{"id":1571289,"date":"2025-09-11T16:25:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T20:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1571289"},"modified":"2025-09-11T16:25:00","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T20:25:00","slug":"fact-checking-newsoms-clean-energy-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/fact-checking-newsoms-clean-energy-claims\/1571289\/","title":{"rendered":"Fact-Checking Newsom’s ‘Clean Energy’ Claims"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fact-Checking Newsom’s ‘Clean Energy’ Claims<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Authored by Edward Ring via American Greatness<\/a>,<\/em><\/p>\n

In a recent guest op-ed published by the\u00a0Wall Street Journal<\/em>, California\u00a0Governor Newsom claimed<\/a> that \u201cClean Energy Powers California\u2019s Economic Growth,\u201d a claim that is transparently false.<\/strong> Aggressive \u201cclean energy\u201d mandates, paired with perpetually escalating restrictions on conventional energy sources, are the reasons Californians pay the highest prices in America for gasoline<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0electricity<\/a>, and nearly the highest prices of any major state for\u00a0natural gas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Along with ignoring the fact that affordable energy is fundamental to economic growth and California has the least affordable energy in America, Newsom makes grossly incorrect statements.<\/strong> In the subhead of his op-ed, he writes, \u201cMore than two-thirds of the state\u2019s electricity is from sources such as solar, wind, and geothermal.\u201d This isn\u2019t even close to accurate.<\/p>\n

The California Energy Commission reports in-state\u00a0electricity production by source<\/a>. <\/strong>The most recent data is for 2023, and in that year, wind, solar, and geothermal energy accounted for a mere 31 percent of California\u2019s total in-state electricity production. Even when adding nuclear and hydroelectric power, California\u2019s total \u201cclean\u201d energy only accounted for 54 percent of the electricity generated in the state.<\/p>\n

Newsom goes on to write that \u201cclimate change has made our summers hotter,\u201d and that 2024 was the warmest on record.<\/strong> He boasts that \u201crapid deployment of clean energy and battery storage\u201d got Californians through the summer of 2024 without blackouts. This is a half-truth at best. As reported in CalMatters, a left-leaning site that covers California politics, in 2023, in order to \u201cshore up California\u2019s straining power grid,\u201d Newsom\u00a0delayed the planned closures<\/a>\u00a0of three natural gas-powered generating plants that together\u00a0contribute 2.2 gigawatts<\/a>\u00a0to California\u2019s electricity grid. <\/strong>In 2022, Newsom delayed the\u00a0planned 2025 closure<\/a>\u00a0of California\u2019s last major nuclear-powered generating plant,\u00a0Diablo Canyon<\/a>, preserving another 2.2 gigawatts of baseload electricity.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, no fact check of Newsom\u2019s WSJ op-ed would be complete without questioning his claim that 2024 was \u201cthe warmest on record.\u201d This is something we hear all the time. It is a statement meant to foment fear and discourage dissenting opinions. But is it true? Los Angeles County, a place where an estimated\u00a027 percent of all Californians<\/a>\u00a0live, has kept\u00a0temperature records since 1878<\/a>. <\/strong>If you plot the average annual temperature, you will see a trend suggesting that overall, in Los Angeles County, it is not quite three degrees Fahrenheit hotter in the 2020s than it was in the 1880s. The trend isn\u2019t smooth. In the 1930s, average temperatures were comparable and in some years hotter than in the 2020s. But there\u2019s a major factor that politicians and biased activists conveniently ignore: the urban heat island effect.<\/p>\n

Consider\u00a0this animated map<\/a> showing urban development in Los Angeles County over the past century. <\/strong>The area of paved surfaces today is easily ten times more extensive than it was in the 1930s. According to no less an authority than Cal EPA, the urban heat island effect<\/a>\u00a0can raise average temperatures by between 4 and 9 degrees Fahrenheit. By that logic, it\u2019s\u00a0cooler<\/em>\u00a0in Los Angeles County today than it was a century ago. It\u2019s pavement, not greenhouse gas, that\u2019s caused a modest rise in temperature.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Returning to Newsom\u2019s dishonesty regarding energy, and to be fair, California\u2019s sunny weather and lowering costs for photovoltaic arrays and stationary, utility-scale battery storage have allowed the state to develop an impressive renewable electricity capacity. But what stabilized the grid in 2024 was 4.4 gigawatts of natural gas and nuclear-powered electricity that, were it not for Newsom\u2019s intervention, would have already been taken offline by the environmentalist fanatics who run the state<\/strong>. Even during afternoons in late summer when peak demand frequently\u00a0draws over 40 gigawatts<\/a>\u00a0from California\u2019s grid, 4.4 gigawatts offers a share that spells the difference between stability and crash.<\/p>\n

