Video: California’s Dysfunctional Energy Policies

Published July 31, 2020

California, with less than 0.5% of the world’s population (40 million vs. 8 billion), remains the state with the highest cost of electricity and fuels in the country and its dysfunctional energy policies are doing everything possible to further increase those costs to the detriment of those that can least afford it.

The states’ pursuit of going green at any cost, appears to be oblivious to the fact that renewable energy is only renewable ELECTRICITY, and intermittent electricity at best. 

Alex Epstein, Founder and President of the Center for Industrial Progress, and a New York Times best-selling author of The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels, interviewed me about the dysfunctionality of California’s energy policies on his weekly Power Hour show. The first 50 minutes of the 90-minute video are dedicated to the interview with Ron.

Wind and solar are incapable of providing societies and economies with the thousands of products made from petroleum derivatives manufactured from petroleum, and the various fuels also manufactured from petroleum. Those products and fuels “make things and moves products,” required by every transportation infrastructure for prosperous societies and economies. 

Energy literacy will enhance one’s comprehension that the cost of energy affects everything, from the food we eat, the clothes we wear, transportation, communications, housing, healthcare, and the leisurely living made possible by energy and its products. Raising the cost of energy is immoral and racial biased as it negatively affects those that can least afford increases in their cost of living.

Enhancing one’s energy literacy will help them understand that the mining for precious metals and minerals to support wind, solar and EV batteries associated with ‘clean’ energy is having harmful ecological consequences and causing human rights abuses worldwide. 

Here are the questions Alex Epstein asked during this 50-minute video interview on his weekly Power Hour show that addressed the messages in my Op Ed articles and my two books to the public to be more energy literate: 

  • How did you become interested in energy policy? (approx. 2 minutes into video)

  • Why are California gasoline prices so high? (approx. 5 minutes into video)

  • How much oil does California use, and for what? (approx. 9 minutes into video)

  • Where does California’s oil come from and how has this changed over the last several decades? (approx. 12 minutes into video)

  • Who is hurt most by California’s oil policies, and how? (approx. 19 minutes into video)

  • How do California electricity prices compare to the rest of the country? (approx. 21 minutes into video)

  • How much electricity does California use? (approx. 23 minutes into video)

  • Where does California’s electricity come from? (approx. 25 minutes into video)

  • Who is hurt most by California’s electricity policies, and how? (approx. 28 minutes into video)

  • What is the current state of EV use in California? (approx. 33 minutes into video)

  • What are the prospects for EV use in California? (approx. 37 minutes into video)

  • What will happen if California’s energy policies continue in their current direction? (approx. 39 minutes into video)

  • What energy policies should California adopt? (approx. 41 minutes into video)

  • What can we, especially Californians, do to fight back? (approx. 43 minutes into video)

Here are the links to the three books that address the questions on the podcast, energy literacy, and much more:

Hopefully, you’ll have time to view and listen to the 50-minute video interview to obtain a better understanding of the dysfunctionality of California’s energy policies.

[Originally posted at CFACT]