The Lights Are Out in California, And That Was the Plan All Along

The Federalist ^ | October 9, 2019 | Chuck DeVore

[xp38]

When the electricity is off gas pumps don’t work either.

[Mat_Helm]

Last year Redding California nearly burned up. Keswick just west of Redding did. In 20 minutes the town was gone. Mostly Federal workers for the Bureau of Reclamation that operates the dam and power station for Keswick Lake controlling water going down from Lake Shasta. I know some Bureau people who lost homes.

[MrBambaLaMamba]

when do the food shortages begin?

[EnglishOnly]

PG&E did the right thing.

[socalgop]

PG&E did the right thing here. The answer to this problem is to run power wires underground.

[RedMonqey]

I know a Stanford egghead who thinks water is a greenhouse gas.

Depends on the context.

Vapor is just water turned to steam. And water vapor in the atmosphere IS the major greenhouse affecting the temperature on earth.

NOT carbon dioxide.

[RedMonqey]

There has been electrical power in CA for 100 years , and most of the early years the lines were way cruder and less safe, the lines survived many seasons of droughts and wind storms but now all of a sudden its a safety hazard ? BS

More lines, more power means greater chance of failure in high winds. Don't discount the chance of a major corporation failing to upkeep current electrical grid linage, either. BTW.

[4Liberty]

[roadcat]

The Energy commission likewise prevented PG&E from cutting trees and charging the rate payers for that needed work.

Your entire post is 100 percent factual. State government created the problems that led to the devastating fires. PG&E forbidden from clearing trees and brush, as were homeowners. (Gotta save the lizards and bugs etc.) My wife worked for PG&E, and there were always complaints about the state PUC putting very restrictive handcuffs on PG&E from being proactive. State and local governments screwed everything up. So why shouldn't PG&E shut off the power so they won't get unfairly blamed again? Damn democrat governors.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Please add me to your climate change list.

[palmer]

I have livd here 60 years. The 1980’s were nothing like last year the worst in recorded history for the amount of acres burned. This was predicted to happen. My brother-n-law is a fire chief and his son works for Cal Fire. Last year ws unprecedented and scary.

Last year was nothing. The average acres burned in California before 1800 was 4.5 million. Last year was less than 2 million which still less than needs to burn. More should have burned. The essential problem is by putting out small fires in the early part of the year, calfire is creating the conditions for giant out-of-control fires later in the year. Also they need to set more fires.

[onona]

Spotted Owl futures are up 18% on the DOW.

[tubebender]

We have lived and prospered on the northeast for over 80 years and PG&E singled us out because of our limited voice. I’m thrilled to see other areas getting the blackout treatment.

[Huskrrrr]

Thanks, I see your point. We were talking about hydrogen fuel cells. Hydrogen fuel derived from water, then returning to H2O as vapor after combustion.

[zeestephen]

Re: I know a Stanford egghead who thinks water is a greenhouse gas.

Your friend is correct. Water vapor (gas) is the most important green house gas in the atmosphere.

CO2 - by itself - cannot cause dangerous warming.

However, it does cause some warming.

According to theory, CO2 causes the oceans to warm. When the oceans warm, they release more H2O gas, which causes more warming.

The basic theory of man made global warming is that CO2 and H2O gas must work in concert to create highly destructive warming.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Done.

[tubebender]

We have lived and prospered on the northeast for over 80 years

That should read We have lived and prospered on the northCOAST for over 80 years. and have lost electric power due to storms, floods and earthquakes but never been shut out of the grid like this before

[Mat_Helm]

Yes they need both more forestry and more natural burns. The burns prior to 1800’s where all natural burns so there is no comparison. The Redwood tree actually need the moderate fires to grow and germinate. Those pre 1800 fires were expansive, but not as volatile. The volatile fires with lots of fuel are actually worse for the Redwoods.

[RedMonqey]

(winks!)

[palmer]

I agree with all of that except some of the pre-1800's fires were set by natives. They aren't sure of the extent of those, but they were probably beneficial.