect us with their failed world views?
That is the interesting thing about immigrants. They typically leave their ‘homeland’ for a better life, yet fail to realize why they had little opportunity, and insist on making things just like they were used to.
And moving to Nevada. There’s a massive single family home building spree going on here. The houses are mostly sold months before they’re finished and I see lots of out of state license plates moving in to my neighborhood, especially from California.
California is tetering on the edge as those who actually pay taxes are leaving while the parasites want to stay. I left as a climate policy refugee and may others are leaving for the same and similar reasons.
Unfortunately, without any understanding of what led to the situation in California that they’re leaving.
Up here in Montana I have never seen so many west coast licence plates. The
average time to sell a house up here is said to be between 24-48 hours if it’s between
300-400K$ in price. Many are sold sight unseen via virtual tour CASH sale. Any where there
is fiber optic out in the boonies is a hot realestate zone. The sunset last night was erie-
red skies over Montana indeed..
The CZU August Lightning Complex fires are a personal heartache for me. I spent many hours exploring the areas that are burning in my previous life before the beautiful state was turned into Calizuela.
Many of the residents in the area are long-time family farmers and ranchers; as conservative a group as you will find, who hate the changes being forced on them by the Socialist DemoKKKrat majority! It is an area full of large stands of redwood trees with many parks and hiking trails that I have enjoyed on numerous occasions!
Sadly, it is also full of large swathes of poison oak which when burned can caused serious problems for people sensitive to it. Imagine having the insides of your lungs itching uncontrollably and you can’t do anything to relieve it. I pray that the fire fighters stay safe and that the fire is controlled before it burns up one of the most beautiful spots I have ever found! If only the politicians and bureaucrats in Sacramento had live with the consequences of their moronic policies, like preventing controlled burns and brush clearing until an out-of-control wildfire overwhelms the beleaguered fire fighters! A dark day for me!
Classic supply and demand curve response to a socialist bureacracy. The increasingly inelastic supply of Other People’s Money (OPM) is being taxed (strained) as the CA socialist bureaucrats demand more. The supply of OPM is limited and may be decreasing in California, by the flight of productive citizens and businesses to other lower tax states in the USA. As the state strains under the increasing financial burdens of socialist benefits (OPM) to a flood of illegal aliens and welfare adapted citizens, declining infrastructure, and self induce non-value added ‘investments’ in Climate Change mitigation fraud, the state demands yet more OPM from the remaining productive population and businesses. In a market place of moderately mobile productive citizens and businesses, the increased demands for OPM acts an incentive for productivity to leave the state, rather than participate in the ever increasing demand for more OPM.
California’s socialist bureaucracy is demonstrating the central thesis of ‘Atlas Shrugged’ in real time. If you haven’t read the book, it doesn’t end well for the socialist bureaucracies or the increasingly poor, less productive and dependent people trapped in their collapsing economies.
It’s why California is now trying to tax the wealth leaving the state for the next ten years. They simply can’t afford to let that wealth leave.
Tom,
And that’s one reason why I’m getting outta Washington state as well. They’re taking the California path, with punitive resident estate taxes now and many more taxes planned to prop up the badly mismanaged socialist democrat controlled government. Things are getting unpredictably weird here as well. Time to go!
J Mac:
“Atlas” should be required reading for all the escapees from California. But the problem is that those
showing up in my state of Arizona (like elsewhwere) are not the “John Galts”. If only!
They bring their voting proclivities with them as Flashgordon & DJ mentioned above.
The Peoples Republic of Austin is what the ‘old’ locals call Austin after the invasion.
Bill,
I understand, all too well! Western Washington state was already sufficiently populated with illogical leftists before the hordes of CA liberals came here, fleeing their own self-inflicted stupidity in California. With their socialist assistance, Washington state has become a clone of the California socialist stupidity model. I’ve spent 20 years of time, money, and energy fighting it. Time to leave.
#WalkAway!
The 20th century history of Eastern Europe shows that eventually even the socialists stop believing in socialism. Sadly, for those poorly connected to reality it takes directo, harsh experience to learn that any system that refuses to work with human nature fails. Socialism and big government dogoodism are hostile to human nature. They will always fail.
As we watch the horrendous problems in California and the inner cities of America, the best we can do is keep reminding people that free people in free markets that respect an equitable rule of law prosper and live in civil peace.
Newsom thinks tanking the Calif. economy will help Biden and more Democrat congresspersons to win in November. And that in turn will lead to a bigger bailout for those who helped it happen.
It may not be the best strategy. I’ve read in a couple places that even California might be in play for this election. AB5 was quite a disaster before the lockdown, and Biden has been a very vocal supporter of making it national.
I guess we’ll see for sure in a couple months.
And the California Solution to Blackouts? MORE COWBELL!
https://www.energyvoice.com/oilandgas/americas/259831/california-blackout-shortage-batteries/
battery storage — expect our electricity prices to double yet again!
It is hard to imagine how much devastating environmental damage would happen in order to build the monster battery farms to store output from solar and wind. The behind the scene environmental cost of extracting construction materials for battery farms is never mentioned or considered. It is another example of selective concern for the planet.
batteries can’t create energy. At some point *any* size of battery backup is going to be overwhelmed by environmental conditions and energy requirements. It’s not a matter of batteries being able to provide backup for an hour or so. It might come down to being able to supply backup power for days. Batteries *do* run down if not recharged. If you have several days of bad weather then how are the batteries going to be recharged while also being discharged?
At best the largest battery farm you could create would only last four hours. The biggest problem is not that a present production rates your and mine great grandchildren won’t see it. If it just Calistupid maybe said grands might. The left is horrible with numbers much to our detriment!
