No! It's not caused by Global Warming...

   Recently Governor Brown gave a speech at a news conference on the Camp Fire in California.  Here he spent much of his time placing the blame for the fire on Global Warming and used his speech to instill fear into us to get on board his agenda to control the climate.

   But sorry Mr Brown... the disastrous blaze in Northern California know as the "Camp Fire" was not caused by Global Warming.  The problem isn't a mysterious Boogie-man you try to use to push your agenda.

   The problem was caused by 3 main agents:

1)  Environmentalists
2)  Unions
3)  Lawyers

First the Environmentalists.   These people put pressure on California back in the 70's to end the clear-cutting of timber.   This has caused the over-growth of trees in our state and because our forestry service has done it's job of stopping the smaller fires, the uncut timber has become a ticking time-fire-bomb.   Trees do not last forever.   They, like everything else, die naturally and when they do they carpet the forest floor with dead and dry wood.  This wood, if not removed will pile up and become extremely flammable.   Once started, there is no stopping it.

The Unions played their part in this fiasco because over the years PG&E lineman have become overpaid.  Simple linemen can earn over $200K per year and a high voltage lineman can earn over $300K.    They also have large fully-funded pensions that include full medical and dental for life and also a 401K on the side that PG&E matches dollar for dollar.   These unions have forced PG&E to cut back on staff and have made it too expensive for them to replace their dying infrastructure. These power lines (some of which were only meant to be "temporary" ) are now falling apart.   These power line provide the "spark" to light the ticking-fire-bomb in our state.  We are foolish to think that all these high voltage lines can just live on forever.   They will eventually crumble and light more and more dangerous fires.   As proof that PG&E knows this is the problem, they have set up plans to shut off the power during certain conditions of high humidity and WIND.   That is the only solution PG&E has to address the problem.  It is CHEAPER for them to lose money by shutting of the power (can't charge people for power you didn't deliver) than it is to FIX their aging equipment.

Finally we have the lawyers.  All these disasters are followed by huge lawsuits levied against PG&E by the insurance companies.  Because they don't want to be held holding the bag on these burnt homes they go after PG&E to offset the cost.  But in the end, that leaves PG&E with even LESS money to fund fixing the problem.   This becomes a perfect storm in which everyone will be hurt in the end. 

California will continue to see increasing amounts of catastrophic fires in the coming years if this is not addressed.  The answer to the problem is not moving to Solar Panels.  The answer is two pronged.

First we must allow the timber industry to clear cut again.  This will remove the old growth and also provide fire-breaks that will stop future fires from ravaging uncontrolled.   We cannot continue to allow them to grow unchecked.  Before modern fire control, mother nature took care of it by periodically cleaning up the forests.   But now we don't let that happen.   Clear-cutting is our best alternative.  The wood in our forests will be used for something, we might as well put it to some GOOD use.   Right now it's only use is to devastate our citizens and fill our skies with smoke.

Next, we have to get PG&E to improve and update their aging lines.   Because of the current situation and how much it needs to be done quickly, the Governor should call out the National Guard to work along side of PG&E to assist in getting this much needed work done quickly and cheaply.