Sacramento Owns the Blackouts

“Can 40 million suffer third-world electric reliability without a political upheaval?” asks Holman Jenkins, 29oct19 WSJ

George Rebane

Northern Californians have now suffered multiple power blackouts in recent weeks and we are told by many that from here on this may become the new norm for our state – in other words, prepare your life to adopt the daily routines of third world countries where electric power is a sometime thing.  As opposed to all the now usual causes for these outages, ranging from climate change to a rapacious PG&E, I’d like to focus here on these blackouts as political events, and examine the new norm of power outages from that perspective.

I’m writing this while the power is still out in our part of western Nevada County.  This is the fourth day of our third ‘safety blackout’ in the last two weeks.  Most of northern California now knows a bit what it’s like to live in a third world country with sporadic and unpredictable electrical service.  But let me start this record with the strong statement that people who believe that PG&E is a regular for-profit private enterprise, and not a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sacramento, can be ascribed as certifiable idiots whose impact continues to be disastrous for our state.

The actual centralized command structure that oversees and controls PG&E operations starts with decades of California’s one-party government that appoints members to the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) which is supposed to oversee PG&E, its rate structure and directed expenditures.  Within this ‘management’ structure, PG&E operates like a corporatist monopoly that embodies every inevitable corruption of a large bureaucracy that for years has considered its customers only as minimally-served and powerless herd of cash cows.

Starting in the latter half of the 19^th century, California was a blessed land that had everything except people.  Its commerce-oriented citizens and entrepreneurs emplaced state governments that shared their vision for the state’s future which focused on attracting Americans from the east.  And for over a century the people came by the millions to enjoy the state’s climate, scenery, and rapidly expanding and diverse economy.  It was hard to resist the promotional materials that blanketed the east showing palm trees under blue skies, orange groves backed by beautiful mountains, and cities filled with smiling tanned Californians enjoying the beach in January. If you were willing to work at literally anything, California had a job and a place to live for you.  (In 1957 the Rebanes were part of that grand migration from the Midwest, attracted by California’s burgeoning aerospace industry.)

The premature end to this glorious age started about fifty years ago around 1970.   The causes for California’s slide are many and not all home-grown; the entire nation was then reeling from the turbulent 60s that included massive civil rights and anti-war activism abetted by an incompetent federal government that promoted ‘guns and butter’ policies which were carried out in Vietnam and with the launch of the Great Society programs.  The most significant outcome of those years was that the country’s Left was finally able to take control of America’s public schools.

At that time California had the nation’s best performing schools that ranged from kindergarten through world class university systems that led the nation in producing and attracting STEM graduates who were naturally drawn to entrepreneurial enterprises in a business friendly state.  California’s dominance in the entertainment and aerospace industries served as a natural launch pad for the new and expanded multi-media Hollywood and, of course, Silicon Valley.  As post-Vietnam aerospace pulled back, entertainment and computer-based technology companies became the state’s major wealth producers.  More wealth was produced by an ever-shrinking share of Californians.

Since that transition the large body of Californians have “tended to mistake the success of Silicon Valley and Hollywood, whose economic hinterland, talent base, and revenue source are the world for (a) California being well-run. … It’s not. Any such illusion is belied by its homeless and poverty problems, its Nimby-driven housing costs, the black hole of its bullet train, the decampment of families and businesses to Texas, North Carolina and Tennessee.” (more here)

Today, with two generations of public schooled Californians taught a revisionist history of America as the world’s most deplorable country dripping with capitalist greed, the wealth-consuming collectivists have discovered how ‘democracy’ enables them to vote their largess from other people’s pockets.  And many of the remainder have been indoctrinated so thoroughly in Marxist dogma that they view minimally regulated markets and capitalism as society’s source of all evils.  Today more than half of Millennials decry capitalism as the organizing principle for an economy, 70% are likely to vote socialist, more than 1 of 5 want private property abolished,  and more than a third of them approve of communism – talk about the arrival of our dumbest and most dangerous generation. (more here)

In the meantime, drawing down the account of its golden years, California is still looked upon as the nation’s leader in progressivist programs and all things socialist.  One of the most celebrated myths among the Left is the over-promotion of all things locally self-sufficient.  In their brave new world we will depend less on ‘the grid’ and make/grow what we need in our villages or learn to do without.  No one seems to understand any longer what scaling means in production, and the massive QoL improvements such economies of scale have brought to hundreds of millions (billions) all across the world.  Our (especially local) Left promotes lifestyles that call for compact living, less travel, reduced consumption of all things, altruistic volunteering, shared property, and the establishment of commons in every possible sphere of activity and need.

