Infrastructure Choices Matter

On May 12, 2022, the California Coastal Commission voted 12-0 to reject a proposal to build a desalination plant in Orange County, just south of Los Angeles. The plant would have been privately funded and would have yielded a drought-proof 55,000-acre-feet of fresh water every year. Poseidon Water, the company whose application had been denied, spent two decades and over $100 million submitting paperwork to multiple federal, state, regional, and local agencies—including engineering blueprints that had to be revised and resubmitted repeatedly to comply with regulations that were not only continuously changing, but in many cases were in conflict with each other.

Less than a week later, California's state legislature answered Newsom's question, killing in committee his proposed package of legislation that would have streamlined the environmental regulations now stopping big infrastructure projects.

California's "Bullet train" boondoggle is a prime example of how infrastructure dollars are misused and wasted.

Perhaps the most misguided of all California's ambitious infrastructure schemes are the proposed offshore wind turbines.

In December, the federal government leased 583 square miles of deep ocean waters off the coast of California for offshore wind farms.

If California "Decarbonizes" and goes all-electric, which the state legislature remains absolutely committed to achieving, offshore wind would represent, at best, 2 percent of the electricity the state is going to need to generate.

Along with the natural disruptions of storms, rogue waves, and earthquakes, what about the impact of these turbines on birds, whales, other avian and aquatic life, or on planes, boats, and ships? But the problems of building just one of these turbines are magnified by what should be simple and compelling math: To generate 1.8 net gigawatts-a mere 2 percent of the electricity California's legislature aspires to generate to achieve their "Net zero" objectives-it will be necessary to build and float 450 of these 10-megawatt turbines.

California's goal, which its elected officials have exported to Washington, D.C., is to inspire the whole world to achieve "Net zero." If foreign nations aren't willing to do this voluntarily, then California is happy to have our government somehow force them into compliance.

https://amgreatness.com/2023/06/06/infrastructure-choices-matter/