Posted on 10/12/2019 4:05:16 AM PDT by karpov
...
[PG&E] told its bankruptcy judge that eliminating trees and vegetation from around its power lines would cost up to $150 billion and require 650,000 employees. PG&E’s customers already pay twice the national average for electricity. An alternative plan would be to radically decentralize its system so power cutoffs could be more “surgical.” This would also be expensive and, in PG&E’s sprawling territory, would still mean widespread blackouts.
More equitable solutions are easy to envision, if only they were politically acceptable. Utilities could be relieved of their blanket fire liability, transferring the risk to homeowners and insurance markets. Utilities could be allowed to charge higher rates for customers in fire-prone districts. They could be allowed to refuse to extend their networks into such areas.
But the least rational outcome is also the most likely. Households will continue to be sheltered from the financial consequences of building in wildfire areas. The costs will be opaquely divided between ratepayers and the state’s taxpayers, amid much rhetoric about the evils of climate change and corporate greed. Here’s the kicker: The imposed blackouts then will be able to stop even though the fire risk remains unchanged.
In fact, missing is any data showing that today’s blackouts meaningfully or cost effectively reduce the public’s risks.
After all, 90% of fires, according to the California Public Utilities Commission, are caused by something other than power lines. Power outages can only impede fighting these fires or alerting neighbors to their existence. Thousands of dubiously competent homeowners will be firing up gas-powered generators in tinder-dry areas at the moment of maximum risk. How is this helping? When the lights go dark, the candles come out—a major source of house fires. Then there are the thousands of citizens dependent on home medical devices that stop working
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Answer: NO
What doesn’t make sense is voter support for Demonrat politicians. How far can Demonrats fail before their idiot supporters revolt?
If you can't figure this out, you're an idiot.
Yes, as a sure sign California is devolving into 3rd World status.
Candles are more romantic.
As they smell the food in the fridge rotting, as they hear MS-13 plundering the neighbors, as their phone finally stops beeping to demand that it be recharged, can they see the Milky Way for the first time in their lives?
Or are they blaming it on Trump?
Proper firebreaks versus annual disasters.
If you can’t figure this out then you’re a Californian and you will demand people in other states help every year when you’re lack of firebreaks causes every fire to spread out of control.
Americans settling the country in the nineteenth century could calculate how wide firebreaks needed to be from the typical maximum wind velocity for a given area.
Calofornians don’t give a crap about that math stuff, they want tangled underbrush and elbow to elbow expanses of Mcmansions. And its been that way for four decades.
WOW did you miss the bigger picture.
Several years ago we were in an ice storm that knocked out our electricity for weeks. And we live right in town too. Until I could run down a generator days later, candles was all I could get my hands on. Now we are prepared a little better in my home.
Calling people names that always is good.
The latest black out lasting 3 days with a top gust of 15 mph (breezy for 3 hours) and most times dead still should be easy to figure out why people are upset with lights being turns off at 330am.
Let the Democrats live in filth and darkness.
I’m 75.
My house insurance bill is a lot larger this year. Insurance companies are trying to recover the losses of the western fires in La La land. So the californicate fires effects everyone who buys insurance.
Here in Missouri the brush is cleared under the power lines. Why should we have to pay for the inept guberment policies of californicate?
Many house fires are caused by electricity. If we cut off electricity entirely we could prevent all house fires attributed to electricity. (And probably induce even more caused by candles and lanterns.)
Then we could dramatically reduce highway deaths by lowering the top speed limit to 35 mph!
Safety first!
Pay your mortgage off, then you don’t have to buy insurance.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.