To promote centralized control by the correct-thinking elites, California’s Left is leading the nation in all things ‘green’.  And this includes mandating that its utilities use their revenues to support various cash-hungry green initiatives that Sacramento regularly rolls out.  Here is a short litany of how such leftwing policies continue to impact PG&E –

• PUC is in charge of enforcing state safety laws and regulations. PG&E has received no fines related to the mismanagement of its power grid.  PUC instead is focused on enforcing Sacramento’s climate mandates.
• Sacramento has mandated that utilities obtain 33% of electricity generated from renewables by 2020, and 60% by 2030, thus skewing spending on infrastructure maintenance.
• PG&E, along with other utilities, must spend hundreds of millions annually to reduce the cost of green energy for low-income (loyally Democrat) households.
• In 2018 PG&E had to spend $509M on discounts to low-income customers.
• In 2018 PG&E had to spend $125M for no-cost weatherization and efficiency upgrades for disadvantaged communities.
• Since 2012 PG&E has had to divert $7.5B of cap-and-trade allowances for various “ratepayer benefits” that reduce carbon emissions.
• PG&E spent the lion’s share of state mandated $100M for solar systems in low-income communities, and $2.2B in customer rebates for rooftop solar installations, and then rebates on electric bills under the state’s net-metering program.
• In 2018 PG&E invested more than $150M in battery storage and other “sustainable technologies”, funded by a special charge on its customers.
• Over the next three years PG&E must spend $130M to install 7,500 electric-car charging stations, and also offer participating drivers an $800 “clean fuel” rebate.

All of this has been imposed by Sacramento Democrats to advance their climate change agenda, ostensibly without raising taxes.  Instead the state’s legions of light thinkers quietly accept paying twice as much as Oregon and Washington for their electricity.  In doing so, the utility has redirected its revenues from maintaining/upgrading its grid and paying for the needed tree-trimming around its power transmission and distribution lines.  In short, “PG&E has prioritized political obeisance over safety.”

In the meantime, Democrats make hay by accusing PG&E of putting profits over safety despite the fact that the PUC approves the utility’s return on equity at a level needed to attract private investment.  And that investment doesn’t come from high return seeking hedge funds or other greedy capitalists; it comes mostly from pension funds and elderly private investors seeking moderate but safe streams of retirement income.

The alert reader can relate all of this obvious malfeasance to a conglomerate of government bureaucracies that operate independently from their customers’ feedback, customers that such government monopolists view as vassals of the state.  This explains “California’s return to the dark ages (as) a direct result of the Democratic political monopoly in Sacramento.”  So how do we go forward from this mess years in the making? (more here)

America was built by people willing to take risks for the promise of profit.  And the country continues to thrive from the efforts of those who still expose themselves to risk in the hope of commensurate returns.  But in the interval, the public has been taught that all risk is bad, a social failure (injustice?) to be avoided and eliminated at all costs.  And that this will be possible only through the beneficial workings of an all-encompassing government through its growing slate of programs all commissioned for the greater good.  In the meantime, PG&E CEO Bill Johnson dispenses supportive pabulum for ongoing blackouts, stating that “We must have zero risk of a spark, we will very likely have to make this kind of decision again in the future.”

Readers know that as a lifelong capitalist and entrepreneur, I am a proponent of prudent risk taking that promises an acceptable expected return.  Without having successfully taken myriads of risks, humans would still be living their short and brutish lives in caves or on the open savannah.  The well-read individual knows there is no way that we can have “zero risk” in any endeavor, especially those endeavors that provide us value.  We know that the cost is immeasurable in the attempt to eliminate the last vestiges of risk.

Also, when we consider what is required to move past these promised regular blackouts, we can take a lesson from nature about large scale systems such as our all-controlling government/corporatist utilities conglomerate.  Nature has no such large-scale systems.  Its resilient and magnificent complexity is made up of an evolving and layered configuration of smaller systems always operating with the most amount of local control and information which enables them to survive in a competitive ecosystem.

In this spirit and for starters, I offer the following shortlist of Rebane Doctrine tenets for a post-blackout epoch of habitation in what today are considered California's high fire-danger regions -

1. Large power generating utilities should be broken up into smaller for-profit competing utilities that transmit and distribute power over government (state, county, local) owned transmission and distribution lines (like roads and highways). Customers contract with individual utilities for their power.
2. Power and energy utilities’ charter is to provide reliable, low-cost electricity to the customers using existing, available sources and technologies, and not be subjected to government mandates for promoting other energy related agendas.
3. Enable and encourage movement toward a distributed production of power.
4. Encourage timber harvesting to build a sequence of effective fire breaks, and return sparsely populated forest areas to their pre-inhabited copses configuration (thus localizing lightning started fires).
5. Pass legislation to enable the state to plan and carry out prescribed burns without liability from accidental collateral damage.
6. Insurance companies can charge premiums based on their assessment of risk.
7. Consumers do their own trade-off of risk vs the return (profit) of living in a scenic area.
8. No one has a right to live in a fire danger area at another’s expense.

Since all such proposals can benefit from and be improved upon by the participation of other good-willed and similarly motivated people, I invite interested RR readers to contribute their own edits, corrections, and thoughts to what I have outlined above.

"Complaining about a problem without posing a solution is called whining."  Teddy Roosevelt

Comments

[Walt]

Power back!!!

[Paul Emery]

George writes:

"The actual centralized command structure that oversees and controls PG&E operations starts with decades of California’s one-party government that appoints members to the California Public Utilities Commission"

George, this is factually incorrect. A simple search shows that since the end of WWII Republicans have had Governors for 40 years compared to the Dems 24. Do the math yourself by going to here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_governors_of_California

[Paul Emery]

Also there's this:

"California was a Republican stronghold in presidential elections from 1952 until 1992. During this period, the Republicans won California in every election except the election of 1964."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_party_strength_in_California

[Don Bessee]

WOW! That is even lame by the pony tail of ignorance standards!

