Democrat vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris is using past praise on social media for California’s climate change policies to connect followers to former Vice President Joe Biden’s 2020 environmental campaign platform.
The move comes as California energy infrastructure has descended into crisis and recently required help from the Trump administration.
“CA ensures that 1/3 of electricity is from renewable sources,” Harris first tweeted in February 2016. “Here’s how we can make it a model nationwide:”
The link in the 2016 tweet now directs to a page on Biden’s official campaign site describing his environmental plan.
Biden’s plan focuses on climate change and environmental justice, includes the creation of an “Office of Climate Change and Health Equity at HHS” and launching an “infectious disease defense initiative.”
IT would also use federal taxpayer funding for “clean energy” by “targeting investments made through programs related to clean energy and energy efficiency deployment; clean transit and transportation; affordable and sustainable housing; training and workforce development; remediation and reduction of legacy pollution; and development of critical clean water infrastructure.”
The San Francisco Chronicle reported on the disastrous situation in California on Tuesday:
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. said up to 172,000 customers across 22 counties will have their power cut beginning late Monday to reduce the risk of an electrical line or another piece of equipment sparking life-threatening blazes amid high winds that raise the risk of fires.
Power is restored in stages, location by location. During shut-offs last year, PG&E said workers might need up to five days to restore power, but most homes and businesses were back up and running in two days. The company must inspect all lines for damage before restoring power. PG&E envisions restoring power for the current round of shut-offs by Wednesday evening.
PG&E instituted the precautionary outages to prevent its equipment from starting wildfires in October 2018, a year after some of its power lines were blamed for the devastating Wine Country wildfires. Bill Johnson, then the company’s CEO, told state regulators last year that his company is working to make forced power shut-offs unnecessary, but the goal could take a decade to accomplish.
The report also warns that solar panels in California are connected to the power grid and will therefore be shut down too.
The newspaper told readers how they will shoulder the burden of bad energy policies:
- Keep phones and other electronics charged while also having backup charging methods available.
- Build or replenish emergency kits that include flashlights, spare batteries, a first-aid kit, emergency food and water, and cash.
- Learn how to manually open your garage door.
- Unplug electrical appliances to avoid overloading circuits and preventing fire hazards when power is restored.
- Store drinking water — 2 gallons per day per person and more for pets, as water delivery services could be affected by a shutdown.
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