Grand Canyon Times

Californians barely avoided blackouts recently due to severe heat and power shortages, a Sept. 7 report by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) Editorial Board said.

But while Gov. Governor Gavin Newsom and Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly blame the shortages on climate change, the Editorial Board said Democratic policies are at fault.

California was forced to use emergency generators to deal with the crisis, and despite claims by Newsom that the electricity scare was due to man-made climate policies, critics noted that high temperatures in summer are not unusual, and the threat of more shutoffs could spread to other states—including Arizona.

“But what starts in California rarely stays in California,” the board said. “Americans everywhere will soon be soaked with higher prices for power that is becoming less reliable. Rhode Island Energy this summer asked regulators to more than double current electric rates for this winter. Falling gasoline prices for many Americans could be fully offset by rising electricity costs.”

Kelly took to social media to promote President Joe Biden’s recently passed Inflation Reduction Act, which Kelly believes will solve both climate and economic problems.

"As our state sees more intense heat, drought, and wildfires, the Inflation Reduction Act will tackle climate change by boosting renewable energy manufacturing," Kelly tweeted on Sept. 9. "That means lower emissions and more high-paying jobs."

The WSJ board, however, noted that Newsom’s response to the crisis has caused many Californians to lose power due to his insistence that the state rely more on wind and solar, causing gas and nuclear plants to shut down statewide.

“The grid problems that Californians are enduring will grow and spread as supersized green-energy subsidies and mandates spread their harmful incentives throughout the U.S. economy in coming years,” the board said. “The culprit is the left’s climate policies, not climate change."

With temperatures climbing into the triple digits recently, California was unable to provide enough electricity to residents, the board added. From 2010-2020, gas-fired capacity fell by 4,390 megawatts and nuclear by 2,150 megawatts. California has increased its supply of solar and wind power by 17,000 megawatts, but that cannot be forced to power millions of homes during a heatwave.

The WSJ report commented that Newsom set California up for the crisis, as 30% of Los Angeles’ electricity supply comes from coal, a fact that the Editorial Board calls “Newsom’s dirty little climate secret.” The report also noted that Newsom’s and other Democrats’ call to move away from fossil fuels does not make energy cheaper but actually makes it less reliable, which California’s recent crisis showed.

During the heat wave, California relied on its backup power supply, but the WSJ report said that wasn’t enough. Newsom asked Californians to raise their thermostats and advised industrial businesses to temporarily close, saying in a recent YouTube video that “everyone must do their part.”

California’s electricity cost has increased 25.4% compared over2021, the latest data from Choose Energy said.

Republican commissioners on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) as well as some industry groups have argued for a slower transition to renewable energy to prevent shortfalls, a report from National Review said.

“We’re headed for a reliability crisis," Mark Christie, one of the commission's Republican members and a Trump appointee, said during FERC’s May monthly meeting. “We’re just not ready yet." Democrats on the commission, however, have painted power transmission issues as the reason for periodic blackouts.

The cost of electricity in Arizona is 13.21 c/kwh (cents per kilowatt hour) as of June 2022, compared to 12.26 c/kwh in 2021; Choose Energy data reported. The national average has increased 11.3% in the past year.

During a campaign stop in Newcastle, N.H. in September 2021, Biden told a questioner, "Look into my eyes. I guarantee you we’re going to end fossil fuels.”