;-)

[Paul Emery]

So George to blame the Democrats is a pathetic argument. You should ask instead the question as to why have the Republicans virtually vanished in California. That has accelerated since the election of Trump. I believe the Repubs are down to only 7 Congressional; districts and have allowed the Dems to hold a super majority in the State Legislature. Don't blame the Dems George, blame the Repubs for becoming so pathetic and irrelevant.

[Scott O]

Well - this little screed covers a lot of ground.
I'll start at the top.
It sucks to be you.
California is like a really hot little empty-headed babe you keep hanging around with because she's really good looking and sometimes good at a few random gymnastics, but ultimately she's a royal pain in the ass not worth the cash and headaches and other expenses she causes you. You end up putting up with all of her hissy-fits and melt-downs because the view is soooo good. She'll keep it up as long as someone keeps handing her cash.
She really likes Ferraris, but will settle for a new Porsche Carrera. What she needs is a good talking to and is given the keys to a 1987 Chevy PU with a 4 speed and no A/C. And be told to go to get a job.
That said -
Your suggestion No 2 - Crazy talk. You mean a power company should just produce power?
Your suggestion No 6 - "Insurance companies can charge premiums based on their assessment of risk."
No - not until insurance companies make ALL of their assessments open to the public. "Their" assessment of risk is highly skewed to towards who can pay lots and who can't - not who is actually going to cost them more money.

[Walt]

Emery has been too close the the open window near the generator.
sure thing Emery, LIBS are to be held blameless. Right? All the ECO regs PG&E has to abide by. (too numerous to mention)

Care to explain away why we have the highest fuel costs in the nation? Nope, can't blame the oil companies. Try taxation and mandates.

Funny, we didn't have these massive fires before ECO nuts chased loggers out of the woods, Nor before the very same ECO do gooders made sure grassy fields could not be mowed because of some presumed endangered critter. (Now MED rare)

You Proggys sure had the underclass snowed. All the free shit that keeps getting promised.(and under delivered)
How's the class war going? The war on homelessness? Poverty?

Now your side is back to trying to overturn PROP13. Now it's us EVIL property owners not "paying our fair share".

[Paul Emery]

Are you saying my observations are not true Don? What happened to the Republicans in California and why are they so impotent and pathetic?

[Walt]

Why is a KVMR news dude impotent and pathetic?
You don't have the balls to even stand behind anyone running for office, yet like to criticize everyone else. WHY EMERY WHY????
WHY is it, that every time a good law is passed a bunch of pantywaiste LIBS go judge shopping and get it overturned?
How many times have those proggys done that Emery?
So it's no wonder why a vast majority of Repubs have given the state the finger and left so your kind can have it's way and run the state into the ground.. WHICH the LIBS have done a bang up job of doing.

BTW.. Not a peep from the solar gang on just how well their solar systems kept them going just fine. WHY is that Emery?
They County has a big solar array,, and closed for business.
Care to explain? ( probably not)

[Paul Emery]

If the Repubs are so smart Walt then why are they so impotent and pathetic and why have they been rejected by the voters of California ? I mean their last great moment was the election of Arnold. Really Walt how can you applaud that?

[Russ]

George, you wrote:

"distribute power over government (state, county, local) owned transmission and distribution lines (like roads and highways)."

I do not think that government-owned transmission infrastructure would be any safer than PG&E's is today. Look at the conditions of our roads; we are taxed and taxed again, and our roads do not improve. I fear the same inefficiencies would apply to state or county-owned power utilities. On the other hand, locally-owned community utilities could be more responsive to citizens, as citizens have skin in the game.

[fish]

Posted by: Paul Emery | 30 October 2019 at 06:35 PM

Punch .......we have it on pretty good authority that you have been doing “the Republicans are dead in California” happy dance for a while now.

Congratulations the progressive democrats own it!

So why isn’t the fucking power on?

[Walt]

I told you Emery, but you can't comprehend simple English.
So just how is this Progressive utopia?
Even the LIBS are leaving their promised land. Many are headed to AZ. looking to trash that state too. The Proggy crap is already starting in Scottsdale where my oldest kid is.
They don't mince words over there. they tell the Ca. vermin to go back to the state they "F"ed up, and leave theirs alone.

[Walt]

Like I guessed. Emery won't say a peep about the great solar fiasco the County bought. Factual impitantace setting in? Or just pathetic LIBeralism?

[Scott O]

Paul Emery 5:50 - "So George to blame the Democrats is a pathetic argument. You should ask instead the question as to why have the Republicans virtually vanished in California."
Yeah, George - why blame the Dems? As Paul has said - "...the Republicans virtually vanished in California."
So - OBVIOUSLY - the Rs are to blame since they have vanished.
Get it?
Good Lord, Paul. Why not just get a large tattoo on your forehead - "I'm A Complete Idiot!"?

[fish]

I had forgotten that ”der Governator” was in office for 8 years!

Anyway Punch you had Brown for eight years and now Newsom for almost another year....and Newsom got to watch last years electric equipment caused fires up close!

Was the governor planning to have the PUC do anything of substance anytime soon?

[Walt]

Been seeing the lines at those signature gathering tables looking to recall Gavin Nuisance. Lets just say business there has been heavy. The voters that care, know just who to blame for the power issues. And it's not PG&E. It's those with a (D)
next to their name.
Liberal is becoming a dirty word in this state once again.

The VERY pretty Gavin turned Frisco into a shithole, and is working to doing the same to the rest of the state, and the people see it.

