Elias: California energy bill could be Legislature’s worst this year

There is rarely a shortage of self-destructive bills in the California Legislature when lawmakers come back from their summer recess and get ready to confront the real consequences of proposed laws that have already passed one legislative house Perhaps this year s best example as legislators arrive back in town this August will be a bill known as SB and sponsored by Silicon Valley s Josh Becker D-Menlo Park Related Articles Elias Believe what Trump says he plans in California other blue states Elias Newsom further distinguishes himself as anti-Trump champion Elias Federal state aid to L A fire casualties so far bodes ill for future This bill would essentially end California s ability to decide what kind of electric vigor it will use for all time to come It throws out Enron-era protections against price manipulation and essentially gives the Trump administration control over this state s environmental laws Yes coal could be back if that s what President Trump or utility executives in states like Idaho and Utah want to impose on Californians And they do This summer has already given ample evidence of how poorly Trump and his minions understand California First they had the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency conduct a wave of raids across Southern California claiming they were going after criminal illegal immigrants They did in fact arrest and deport a inadequate undocumented persons with serious criminal records But majority raids were conducted at restaurants car washes and building supply stores where the undocumented often seek day work These aroused crowds of thousands almost all of whom protested peacefully even though there was chosen vandalism mostly at night when crowds had thinned Trump responded by nationalizing and calling out thousands of National Guard troops excoriating Newsom for interfering with federal operations when he did nothing of the sort and threatening mass arrests All while local police and sheriff s deputies already had things under control There is no reason to believe Trump understands the California electric grid any better than he understands how Californians protest and react to what multiple see as injustice That s what makes the Western grid envisioned in SB so potentially pernicious This bill strongly backed by Google and other Silicon Valley giants would give much of the power to determine where and what kind of power plants would be placed around the West to the Federal Potency Regulatory Commission FERC That agency is now controlled by Trump appointees who outspokenly advocate for coal power Californians who want cleaner potential and more solar and wind power will be overruled just as Newsom was when Trump ordered out the National Guard So much for California s independence or control over its own strength fate Of program big California companies purveying at the moment trendy artificial intelligence are all for this They re building more and more records centers in the rural west including parts of California s Central Valley and they need huge new power supplies Yes certain senators voiced concerns about Trump pre-empting California laws to provide this and the lack of legislative oversight in the bill However that did not keep the vote in the state Senate from going - to advance this deregulation law As the bill moved through Senate committees amendments were added to require minimizing costs and maximizing supply as well as chosen transparency All those amendments disappeared before the final vote though and would need to be reinstated by the state Assembly unless it is similarly intimidated by the high-tech assistance for this measure One analysis by the Senate Judiciary Committee was especially on point California could see essential harms to its capacity goals and its standing in the regional field the committee staff revealed These dangers are even greater now that Trump has directed the U S attorney general to find techniques to curtail our state s environment change efforts Still a large number of Democrats with strong environmental records went along with this even approving the repeal of protections against price gouging It s all a way for artificial intelligence firms to control the electric industry for their benefit with little or no transparency for millions of other consumers It is certainly daring but could also yield an Enron-like mishap if they hoard power and force prices up Only this time the law would not allow California to solve the issue on its own but rather would keep it tethered to other states that don t care a bit about California consumers All this stupidity is only part of what makes SB perhaps the year s dumbest bill Email Thomas Elias at tdelias aol com and read more of his columns online at californiafocus net