Hawaiian Power Company Could Have Replaced the Aging Transmission Wires That Sparked the Wildfires -- But Spent Its Money on "Climate Change" Instead

One of the many, many failings of leftists is that they disdain mundane repair work and upgrades. They only see Grandiose Battles against Existential Threats, because they are narcissists who must always create a narrative around themselves making them fantasy-fiction heroes.

So they ignore the boring work of simply keeping infrastructure in good state of repair, instead crusading to Save the World.

While bridges crumble and roads are worn to patches, the left continues Fighting Infrastructure Racism.

That failing, the refusal to do the little things necessary to sustain civilization itself, just murdered hundreds of people.

And they're not ashamed of it.

They're proud, and calling for new Global Crusades.

The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that Hawaiian Electric, the biggest power supplier in the state, focused on shifting to renewable energy sources to combat climate change, rather than spending money to address fire risk around its power lines.

Earlier that day, John Podesta, a left-wing stalwart who advises President Joe Biden on clean energy, took to the White House podium to blame climate change for the wildfire in Maui, which destroyed Lahaina and has likely killed hundreds of people.

Even faced with the reality that spending money on wasteful green feelgoodery actually killed hundreds of people, the cultish left shrieks about their Heroic Mission to Fight the Weather.

"To stop these disasters from getting even worse, we have to cut the carbon pollution that is driving the climate crisis, and that's what the Inflation Reduction Act is all about," Podesta said, using the disaster to promote Biden's law on its first anniversary.

Apparently the kindling for the wildfires was an non-native species of grass which catches fire easily. Moron Robbie says this was planted intentionally to feed livestock, because it's drought-resistant. But maybe it also spread out into the wild.

Not much can be done about that. But Hawaiian Electric could have spent money to upgrade its aged transmission wires to make them more resistant to wind.

The Journal reported that suspicion is rapidly focusing on Hawaiian Electric's power lines, which are suspended from telephone poles, many of which were downed in the wind, and some of which were seen sparking in the hours before the wildfire spread.

The Wall Street Journal points out that California also saw wildfires caused by aging power lines:

Since [California power company Pacific Gas and Electric]'s bankruptcy, Hawaiian Electric has made reference in regulatory filings to the risks of power-line fires, but it waited years to take significant action, documents and interviews show. During that period, the company was undertaking a state-mandated shift to renewable energy.

...

In filings over the next two years with the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission, which is tasked with approving utility projects and spending, the company made only passing reference to wildfire mitigation.

...

Former regulators and energy company officials said the utility was focused at that time on procuring renewable energy. Hawaii has been on a push to convert to renewables since 2008, when a run-up in oil prices sent electrical rates at Hawaiian Electric--which relied on petroleum imports for 80% of its energy supply--through the roof. In 2015, lawmakers passed legislation mandating that the state derive 100% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2045, the first such requirement in the U.S.

Leftists routinely laugh and taunt when there's a weather-related disaster in red states. Leftists claim that red states did this to themselves, and so deserve it.

We on the right are not anti-human like all real leftists are, so we don't dance in the endzone when people in blue states die due to their own shortsighted, insane choices.

But it is worth noting that this is a situation in which the anti-human left would cheer deaths.

posted by Ace at 01:15 PM

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