[Walt]

Hey Emery.. With the Proggys in SAC go vote pandering by massive subsidies for whole house generators? oe free generators in general?
You can bet your bong that the kids under the dome are looking at making them mandatory for all new construction. For safety and all that horse shit. It's the new normal.... Right?

More free shit in the hopes of getting votes.. Emery should be happy.

[Scott O]

Please go back and visit Paul's statement of 5:50 - Do you see why I have no reason to believe that California is ever going to pull itself out of the sewer?
The left will never, ever admit they are to blame for anything bad even after they run the affairs of govt for decades?
Why do you think there are still people in Venezuela that hold fast to socialism?
Why do the voters in Chicago still vote for ever-more leftists govt?
The mayor in Chicago is the leftist wet-dream of a politician and she's (not sure I'm allowed to call her a 'she') had it with the unions. And the left is clamoring for more and more.
But it's the Republican's fault.
Because they're not in power.
Because elections have consequences, Paul.
The voters want Dems.
And the Dems have screwed the pooch.
The pooch as passed away and the Dems are necrophiliacs.
Get it?

[Walt]

When the heat is on, the Emery runs for cover.
That's what LIBS do when they can't defend their argument.(Or just resort to insults)

[scenes]

"...distribute power over government (state, county, local) owned transmission and distribution lines (like roads and highways)."

I don't disagree given the natural monopoly in distribution, plus you can make the argument that the same organization should manage forests as places power lines through them...although I suppose that .gov divisions can also point fingers at each other.

One guess I'll make is that lower level (ie. local) ownership simply won't pan out since a)rural areas are likely subsidized by urban and b)you lose the ability to shift large resources from one place to another. No doubt there'll be a lot of speechifying about local grids without much thought on financing them.

Bummer that solar is impractical, but I can't see the math ever making sense for self sufficient homes without breakthroughs in a number of areas.

Trust Paul to immediately dive into the political party of governors rather than thinking about solving much of anything. Perhaps he can go back to producing 'news' by interviewing Pascal rather than calling up the principal parties his own f'in self.

You can argue that a good start would be to make these towns less flammable, although it's hard to have a strong opinion on the power system until PG&E would be a bit less opaque about what the real weak points in the system (in terms of safety) are.

[George Rebane]

There are two kinds of California Democrats - one kind believes that there is nothing wrong and the state is doing great, the other sees the state's massive screw-ups and blames it all on the Republicans.

Paul, I have explained for some years now, including in this commentary, why the Repubs have been underdogs-to-irrelevant in state politics. Pay attention. Your diversions about who was governor or president when don't impact the decades of Democrat decadence California - look around you. Arguing against that is really pissing in the wind.

[Walt]

Gotta love the Emery thinking.
Blame Repubs for letting Ca. go to shit, and at the same time
Castigate the Repubs (Trump) for fixing the ills of the rest of the Nation. How dare Trump have record employment. Take a little burden of taxation off our collective necks, reduce regulations to get business productive again, Put America first, stick it to other nations that have screwed us over for decades.
Nope Emery ain't one bit happy about that either.

[L]

PE @ 5:41 etc. Look at it another way- from 1945 to 1998, R were gov 45 of 53 years, interrupted only by Edmund Brown (no progressive) and his idiot spawn, Moonbeam. Since 1998, Ds have warmed the chair 16 of 21, and Ahnold ("Chust a few
plow chobs") Terminator is no R.

What happened to the R's? They came to be outnumbered by untermenschen of every species from illegals to druggies. Next question?

[Scott O]

George - you don't really expect the news director of the local radio station to answer for himself, do you?
He has thrown his pocketful of rocks and moved on.
It's the best he can do.
As my late, great, art teacher from high school once said - "It's not nice to make fun of people less fortunate than yourself".
Paul does the best with what very little he has.
He HAS learned the English language to some extent and he is very good with a musical instrument.
Let us just applaud what he can do and look askance from his unfortunate utterings regarding that which he knows not.

[L]

Tell me again, Paul, when did Kali start to lose its golden aura and began its long and continuing spiral into 3d World status? I'd say about the time your generation of low-grade morons first elected moonbeam' and hit the afterburners with Gray Davis, about the time I bailed.

[Gregory]

Punchy forgets

The two major killers of the GOP in California:
1) Public employee unions given the right to bargain for wages and benefit by Jerry Brown V.1.0, bringing a conduit for tax moneys to Democratic campaigns.

2) The state senate made into a junior assembly by court decision.

Both made their marks on the state. There's only Democrats to blame for our Elbonian electrical power grid and will be the only ones standing to take the hits when the weather turns cold and the deadly warming doesn't take place.

[Walt]

Only LIBS can get impeached, removed from office, just to get elected again.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/10/30/democrat-alcee-hastings-who-was-impeached-and-removed-makes-impeachment-rules/

[Russ]

Victor Davis Hanson asks:

Residents carefully plan long highway trips as if they were ancient explorers charting dangerous routes. Tourists warily enter downtown Los Angeles or San Francisco as if visiting a politically unstable nation.

Insatiable state tax collectors and agencies are viewed by the public as if they were corrupt officials of Third World countries seeking bribes. Californians flip their switches unsure of whether the lights will go on. Many are careful about what they say, terrified of progressive thought police who seem more worried about critics than criminals.

