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LA Fires

Wtf?



COUNTLESS reports of mass fire coverage cancellations by insurance companies just WEEKS before the Los Angeles fires

This woman BLASTED the California government for their mismanagement and explained the fire coverage on her childhood home was just cancelled after DECADES

She decided to defend the home with a garden hose.

Per @RealJamesWoods, his neighborhood had their coverage mass cancelled recently as well.

WHY?
 
The "all knowing" elites in CA have had to walk-back some major policies because they were too aggressive and not sustainable. I wanted to hear the rest of that interview about nuclear, because part of the grid problem is the result of the promulgation of the State Water Board's Once-through Cooling Policy from 2011. Something that I know a great deal about as I was on the front lines of it.

State Nuclear Review Committee

Also know a little about haz waste, too...

DTSC Advisory Committee
 
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Dems asleep at the wheel as usual.

Once again, total BS:


Note that the NG was mobilized YESTERDAY at the same time the State of Emergency was declared. But as usual, OP sees a random tweeter and just posts whatever they say without even checking.
 
Once again, total BS:


Note that the NG was mobilized YESTERDAY at the same time the State of Emergency was declared. But as usual, OP sees a random tweeter and just posts whatever they say without even checking.
I'm sure given new information they will adjust their opinion.
 
Well, to be fair, Trump and I probably have about the same expertise at forest management, and I fully admit that I don't have a clue. But Trump saying that California should pump water uphill into holding areas and then "water" the forests to keep them damp seems impractical.
 
I'm sure given new information they will adjust their opinion.
Absolutely. But really, if you ask OP tomorrow, he'll still be saying that the NG didn't get deployed. You have to remember. To Trumpians, Truth is whatever helps Trump and anything else is just Deep State Fake News. Facts don't matter at all.
 
Well, to be fair, Trump and I probably have about the same expertise at forest management, and I fully admit that I don't have a clue. But Trump saying that California should pump water uphill into holding areas and then "water" the forests to keep them damp seems impractical.
Didn't he also say he was going to re-direct an Oregon river to California to prevent forest fires and if Gavin didn't allow it, he would receive no more federal funds?

Edit - found it and yes he did
 
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Well, to be fair, Trump and I probably have about the same expertise at forest management, and I fully admit that I don't have a clue. But Trump saying that California should pump water uphill into holding areas and then "water" the forests to keep them damp seems impractical.
Why impractical? Millions of gallons of water are pumped every day!
 
Why impractical? Millions of gallons of water are pumped every day!
Over millions of acres? It's not the amount of water, it's the area to be affected. Again, no clue how forestry management works, but I grew up on a Peach Farm in SC. Water wasn't an issue during dry summers, but running irrigation to get the water where it needed to be was WORK.

I'd also think the AMOUT of water would be an issue in California. Remember that Trump already promised the farmers there that he'd give them more water for irrigation of crops so they can grow more, even though there's already shortages in California Cities. Again, no expertise here either, but it seems evident that there isn't enough water to go around for everyone, so I'm not sure how watering the forest is going to work out with respect to the amount of water available either.
 
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Didn't he also say he was going to re-direct an Oregon river to California to prevent forest fires and if Gavin didn't allow it, he would receive no more federal funds?

Edit - found it and yes he did

I dunno Donald. I've flown to Hawaii a couple of times and to Europe once, crossing the entire Atlantic and half the Pacific Oceans. I've seen a LOT of water.

Seriously though. Diverting a river is at least POSSIBLE, if not very realistic. Certainly that seems a lot more doable to me than watering the forests around LA.
 
Why impractical? Millions of gallons of water are pumped every day!
Not being snarky; just pointing out facts. Unlike too many, I don't let my political beliefs blind me to when someone is completely wrong about an issue; and living out here, I see both sides and their respective Myopia.

Approximately 20% of California's electricity is used to move water now. Not sure that pumping it up into the Sierra foothills to irrigate forests is the best strategy, long term. And yes, I'm very familiar with pumped storage for electricity generation, but that is a niche use of water for that purpose.

Still trying not to laugh at anyone suggesting that California has plenty of water. It had plenty when the population was perhaps 1 million, not 40 million. The state has always had a natural ebb & flow of droughts and plentiful rain years. Tulare Lake (mentioned in Rogan's podcast) and Owen's Lake (history is often forgotten) are but two examples of Southern California's ongoing need for more water.

There's a reason why the Poseidon plant is the largest desal plant in the nation and it sits in SoCal. There's also a reason why Mulholland and his LA Dept. of Water & Power cronies duped the Owens Valley landowners into giving up their water rights. You know (or maybe you don't...) when the farmers dynamited the LA Aqueduct in 1924 as a protest?

