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 states 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%. Californias 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 Californias 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 lampsyes, those still existand 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 cant keep homes charged for more than a day during a blackout,
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Firefighters won’t be called because people’s cell phone won’t be charged. If they were called on a land line, they couldn’t get there without gas in tank. Do they have firefighters staying at the stations since they probably don’t have enough gas in their personal vehicles to get to and from work?
Bunch of stinky men by the end of the week without bathwater.
Those who got rid of their generators will be wishing they hadn’t the next time they need them.
what good is a generator if your house and all are burned and gone?
Compared to to Gaia, you and your stuff are trivial nothingness
The fallacious assumption is that if there is no power line defect to start fires there will be no fires.
As the President always says......We’ll see
I dont know. Ive never asked them.
L
Which tunnel is that? The BART tube?
Don't bet on it. I think San Jose is already planning to sue PG&E for added expenses to keep the locals from "collecting their due" while the power and alarms were off.
Should utilities be free? You need them to survive like health care. A lot of other things are being claimed as free.
* * * * * * * * * *
You beat me to it: Electricity is a BASIC HUMAN RIGHT. Just like Health Care.
So pull out a gun and force PG&E to flip the switch.
/s
Elections have consequences.
I saw a story, I don’t remember where, about a run on generators and oil lamps in some areas, probably a bit more urban.
They should put a trailer hitch on the back of that electric car and they could have unlimited power.
Nobody voted for the Wall Street Journal to recycle nonsense.
The WSJ is not why part of California is dark
thanks
California needs its own Trump type figure to take out Newsom in the next election.
No, they aren’t, but peddling the BS from the people who ARE responsible don’t help
Is that a recent picture or an old photo you found?
I just did a quick image search and it was on the page. There are literally dozens like it.
The car is no more than 2 or 3 years old.
Morons on steroids ain’t a pretty thing to watch as they act out their fantasies.
The Caldecott tunnels.. they shut 2 of 4 down as they are older tunnels that weren’t required to have sprinkler and safety systems like the new tunnels have.
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.