Our resolute ancestors took a century to turn a wilderness into California. Our irresolute generation in just a decade or two has been turning California into a wilderness.

[Russ]

Link to VDH https://pjmedia.com/victordavishanson/is-california-becoming-premodern/

[scenes]

re: [email protected]:22

3) Demographics

[scenes]

"George - you don't really expect the news director of the local radio station to answer for himself, do you?
He has thrown his pocketful of rocks and moved on."

and everyone, including myself, fell for it once again. The world's oldest junior high school internet troll strikes again.

What I find regrettable is that KVMR, 'VOICE OF 1/2 OF THE COMMUNITY' could actually be useful. Once you slog through 23 hours of mewling singer-songwriters, non-traditional Indian music, and overly lionized 1930's blues artists, those news seats could actually be doing some good.

The town is likely to burn down, businesses of any size are dying or leaving, this power thing is a real problem, fire insurance will kill the economy. KVMR appears to be unable to dig into any of this while our local city council is going to spend time on 5G-free solarmicrogrids rather than anything substantive.

I guess there's a reason that Rome had a population of under 10k at the turn of the first millenia. Republicans.

[Biguns]

,,,Yo PG$E,,,don’t want the liability of burning up Western Nevada County???

No problem,,,give us your grid and hydropower facilities within the county.

Neighborhood Watch and FireWise neighborhood groups will patrol the power lines.

[fish]

Posted by: BigAnus | 31 October 2019 at 08:44 AM

......give us your grid and hydropower facilities within the county.

Always after the handout aren't we dugsKKKi? Why don't you start pooling funds with your neighbors, find some "angels" and buy the assets?

Oh that's right.....then it wouldn't be a freebie!

[Walt]

Sure Dougy,, then whoever takes over that part has the liability.. I guess you missed the news about all the downed lines and broken poles just from the wind alone.
Now just what would have happened if the power was on?
And two were not far from your place.

If things were they way you wanted, you would be getting sued by now. I'm sure you would find someone else to blame it on.

[Gregory]

scenes 746am

I think demographics are overrated as a cause.

[George Rebane]

Russ 659pm - I wasn’t talking about ‘safer’ power lines per se. Recall that I’m promoting a realistic acceptance of the existential risk that comes from choosing to live in fire-prone forests. But I do believe that more distributed ownership of power utilities will also reduce risk because consumers will not view the distant, huge utility as a commons. As we have discussed at home (and I with PGE line inspectors), we can police our own transmission and distribution lines as volunteers - it doesn’t take a degree in power engineering, and many service clubs will be glad to supply volunteers for something so important and close to home. Private companies would be glad to respond in a timely manner to clear and/or repair problems.

But you do have a point about state ownership of transmission lines (a la roads and highways). The alternative is private ownership of such infrastructure on the same basis as exists for oil and gas pipelines. It’s a trade off worth our attention.

[Biguns]

,,,Right on cue,,,Beevis and Butthead chime in with their usual brand of useless snark,,,

,,,Chummy,,,It appears you had a generator hooked up to your Iron Lung!!!

[fish]

Posted by: BigAnus | 31 October 2019 at 09:44 AM

Wahhhh!

dugsKKKi.....so relentlessly predictable!

[Walt]

That's all you got Dougy? As usual , can't back up your BS.
Seems YOUR tin can and string was useless during the outage.
Not a peep from rainbow ridge.
So.. How bout those downed lines and broken poles? Not a tree to blame.

[Biguns]

,,,George conveniently omitted the part about PG$E paying dividends while the fire danger grew in his anti-government screed,,,

“PG&E pumped out $4.5 billion in dividends and let the tree budget wither,”

https://www.kqed.org/news/11737336/judge-pge-paid-out-stock-dividends-instead-of-trimming-trees?fbclid=IwAR1N09rU9NBw9usXECBy4atydtvz0WbFZ2DDweH-yXuATD-CBir7Pj9BeL8

[fish]

Posted by: BigAnus | 31 October 2019 at 09:59 AM

Move back to the city dugsKKKi.....where the democrats have made it safe.......

[Walt]

Better pay what you got back then KKKEACHIE, or don't bitch
What the hell do you think your pension was invested in?

[Biguns]

,,,You are still not making sense Wally,,,step away from the generator!!!

I heard that forensic anthropologists now believe that many of the supernatural sightings in the days of old were probably due to carbon monoxide poisoning,,,

Change the battery in your CO detector buddy!!!

[Biguns]

,,,Move back to the city Chumbucket??? To where you live???

[fish]

Posted by: BiggerAnus | 31 October 2019 at 10:18 AM

,,,Move back to the city Chumbucket??? To where you live???

Well we have SMUD.......that would reduce your impulse to whine considerably! Ask your therapist?

[Walt]

Nothing makes sense to Dougy all of a sudden. Bad vape pen?
Dementia setting in? Can't even comprehend the simple things?
Oh wait... The caregiver hasn't been by in days. That explains a lot. Things should be better after a good hosing in the front yard.

[Walt]

Fish... Dougy is getting as bad as Emery. REAL forgetful these days. It's just about time for both to check in to Dementia acres assisted living... (They have a nice, tall fence to keep them from wandering off. And big gorillas in clean white jackets to keep them in line. )

[Paul Emery]

So George what you are saying is that the Dems outsmarted the Repubs and there is no hope for them at this time.

[scenes]

Gregory: "I think demographics are overrated as a cause."

