Calif. Governor Vows To 'Crush' Foes Of Renewable Energy

nytimes.com:

LOS ANGELES -- California Gov. Jerry Brown yesterday promised to overcome those working to block widespread renewable energy.

"When local communities try to block installation of solar like they did in San Luis Obispo, we act to overcome the opposition," Brown (D) said, referring to the city where environmental groups have been protesting two large-scale solar plants over environmental and endangered species concerns.

Read the whole story: nytimes.com

Comments

[Foodgrade]

01:17 PM on 07/27/2011

Very interesting. Jerry brown thinks that public participation in the planning and permitting process is a bother and he wants to "crush" it.

I'm no longer to be allowed to comment about a project that will seriously impact my property, livleyhood or health. The onlyones who will be allowed input into the process are developers with a huge financial interest and no interest in environment, traffic, noise or the property rights and health of others. It's those darb environmentalists again, and those pesky endangered species.

Well you track down the money for these huge out of scale projects and you will find that they're financed by the same people who brought you the Alaska oil splii, the gulf oil spill, thousands of pipeline spills and a bunch of dangerous nuclear plants. The same money.

The only thing Jerry Brown did in Oakland was cave into the cops and let them declare minority neighborhoods a free fire zone. Now he attacks schools while carefully keeping his hands off of an out of control prison system and refuses to address state outsourcing of major infrastructure projects such as the Bay bridge to China.

He now wants to "crush" public participation in government. Well, Jerry Brown has been in government too long. He's forgotton that he works for us, not the other way around. I think he should seek opportunities that will widen his very narrow experience and viewpoint and stop trying to limit my lawful right to participate in government decisions.

[sheila]

11:27 AM on 07/27/2011

I can tell you, as someone at the speech, he was clearly saying he would crush the environmentalists who know that bulldozing millions of acres of healthy wilderness for Chevron profits is a bad idea for the planet, democracy and the economy, and he was doing it at a conference for people who support the alternative to wilderness-slaughtering Big Solar, which is small solar sited in the built environment where the power is needed.

Am a HUGE fan of Jerry Brown, but he was so completely off target on this one that it left a bad taste in everyone's mouth. It is one thing to make building permits consistent across the state - permitting trouble on buildings is the kind of "obstruction" he should be crushing, but slamming Native Americans, desert biologists, economists, engineers and people who believe that our wilderness should stay wild while our buildings should be greened was a really misguided attack. He came off as an autocratic fool, not a strong leader.

Obviously he is getting bad information from Big Energy apologists at the Big Enviro organizations, who totally support mulching thousands of desert tortoises so that BP and Goldman Sachs can gobble up more taxpayer money and taxpayer land to line their own pockets, and pretend it's "green."

Sorry, Jerry - this was a total, epic FAIL. We are counting on you to HELP the planet, not kill it for Big Energy profits.

[mothergrace]

12:39 PM on 07/27/2011

I have written to the governor and will also call. I cannot imagine what he is thinking. I know he isn't perfect and I do not always agree with his solutions, but I thought he was smarter than this.

It seems the fight never ends.

[sheila]

01:22 AM on 07/28/2011

thanks, mothergrace - Big Energy is the problem, we are not the problem because we don't want to hand them another century of dominance over our lives.

the saddest part was that we were all at the conference to SUPPORT AND EXPAND SMALLER LOCAL SOLAR, at his invitation! he had the solution sitting right in front of him, and he chose that moment to cheerlead the problem. so weird.

[lotus321]

10:41 AM on 07/27/2011

Green energy jobs are a scam. Here is a question. If the average person cannot afford the prodcuts of green energy (I.e solar systems, wind mills), how will the alleged jobs be supported.

[3dtrix]

01:21 AM on 07/27/2011

Some people think that liberals have a soft, spongy core - that may be true for some - but Brown and Pelosi are perfect examples of FIGHTING liberals with spines of steel! MY kind of liberals! The kind that know what's right - and get things done.

