Claim: “Organized Labor”, “Moderate Democrats” Impeding Californian Climate Efforts
Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Are cracks appearing in California’s climate zealotry? LA Times laments that “so-called moderate democrats” in the legislature and “organized labor” do not share Governor Newsom’s radical climate ambition.
California needs to do more than just throw money at climate change. It must act
BY THE TIMES EDITORIAL BOARDJAN. 16, 2022 5 AM PT
For the second year in a row, California has been blessed with a massive budget surplus, and Gov. Gavin Newsom is again seeking to spend billions of those dollars responding to climate change.
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Newsom is right to take advantage of this windfall to do more to adapt to the warming climate and push the state toward a carbon-free future, and the Legislature should support his proposal. But allocating money is not enough. We need action from state lawmakers, who have yet to mandate emissions reductions that are fast, steep or broad enough to get California on track to avoid truly catastrophic warming.
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California is falling behind other states and countries with its outdated climate targets and mandates, and hasn’t passed significant climate legislation in years. Among the biggest obstacles are the so-called moderate Democrats in the Legislature who have acted at the behest of oil and gas interests and organized labor to block climate action.
Newsom, to his credit, has begun pushing ahead with executive orders and administrative actions to restrict fossil fuels. But he has to do more to persuade lawmakers to break through their unwillingness to act. He should start by clearly articulating a plan and vision not just for spending on climate change, but for legislation that will truly match the scale of the problem and reestablish California as a climate leader. He must follow up these spending priorities with a legislative agenda that puts some muscle behind the money.
Read more: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-01-16/climate-change-funding
By any reasonable measure California’s climate push is a total failure. California has to import around 25% of their electricity from elsewhere because their useless solar and wind infrastructure cannot cover their needs.
Yet instead of pausing to address this shortfall, people like Governor Newsom and his cheerleaders in the LA Times main focus is pushing forward with showy climate initiatives like electrifying home heating and more EVs, initiatives which will stress California’s woefully underpowered grid even further.
The reluctance of “moderate democrats” and organized labor to wholeheartedly embrace Newsom’s climate radicalism in my opinion are signs ordinary people are getting fed up.
As an outsider who only visited California once (other than transit), I have no idea what it is like to live there – but do people in California today really feel like winners?
20, 30 years ago, California was the place to be. But right now, today, looking in from the outside, when I look at California, all I see are problems.
What outsiders like me see is a sky high cost of living, self inflicted crazy energy and gasoline prices, high taxes, supply chain chaos, Covid lockdown hypocrites, blackouts, regulators who cannot stop downed power lines from starting forest fires, rampant homelessness and crime, and a state governor so obsessed with climate change he keeps making decisions which don’t make sense, while ignoring all the real problems.
I’m sure there is more to life in California than all the problems. But its not a good look folks.
Superforest,Climate Change
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