I'm going to have to respectfully disagree.

https://www.ppic.org/publication/race-and-voting-in-california/

With Latinos at 58% vs 15% (D vs R) and whites at 40% vs 35% (D vs R)

and a chart like this:

https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/opt15f/picture25940215/alternates/FREE_1140/latinos

It seems like something of a slam dunk that it's a non-trivial angle. Another one might simply be higher urbanization,although I'm not finding any ready numbers on that.

[Biguns]

,,,Yes Chummy, you have SMUD...Maybe try to explain that to Monoxide Wally. He doesn't understand that communities can have their own grid.

[Biguns]

,,,Yes Paul,,,George racked up quite a list of PUC mandates running into the Billions that PG$E probably writes off their taxes. But even then, they managed to pay $4.5 Billion in dividends while making its customers pay to clean up PG$E's messes.

[fish]

Posted by: Biguns | 31 October 2019 at 11:10 AM

My time is probably much better spent convincing you that the notion of you and your ilk attempting to run an electrical utility is akin to turning a busload of monkeys loose in the control room of a nuclear power plant!

To quote George Herbert Walker Bush......"wouldn't be prudent"!

[Biguns]

,,,Taking a big leap there Chummy assuming local yahoos like Wally would run the utility,,,NID (you probably don't know what that is) would probably manage it.

[scenes]

GeorgeR: "As we have discussed at home (and I with PGE line inspectors), we can police our own transmission and distribution lines as volunteers - it doesn’t take a degree in power engineering, and many service clubs will be glad to supply volunteers for something so important and close to home. "

That's a reasonable point. You can also make a case for separating managements/ownership of local grids from long haul power transmission.

Personally, I think it would be good to start with simply what's doable. How about essential city services (police, fer example), gas stations, traffic lights, cell phone towers, can handle a power outage that lasts more than an hour.

You shoulda seen it in Auburn yesterday. The first lights off the freeway were no bueno. Possible choices for a solution:

1) Get a cop with white gloves and a whistle
2) Get a high school police cadet with white gloves and a whistle
3) Highway gets right of way, side streets get stop sign
4) Hook up generator to light, feed gas several times a day
5) Turn off the traffic lights, block the emergency lanes with bollards, every man for himself. Some people more frisky than others.

Of course, choice number 5 is the answer.

In a real emergency (ie. smoke on the horizon and flames licking at your feet), this would have been a really exciting scenario.

[Biguns]

Oh Dear,,, Chummy screwed up again trying to get fancy with italics!!!

[scenes]

Biguns: "He doesn't understand that communities can have their own grid."

I'm listening, but what problem does that solve? Aside from lots of italics that is. Liability? Cost? Do you have local power generation (not much use otherwise)? Planning on running 'lectric 10 miles out of town? 5? 1?

How about these towns just start with something like broadband and see if they can accomplish even that?

[Walt]

If the likes of Dougy can't even change a light bulb on their own let alone run a power grid.
Dougy can't manage a one man gas station.

The county HAS it's own power grid, and still couldn't keep the light on for employees to go to work.
You drive by it every time you come down off the ridge Dougy, part of it's right there by The Willow. The rest is all over the Rood Center. That's "county run power" numbnuts.
That sure did plenty good during the outage.

[scenes]

"the notion of you and your ilk attempting to run an electrical utility is akin to turning a busload of monkeys loose in the control room of a nuclear power plant! "

It's an exciting idea. I'm surprised that Ms. Senum, already somewhat in charge of a couple of utilities, hasn't started redesigning those. Town-wide adoption of solar toilets, zero-flow shower heads, make gardening (aside from legal 'grows' and organic root vegetables) illegal. The mind boggles.

[fish]

Posted by: BigAnus | 31 October 2019 at 11:21 AM

,,,Taking a big leap there Chummy assuming local yahoos like Wally would run the utility,,,NID (you probably don't know what that is) would probably manage it.

Oh no......I think a guy like Walt would do just fine......an effete movie pirate like yourself is another matter entirely!

Get back to me when NID shows an interest!

[fish]

From your local fish wrap (hey that's hurtful....and prolly White Supremecist)

“The community is clearly focused, they recognize the problem and are ready to move forward,” NID General Manager Rem Scherzinger said. “We have a populace that’s focused on a solution, with that NID can align its staff and we can try to enact the will of the people.”

Scherzinger said the next steps in the process are for the Nevada County Local Agency Formation Commission to review whether NID has the ability to run the electric utility with consideration to financial viability and risk assessment.

“LAFCo will run us through a series of feasibilites to make sure we’re capable of delivering the service,” Scherzinger said. “If they feel that’s the case, we’ll move to the next step and if we don’t clear that hurdle then we’ll find another solution to go forward.”

NEXT STEPS

The NID board would then review their package to potentially submit as a proposal to PG&E to purchase their electricity distribution business in Nevada County. The district said they are not interested in the natural gas portion of PG&E’s operations.

"LAFCo"?

.....satire is dead!

At least NID is discussing buying the assets dugsKKKi!

[Walt]

Fish.. messing with water and power at the same time is NEVER a good idea.

Ask Dougy how his attempt at making toast while taking a bath worked out.(and you wonder why he is the way he is?)

[Walt]

Hummmm... Point out the County "power grid" and Dougy gets tighter than a bulls butt in fly season.

