The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power aggressively touts sustainability, solar, EVs, hydrogen, and its pursuit of “100% clean power.” Did it ignore wildfire risk?
I think it is time to remove a lot of rural power lines. Rural Houses in CA can be cheaper served by solar battery than by maintaining transmission. And much less chance of fire. PG&E should pay people to be off-grid.
China and Europe are building new high voltage DC power transmission which looks like a pipeline, underground. You don't need 60 feet right of way. You can put HVDC transmission under railroad tracks if you want to.
But Califrornia has a law against too much undergrounding because the utilities don't want to spend the money and the state govt therefor forces them not to have to spend money.
The theory being that rich neighborhoods like underground wires and that wouldn't be fair so nobody gets them.
"Expensive energy is the enemy of the poor. These fires ensure that electricity prices in the state, which are already among the highest in the US, will continue soaring. In doing so, power prices will continue punishing California’s low- and middle-income residents."
A failed power line can start a fire and it doesn’t matter whether the power flowing through it was produced by fossil fuel, nuclear or renewables. Upgrade the lines and clear the combustible materials under the lines.
Over the years I've read that California continues to ignore the need for more water storage. How does the failure to build more water storage reservoirs, to catch water during the wet years, figure into a robust firefighting system?
I read one existing reservoir was empty at the time of the fire, supposedly for maintenance, and 300 fire hydrants somewhere in the LA area were missing. You can have fire crews from all over the US coming to help but without water their benefit is limited.
We’ve queered the Donbas, we’re queering the schools, and now it seems that, all the while, we have been queering basic public services too.
By this I mean applying queer theory—the inversion and undoing of established things—not the hiring and promotion of qualified people who happen to be gay (that is fine / the law).
Like, why should utilities promote reliable water, power, etc and overall public safety when they can promote equity etc instead? It is the subversion of logic by semantics, which may be fun in grad school but is increasingly deadly in real life.
While companies typically lie a little it takes a government agency to raise the art to this level of utter horse 💩. For all its green washing they get most of their power from this thing https://www.ipautah.com a huge coal plant in Utah. It is the perfect liberal hypocrisy.. LADWP gets the power, Utah gets the pollution and the CO2 emissions don’t count because the power is “imported”. LADWP is now hiding it behind a shell company so nobody figures it out. It’ll soon be converted to hydrogen according to the “new owner” 🤣🤣😂😂🤣
Janisse Quinones has no qualifications to run an energy company except her skin color and her last name. Another DEI hire with predictable tragic consequences.
The reality is those who voted in this incompetence wil never admit they are wrong.
99% of the water reserves for pacific palisades was empty before the fire because a sanitary cover has a tear in it, and it has been so for years.
This past summer we lost a major water pipeline in calgary and all had to ration water for 2 months and there had been warnings for close to 20 years this was going to happen and nothing.
Why? Because laser focus on nonsense like “climate emergency”, something that will not noticeably affect anyone in this or the next lifetime.
And the current mayor cannot understand why she is so reviled for her nonsense priorities, a progressive just like Bass.
Apparently the DWP intends to convert large swaths of newly available coastal land into green hydrogen mining operations. Because there's so much hydrogen just beneath the surface, that was inaccessible before the wildfires. Utopia is truly around the corner.
Congratulations to California on finally achieving your beloved “equity” of outcome… everything burned equally with no regard to race, religion, sex, or gender identity. Your incompetence has let you drink from your (un)holy grail of your church of climatism.
From a purely business perspective, it makes sense for an electric utility company to invest in promoting electric vehicles.
As one large utility CEO once told an audience I was in, he and his family owned 5 EVs, not because he is a "car guy", but because he is an electricity guy whose job it is to manufacture and sell electricity.
I've often railed on electric utility leaders for not doing more to promote the use of their product so that their markets would grow and support investment in new electricity production, transmission and distribution equipment.
Flat or shirking markets result in revenue stress that reduces the ability of the business to prosper and invest.
If they really cared about grid stability they would permit VTG vehicle to grid. Two way vehicle charging. EV's battery storage could power California for about an hour-- but it can also declog local shortages and provide spinning reserve, eg momentum, to the grid.
But who makes money on that? Car owners? Can't have that!
Apparent.com has tech for many years to make this happen. It is used in LA bus charging stations but not allowed for civilians. "Because we made a committee to study the problem forever."
"Los Angeles, the state of California, and its top leaders are now engulfed in a crisis that should — repeat, should — result in a major political reckoning. As one lifelong Californian told me on Friday afternoon, the fires have exposed the rank incompetence of the state’s leadership, the corruption of its institutions, and the foolishness of its energy and climate policies.” I’m afraid the good people of CA are just too stupid to learn. Dollars to donuts the next elections will see Liberals come out on top again.
The $17.5 million cut to the budget sounds like a big number but it’s only 2% of the $850 million. I would hope a proper root cause analysis is conducted, with concrete actionable recommendations…that may be too much to ask for.
I don’t want to see one penny of federal money go to help them. As long as we keep bailing them out, they will continue with stupid. It must cost them or nothing will change.
I think it is time to remove a lot of rural power lines. Rural Houses in CA can be cheaper served by solar battery than by maintaining transmission. And much less chance of fire. PG&E should pay people to be off-grid.
California should have underground power lines.
China and Europe are building new high voltage DC power transmission which looks like a pipeline, underground. You don't need 60 feet right of way. You can put HVDC transmission under railroad tracks if you want to.
But Califrornia has a law against too much undergrounding because the utilities don't want to spend the money and the state govt therefor forces them not to have to spend money.
The theory being that rich neighborhoods like underground wires and that wouldn't be fair so nobody gets them.
Wall Street owned utilities are doing a very good job, for wall street.
