By Ronald Stein, P.E.
December 21, 2024
Governor Newsom remains oblivious that there is no replacement for oil that provides products that support the 8 billion on this planet.
California Governor Gavin Newsom represents a population of 40 million. The State’s residents are a miniscule 0.4 percent of the 8 billion on this planet, but he has California acting as an independent country with environmental laws, regulations, and mandates unmatched on this planet.
President-Elect Trump recognizes a key fact that Newsom does not, that there is no known “replacement” to fossil fuels that supports the materialistic demands of the population and economy, and thus most “green” movements are projected to be obliterated after Trump’s January 20th inauguration.
The residents of California, through their silence, provides encouragement for Newsom to continue his net-zero mission that has contributed to the State having the highest costs for electricity and fuels in the nation for the few residing in the State.
The Governor remains ignorant that the other 99.6 percent of the world’s population live outside the borders of the State. Newsom is also oblivious that about 80 percent of the world’s 8 billion, many of which are in Africa, Asia and Latin America still live on less than $10 a day – and the billions who still have little to no access to electricity.
Newsom’s quixotic approach seeks to simultaneously increase occasionally generated electricity from weather dependent wind and solar while reducing the state’s use of natural gas that generates continuous, uninterruptable, and dispatchable electricity.
Wind turbines for the generation of electricity under favorable weather conditions, would be non-existent were it not for government subsidies and mandates behind them. Today, we have towering engines of mass destruction marching across the countryside killing birds and bats and laying waste to farmlands and forests.
The Governor now supports the development of offshore wind generated electricity as part of his renewable electricity goals. California is proposing to build offshore wind turbines to produce an estimated 85,000 gigawatt-hours of power annually to the electric grid.
- To meet that goal of 85,000 gigawatt-hoursof power would require 2,500 floating 10 megawatt wind turbines 20 miles offshore, each one about 1,000 feet tall, anchored in water 4,000 feet deep, with high voltage undersea transmission lines connecting each of them to land-based substations.
- If these wind turbine monstrosities are ever built, the total project cost will easily exceed $300 billion, with catastrophic consequences to the marine environmentincluding migrating whales, and then, it’s ONLY for electricity as wind turbines CANNOT make any of the more than 6,000 products that our materialistic economy demands
Newsom remains insensitive to wind being one of the most expensive ways to generate electricity, nor is he concerned that wind turbines damage the environment, kill birds, and kills whales.
Special note about a new drama television series, LANDMAN, with Lead Actor Billy Bob Thornton, that supports Energy Literacy:
All the parts and components of California Governor Newsom’s net zero emissions fantasy is 100% dependent on crude oil, the same oil that he wants to rid the world of.
As a Facebook trailer illustrates for the new “Landman” drama television series, created by Taylor Sheridan and Christian Wallace, Newsom is oblivious to the fact that every product in our society, that did not exist 200 years ago, is made from oil.
Thus, before Newsom totally destroys the California economy, Newsom needs to identify the “replacement” to crude oil that will support the materialistic demands of the economy, before he preaches net zero emissions.
Be sure to click on the Facebook Link for a 90-second commercial for the new LANDMAN drama series with Lead Actor Billy Bob Thornton, that summarizes the intellectual ignorance of the green movement:
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1620339808894808
Governor Newsom, who solely picks winners and losers, announced in 2020 that California will ban sales of new gasoline powered vehicles by 2035, BUT remains oblivious to those that purchase those vehicles OUTSIDE of California, or to the 99.6% of those on this planet that live outside the borders of the State.
While the Newsom administration pushed tax credits to incentivize automakers to invest in EVs, the same credits that are financially encouraging Chian and Africa to continue exploiting their people with yellow, brown, and black skin that are mining for the exotic minerals and metals needed for EV batteries, and for those developing countries to continue the environmental degradation to THEIR landscapes, just so America can go green!
Despite decades of efforts and billions in subsidies to bolster “green electricity” from weather dependent wind and solar, Californias still get all of the 6,000 products from oil, the same products that are integral to human prosperity across the globe, that support the demands of infrastructures like: Transportation, Airports, Water filtration, Sanitation, Hospitals, Medical equipment, Appliances, Electronics, Telecommunications systems, Heating and ventilating, and the Space programs.
Shockingly, before a replacement for oil has been identified to support the materialistic demand for those 6,000 products made from oil, field production in California has dropped from 400 million barrels per year in the 1980s to only 118 billion barrels in 2023. Today, despite reserves of crude oil estimated at more than 27 billion barrels, California imports 60 percent of its oil demands.
Ironically, California policies that end oil production in the state drive up imports from nations that lack California’s environmental standards or labor protections and sets up California as a national security risk for the entire country as the State’s 9 international airports, 41 military airports and 3 of the busiest shipping terminals are dependent on foreign oil imports to operate.
California’s gas formulation is unique, from all other 49 States which means only in-state refineries can produce it.
California’s policies attacking oil refineries that manufacture only state-specific formulations continue to cause unprecedented crises. When the Phillips 66 plant closes in 2025, in-state refinery capacity will drop to its lowest level in decades to meet the States’ consumption of 1.45 million barrels per day. With refinery turnarounds needed for periodic maintenance and repairs, a shortage of California’s special fuel formulation is imminent. One blip, and we’ll have gas lines that make 1979 look like a cakewalk.
At the expense of its residents, who are now paying the highest costs for electricity and fuels in the nation, California’s Governor Newsom remains oblivious to the other 8 billion on this planet that are dependent on the products and fuels from oil, the same oil for which there is no known replacement.
Please share this information with teachers, students, and friends to encourage Energy Literacy conversations at the family dinner table.
© 2024 Ronald Stein – All Rights Reserved
E-Mail Ronald Stein: Ronald.Stein@EnergyLiteracy.net
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