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 ...
Pretty soon they will be begging Trump to help them out.
> A preview of what the Green New Deal would be like. <
Yep. But socialists just love to say “This time it will be different.”
And the really sad thing is many people believe that.
Colorado has every bit the forests and mountains and power lines and we’re fine.
But, how are they charging their Tesla’s?
PLEASE, PLEASE SOMEONE get a picture of somebody charging their electric car from a GASOLINE fueled generator.
HA! HA!
Sure blame it on PG&E, blame it on the forest service, blame it on anything other than the true cause of this mess, THE LIBERAL POLITICIANS in Sacramento.
When I rebuilt my inground swimming pool at my last house I was told by my home insurance provider to definitely NOT put a diving board OR a slide because of liability.
They also said do not buy a trampoline, scuba dive, jump out of airplanes, rock climb or have sex with other men. They all were very risky.
> Pretty soon they will be begging Trump to help them out. <
And that will drive the narrative going forward. Trump will either say no, or offer limited assistance (either response would be appropriate).
Then it will all be Trump’s fault. No one will blame the goofy environmentalists or the incompetent state officials. It will all be Trump’s fault.
When we moved closer to the sea, I picked some oil based lamps. Two hurricanes over ten years has shown they were a great investment. BTW, I have a good deal of oil for the lamps along with additional wicks stored as part of my survival supplies.
” to prevent wildfires amid heavy, dry winds”
BULLS**T.
There were NO winds. Yesterday was an ordinary bright clear day with virtually no winds at all on the coast line or the Bay Area. Yet they had the power off for almost 20 hours.
It’s like mass hypnosis: they keep repeating something until everyone repeats it with them.
So repeat this: there was NO WIND. Just BS from PGE.
Oooooo, beautiful lamps. We keep Dietz lamps here for hurricanes and other natural/unnatural disasters, and extra bottles of oil in the laundry room cabinet. I really gotta think about a backup generator, but the firebug in me loves wood stoves, oil lamps, and fireplaces.
You win the best thread comment
Yes, forgot about the cotton wicks. Got them, too. There’s something about oil lamps and the sea that evoke a Victorian-era nostalgia. Lighthouses and three-masted ships. Being in east central Alabama, we do see a good bit of Gulf weather some years. Had part of my porch roof sent a block over by Ivan back in the day. Of course, the neighbors a block in the other direction made sure to send us some of their infrastructure our way, if you get my meaning. Severe weather sucks.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/08/23/why-california-is-having-its-mildest-fire-season-in-20-years/
Back around 1998-1999, Southern California suffered a heat wave which stressed the power lines as much of the power flowed from Northern California.
A friend of ours who had moved back to Cali was moaning about the fact they were having rolling blackouts.
I could not help but joke that WE here in the Oklahoma-Kansas-Louisiana-Arkansas area had so much extra power we were opening the electrical outlets and letting the excess run out on the ground!
They were not amused.
Fact 1: Most of these fires are not caused by downed power lines.
Fact 2: The public water system requires electricity for the water pumps to work.
Question: When a fire does occur in these areas, where do the fire fighters get their water since the fire hydrants will be dry?
Our energy supply needs are like a cake. All wind and solar can ever be is the frosting.
A once proud state becomes a lab experiment for one failed leftist policy after another.
gasoline, propane, diesel: soon to be illegal in CA along with the associated generators. Perhaps a felony and fine to boot if caught.
They always are dealing with wildfires. BTW are all the places with outages windy?
A lot of people with medical conditions ventilators, need to store refrigerated drugs will be “inconvenienced”.
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