The mental midgets that hung the "moonbeam" moniker on him in the seventies were deriding his visionary embrace of global communication technology. alternative energy, and sustainability - if we had ONLY gotten on the bus THEN - think how much further down the road we'd be NOW. NOT lagging behind our global competitors, and begging them for money, you can be sure.

THIS is the posture that liberals and progressives MUST take to manifest progress in the USA - to confront the regressive forces HEAD ON and sweep them aside - they have ALWAYS been on the wrong side of history - no matter how wealthy or powerful they may be.

Roll up your sleeves and BASH 'em, Jer...

[sheila]

11:33 AM on 07/27/2011

Although I agree with your general suggestion, the people he wants to crush are the FAR MORE COURAGEOUS LIBERALS STANDING UP TO BIG ENERGY. He wants anyone trying to protect endangered tortoise habitat from Chevron Solar's bulldozers (which will mulch thousands of said tortoises), and who are demanding policies that will DEMOCRATIZE the grid, not re-centralize it for Big Energy monopolists, to shut up so that nobody sees how totally, totally wrong Big Solar is for our economy, our climate and our open spaces, not to mention our democracy.

Happily, the people who are working to save YOU from Big Energy industrialization of millions of acres of wilderness already have spines much much stronger than any politician's. We have to, because we speak truth to power, including the greenwashing being done by Big Enviros, and now by Governor Brown.

Ironically, he brought his "spine of steel" to a conference that he himself called, to support the ALTERNATIVE to deadly, wasteful, expensive monopoly solar - what is called "distributed generation," and which is clean energy sited where it is needed, not where Chevron can get the most taxpayer subsidies.

[3dtrix]

12:41 PM on 07/27/2011

There is a middle path - more or less always. Habitat and species destruction can be minimized and mitigated. There are appropriate developments of BOTH centralized and de-centralized energy production. It is said, for example, an array of solar panels ten miles square in the middle of the Mojave desert - would power most of the western US.

Would that impact the environment adversely in that locality - certainly. Would the greater good be worth it? It would take a lot of convincing to get me to say no.

I applaud your passion - and recognize that pushback is an important part of ALL such processes - but frankly, I'd rather see a solar array with a Chevron logo on it than an expanse of oil derricks.

Are we to operate from a baseline that big is ALWAYS bad - and irredeemably so? That big can't be pushed in a direction that better serves the people and the planet?

[econ1]

08:23 PM on 07/26/2011

"Brown in his speech didn't mince words.

"There's technical problems, financial problems, regulatory problems, coordination problems," he said. "The fact is, the regulations are so embedded in our culture or legal system that to overcome it is difficult."

The solution might lie in simply powering through them somehow, he said.

"Every law has a certain logic that continues to expand its reach," he said. "The only way to stop it is to stop it, to intervene in some way." New laws probably aren't the answer, he said. "

Now if he would just apply that logic to parts of the economy beyond just the current favorite the economy would improve much faster. He is beginning to see what business people in CA face every day.

[LATEACHER1X]

08:04 PM on 07/26/2011

Keep up the good work, Governor Brown!

[corwin]

07:29 PM on 07/26/2011

You see,this is why I was so happy Jerry (chuckle) Brown was elected governor.California was in dire straits Thought and logic were necessary.Naturally Dems would shrink from that.naturally,there would be lots of conspiracies on sites like this.Now, as the state implodes and accelerates its rate,,the cannibalism and whining is being driven by a realization the Smart people have declined to rush to the rescue.

[mothergrace]

12:41 PM on 07/27/2011

I am so glad I do not know you personally. I already feel unclean encountering you here. I cannot imagine actually dealing with you in person.

[Red Russet]

06:27 PM on 07/26/2011

SO - You're gonna crush the Koch Bros.

[RyanCSmith]

07:51 PM on 07/26/2011

I'd pay good money to see that fight go down. It would be the political rumble of the century!