Environmental Progress founder and former California gubernatorial candidate Michael Shellenberger had a stark warning about the blackouts and electricity shortages that several California counties are facing. Shellenberger joined “America Reports” on Fox News, and he discussed California’s failed leadership, calling it “incompetence piled on ideology.” Shellenberger has been one of the most effective critics of California Governor Gavin Newsom. By effective, I mean that when he criticizes Newsom, he brings the facts with him, and people listen to him. Similar to California Assemblyman Kevin Kiley, who is running for Congress in California’s third district — and he is favored to win that race.
Shellenberger told Fox News host John Roberts on “America Reports”:
“The message that gets sent when you’re on the verge of blackouts, when you have electricity shortages, is that you better not buy an electric car if you want to get to work or go to the grocery store. This is very serious. People die during blackouts.”
Of course, what Shellenberger is referring to is California’s ban on gas-powered vehicles by 2035, giving residents no choice but to drive an electric car that they won’t even be able to charge during these times.
As I reported previously, the California ban on gas-powered vehicles is likely illegal and could be reversed in court.
Shellenberger added:
“You don’t have enough of air conditioning. You have potential catastrophic failures of essential parts of the electrical grid. So we’re dealing with sort of incompetence piled on ideology here in California. It’s really like a developing economy here where you don’t have reliable electricity.”
Shellenberger continued, speaking about the cost of electricity in California:
“The cost of electricity in California went up seven times more than they did in the rest of the United States over the last decade. And yet they still can’t maintain our power grid. So it’s a verydire situation. It’s very serious. And I think the most disturbing part of it is that California has been held up as the model for the rest of the United States by President Biden.”
We have seen President Biden and Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm praise California’s aggressive plan to combat climate change. Granholm recently said she supports California’s gas-powered vehicle ban. The saying, “as goes California, so goes the nation,” seems true to this day. But conservatives who have stayed in California will continue to fight and have their voices heard, so the rest of the country does not have to endure the climate agendas, blackouts, and gas-powered vehicle ban, among other laughable policies implemented by Newsom and his Democratic super majority Assembly.
Shellenberger ran as an Independent, and he was the best chance at defeating Newsom in November, but the California GOP decided to endorse Brian Dahle. It remains to be seen if Dahle will put up a fight against Newsom.