As California officials urge residents to limit their electricity use amid its most intense heat wave of the year, the state has been met with criticisms that it is falling victim to “a climate cult.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) has urged residents to limit their use of electricity due to concerns the power grid will be pushed beyond its capacity and trigger rolling blackouts
for the first time since 2020. However, some critics have pushed against those claims, arguing that the pushes to limit energy use are a result of “a crazed and irrational anti-energy, anti-human agenda.”
HERE’S WHY CALIFORNIA’S GRID IS AT RISK OF BLACKOUTS IN THE NEXT FEW DAYS
Sunrise is viewed between power lines in Sacramento, California, on Sept. 8. The record-breaking heat that has pushed the state’s electrical grid to the brink of power outages for more than a week.
(Rich Pedroncelli/AP)
“A stretch of hot days in the summer is nothing new, despite Newsom’s false claims of ‘unprecedented’ temperatures,” wrote Steve Hilton
, a prominent political commentator. “No, the real reason that California — a state that ranks as the world’s fifth largest economy — cannot power its citizens’ homes is that for years Newsom and far-left Democrats have waged war on energy in the name of fighting climate change.”
The criticism comes as California operators have issued alerts to state residents to conserve electricity during the afternoons and evenings to prevent blackouts. State officials have also encouraged Californians to set their thermostats to 78 degrees Fahrenheit or warmer and to limit their use of major appliances or light fixtures.
The heat wave has also led the state’s Democratic leadership to make policy reversals, supporting efforts to keep fossil-fuel plants online and to extend the life of the state’s last nuclear power plant as it hopes to avoid a shortfall.
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The state’s power grid has been strained due to severe drought and high temperatures. Those increase the demand for electricity as more people use air conditioners, while also limiting hydroelectric power production.
Nearly 67,000 customers in California did not have power Monday night, according to PowerOutage.US. As of Tuesday morning, more than 22,000 were off the grid.
