The most convenient thing about climate change is that it means whatever Democrats and their media allies want it to mean.
Climate change is now to blame for California’s latest energy failures. That is the headline from the Hill, and it has been the go-to excuse for Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) whenever there are rolling blackouts as there are now. Newsom has also trotted out the excuse for wildfires and for the state’s water troubles.
But climate change did not force California to shut down its nuclear plants and begin moving exclusively toward wind and solar energy when neither source could keep the state’s energy grid running. Climate change didn’t force the state to begin phasing out natural gas, which accounted for 46% of the energy generated in the state in 2018. It was California Democrats, not climate change, who spurned reliable forms of energy, including carbon-free nuclear, for its billion-dollar green boondoggles.
As energy demand has California bracing for possible blackouts, renewable sources currently generating about 27% of electricity; natural gas at 48%.
California must get to 100% renewable retail electricity generation by 2045 under state law
— Jeremy B. White (@JeremyBWhite) September 6, 2022
Really let this sink in: California has spent *tens of billions of dollars* on “renewable” power so that in the middle of a crisis it can generate about as much power as a nuclear plant that came online in 1985 https://t.co/QluAbTAayx
— Saagar Enjeti (@esaagar) September 7, 2022
This is par for the course for California Democrats. Climate change is also blamed for the state’s water problems because it is more convenient than confronting the fact that the state has put environmentalists in charge of water storage. Environmental groups fight against every water storage project, and the state already funnels 50% of water to environmental interests, but water shortages must be blamed on something. Why not the specter of climate change so that Democrats don’t have to answer for it at the ballot box?
The same is true for wildfires. California Democrats cry climate change whenever wildfires pop up in the state, as did President Joe Biden last year. But while Biden claims that these fires will “become more common, more devastating, and more deadly” because of climate change, the reality is that roughly 75% of damage from wildfires in the state was the result of poor forest management.
And yes, when media outlets aren’t using “institutional racism” to excuse Democrats for the water crisis in Jackson, Mississippi, they are blaming climate change, as NPR did.
Climate change is simply whatever Democrats need it to be to excuse their incompetence. There is no such thing as a Democratic policy failure on energy, water, or wildfires. Democrats and their media allies can simply blame climate change, wash their hands of whatever issue is being discussed, and continue pursuing the same policies that put their state or city in this position originally.
The first step to addressing a problem is admitting you have one. Democrats, particularly in California, refuse to do so. Instead, climate change has become an excuse for them to pump billions into the same failing “green energy” plan that has led to annual rolling blackouts in the first place. Then, the vicious cycle continues as California moves closer to its 100% “renewable energy” goal and further from being able to reliably provide residents with energy at all.
