Written by Nicholas Vetrisek
Governor Newsom already has the ability to fix the power outages, but there’s a catch. Unfortunately for Newsom, he’ll have to do something California Democrats are not used to—he will have to make a tradeoff.
Governor Newsom can fix the power outage problems that have plagued California, but it will mean that he has to hold back on his green energy proposals. Converting 33 percent of California’s energy to green by 2020 and 50 percent by 2030 are both very lofty goals that require a lot of resources that the state simply doesn’t have if it wants to maintain a reliable power system.
With the money taken from the green energy programs, the state’s current power system can be strengthened. But looking at the numbers, this is clearly not what Democrats want to focus on.
In 2017, PG&E spent $2.4 billion on renewable energy while only spending $1.5 billion on updating current infrastructure. This is a glaring problem given PG&E’s aging power system and it must be remedied if California is to end the power outages. Furthermore, the goal California lawmakers are chasing— eliminating carbon emissions—is not likely to change things anyway.
California accounts for less than one percent of all global emissions. Given that fact, lawmakers should be putting more emphasis on fixing the current system rather than pursuing one that won’t even fix the problem. The goals don’t even need to be eliminated entirely, just scaled back temporarily to focus on more pressing matters—namely outages and fires.
Luckily, the Emergency Services Act gives Newsom this exact power. It says that the governor has the power to “suspend any regulatory statute” or “the orders, rules, or regulations of any state agency . . . where the Governor determines and declares that strict compliance with any statute, order, rule, or regulation would in any way prevent, hinder, or delay the mitigation of the effects of the emergency.”
In this situation, Governor Newsom could show effective leadership in relation to emergency response, and he would be unlikely to lose any favor with the far-left given that he already has a record for wanting to act on climate change.
Unfortunately, this is unlikely to happen. Governor Newsom is not an effective leader and he will be unable to make the necessary sacrifices. As Thomas Sowell eloquently explains, “the first lesson of economics is scarcity: there is never enough of anything to fully satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics.”