Stock buybacks instead of replacing 45 year lifespan power poles that are 50 years old.
There are standards for how good power transmission should be.
But the standards are the same for Tinderbox states and rainforests.
Sparking a fire in Michigan doesn't have the same consequences as California.
Yet the amount spent on wire maintenance is kept the same.
"Expensive energy is the enemy of the poor. These fires ensure that electricity prices in the state, which are already among the highest in the US, will continue soaring. In doing so, power prices will continue punishing California’s low- and middle-income residents."
Well said, Robert. Great work here.
A failed power line can start a fire and it doesn’t matter whether the power flowing through it was produced by fossil fuel, nuclear or renewables. Upgrade the lines and clear the combustible materials under the lines.
Over the years I've read that California continues to ignore the need for more water storage. How does the failure to build more water storage reservoirs, to catch water during the wet years, figure into a robust firefighting system?
I read one existing reservoir was empty at the time of the fire, supposedly for maintenance, and 300 fire hydrants somewhere in the LA area were missing. You can have fire crews from all over the US coming to help but without water their benefit is limited.
I can't speak to the hydrant issue. I've seen varying reports on that.
The Santa Ynez reservoir, in the Palisades Highlands, was emptied for maintenance. At full capacity, it holds 117M gallons of water.
See: https://abc7.com/videoClip/palisades-fire-santa-ynez-reservoir-highlands-ladwp/15788441/
We’ve queered the Donbas, we’re queering the schools, and now it seems that, all the while, we have been queering basic public services too.
By this I mean applying queer theory—the inversion and undoing of established things—not the hiring and promotion of qualified people who happen to be gay (that is fine / the law).
Like, why should utilities promote reliable water, power, etc and overall public safety when they can promote equity etc instead? It is the subversion of logic by semantics, which may be fun in grad school but is increasingly deadly in real life.
While companies typically lie a little it takes a government agency to raise the art to this level of utter horse 💩. For all its green washing they get most of their power from this thing https://www.ipautah.com a huge coal plant in Utah. It is the perfect liberal hypocrisy.. LADWP gets the power, Utah gets the pollution and the CO2 emissions don’t count because the power is “imported”. LADWP is now hiding it behind a shell company so nobody figures it out. It’ll soon be converted to hydrogen according to the “new owner” 🤣🤣😂😂🤣
Janisse Quinones has no qualifications to run an energy company except her skin color and her last name. Another DEI hire with predictable tragic consequences.
Ah yes, hydrogen.
As for the CEO of LADWP, I should have reported that her salary is $750,000/yr. That's a lot of cash. But then, she is "leading with equity..."
https://abc7.com/post/los-angeles-city-council-confirms-hiring-janisse-quinones-for-dwp/14816696/
To those arguing below that governance doesn’t matter in a situation like this, refute these points
https://chrisbray.substack.com/p/culture-of-failure-geography-of-reality?utm_source=post-banner&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=posts-open-in-app&triedRedirect=true
The reality is those who voted in this incompetence wil never admit they are wrong.
99% of the water reserves for pacific palisades was empty before the fire because a sanitary cover has a tear in it, and it has been so for years.
This past summer we lost a major water pipeline in calgary and all had to ration water for 2 months and there had been warnings for close to 20 years this was going to happen and nothing.
Why? Because laser focus on nonsense like “climate emergency”, something that will not noticeably affect anyone in this or the next lifetime.
And the current mayor cannot understand why she is so reviled for her nonsense priorities, a progressive just like Bass.
Schellenberg on Public revealed a memo dated Jan 6 where the LA mayor planned to cut another $50mil from the FD budget.
Apparently the DWP intends to convert large swaths of newly available coastal land into green hydrogen mining operations. Because there's so much hydrogen just beneath the surface, that was inaccessible before the wildfires. Utopia is truly around the corner.
Congratulations to California on finally achieving your beloved “equity” of outcome… everything burned equally with no regard to race, religion, sex, or gender identity. Your incompetence has let you drink from your (un)holy grail of your church of climatism.
From a purely business perspective, it makes sense for an electric utility company to invest in promoting electric vehicles.
As one large utility CEO once told an audience I was in, he and his family owned 5 EVs, not because he is a "car guy", but because he is an electricity guy whose job it is to manufacture and sell electricity.
I've often railed on electric utility leaders for not doing more to promote the use of their product so that their markets would grow and support investment in new electricity production, transmission and distribution equipment.
Flat or shirking markets result in revenue stress that reduces the ability of the business to prosper and invest.
If they really cared about grid stability they would permit VTG vehicle to grid. Two way vehicle charging. EV's battery storage could power California for about an hour-- but it can also declog local shortages and provide spinning reserve, eg momentum, to the grid.
But who makes money on that? Car owners? Can't have that!
Apparent.com has tech for many years to make this happen. It is used in LA bus charging stations but not allowed for civilians. "Because we made a committee to study the problem forever."
Those are good points.
"Los Angeles, the state of California, and its top leaders are now engulfed in a crisis that should — repeat, should — result in a major political reckoning. As one lifelong Californian told me on Friday afternoon, the fires have exposed the rank incompetence of the state’s leadership, the corruption of its institutions, and the foolishness of its energy and climate policies.” I’m afraid the good people of CA are just too stupid to learn. Dollars to donuts the next elections will see Liberals come out on top again.
I hope you are wrong, but fear you are right.
The $17.5 million cut to the budget sounds like a big number but it’s only 2% of the $850 million. I would hope a proper root cause analysis is conducted, with concrete actionable recommendations…that may be too much to ask for.
I don’t want to see one penny of federal money go to help them. As long as we keep bailing them out, they will continue with stupid. It must cost them or nothing will change.