[George Rebane]

PaulE 1105am - The Dems' leftwing message of govt succor to the gimmes in a democracy always wins the day. Those arguing hard work, personal enterprise, risk tolerance, ... don't have a chance. That's why our Founders gave us a democratic republic instead. And the Dems have successfully been weakening that constitutional structure ever since with good sounding slogans such as 'one man, one vote', 'Abolish the electoral college.', expansion of 'rights', 'vote if you can fog a mirror', 'open borders', 'residents, not citizens', ... . So, in a word, yes, the Dems have outsmarted the Repubs (especially in California). And the nation's leftwing proponents of autocracy are dancing in the streets.

[Biguns]

,,,Po ol monoxide Wally,still confused.

The grid refers to a generic TBD area supplied by PG$E within Nevada County. Paranoid yahoos like Wally would probably opt out.

[Biguns]

PG$E operates several hydropower generators on NID managed waterways.

[Walt]

Keep flailing Dougy... Spastic much?

[Bill Tozer]

Not California, but Minnesota. Green mandates are necessary for utility’s profit.

“First of all, it is critical to understand that utility companies are not private companies. They are government-approved monopoly utilities that are guaranteed to make a profit. As a customer, you are forced to buy your electricity from the utility company in your area, and you’re not allowed to switch companies even if you think the prices are too high, or the service is inadequate.

“As a result of being government-approved monopolies, utility companies aren’t allowed to make a profit on the electricity they sell. Instead, they are guaranteed to make a 7.5 to 10 percent profit when they spend money on new facilities, be they new wind turbines, natural gas plants, solar facilities, transmission lines, or even new corporate offices.

“If utility companies don’t build anything new, they don’t get to raise their profits. Obviously, this compensation structure gives them a powerful incentive to spend as much money as possible on new infrastructure, whether it is needed or not.”

https://www.americanexperiment.org/2019/10/xcel-energy-sponsors-gala-for-anti-mining-anti-farming-pro-wind-and-solar-green-group-to-help-them-pad-their-profits/

[Gregory]

scenes 1110am

Cause or effect?

However, I was thinking of age distributions, not ethnicity. Complicated, it is, and I don't accept the concept of Dems or GOP owning the allegiance of any
particular ethnic group.

[scenes]

Gregory: "Cause or effect?"

Jeez, who knows? Probably both. Setting up a proper sociology experiment looks difficult. I do believe (and perhaps you don't) that people will tend to view ethnicity as their deepest relationship (other than family) if you really turn up the screws of pressure. Prison is an excellent example.

I expect that if the state was 2/3 female, it would skew even further (D). Is that cause or effect?

I do think that Paul alludes to a reasonable question (even though I doubt he knows it), in that the two party marketplace in CA is somewhat broken. You would think that the Republicans would simply take on a batch of Team Blue shibboleths in order to build marketshare. Once the God Emperor steps down, I don't doubt that a coastal Californian would consider a gun grabbin', baby killin', anti-border Republican a reasonable candidate.

[Bill Tozer]

Might be on topic

“Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez applauded Californians for using natural light from wildfires instead of electricity generated from fossil fuels during a devastating blackout this past week.

“You’re showing us that you don’t need those harmful fossil fuels by grinding it out in the dark for days. And you’re relying completely on the natural light from the wildfires your great environmentalist policies created. It’s just an amazing stand of solidarity with Mother Nature and it should be commended!” Ocasio-Cortez said in a press conference......

“I wholeheartedly support the Green New Deal but I just didn’t know it would actually happen this fast…,” said Marcy Fullerton of the Bay Area.

https://genesiustimes.com/ocasio-cortez-applauds-california-for-using-natural-light-instead-of-electric-lighting-from-fossil-fuels/
—————————
https://www.facebook.com/PatriotPost/photos/a.82108390913/10156783785440914/?

[Paul Emery]

George

Do you think the election of Trump has anything to do with the historic low numbers of elected Republicans to State and Federal offices?

[Paul Emery]

Tonight KVMR is going to broadcast audio from Tuesdays town hall meeting with NID. It should start around 6:20 and run till 8:00

[Joe Peyote]

Tonight KVMR is going to broadcast audio from Tuesdays town hall meeting with NID. It should start around 6:20 and run till 8:00

A Halloween event!

[Walt]

Great timing Emery, MOST people will be out and about.
So you might have an audience of say,,,,,,10?

[Bill Tozer]

Walt

It ends at 8. That’s when the vampires and other blood suckers come out to play in the local bars. Have you seen the ghosts of the old Miners Foundary? Spooky stuff.

Hope the Townhall is better than the lame gun control Townhall our local FM underground radio station hosted. No need to hope. Anything would be better than that lib fest.
I heard from several sources the underground station was going off the air. If true, would anyone notice besides Scenes?

[Paul Emery]

This town hall was organized by NID Bill not KVMR. We're broadcasting it as a public service.

[George Rebane]

PaulE 411pm - from where do you get your data? And what has this to do with CA's blackouts?

[Walt]

I'm sure Emery will be more than happy to pay way more to NID for "local" power. Just wait for that bill when the promise of underground power comes due. The price per foot ain't go to get any lower. But most likely higher. Lets see how you like union labor then. You will be begging for non union bids.

