by Harvey "Sluggo" Wasserman
December 26, 2024
the #1 roadblock to California prosperity is Newsom's absurdly high electric rates, the highest in the continental US.
the reason is Newsom's all-out assault on solar energy & his betrayal of the 2018 plan to phase out the insanely expensive Diablo Canyon nuclear plant.
Newsom's hand-picked CPUC has gutted the rate structure that fed 2 million solar rooftops that spawned 70,000 jobs. More than 17,000 of those jobs have been destroyed, with far more to come.
The high-priced "base load" power foisted by Diablo Canyon forces far cheaper renewables off the grid. As the LATimes has reported, California now PAYS other states to take that green power.
Newsom is forcing millions of US who get zero power from Diablo to pay up to $12 BILLION in over-market charges to keep Diablo going.
Diablo cannot compete economically with solar, wind or geothermal. Those dangerous, decrepit nukes are KILLING us economically...and could do far worse with an ever-more likely melt-down.
Diablo's two reactors are un-insured, surrounded by earthquake faults, spewing carbon 14 into the eco-sphere, running at 540+ degrees Fahrenheit, accumulating un-manageable radioactive wastes and much more.
A full-on, very doable conversion of the state-wide electric system to solar, geothermal, wind and battery storage was foreseen in the 2018 Diablo shut-down plan crafted by Jerry Brown and approved by Newsom (then Lieutenant-Governor) the legislature, regulatory agencies, unions, enviro groups & the utility itself.
Implemented now, it would send us soaring toward the cheap, safe, reliable, job-producing energy structure that can boom our economy.
Hey Gavin!!! Cover every rooftop, parking lot & aqueduct with photovoltaics manufactured in California. Do it by the 2028 Olympics.
We can win the ultimate gold medal!