The Problem Of Power

Today is Tuesday. This will be the 10th straight day of 100+ degrees in Sacratomato, Fornicalia.

I was driving down from the mountains on Saturday, watching the exterior temperature gauge creep up in my Urabus. It started at 86 degrees, then ended up at 117 degrees as I drove in downtown Sacratomato.

From Good Morning Vietnam:

-- God, it's warm, huh?
-- Warm? No. This is a setting for a London broil.

- What's the weather like out there?
- It's hot! Damn hot! Real hot! Were you born on the sun? It's damn hot!
- I saw -- it's so damn hot, I saw little guys, their orange robes burst into flames!

I overheard someone at work say: "It's so hot I gotta get into the hot tub to cool off."

So, with temperatures at "critical," the 10th straight day of 100+ degree temperatures, what does the State of Fornicalia do? It lights up its hundreds of interstate highway signs all up and down the state, its breadth and width, which say: "CONSERVE ENERGY FLEX YOUR POWER."

Huh. Like the way you're conserving power, State of Fornicalia?

Particularly after:

Authorities in California warned that the high demand could lead later this afternoon to an emergency order for rolling blackouts, a dreaded term here that brings reminders of widespread blackouts in 2003 during an energy supply crisis.

Officials declared a power emergency earlier this afternoon, cutting electricity to some businesses that had voluntarily agreed to reduce power use in exchange for lower rates. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered state agencies to reduce electricity consumption by 25 percent, acting on a prediction from the state’s power grid managers that demand would peak at 52,000 megawatts, a mark they had not expected to reach until 2011.

Now of course, a bit of history: former Governor Gray "Empty Suit" Davis tanked the entire state in 2003 over his ridiculous energy policies which resulted in Cal ISO going critical, the state's bond ratings tanking and lawsuits abounding. This situation was the predicating event for the sacking of Davis and the election of Schwarzenegger.

The last major power plant built in Fornicalia was Sacratomato's Rancho Seco nuclear power facility, which went online in 1977 and was shut down by voters in 1989. Rancho Seco spent much time down but not due to its nuclear components; primarily from its transformers and generators. Local voters hit their ballots and checked the "No Confidence" box in the Sacramento Municipal Utility District's ability to capably run Rancho Seco which, incidentally, was a Babcock & Wilcox designed plant -- just as was Three Mile Island.

Rancho Seco had a poor operating history and a lifetime capacity average of only 39%. Due to this poor operating history and increasing costs the plant was closed by public vote on June 6, 1989, though its operating license did not expire until October 11, 2008.

There have been a dearth of power generating plants since. And yet Fornicalia insists on being the recipient for thousands and thousands of illegal immigrants, not to mention those lawful citizens who for personal or business reasons are moving to this state when, on the other hand, the State of Fornicalia insists on refusing to build infrastructure, electrical generating stations included, for this drain on resources.

Why not build power plants? Three reasons:

• Political
• Environmental
• Enron

Huh? The effect of the Enron situation (as well as Gray Davis's mismanagement of power and the resulting lawsuits in 2003) on investment money and confidence in power agencies is astoundingly negative. Some power companies will not, therefore, do business in Fornicalia when the state has a poor history with its energy management.

In the meantime, it's still damned hot!

BZ