Posted on 10/11/2019 6:15:48 AM PDT by karpov
Californians are learning to live like the Amish after investor-owned utility PG&E this week shut off power to two million or so residents to prevent wildfires amid heavy, dry winds. Blame the state’s largest blackout on a perfect storm of bad policies.
Two dozen or so wildfires in the past few years have been linked to PG&E equipment, including one last fall that killed 85 people. PG&E under state law is on the hook for tens of billions of dollars in damages and has filed for bankruptcy. For years the utility skimped on safety upgrades and repairs while pumping billions into green energy and electric-car subsidies to please its overlords in Sacramento. Credit Suisse has estimated that long-term contracts with renewable developers cost the utility $2.2 billion annually more than current market power rates.
PG&E customers pay among the highest rates in America. But the utility says inspecting all of its 100,000 or so miles of power lines and clearing dangerous trees would require rates to increase by more than 400%. California’s litigation-friendly environment has also increased insurance rates for tree trimmers and made it hard to find workers.
Meantime, opposition to logging and prescribed burns in California’s forests compounded by a seven-year drought has yielded 147 million dead trees that make for combustible fuel. Rural communities are at especially high fire risk when winds kick up as they have this week.
...
Suddenly, Californians are learning to love fossil fuels. Stores have experienced runs on oil lamps—yes, those still exist—and emergency generators fueled by gasoline, propane or diesel. Napa County wineries and even the tunnel connecting San Francisco with the East Bay are operating on generators.
Most batteries that store solar power can’t keep homes charged for more than a day during a blackout,
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
They are still dealing with wildfires as we write, though.
The Perfect Storm.
A preview of what the Green New Deal would be like.
What a screwed-up mess!
Wasn’t PG&E held responsible for that big fire to the tune of lots and lots of money? Maybe this is their way of saying, “hey, if we’re gonna be held responsible for the fire, then this is our “due diligence” to prevent it.
Fires are currently raging near LA
Will the power be cut off there? Will illegals be the most affected? Can squatters in tents exist with no power?
Maybe this is their way of saying, “hey, if we’re gonna be held responsible for the fire, then this is our “due diligence” to prevent it.
Can’t be sued for fires if there is no electricity going through the lines.
I can’t say enough good things about oil lamps. You don’t need a wildfire to find the sudden need - I have a few hanging on shepherd’s hooks throughout the house. But now Kalifornians are discovering the necessity through their own myopic, self-righteous energy policies. Well, since they think they know what’s best, let ‘em have it. Good and hard.
Here’s hoping that the leftists who have been promoting a barrative that socialism leads to utopia finally wake up. Their “green” policies led to this situation.
It does not make sense to pay some of the highest utility rates in the nation, yet have service that rivals that in third world dung holes like most African countries.
It is amazing that, with one of the most freedom and prosperity focused Presidents in my lifetime, California can still manage to Venezuela itself. That takes real effort.
Green New Deal beta testers.
“What a screwed-up mess!”
Kalifornikatia is near its final demise and there will be many asking that the Bible reading, Gun toting,Church goers bail out their sorry butts..
Maybe a few days of doing without A/C and other conveniences will convince them that they need to better maintain their forests.
It’s one thing for a major utility to cut off power to the folks in rural areas. But you’d have to be crazy to black out Los Angeles for any significant time.
I’m just thinking that if we do see a second Civil War, there won’t be field armies maneuvering anywhere. But perhaps big cities will experience power loss due to sabotage. That won’t be pretty for the folks on the Left. It will be like General Sherman marching through Georgia.
“Californians are learning to live like the Amish...”
No, Californians are learning to live like the Venezuelans.
Dear Leader Newsom is bestowing on them all the blessings of socialism.
A lot of newly minted preppers have been created. Will they learn to not rely on big mommy government to take care of them?
My in laws are in day 3 of this up in El Dorado County.
L
Can’t be sued for fires if there is no electricity going through the lines.
In a very real way, this is the cost, where the rubber meets the road for average citizens, of living in a litigious society. i.e. it’s not just about money. It’s about losing goods and services.
My mother, in the 1930’s, used to jump off the high dive at Lake Suprise in King county Washington. It had 10’, 20’, 30’ and 40’ platforms from which you could jump off into the water - or onto the deck if you were stupid. I went there and jumped off in the early 70’s. It was a real rush.
But the cost of insurance finally klled it. They could not afford the insurance costs and cut it down in the mid-70’s. Our litigious society took it away from us.
And it is apparently taking electric power away from some Californians.
Meanwhile, all 49 other states are enjoying their uninterrupted electricity....
“ I can’t say enough good things about oil lamps.”
Dad has an Aladin. I want one. Beautiful and functional.
L
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