ITYM 1975,the year the anthropogenic warming signal was first detected above the natural variation in T. Or have they reanalysed the adjusted data again?
JF
what anthropogenic warming signal? Average temperatures are being used for analysis. Average temperatures lose all data about the temperature envelope. How then do you find a signal in the natural variation? If the natural variation is also based on an average then you can’t tell *anything*.
Coming soon: AB 2088 is a proposed wealth tax on Californians — on top of the highest income, sales, gas, and property taxes in the nation. The wealth tax will be imposed on people who flee the state, for 10 years after they move out.
The state income tax, already the nation’s highest, will be going up again soon to 16.8% and will be retroactive to last January. Sundry other tax hikes will be on the November ballot (an election already guaranteed to be rife with fraud).
Zere vil be no escape. All residents will be getting a mandatory ID microchip implanted with their mandatory vaccine…
Zo tell me, do you haf relatifs now lifing in Calmany? Ve vill find zem and tax zem instedt!
Ex gov Jerry-mander Brown has the solution to California’s rolling blackouts:
“Turn up your damn thermostats!” No sweat, eh Jerry?
https://www.conservativedailynews.com/2020/08/turn-up-your-damn-thermostat-former-gov-jerry-brown-tells-californians-how-to-avoid-blackouts-during-a-heatwave/
Fires need fuel, Oxygen, and an ignition.
Studies have provided different answers, but generally agree about 80% to 90% of wildfires result from something humans do. The things include fireworks, camp fires, and dozens of other things. I’ve seen fires started because a driver pulled a burning auto into grass at the side if the road. [If it happens to you, stop in the middle of the road. Please.]
People cause ignition. More people = more fires.
” Top 5 states for human caused fires. California was ranked first with 5,878 human-caused fires, followed by Texas, North Carolina, Florida – and finally, Arizona.”
See: 90% of wildland fires caused by humans
No, it’s the fuels. Ignition sources are various, but it’s the fuels that burn.
One thing humans could do is control/mitigate the fuels and abate the hazard. Then the fires would do much less damage regardless of ignition source.
If the community sits there without addressing the fuels, eventually some ignition source or other will actualize and the watershed, homes, and businesses will fry.
No amount of admonishment towards stupid people will succeed in preventing the fires. 75 years of Smoky Bear ads haven’t worked. A community doing proactive fuels removal and watershed restoration, however, can prevent total catastrophe.
In the context of this post, my point was and is that “global warming” does not cause fires. Mostly people cause these fires.
Additional CO2 in the atmosphere does increase fuel load, but fuel load and what will be done about it is a different topic.
I agree; global warming does not cause fires. But neither does CO2.
Fuels are plant matter. Plants grow. The marginal increase in CO2 may or may not result in a marginal increase in plant growth so small as to be unmeasurable without significant error. Regardless, plants grow. There has always been enough CO2 for growth.
Much of the fuel burning today was photosynthesized more than 100 years ago. In some recent fires 600 yo trees have burned. It is not just or merely the (alleged) marginal increased growth of the last few years that’s burning.
Human beings have been the primary ignition sources in NA for at least the last 12,000 years, far exceeding lightning strikes by many orders of magnitude. That’s nothing new. What’s new is the abandonment of stewardship, the short-sighted refusal to control fuels, the idea that Nature makes fires and humans are separate from Nature, that enormous fuel loads can be tolerated (or preferred) as long as nobody makes a spark (unless it’s lightning and then that’s okay).
This post is in part about fires. The word “climate” does not appear in the post. Nor do the words “carbon”, “CO2”, “warming” or “Greta”. If wildfire damage is to be minimized, then the fuels must be managed before the fires ignite. The fuel load is the topic or should be!
The fuel load is the topic or should be!
Write a post on the topic.
Meanwhile, background:
https://www.north40productions.com/eom-home
eom = Era of megafires
or: Paul Hessburg – TED talk
I was at one of Paul’s early presentations; he is sort of local.
And Megan Walsh is a friend and neighbor (OK, 5 miles).
What lake sediments reveal
She and her colleagues study this issue.
Hidden in the cost of fuel in California is the Low Carbon Fuel Standard. This is part of AB32, the Global Warming Prevention Act, that will save the world from CAGW solely due to the efforts of California. Obligated Parties, oil companies and fuel distributors, have to purchase carbon credits from the companies that produce low carbon intensity fuels. These fuels generate credits based on the lifecycle GHG emissions calculations based on their production from renewable resources. The current price of carbon credits is just below $200/MT. Typical cost of this program to the consumer is $0.20/gal which is not a tax, but a cost of doing business. So it is passed along to the consumer in the form of higher wholesale gasoline pricing. This additional cost of fuel is then taxed again through sales taxes and excise taxes.
Isn’t it nice that California has such a revenue stream to rely on to fund their social programs.
I used to say here and elsewhere that Southern Australia and the UK would provided the wake up calls on global warming silliness and Reliable Grid destroying renewables. Nope. California is doing nicely just now. No need for a Newsom Commission. Hold up a mirror. Stupid policies produce stupid results.
Btw, any battery solution to solar night time was and remains technical nonsense. Explored in depth in essay California Dreaming in ebook Blowing Smoke, right down to Mw (CaPUC regulation) versus MwH capacity silliness. Nothing since has changed an iota. The ‘good’ news is that the vast sums wasted on various ‘experiments’ mostly came from California VC’s.
Californians should consult with Australian Aboriginals to learn about the practice of burning off in a controlled manner in the cooler months. Forewarned is forewarned. Mitigating the fuel load results in abatement of the hazard.
The whole area is a tinder box because the green wackos won’t allow any clearing of brush. There is no hope for the state with the green police running the show.