[Walt]

Now you did it George,, you asked Paul a direct question.
We all know what comes next.🦗🦗🦗🦗

[Todd Juvinall]

Paul Emery | 31 October 2019 at 04:11 PM
Fake news. Check out the number of Governors, State Legislors and US Senate. Plus the President. We kicked the D's ass.

[Paul Emery]

I’m referring to California Todd. Let me reword it for you.

Todd

Do you think the election of Trump has anything to do with the historic low numbers of elected Republicans to State and Federal offices in California?

[Walt]

You can bet that will change this year Emery, HELL! Cammy can't even win the state. And you you dwell on Trump? LOL!!
Your Son Gavin has really screwed the pooch state wide.
High dollar workers can't even get housing in the cities, and live in RVs on the streets. Think they blame Repubs for that?
You got another thing coming.
And here we have LIB constituants trying to burn the town down... TWICE.

[fish]

Posted by: Paul Emery | 31 October 2019 at 06:34 PM

I’m a little more concerned about your mental state Punch! California is a one party state but you’re still obsessing over “republicans”!

You are a progressive democrat. It’s now up to you and your party to govern effectively!

Why are you so frightened about it?

[Gregory]

Punchy 411pm

Your original wording was correctly divined by George, Walt and Todd... it doesn't specify California.

What do you think a record cold northern hemisphere winter would do for California Climate alarmism?

[Gregory]

Let's see... what is Fearless Leader Gavin's explanation of the PGE debacle... it's the result of dog-eat-dog capitalism (PGE being micromanaged by the California Public Utilities Commission) and the new normal because of climate change. The whole world should pay attention 'cause it's coming to your country soon.

Punchy... is that your belief also?

[Todd Juvinall]

Paul Emery | 31 October 2019 at 06:34 PM
Were you unaware you wrote those words then? It is a short distance from the brain to the fingers on the keyboard. Maybe an adult beverage?

Looks like FISH has you pegged pretty good too. You have a super-majority in California yet you obsess on Trump. He really has you nutty and it shows.

[Scott O]

Paul 6:34 Yeah, Paul - California voted for Brown back in the 70's because they knew Trump was going to be the pres in the future.
Maybe we could have a welfare check on Paul - he is truly around the bend. The TDS has completely overtaken his brain and possibly his spleen and some other small organs as well.

[Walt]

So Emery, how long with the sain people of Ca. continue to allow the decriminalization of crime? Illegals to run wild and commit crimes with no penalties? The homeless get free run? (nope, you can't run them off,, they got rights too.)
Gaven and the boys wake up every morning thinking of just how to tax something else.
What's going to stop the exodus from the state?

HELL You need to get off the crapper and get those dope smokers to buy more "approved" dope!!! My dope stocks are dropping as fast as the vape smokers.
The dope shops ain't holding up their end of the tax grab... What gives? YOU said taxes would roll in! YOU LIED!!

Answer up Emery If Proggyism is SO great in this state,, why is it going to hell in a handbasket?

[Biguns]

,,,Look at all the Pubbies busy blaming Proggies,,,

Blaming Proggies ---George's favorite pastime,,,check out his latest screed blaming Democrats for each and everything he does not like about our education system --- is for those who refuse to accept any responsibility

What a joKe!!!

[Walt]

Speaking of refusing to accept responsibility,,,,Ya DOUGY,, forget you were part of the problem? Down Frisco Bay way.

[fish]

Posted by: BigAnus | 01 November 2019 at 11:02 AM

Who is this?

[Biguns]

,,,Oh Wally,,,you are as bad as the Whiner in the White House

Everything is a conspiracy to your ilk.

Buncha Hypocrites!!!

[Biguns]

,,,Chumbucket,,, Have your nurse check the barometric pressure on the iron lung...the power outage might have fried something beside your brain,,,

[fish]

Posted by: BigAnus | 01 November 2019 at 11:17 AM

Posted by: BigAnus | 01 November 2019 at 11:19 AM

Whining?

.......self awareness.....learn it, know it, live it!

[Bill Tozer]

Big Gums @ 11:02 pm.

Perhaps you can discuss the merits of our education system that has been a wholly owned subsidiary of the Left for the past 45, 40, 30, 20, and 10 years under the proper post “America Schools (continue) to FLUNK.” Love to hear your defend the dismal state of our public education and counter all arguments to fit your narratives. Eagerly awaiting your thoughts and expertise on the matter. America’s report card has not been a highlight and I for one, would not relish the task to vigorously defend.

Hey, remember that time we were discussing the dismal state of education in our public schools and some lardass came running over here decrying that we were bashing our fine public schools and “educators”. Oh, Fatuis Maximus was all upset and praised our public schools until.....until....until somebody in the know said, “Hey, you pulled your own kid out of our public schools and but the youngster in a private school,” roflmao.

Big Gums, defend your position under the proper post. I dare ya. I double dare ya. Be the first Lefty to post on topic. It’s been rather one-sided over there. We are getting lonely.

[Exit assignment - pay attention to the number and content of comments from our liberal readers.]

[Biguns]

,,,oh hammerToes,,,and Pubbies were doing what to change things for half a century???

Impotent much???

[fish]

Posted by: BigAnus | 01 November 2019 at 01:19 PM

Impotent much???

Textbook psychological projection!

[Paul Emery]

Todd

I am just feeling bad for you and all the Pubbers on this blog because the Republican Party is virtually extinct in California. Must be hard on you guys. All you have left is this blog from a blue county at that.