Posted on 10/27/2019 4:26:12 AM PDT by karpov
After again shutting power to hundreds of thousands this week, Californias utility PG&E disclosed Thursday that it had discovered a broken jumper cable by the ignition site of a wildfire blazing across Sonoma County. The company has warned of more blackouts this weekend and perhaps for the next decade as it refurbishes its aging grid.
Gov. Gavin Newsom is trying to deflect political blame. Its about dog-eat-dog capitalism meeting climate change. Its about corporate greed meeting climate change. Its about decades of mismanagement, Mr. Newsom declared. But Democrats for years have treated PG&E as their de facto political subsidiary. The wildfires and blackouts are the direct result of their mismanagement.
The state Public Utilities Commission is in charge of enforcing state safety laws and regulations, which can carry penalties of up to $50,000 per violation per day. Yet PG&E received no safety fines related to its power-grid management over the last several years. The commission has instead focused on enforcing the Legislatures climate mandates.
State law mandates that utilities obtain 33% of electric generation from renewables such as wind and solar by 2020 and 60% by 2030. Utilities must spend hundreds of millions of dollars each year to reduce the cost of green energy for low-income households. PG&E has prioritized political obeisance over safety.
In 2018 PG&E spent $509 million on electric discounts for low-income customers in addition to $125 million for no-cost weatherization and efficiency upgrades for disadvantaged communities. Utilities also receive allowances from the states cap-and-trade program$7.5 billion since 2012to pay for other ratepayer benefits that reduce emissions.
For instance, the Legislature in 2015 mandated that utilities spend $100 million annually on solar systems in low-income communities. This is on top of the $2.2 billion in customer rebates for rooftop solar installations, which utilities charged to ratepayers
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Yes and wait til New Yorkers see what’s made in Albany for them.
PG&E has prioritized political obeisance over safety.
...and over cheap, reliable power. It was far easier for utility companies and their executives to stop resisting the green onslaught rather than continue to fight it. As government regulated corporations, they had to toe the green line decades ago. We are now reaping what was sowed in the 70s and 80s.
Thats precisely why I came to hate the power industry and left it after almost thirty years.
This is what you have when you have socialist run utilities.
Surreal! Who will win the blame game?
So?
I've a couple of those in my garage.
Is IT in danger of going up in smoke?
Who writes his stuff? Nicholas Maduro?
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Soda Rock winery taking a big hit on highway 128.
https://twitter.com/KatieKPIX/status/1188430150758625280
#KincadeFire @SodaRockWinery
Kristen Sze ABC7 Verified account @abc7kristensze
#BREAKING Mandatory evacuation order issued by @CountyofSonoma as #KincadeFire threat grows. Zones 1-10 under mandatory evac order. https://sonomacounty.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=2cb4401e1fc0494dbf9d9e22aa794617
Democrats are never take responsibility for the crises they create.
“PG&E has prioritized political obeisance over safety.”
Unless California was willing to allow them to charge enough for both ‘political obeisance’ and safety, or make up the extra money some other way, then they really have NO CHOICE in the matter.
It is about environmentalist preservation mania, preservation of the underbrush and the deadwood that turns small fires into raging infernos and a few hundred yards square into a hundred square miles. The Indians all over the Americas understood how to maintain the forest. They burned off the underbrush often enough that the forest was clear and large herd animals lived in them. They planted fruit and nut trees everywhere and kept the forest clear around them. Our econuts insist the forest be allowed to accumulate tinder and undergrowth until it all goes up in lightning induced flames hot enough to burn the mature trees to ash and kill the forest animals and burn towns and kill people too.
In effect, The Rats in Sacramento directed the utility where direct their spending. They made transmission safety and tree trimming a low priority compared to green priorities. Plus Sacramento and greens stopped managing the surrounding forests and countryside.
Socialist command economies and governments always fail. This one is big.
“It was far easier for utility companies and their executives to stop resisting the green onslaught rather than continue to fight it.”
Why bother fighting it? The public wanted this crap and elected people to make it happen.
While I feel sorry for conservatives (and conservatives who have relatives there), this is EXACTLY what is needed to shake some sense into Leftists.
Leftists want the BENEFITS of an advanced society, but they are so brainwashed that they think they can get it for free. Well, they cannot.
My liberal daughter in Moraga is without power for the second time in three weeks.
Posts/information BUMP! HOW DARE YOU!
It was reported on Fox Business that insurers are not renewing fire insurance policies. Those that are renewed incur premiums as much as 5 times greater. The companies have not recovered from last years fires and do not have a good handle on the actual risks to be covered.
The Governor has no clear grasp of reality and is blaming the weather mischaracterized as climate
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