In the continuing saga of PG&E incompetence, things are not improving for Californians. The number of customers afflicted by the power outages is still steadily increasing as the weeks progress, leaving millions of Californians deprived of power.
PG&E, largely responsible for the most destructive fire in California history, is trying to not to repeat history. While they are not close to the amount of damage produced from the Camp Fire, the accumulation of damage as a result of PG&E’s behavior this time around is very substantial. PG&E is costing California $3 billion just from the first two blackouts, meaning another $3 billion—or more—could be hitting California as a result of the additionally predicted blackouts.
However, PG&E is not solely to blame. The Democratic-controlled state government shares an equal part of the responsibility. The number of ineffective and politically driven environmental policies that have been approved have enabled the level of damage and mismanagement seen with regard to the wildfires.
As explained by the Pacific Research Institute, “PG&E might have provided the spark that started the Camp Fire, but government supplies the fuel for forest fires that turn into raging wildfires, burning everything in their path. Hoover Institution researcher Terry Anderson added that federal environmental policy, driven by activists, has “continuously thwarted” the use of “scientific management techniques — including logging, prescribed burns, and thinning — to treat forest fuel loads.”
As a California citizen, it is disheartening to know that California Democrats place politics over the environment—despite their inaccurate propaganda—given that wildfires could be mitigated with simple scientific techniques.
Based on the unwillingness to employ certain tactics and lack of proactivity seen from both PG&E and the Democratic-controlled government, California does not seem to be progressing towards improvement. The well-being of California has fallen into the wrong hands and our citizens are now paying the price.
