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See homes in Malibu and the Pacific Burn to the ground While fire hydrants running dry is bad enough, knowing that water shortages are the result of bad bureaucratic decisions makes the horrific scenes even worse.
Water is everywhere in California. The Golden State borders the Pacific Ocean, which has countless gallons that could be desalted to fill tanks and feed fire hydrants.
But California's bureaucracy discourages the construction of desalination plants that would guarantee additional volumes of water, and no reservoirs have been built for the $2.7 billion authorized in 2014.
Los Angeles wildfires: California fire bug caught on video as police warn of arsonists
Environmentalists prefer to blame climate change for wildfires, just as the ancient Greeks would blame their gods when things went wrong. It's passing the buck instead of looking in the mirror.
Water is dropped by helicopter on the Kenneth Fire in the West Hills section of Los Angeles, Thursday, January 9, 2025. (Ethan Swope/AP)
Fires burning on federal lands from 1916 to the mid-1940s, when carbon dioxide emissions were lower, were as high as levels in the 2000s.
In California, politicians promoted an agenda to eliminate water, energy and minerals, increasing human suffering. The question is how they maintain power without people voting them out of office.
This is especially true when considering the tragedy of the fire, which could have been prevented with water.
State agencies that must approve desalination projects include the State Water Resources Control Board, the California Coastal Commission, the California State Lands Commission, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, the West Coast Region of the National Marine Fisheries Service, and the National Marine Fisheries Service. National marine fish. Six regional coastal water quality monitoring boards. this The system is designed to slow progress.
Additionally, approval is based on tribal consultation, environmental justice, consideration of marine life and energy efficiency, among other factors.
The state of California granted $120 million to water desalination projects, compared to $1.4 billion for charging stations and $500 million for electric school buses. The California Air Resources Board has the power to accelerate clean air regulations.
Surely, if California can afford the multibillion-dollar purchases of electric cars, the state can fill its tanks with water – especially since wildfires do more damage to the air than gasoline-powered vehicles?
States with a lower GDP than California have no problem building desalination plants. Such plants produce more than 7 million cubic meters per day in the UAE, or about 40% of the country's drinking water. Kuwait and Oman use desalination of about 90% of their drinking water, and Saudi Arabia’s share of desalinated water is 70%.
More burned cars from the Eaton Fire at Brick Masters in Altadena. (Fox News Digital/Ashley Carnahan)
Bahrain recently completed construction of its second desalination plant, using new energy-efficient reverse osmosis technology from Veolia Water Technologies, based in France. The factory produces 227 thousand cubic meters per day and began operating after 22 months.
The problem is that the California government has created water scarcity, just as it has created energy scarcity and critical mineral scarcity.
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California needs to generate 60% of its energy from renewables by 2030, so it is experiencing energy scarcity as prices rise. The Legislature unanimously passed the Seabed Mining Prevention Act in 2022, which prevents the extraction of important marine minerals, leaving America at the mercy of China.
The environmental agenda, which focuses on scarcity rather than abundance, gives governments the power to distribute those limited resources. In times of scarcity, people become dependent on the government rather than on their own actions.
Water is everywhere in California. The Golden State borders the Pacific Ocean, which has countless gallons that could be desalted to fill tanks and feed fire hydrants.
One of the two homes on his street that survived the 2018 Woolsey fire in Malibu was owned by Robert Kirbeck, author of “Malibu Burning: The True Story Behind Los Angeles' Most Destructive Wildfires,” who had previously learned how to spray his house with fire retardant. It is cut brush that can fuel the flames.
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As Kirbeck recently wrote: “We need more water to fight fires, more tanks to store water, and more firefighters with the right kind of equipment to fight these massive, wind-driven fires.”
California politics are often based on a myth within a mystery, as Churchill put it about the Soviet Union. Californians who have promoted an energy, water and mineral scarcity agenda in order to protect the environment need to think again. Nature should not be worshiped at such a cost to people.
