Originally Posted by
aerospacepilot
The entire nation would be so much better off if they accepted the "California view." If that happened, then 35% of our power would come from renewable energy (wind, hydro, solar) instead of more than 90% fossil fuels (which is where the rest of the nation gets its power from.)
Part of the reason why people are so protective of the environment in California is we have some of the best environment in the entire world. People who have lived here long enough realize we cannot just destroy the environement, because if we don't it will "harm the economy." I would much rather pay 1 cent per kilowatt hour more than the national average for my electricity to have some of the best environment in the world protected.
And besides, our strict environmental policies have done so much to harm our economy [/SARCASM] By itself, California is the WORLD'S 5th largest economy. Do you ever wonder why property value is so expensive in California? Because we take care of our environment.
Aero,
While I know you have good intentions what you are saying is not realistic. If it were possible for us to have 35% of our energy come from wind, solar, or hydrogen power then it would. These types of energy cannot keep up with the out put of oil and therefore will not work. Just for your info 50% of our electricity comes from coal. If you are talking about nuclear then I would agree with you. California does indeed have many amazing environments but there is a balance that could be struck between the two. You guys do have a ton of oil offshore and onshore it is almost mind boggling. Our company does alot of business in California but the bad thing about Cali is that everything is taxed to death. They would charge you to breath if they could justify it. And, actually, ridiculous environmental and invasive government policies have damaged the California economy. I think there are ways a compromise could be made if anyone was willing to compromise but I doubt anyone in Cali would. Most people I have met in California automatically think that someone who says anything about trying to find oil are money grubbing, nature hating idiots. However, it may never matter because I think we will find ways around oil in the near future. I'm all about you guys keeping all your amazing scenery and oil drilling can be done in a way that will not interfere with it. It's done all the time without you even knowing about it. One way is that there are rigs off shore that drill horizontal wells to on shore to draw oil out. Rigs are also disguised offshore.