There is a survey going around where the question posed is: “What is the stupidest state in America?” Answer: California, what do I win? California is experiencing rolling blackouts. Hundreds of thousands of Californian will be without power. Good luck with those electric cars.
The rolling blackouts are a direct result of California’s push for green energy. From a Wall Street Journal article.
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.
Wall Street Journal
This ought to illustrate fallacy number one. Electric cars are powered by coal, natural gas and nuclear power.
Residences and businesses in the affected area will be without power. Oh well they can adapt.
Some people haven’t got with the program. They selfishly believe it is unreasonable to go without electricity in this day and age.
Those self righteous people who equipped their homes with the latest and greatest in solar power. Most homes set up to produce electricity via solar panels find out the hard way the electricity only works when the grid works. No grid, no power.
Batteries Not Included
These same folks might be interested in a card game while they sit in the dark. It’s called three card monty and any fool can play and win.
How did California manage to put itself in such a situation? This is a California forest.
People got together to make a plan to manage California forests. They called in experts like loggers and forest managers. These guys made a living in the forest and have a vested interest in preserving it. Also included were liberals, eco-warriors and political whores. These people had never been in a forest but they saw pictures. Occasionally they flew over a forest or caught a glimpse of one from a passing car.
The forest managers and loggers advocated cutting trees to manage growth and prevent forest fires. The liberals, eco-warriors and political whores opposed this, cutting trees was not preserving trees.
The folks who never set foot in a forest won. The forest lost.
Ben Franklin explained it long before there was a California.
“For the want of a nail the shoe was lost,
For the want of a shoe the horse was lost,
For the want of a horse the rider was lost,
For the want of a rider the battle was lost,
For the want of a battle the kingdom was lost,
And all for the want of a horseshoe-nail.”
― Benjamin Franklin
Result of Forest Management, Liberal Style
The rolling blackouts are not the result of a lack of generating capacity. The blackouts were instituted because electric transmission lines set off forest fires. Maintenance and safety protocols to prevent forest fires via utility lines have been put off by the utility in favor of “green energy.”
Electricity generated via “green energy” is delivered via the same defective transmission lines.
Because the forest has been mismanaged fires cannot be quickly contained or isolated. I suspect utility right-of-ways are non-existent in some areas. I base this on seeing helicopters carrying hi-line supports in remote areas.
On Sunday, Ace of Spades Blog did a pretty good job of putting California into context:
Because what immediately came to mind when I heard about the scheduled (rolling?) blackouts was the scene at the end of Atlas Shrugged where the main characters are looking at New York City from a distance and they see the whole city suddenly go dark. And they know the power is not going to come back on for a very long time. It’s actually a very chilling scene.
And even though the PG&E blackouts are planned and the fictional NYC blackout is simply an infrastructure collapse, the progressive hubris, mismanagement, misplaced priorities, and corruption are the same in both. What’s happening in California right now is the end result of a thousand little decisions whose cumulative effect has piled up over time. Just like the typhus, shigellosis, hepatitis, and tuberculosis that are appearing in the homeless encampments. It didn’t just spring up overnight. It’s a direct result of progressive policies implemented by progressive politicians with the tacit approval of California’s majority progressive voters. But not according to them, of course. They blame Trump. Even though at the state level, conservatives are practically an endangered species.
I guess there are some people in California that don’t deserve this. I don’t know any of them. In general, my attitude is fuck em. That and stay out of Texas.
