After a whole lot of people who have never farmed made the decision, its collapse was sudden. They switched to organic in May and by August exports were down because yields plummeted. People hoarded food because they knew what was happening and then the government had to create police units to raid homes and steal it so it would not be sold on the black markets that exploded in volume.
California is in the same boat when it comes to energy. Utilities are tightly regulated, there is no free market, meaning costs are already high (though passed through to the poor by state law) and politicians who listened to environmental lobbyists over scientists threw hundreds of billions of dollars at solar and wind energy.(1)
Also read: The World Has Spent $2.6 Trillion On Solar And Wind Power Subsidies - And Gotten Little Energy
The result of believing solar and wind can power a state: California has nearly 3 million homes in danger of blackout at any given time. Sure, utilities can still buy on the spot market, but they can't pass through the costs without state permission. So they cannot compete with other states and utilities during a heat wave. This is the same fiasco that caused the last governor recall, when Gray Davis was booted from office.(2)
California has a plan to prevent a repeat of the Davis result for Governor Gavin Newsom during his recall fight. The state has asked for an exemption from all emissions rules, so they can run their fossil fuel plants at full blast. They want US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm to let their natural gas plants operate "notwithstanding air quality or other permit limitations" - which means they want emissions exceeding legal limits.
So much for California caring about global warming. Like environmental journalists and celebrities jetting off to climate conferences. what is necessary for others is rationalized away when the issue hits close to home.
The good news is that the plants that will run without limit to offset the failure of solar and wind are natural gas. The hype by environmentalists against natural gas, which they once endorsed, only began once it replaced coal and nuclear and those could no longer be fundraising targets. Mumbo jumbo about methane was a head fake designed to deflect from the reality that natural gas produces far less CO2. Natural gas has been so successful as a cleaner energy source that the federal government abandoned its Clean Power Plan. By 2017 the private energy sector had already met targets the government wanted by 2025.
None of that matters to California, they simply say that the health and safety of people in the state is too important to risk on solar and wind. The question should be; why did they ever argue otherwise?
NOTES:
(1) Activists also now hate hydroelectric so those are on the way out of existence, and Diablo Canyon Power Plant, 23 percent of the state's clean energy and 9 percent of all energy, is being shut down because the state told PG&E that solar and wind are ready.
The share of energy produced by fossil fuels after spending $3 trillion on alternatives? Unchanged.
(2) Though the recall effort against Governor Newsom is loud, he is safe. Most of the Republicans gave up and moved after they were forced by Democrats into 20 percent of districts, which is why the state that claims it employs 40 percent of America lost a Congressional seat.
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