According to Governor Gavin Newsom, the blame for the wildfires raging through California right now should be laid at the feet of climate change and PG&E’s corporate greed. 

On Friday PG&E issued the following statement:

“”PG&E will need to turn off power for safety several hours before the potentially damaging winds arrive. It’s important to note that as this weather system sweeps from north to south over a period of two days, PG&E customers across Northern and Central Californiawill feel the effects of hot, dry winds at different times, which means outage times will vary, as well.

The potential Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) is expected to affect approximately 850,000 customers and may impact portions of 36 counties across portions of Humboldt, the Sierra foothills, Western Sacramento Valley, North Bay, and across the greater Bay area, Monterey Bay and northern Central Coast on Saturday, Oct. 26. Customers in the southern-most portion of PG&E’s service area in Kern County could have power shut off for safety on Sunday, Oct. 27.”” [Emphasis Added]

Power off for hours? No. Try DAYS. Saturday through Monday at the very least. Will this help ensure that no new fires will start? No given that the Kincade fire currently burning was sparked by a downed transmission line that was STILL energized!

#KincadeFire in Sonoma County has currently burned 23,700 acres and is 5% contained https://t.co/DuldeB9l9f pic.twitter.com/PzsigEBYeK

— KTVU (@KTVU) October 26, 2019

Essentially ZERO containment, high winds raging throughout the weekend, and the fire is the size of the San Francisco Bay Area as of earlier this morning.

Just two weeks ago we wrote about PG&E’s attempt to ‘fix things’ by shutting off power to nearly 800,000 people. In fact, that power shut off affected nearly two million people. TWO MILLION.

Who is to blame? According to Gavin Newsom, we need to blame climate change and PG&E.

So, California has clean hands? Uhhhh… NOPE.

Remember PG&E is run BY CALIFORNIA. California also forced them to use the bulk of their funding for solar and wind generation–not maintaining power lines. So when a million people in California are switched off to avoid wildfires, be sure you know who to blame. pic.twitter.com/SAJbjWM5DX

— SummerShine (@SilverSummerSun) October 25, 2019

This is leading to infrastructure damage, damage to the countryside, and is endangering lives.

#KincadeFire close call: Hero firefighter shields evacuees from surging flames; all survive.@LizzieJohnsonnn has the story: https://t.co/Nb1u2Mr2Od

— San Francisco Chronicle (@sfchronicle) October 26, 2019

While it is great, as Governor Newsom points out, that new firefighting equipment and more firefighters are available, blaming climate change and corporate greed doesn’t solve the problem.

Yeah, let’s point the finger away from the state of California’s own mismanagement practices. That’s the ticket. Let’s blame everyone else and start an absurd investigation into why gas prices are so high. Let’s blame everyone else and that big ole mean climate change in hopes that no one dares to look more closely at how state government regulations have ALSO contributed to the tinderbox that is California.

By Newsom’s suggestion, residents impacted by the power outages and wildfires should blame those greedy corporate shills at PG&E. Lawsuits? Go for it!

Only one problem.

“Since filing for Chapter 11 in January, the judge overseeing the case has warned that another big blaze would upend the utility’s bankruptcy and potentially wipe out shareholders. Any claims from new fires sparked by PG&E would have to be paid out first — and in full — before those from previous blazes get a dime.”

That’s right. If anyone filed a claim from the fires last year or years prior, they’ll have a longer wait given any NEW claims have to be paid first.

PG&E conductors, fuses and transformers may have helped ignite 400+ fires in California last year, according to incident reports obtained by @KTVU #2Investigates https://t.co/GC8sSu5qfQ @PGE4Me #KincadeFire

— Candice Nguyen (@CandiceKTVU) October 25, 2019

Indeed, PG&E’s aging infrastructure IS a very big problem for the entire state. HOWEVER, Gavin Newsom and those in the CA legislature need to step up and shoulder some of the blame.

Mandating solar panels on every home won’t solve the issue of PG&E unless the grid is upgraded.

Mandating solar panels on every home doesn’t mean cost savings as a whole. Why? When the power goes out, solar panels or not, your home’s power is off. Unless you own a generator as backup.

Wind energy?? When California has stalled projects from WY and elsewhere because the power storage isn’t “Green enough.”

Wind energy? Twenty year shelf life on those wind turbines and zero technology out there to run effective recycling programs for the turbines.

Firefighters and California residents are at risk because of the failures of California government, and the failures of the utility companies to keep their infrastructure up to date.

So no, Gavin. Don’t try and tell us that climate change and PG&E’s corporate greed is the ONLY culprit of the fires burning the state down. You and your Democrat cohorts in the CA legislature bear equal blame for the debacle in your state.

Feature Photo Credit: Pixabay.com, cropped and modified