Newsom\u2019s epic mistake, one that California\u2019s extreme environmentalist bureaucracy and state legislature would make even if the governor were as pragmatic as he claims, is to destroy California\u2019s conventional energy industry before \u201crenewables\u201d are able to compete in an unsubsidized environment with the energy sources they seek to displace. Electricity use still only constitutes a fraction of California\u2019s total energy consumption. The data is unequivocal.<\/p>\n

According to the US Energy Information Administration, Californians in 2023 derived 30 percent of their energy from natural gas and 47 percent from petroleum<\/strong>.\u00a0Even that total, 77 percent<\/a>, understates the contribution from \u201ccombustibles\u201d because it doesn\u2019t take into account the quantities of coal- and natural gas-generated electricity that Californians have to import from out-of-state sources. Californians aren\u2019t anywhere close to ending their dependence on natural gas and oil, and yet, despite possessing some of the richest reserves of natural gas and oil in the world, California imports 74 percent of its crude oil<\/a>\u00a0and over\u00a090 percent of its natural gas<\/a>. That\u2019s probably going to get worse.<\/p>\n

Thanks to Newsom and the state legislature\u2019s ceaseless, unending regulatory assault on its in-state oil drilling and refining industry, the state\u2019s petroleum infrastructure is on the brink of collapse. Newsom has been frantically backpedaling<\/a> in the face of a looming gasoline supply crisis, as two oil refineries have\u00a0announced plans to shut down<\/a>\u00a0within the next 12 months.<\/p>\n

The entire climate crisis agenda may be based on completely false premises<\/strong>. A\u00a0new peer-reviewed study<\/a> released in July 2025, authored by five top climatologists for the U.S. Department of Energy, challenges the alarmist narrative. Concerning this study, U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said, \u201cClimate change is real, and it deserves attention. But it is not the greatest threat facing humanity. As someone who values data, I know that improving the human condition depends on expanding access to reliable, affordable energy.\u201d Dr. Judith Curry, one of the scientists who participated in writing the study, has just released a response<\/a>\u00a0to the torrent of indignant criticisms it generated. She exposes most of these criticisms as political and not scientific.<\/p>\n

What challenges to the entire climate alarm industry at this level portend for Newsom and the religious zealots who worship at the altar of climate alarm is a new era, characterized by robust debate instead of bureaucratic bludgeoning \u00e0 la \u201cthe science is settled\u201d mode. Will this save California? It would take an awful lot of soul-searching, and it would require standing up to powerful special interests<\/strong>. Because it isn\u2019t just energy that the climate alarm industry has undermined in California. It\u2019s all development, everywhere. From timber harvests to management of water resources to approving or denying building permits for new homes, \u201cclimate impact\u201d statements are used by regulators and litigators to stop projects in their tracks.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the biggest irony is Newsom\u2019s recent embrace of the \u201cabundance movement<\/a>.\u201d Newsom is joined in this new fad by a huge faction of progressives who appreciate its value as a distraction from most of their pet issues, which have turned them into a laughingstock and a menace. But \u201cabundance\u201d policies coming from progressive climate warriors are doomed to fail. The only abundance they will champion is renewable energy, \u201cinfill\u201d high-density housing, and water rationing. This fatally limited approach will not enable abundance in any form, much less lead to lower prices for these essentials.<\/p>\n

Typically, the fact checkers at the Wall Street Journal scrupulously review all assertions made in a piece they intend to publish, including any from guest writers submitting opinion pieces. That Newsom was allowed to make so many factually incorrect assertions, along with numerous errors of omission, is a disappointing lapse by one of America\u2019s last remaining credible sources of mainstream news.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nThu, 09\/11\/2025 – 12:25<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/political\/fact-checking-newsoms-clean-energy-claims<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fact-Checking Newsom’s ‘Clean Energy’ Claims Authored by Edward Ring via American Greatness, In a recent guest op-ed published by the\u00a0Wall Street Journal, California\u00a0Governor Newsom claimed…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1571290,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1571289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1571289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1571289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1571289\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1571290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1571289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1571289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1571289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}