posted on April 12, 2001 06:11:53 PM new
America has engaged in some finger wagging lately because California doesn't
have enough electricity to meet its needs.
The rest of the country (including George W. Bush's energy secretary Spencer Abraham, who wants Californians to suffer through blackouts as justification for drilling for oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge) seems to be just fine
with letting Californians dangle in the breeze without enough power to meet
their needs.
They laugh at Californians' frivolity.
Well, everybody. Here's how it really is:
California ranks 48th in the nation in power consumed per person.
California grows more than half the nation's fruit, nuts and vegetables.
We're keeping them. We need something to eat when the power goes out.
We grow 99 percent or more of the nation's almonds, artichokes, dates, figs,
kiwifruit, olives, persimmons, pistachios, prunes, raisins and walnuts.
Hope you won't miss them.
California is the nation's number one dairy state. We're keeping our
dairy products. We'll need plenty of fresh ones since our refrigerators can't
be relied upon. Got milk?
We Californians are gonna keep all our high-tech software in state.
Silicon Valley is ours, after all. Without enough electricity, which you're
apparently keeping for yourselves, we just plain don't have enough
software to spare.
We're keeping all our airplanes. California builds a good percentage of
the commercial airliners available to fly you people to where you want to
go. When yours wear out, you'd better hope Boeing's Washington plant can
keep you supplied. There isn't enough electricity here to allow us to export any more planes than we need ourselves.
And while we're at it, we're keeping all our high-tech aerospace stuff, too, like
the sophisticated weapons systems that let you sleep at night, not worried you might wake up under the rule of some foreign kook.
Oh, yeah, and if you want to make a long-distance call, remember where the satellite components and tracking systems come from. Maybe you could get back in the habit of writing letters.
Want to see a blockbuster movie this weekend? Come to California. We
make them here. Since we'll now have to make them with our own electricity, we're keeping them. Even if we shot them somewhere else, the labs, printing facilities, editing facilities, and sound facilities are all here.
Want some nice domestic wine? We produce over 17 million gallons per
year. We'll need all it to drown our sorrows when we think about the fact that
no matter how many California products we export to make the rest of America's
lives better, America can't see its way clear to help us out with a little electricity.
You can no longer have any of our wine.
You all complain that we don't build enough power plants. Well, you don't
grow enough food, write enough software, make enough movies, build enough
airplanes and defense systems or make enough wine.
Items of local note....
......just heard today that PG&E owns a little over a billion dollars worth of real estate in my county and won't be paying its property taxes in their entirety this year....county is expecting a $3M shortfall from them alone.
....got home from a walk with the wife tonight and noticed a number of tractors hooked up to deep well pumps....electric motors removed and lines cut.....nearly mid April and no ditch water yet...about a month behind.
FWIW, I've got a diesel generator and fuel tank, an evaporitive cooler and will be filling my 500 gallon propane tank up shortly...
Don't count on the utilities and the government for a fix....it's up to us, as usual...
Oh, and expect to pay a bunch more for California produce and fruit in the stores this year...not to mention the by-products of those methane emitting bovines...among others...*G*
posted on April 12, 2001 09:21:04 PM newKatyD Acctually he is the mayor of Oakland, CA. I don't know who's worse Jerry or Willie Brown, mayor of San Francisco.
posted on April 12, 2001 09:27:57 PM new
camachinist - I am a machinist also. Guy last year told me someone told his brother in law that if he wanted a temporary fix for his well that was silted up to shoot his hunting rifle down the casing and it would blow the silt loose and it would draw for a few weeks or month. So he went home and did that. Sorry to say he did not pull the pump up that was hanging there on the cable. Idiot shot his pump.....
posted on April 12, 2001 10:01:38 PM newgravid LOL
You don't live nearby, do you??
If it hadn't threatened to flood my house, I would've gotten a hoot out the guy who though he could cut the bank of the irriagation canal and put in a metal plate to irrigate his little 5 acre garden....we got a surge in the canal and it topped his plate and washed it out and sent the entire contents of the ditch down the street to guess where.....
I was madly building a dike in the front yard with the tractor to direct the torrent down to the corner of my property where it was lower...
Gave the ditchtender a piece of my mind on that one....there's a name that comes to mind which I won't repeat here...
He knew about the illegal gate but never did anything...
Maybe I'll tell him (still works the ditch) about your buddy's BIL's well solution...hope springs eternal...*G*
posted on April 13, 2001 06:48:20 AM new
No I live in MI but there are brother in laws like that everywhere. Your irrigation thing reminds me of when my friend took me up in the hills of West Virginia to meet his relatives.
They used to use wood which is abundant to fire their stills but then they had high pressure natural gas pipelines laid cross country nearby. They go up to the line drill a hole in the side and tap it for a 1/2 inch pipe thread then drill the rest of the way through with a tiny drill like a # 70. They put a nipple and gate valve and run pipe to the still to use natural gas - no smoke for the BATF to follow. The guys that inspect the pipe line understand that if they stop using it they will put a good plug with a point in the hole that plugs it like a needle valve. They don't follow the line away because they have a watcher on the line 600 or 800 yards away and if they see someone follow it they put a round past close enough
to feel the shock wave as it goes past. Tells you real plain to stick to the main line. Moonshine must pay OK. First time I every saw a $5,000 sniper rifle.
[ edited by gravid on Apr 13, 2001 06:51 AM ]
posted on April 13, 2001 08:44:40 AM new
JustJoan - I received that same CA. email too.
What I'd like to know/understand is why Californians didn't vote to build more power plants. Seems like everytime it came up for a vote, it was voted down. I believe the environmentalists were fighting any being built.
Haven't heard anything lately, but when this crisis began some agency was looking into all the power plants that were closed down for (supposed) maintainence. Obviously doing so would reduce the available energy and drive prices up. My understanding is that what was found was that almost 1/2 of them didn't need maintainence. True? Anyone heard lately?
posted on April 13, 2001 09:07:45 AM new
Linda_K it seems that NOBODY wants a power plant in their back yard, and alll those old power plants, were sold by the electric companies, now they don't meet the right standards, and so nobody wants them back on line, not in their back yards that is.
All I can say is this deregulation was the worse fiasco I have ever seen, and we the consumers are taking it in the ................
And oh if you could see this state LITE UP AT NIGHT, and everybody complaining about the lack of energy, well turn of the dam lites. I mean I can't believe the waste.
posted on April 13, 2001 09:17:21 AM new
Hi Joan - Yes, that's what I mean.
No one wants new power plants built.
No one wants dirty air caused by the old plants being run.
No one wants to conserve, either fuel or power.
And no one wants to pay more for power.
Have you read anything about those power plants that were down for maintainence (and didn't need to be) being fined by the PUC? Just curious if they ever were.
