California Liberals must be Proud
The
elites who run California like to pretend they have a better way. The
highest taxes in the nation have not killed (yet) the current success of
the high tech sector in the Bay Area, generating immense tax revenues
that can be squandered on a useless "high speed" train line that will
never be completed and still leave a budget surplus.
Money,
good weather, great food, amazing scenery, and other amenities make for
The Good Life, such that the political and business elites who seem to
never get tired of congratulating themselves for creating the closest
thing to paradise. The fact that this leaves behind the non-coastal
areas of the state, and the taxes and cost of living (especially housing
that is in short supply due to zoning and other land use restrictions)
make life difficult for middle-class Californians everywhere is of no
concern.
But
this summer, in the wake of disastrous wildfires sparked by poorly
sited and maintained power lines, the deep thinkers running the state
have come up with plan that can't be papered over: to stop the wildfires
when the wind blows, just shut off the juice. Bloomberg reports:
A
plan by California's biggest utility to cut power on high-wind days
during the onrushing wildfire season could plunge millions of residents
into darkness. And the vast majority isn't ready for it.
The
plan by PG&E Corp. comes after the bankrupt utility said a
transmission line that snapped in windy weather probably started last
year's Camp Fire, the deadliest in state history. While the plan may end
one problem, it creates another as Californians seek ways to deal with
what some fear could be days and days of blackouts.
Hapless
Californians will have to lay out a lot of money if they want to try to
insulate themselves from going back to life before electricity:
Some
residents are turning to other power sources, a boon for home battery
systems marketed by Sunrun Inc., Tesla Inc. and Vivint Solar Inc. But
the numbers of those systems in use are relatively small when compared
with PG&E's 5.4 million customers. Meanwhile, Governor Gavin Newsom
said he's budgeting $75 million to help communities deal with the
threat.
"I'm
worried," Newsom said Thursday during a budget briefing in Sacramento.
"We're all worried about it for the elderly. We're worried about it
because we could see people's power shut off not for a day or two but
potentially a week."
Newsom
should stop sending good money after bad and completely abandon the
ongoing expenditure of billions on the high-speed rail system, just to
save face for Jerry Brown's pet project. Nobody is going to want to
take a half-fast train from Merced to Bakersfield, which is the plan now
that running from L.A. to S.F. is obviously financially
impossible. That money could go to an emergency plan to safeguard power
lines in wooded areas.
While
the rich Californians right along the coast may not experience a lot of
hundred-degree days, the inland parts of the state do get extreme heat
in the summer and now may have a week or longer without electricity —
and without television, charging stations for cell phones, and of course
for medical devices powered by electricity.
A
stable, reliable electric power grid is one of the essentials to be
regarded as a first-world country. So now, in addition to the vast gap
between the wealthy and the poor and beggars everywhere (San Francisco
is now like Calcutta, it seems, in that respect), the state will face
third-world electricity supplies.
My
spidey sense tells me that Silicon Valley and San Francisco will
continue to be supplied, along with Sacramento and L.A. and San
Diego. But for the folks laboring in the agricultural fields of the
Central Valley, life will get a lot closer to Bangladesh.
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2019/05/california_descending_to_third_world_status_with_emplannedem_electricity_blackouts_for_up_to_a_week.html
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