A4 Friday, May 27, 2022 Mountain Democrat mtdemocrat.com
OPINION
Richard B. Esposito Publisher
Noel Stack Managing Editor
Krysten Kellum Editor
California Matters
Gov. Newsom’s electric car nirvana collides with reality
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ov. Gavin Newsom and the California Air Resources Board publicly boasted about making great strides toward eliminating fossil fuels and their greenhouse gases. The board recently released “a draft plan Dan Walters that, when final, will guide the state’s transition to a clean energy economy, drastically reduce the use of fossil fuels, achieve carbon neutrality by 2045 or sooner, and significantly clean the state’s air especially in disadvantaged communities disproportionately burdened by persistent pollution.” Much of the plan is concentrated on transportation — particularly cars and trucks — which is the largest single emitter of carbon dioxide and other pollutants. “That means rapidly moving to zero-emission transportation, electrifying the cars, buses, trains, and trucks that now constitute California’s single largest source of planet-warming pollution,” ARB states. Newsom, meanwhile, crowed that with new state subsidies, sales of battery-powered zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) have exceeded 16% of all new vehicle sales so far this year, more than double the proportion in 2020. He also noted Californians make half of nationwide Gov. Gavin Newsom purchases of electric and the Air vehicles. Resources Board “Our state is on the frontlines of extreme are boasting about weather and we’re California’s shift taking aggressive steps to zero-emission to protect Californians from the costs of vehicles but the climate change — reality of making it transitioning away from happen is daunting. the big polluters fueling this crisis and towards clean energy,” Newsom said. “These incentives make it easier and cheaper to make that transition.” This year’s increase in electric car sales was, no doubt, spurred in part by a steep hike in gasoline prices, as well as subsidies — which poses an interesting dichotomy. Newsom has decried those fuel price spikes and wants the state to offset them with payments to motorists, which would reduce some of their motivation to buy electric cars. Moreover, were California to eventually ban sales of gasoline- and diesel-powered vehicles and go 100% ZEVs, as Newsom also advocates, charging their batteries would impose immense new burdens on an electric power grid that’s already strained to meet demand. By happenstance, as Newsom and the air board were issuing their upbeat messages about the shift, a financial data website, Forbes Advisor, was revealing that California has one of the nation’s worst records on providing recharging sites for ZEV owners. Its study, drawn from U.S. Department of Energy data and numbers from all 50 states, found North Dakota is the nation’s most ZEV-friendly state with one charging station for every 3.18 electric vehicles. Wyoming, Rhode Island, Maine and West Virginia
Summary
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See Walters, page A5
Letters to the Editor Left’s support of crime EDITOR: evin Kiley’s column pointed out what we already knew, that zero bail policies, sanctuary city and state policies and George Soros backed DAs who supported criminals at the expense of the honest promoted crime. But there is more that the mainstream media and the Democrats that control this state have successfully kept from the public. I will outline a couple of things that you might not have been aware of. First there were the initiatives that the-Gov. Jerry Brown backed to reduce prison populations. You were told that you were voting to release nonviolent felons from prison. What you weren’t told and what might have changed the vote was that the nonviolent determination was just based on the inmate’s last conviction. An inmate could have dozens of violent felony convictions but as long as the last conviction was nonviolent that’s how they were classified for release and released to prey on the public. What even fewer are aware of is the parole scandal. Most parolees were transferred from California Department of Corrections supervision to Probation under Post Release Community Supervision. Under PRCS it was common for a parolee to be arrested for being in possession of guns and ammunition, both felonies, and not get more time for the fresh felonies, not be sent back to prison to at least finish his sentence, but instead released back to prey on the public after a 10-day timeout in jail called a “flash incarceration.” With the left wing policies we have, a crime wave can hardly be a surprise to anyone. GEORGE ALGER Placerville
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Homeless crisis ... for how long? EDITOR: n April 19 the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors, led by Chair Lori Parlin, voted to declare a “homeless shelter crisis” in our beautiful county. By doing so, under the provisions of Assembly Bill 2553, Supervisors Parlin, Hidahl, Thomas and Novasel voted to disregard the voter approved General Plan, eliminate a public bidding process and create a double standard for enforcement of local land use regulations. Unlike the average El Dorado County resident who has to abide by all rules and regulations, homeless shelters will no longer be held to the same standards. District 2 County Supervisor George Turnboo is the only elected official to vote in opposition to this approach. Supervisor Parlin stated the Board of Supervisors would manage, with full transparency, the navigation center project. Yet it appeared the city of
