Peach Tree Times

Last week Californians barely avoided statewide blackouts due to a heatwave and lack of gas and nuclear energy supplies for electricity, according to the WSJ Editorial Board. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) called out climate change as the culprit and was forced to use emergency generators and advise a series of guidelines to deal with the crisis. 

The WSJ Editorial Board has since criticized Newsom’s response to the electricity crisis that almost caused many California residents to lose power. According to their report, Newsom has taken California towards green energy reliance (solar and wind power), causing gas and nuclear plants to shut down all across the state.

In a heat wave such as last week's 3-digit temperatures, the state was unable to provide enough electricity to Californians, as the WSJ Editorial Board reports that from 2010-2020, gas-fired capacity decreased by 4,390 MW and nuclear by 2,150 MW. 

Although California has increased the supply of solar and wind power by 17,000 MW, it cannot be forced to power millions of homes during a heatwave, according to the Editorial Board.

Among comments, Editorial Board members argue the governor’s tactics during the emergency heat wave were ironic in that California set up emergency gas-powered generators for specific situations like this one, using fossil fuels to power electricity. 

While 30% of Los Angeles’ electricity supply comes from coal—a fact the Editorial Board calls “Newsom’s dirty little climate secret”—critics claim the call to move away from fossil fuels does not make energy cheaper, and in turn makes it less reliable.

According to the piece, while heatwaves at the end of summer are completely normal, California was forced to rely on other states’ backup supply and even that wasn’t enough. At the time of the heatwave emergency, Newsom asked Californians to raise their thermostats and advised industrial businesses to temporarily close, stating that “everyone must do their part” in a video uploaded by the Governor’s office. 

The California average electricity cost has increased 25.4% compared to 2021, according to the most recent data from Choose Energy. 

Republican commissioners on the FERC, joined by some industry groups, have been arguing for a slower transition to renewable energy to ensure energy shortfalls are avoided as Democrats on the commission say power transmission issues are the reason for periodic blackouts.

“We’re headed for a reliability crisis. We’re just not ready yet,” Mark Christie, one of the commission's Republican members and a Trump appointee, said during the FERC’s monthly meeting in May.

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

This comes as Democratic Senator Warnock of Georgia said he believes the U.S. needs to move away from using fossil fuels in an unearthed video from 2020, recovered by the Washington Free Beacon this past March.

"I think we need to be moving away from an economy that’s based on fossil fuels, that’s the way of the past and we need to be moving toward the future," Warnock stated in the video.

The cost of electricity in Georgia on average is 15.27 c/kwh as of June 2022 compared to 13.61 c/kwh last year, according to the most recent data from Choose Energy. The national average has increased 11.3% compared to 2021.