Newsom’s avoidance of addressing powerful power coverage questions will expose his restricted power literacy over the following 4 years of monetary torture upon people who voted for him.
Printed November 9, 2022 at https://www.cfact.org/2022/11/09/update-re-elected-governor-newsoms-energy-literacy-will-be-challenged-over-the-next-4-years/
Ronald Stein is an engineer, senior coverage advisor on power literacy for Heartland, and co-author of the Pulitzer Prize nominated ebook “Clear Vitality Exploitations.”
The continual exodus of residents from the state has resulted in a lack of a consultant in Washington for the primary time in its 171-year historical past. Departing residents are being adopted by massive firms and privately owned companies which have moved their headquarters out of California in 2021 at twice their charge in each 2020 and 2019 and at three occasions their charge in 2018.
California has a historical past of getting the best gasoline costs within the nation. Why? For one, the West Coast fuels market is remoted from different provide/demand facilities as California is an power island. The Sierra Mountains are a pure barrier that stops the state from pipeline entry to any of that extra oil. As such, the West Coast is prone to surprising outages of West Coast refineries as it’s unable to backfill an surprising loss in provide by shortly supplying further merchandise from outdoors of the area.
Newsom is emphatically complaining that the oil firms are making outlandish earnings, however he could also be out of contact with actuality as two California refineries have shut down beneath his present watch and two extra could also be closing in his new time period.
Underneath Newsom’s watch in the previous couple of years, two of California’s refineries have nearly shut down and are now not manufacturing gasoline, aviation fuels, or any oil derivatives. These two, Phillips66 at Rodeo and Marathon at Martinez, are actually solely specializing in renewable diesel.
Extra monetary unhappy information might happen beneath Newsom’s subsequent time period with the everlasting closure of two extra California refineries, the Chevron Refinery at Richmond and the PBF Refinery at Martinez. If the courts uphold the 2021 Bay Space Air High quality Administration (BAAQMD) rule 6-5 for an extra discount in particulate emissions, each have acknowledged that they’ll shut down earlier than spending one billion {dollars} to retrofit their refineries to adjust to additional particulate emission reductions.
The world has seen the influence on Germany and Britain with their dependency on Russia for many of its power, however for the 4th largest financial system on the planet, in California, Newsom already has the State greater than 56 p.c depending on imported crude oil, however repeatedly seeks additional reductions of in-state oil manufacturing that locations higher dependency on international nations.
California’s rising dependency on international nations is a nationwide safety threat for all of America. Does Newsom anticipate a greater consequence than what Germany and Britain skilled by not controlling extra of its power future calls for?
I’m certain that Newsom had an opportunity to view the 2006 film “Blood Diamonds” starring Leonardo DiCaprio that portrays lots of the related atrocities now occurring in pursuit of the “Blood Minerals” i.e., these unique minerals and metals to assist the “inexperienced” motion inside rich nations that proceed selling environmental degradation to landscapes in growing nations, and imposes humanity atrocities to residents with yellow, brown, and black skinned employees being exploited for the inexperienced motion of the few rich nations.
Regardless ofthe Biden administration’s declaration that EV battery supplies from China could also be tainted by little one labor made with supplies recognized to be produced with little one or pressured labor, Newsom continues to assist subsidies to obtain EV’s and construct extra wind and photo voltaic when these subsidies are offering monetary incentives to the growing nations mining for these “inexperienced” supplies that promotes additional exploitations of poor individuals in growing nations. I personally thought that Newsom had greater ethical and moral requirements that might cease him from exploiting the poor in growing nations.
Newsom appears to be oblivious to the truth that every little thing that wants electrical energy is constituted of the oil derivatives manufactured from crude oil, however Newsom continues to assist wind and photo voltaic that solely generate intermittent electrical energy however can’t manufacture something for society. Newsom has but to determine a alternative for the oil derivatives which can be the premise of greater than 6,000 merchandise and fuels for our varied transportation infrastructures, and the financial system.
Life With out Oil is NOT AS SIMPLE AS NEWSOM MAY THINK as renewable power is simply intermittent electrical energy from breezes and sunshine as NEITHER wind generators nor photo voltaic panels can manufacture something for society. Local weather change might influence humanity however being mandated to dwell with out the merchandise manufactured from oil will necessitate life being mandated again to the horse and buggy days of the 1800’s and could possibly be the best risk to civilization’s eight billion residents.
In Newsom’s all-electric world, Newsom’s weird power insurance policies replicate his believes that every one the infrastructures developed in lower than two centuries, from the merchandise manufactured from crude oil, are NOT wanted by future societies, equivalent to medical, electronics, communications, and the numerous transportation infrastructures equivalent to airways, service provider ships, cars, vans, navy, and the house packages.
In accordance with the U.S. Vitality Info Administration (EIA), California’s excessive value of electrical energy is already fifty p.c greater than the nationwide common for residents, and double the nationwide averages for business, and are projected to go even greater.
California is the nation’s prime producer of electrical energy from photo voltaic, geothermal, and biomass, however the lack of ability to exchange the closure of repeatedly uninterruptable electrical energy from nuclear and pure fuel energy crops with intermittent electrical energy from renewables is inflicting the state to import extra of its electrical energy.
Once more, beneath Newsom’s watch, the EIA says that California imports extra electrical energy than some other US state, greater than twice the quantity of Virginia, the second largest importer of electrical energy.
Newsom’s insurance policies proceed to drive California to be the one state in contiguous America that imports most of its crude oil power from international nations. That dependence has elevated imported crude oil from international nations from 5 p.c in 1992 to 56 p.c immediately of complete consumption.
At immediately’s value of crude oil approaching $100 per barrel the imported crude oil prices California greater than $150 million {dollars} a day, sure, day by day, being paid to oil-rich international nations, depriving Californians of jobs and enterprise alternatives, and drivers to pay these premium costs for gasoline.
Richer nations now have greater gasoline costs, whereas poorer nations and nations that produce and export oil have decrease value for fuels. A assessment of international petroleum gasoline costs per gallon in U.S. {dollars} exhibits the worldwide intelligence and tendencies of gasoline costs of the rich nations which have opted to go “inexperienced” at any value, in contrast with poorer nations and nations that produce and export oil.
One other situation that Newsom won’t talk about is funding for future highway upkeep. Newsom has mandated no gross sales of inner combustion engine autos after 2035 however seems incapable of acknowledging that heavier EV’s contribute nothing for highway upkeep and repairs. California has nearly 400,000 miles of roadways which can be closely depending on highway taxes from fuels that contribute greater than $8.8 billion yearly, the identical tax base that additionally funds the environmental packages that will likely be diminishing within the a long time forward.
Perhaps Newsom will produce a plan within the subsequent 4 years to finance the billions of {dollars} for the roads being utilized by EV’s or simply move that drawback on to his predecessor.
California voters had an opportunity to recall Newsom in 2021 however selected to assist his weird and costly power insurance policies. Following the failed recall, Newsom was simply re-elected by the voters which can be keen to just accept the best power prices in America. Voters assist his avoidance of addressing these powerful power coverage questions that might expose his restricted power literacy over the following 4 years of monetary torture upon the working class that voted for him.
Ronald Stein, P.E.
Ambassador for Vitality & Infrastructure
http://www.energyliteracy.internet/
