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To coin a phrase from one of my favorite TV shows – America’s Heartland, “The American Farmer– feeds, fuels and clothes the world.” Could it be a fourth category will be added? “Energize.” One of the largest topics of debate currently centers around our future of electrical energy production. As I’m writing this article, the politicians and special interest groups in Sacramento are at odds over how California will obtain enough electricity. Of course these people all have their own agendas. The politicians predictably want control, the animal rights people want zero impact on everything, the environmentalists want green, the labor groups wants high paying jobs, and the utility companies want a profitable monopoly with minimal regulations. My late mother (God rest her soul) had a wonderful saying that would apply here: “These people can’t see the forest through the trees.”
The decision makers are only capable of thinking one dimensional, which always leads to taking care of the public via mass bureaucracy. Now, we are not just talking about purchasing electricity from neighboring states, but even Canada! So let’s not only ship our state’s economy to another state but another country! Is it just me, or is this ridiculous? California has a huge amount of sun, wind areas, and certain hydro locations. There are thousands of private acres of rural land with low grade soil just sitting. In many cases the government pays the land owner not to grow anything. Why not grow electricity? What if a land owner could use a few acres of low grade soil in a rural location to install solar or wind generators, feed it back into the grid, and be paid a reasonable rate for the power to create a profit. Otherwise stagnant land would become productive, the land owner creates a business, it’s a “green” source, local jobs are created, the economy stays here, and the produced power is used in the same state it’s generated in. The equipment can even be placed on elevated frames so not to inhibit wildlife movement. The bottom line here is we need to see more localized decision making and control. The era of big government has not proven itself successful. I believe change is in the air. |
Constant 