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Placerville was surprised at the locations selected and was not in favor of navigation centers close to schools, shopping and private residences. This is concerning and does not instill a vote of confidence that the supervisors are really partnering with the city of Placerville, Placerville Police Department or the El Dorado County Sheriff ’s Office. It is also disheartening that Supervisor Parlin would suggest a homeless individual would not respond when approached by a deputy from the sheriff ’s Homeless Outreach Team. The phrase “protect and serve” is the reason so many choose law enforcement. I don’t believe a sympathetic volunteer or social worker should be rated by Supervisor Parlin as more capable than one of our deputies from the Sheriff ’s Homeless Outreach Team, who have been positively addressing the struggles of the homeless for many years with care and professionalism. Supervisor Hidahl said, “We have to do something.” My hope is the word “crisis” will demand the urgency the word implies and the Board of Supervisors act in the best interest of the entire community. My fear is the supervisors will get the grant money they want and we will still be talking about this next year as we watch the tents on Broadway and along the highway increase and wonder where the money went and if there is still a crisis. CINDA WALTON Cameron Park
No more true words have ever been spoken EDITOR: n June 2, 1787, only days after the Constitutional Convention was convened, Benjamin Franklin offered his opinion about the question of paying legislators and executive officers of the federal government. He opposed the idea. However, his speech is relevant respecting the effect of power on public officials. It is a prescient and compelling warning about human behavior. (The Liberty Amendments, Mark R. Levin – 2013) “Sir, there are two passions which have a powerful influence on the affairs of men. These are ambition and avarice, the love of power and the love of money. Separately each of these has a great force in prompting men to action; but when united in view of the same object, they have in many minds the most violent effects. “Place before the eyes of such men, a post of honor that shall be at the same time a place of profit, and they will move heaven and earth to obtain it. The vast number of such places it is that
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See letters, page A5
The Not So Weekly Daley
Consider that all elections have real consequences
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s happens from time to time, one of my most reliable sources sent me an otherwise secret transcript of a recent “Candidate Interview” featuring several candidates — three Dems and three GOPers. Their names Chris have been concealed behind the identifiers using 1 or 2 or 3 for each party. Example: GOP 1 is running for the Senate from a southern state. DEM 3 is in a race for Secretary of State from a Midwest state. The others will become apparent as the interview proceeds. Interviewers represent PBS
journalists from around the country and will be noted as INT. Let’s get started shall we. INT – GOP 1, What do you consider the main issue facing voters now? GOP 1 – Well, INT, pretty clearly it’s the last election and how our state has been Daley devastated by those catastrophic results. Tornadoes, drought, no baby food. Just going out for Chinese could mean the poorhouse for your family. INT – DEM 3, How will you secure the ballots in your state? DEM 3 – Easy INT, I’ve already contracted with the Italian satellite people to make sure everything is
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molto bene. GOP 2 – Oh yeah, just like last time? INT – GOP 2, please expand on your view. GOP 2 – When I win I’ll shoot the bejeezus out of every Italian satellite that pokes its nose in our business and that goes double for the Iranians. INT – DEM 1, Is climate change still a hoax by Venezuela, Cuba and many deniers in your Congressional district? DEM 1 – Sadly, INT, it still is. As their representative, I’ll be knocking a few heads together, figuratively speaking, every Thursday when I’m back from D.C. and on recess. INT – GOP 3, You’re in a close race out west. How do you appeal to a majority of voters there? GOP 3 – First I’ll vote to increase tax breaks for elected GOP officials
and then replace state run childcare with orphanages that focus on work and prayer. Slam dunk! INT – Indeed. DEM 2, How will you control gas prices and access to fuel? DEM 2 – I’ll raise the price even more and pretty soon everyone will want electric. It’s not rocket surgery, INT. INT – All GOP, Does the notion of Saint Donald and Saint Melania resonate with your state and/or district voters? All GOP – And how! All, DEMs – Yuck, gag, barf. The transcript ends there. We may assume it got a lot more personal later, but we’ll just have to wait for another delivery in the plain brown wrapper. Chris Daley is a biweekly columnist for the Mountain Democrat.
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