Ever seen the level of subsidence from over pumping the central valley aquifers? No? I have. Pretty stunning to see--you don't need to be a Hydrogeologist to appreciate the irreversible nature of that kind of over-extraction.

But hey, let's build huge cities in places like Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Phoenix...they'll always have plenty of water, I'm sure of it.
 
Not being snarky; just pointing out facts. Unlike too many, I don't let my political beliefs blind me to when someone is completely wrong about an issue; and living out here, I see both sides and their respective Myopia.

Approximately 20% of California's electricity is used to move water now. Not sure that pumping it up into the Sierra foothills to irrigate forests is the best strategy, long term. And yes, I'm very familiar with pumped storage for electricity generation, but that is a niche use of water for that purpose.

Still trying not to laugh at anyone suggesting that California has plenty of water. It had plenty when the population was perhaps 1 million, not 40 million. The state has always had a natural ebb & flow of droughts and plentiful rain years. Tulare Lake (mentioned in Rogan's podcast) and Owen's Lake (history is often forgotten) are but two examples of Southern California's ongoing need for more water.

There's a reason why the Poseidon plant is the largest desal plant in the nation and it sits in SoCal. There's also a reason why Mulholland and his LA Dept. of Water & Power cronies duped the Owens Valley landowners into giving up their water rights. You know (or maybe you don't...) when the farmers dynamited the LA Aqueduct in 1924 as a protest?

Ever seen the level of subsidence from over pumping the central valley aquifers? No? I have. Pretty stunning to see--you don't need to be a Hydrogeologist to appreciate the irreversible nature of that kind of over-extraction.

But hey, let's build huge cities in places like Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Phoenix...they'll always have plenty of water, I'm sure of it.
This seems like a reasonable post. I'm ignorant of the processes involved in desalinating ocean water, but I suspect it's a bit more expensive than just pumping it out of a river for irrigation. A couple of questions, does desalinating water turn it into drinking water or simply remove the salt? What kind of volume do you get out of a "typical" plant per day. Obviously, you get salt as a side product... Is that usable?

Edit: In a effort to cure some of my ignorance here, I found this... probably a 2 min read (note that for some in this thread, more like 20min).

 
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Not being snarky; just pointing out facts. Unlike too many, I don't let my political beliefs blind me to when someone is completely wrong about an issue; and living out here, I see both sides and their respective Myopia.

Approximately 20% of California's electricity is used to move water now. Not sure that pumping it up into the Sierra foothills to irrigate forests is the best strategy, long term. And yes, I'm very familiar with pumped storage for electricity generation, but that is a niche use of water for that purpose.

Still trying not to laugh at anyone suggesting that California has plenty of water. It had plenty when the population was perhaps 1 million, not 40 million. The state has always had a natural ebb & flow of droughts and plentiful rain years. Tulare Lake (mentioned in Rogan's podcast) and Owen's Lake (history is often forgotten) are but two examples of Southern California's ongoing need for more water.

There's a reason why the Poseidon plant is the largest desal plant in the nation and it sits in SoCal. There's also a reason why Mulholland and his LA Dept. of Water & Power cronies duped the Owens Valley landowners into giving up their water rights. You know (or maybe you don't...) when the farmers dynamited the LA Aqueduct in 1924 as a protest?

Ever seen the level of subsidence from over pumping the central valley aquifers? No? I have. Pretty stunning to see--you don't need to be a Hydrogeologist to appreciate the irreversible nature of that kind of over-extraction.

But hey, let's build huge cities in places like Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Phoenix...they'll always have plenty of water, I'm sure of it.

This seems like a reasonable post. I'm ignorant of the processes involved in desalinating ocean water, but I suspect it's a bit more expensive than just pumping it out of a river for irrigation. A couple of questions, does desalinating water turn it into drinking water or simply remove the salt? What kind of volume do you get out of a "typical" plant per day. Obviously, you get salt as a side product... Is that usable?

Edit: In a effort to cure some of my ignorance here, I found this... probably a 2 min read (note that for some in this thread, more like 20min).


Both post I can understand. My point was, I don't think it's impractical nor unfeasible.
First @southerncaltiger last sentence is spot on.

I would think Cali, like other similar climate areas is big into water reuse. If not, it damn should be. Pumping is not always done by electric motors. I get the vast amount of forest, but is everywhere in Cali (forest-wise) this susceptible to long dry periods and high winds?
As far as the "Donald" reference. I will take that as a compliment, for the fact that at least he is throwing ideas out there, instead of blaming everything on CC and totally ignoring the issues. Sounds to me a lot of residences there seem to agree.
 
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This seems like a reasonable post. I'm ignorant of the processes involved in desalinating ocean water, but I suspect it's a bit more expensive than just pumping it out of a river for irrigation. A couple of questions, does desalinating water turn it into drinking water or simply remove the salt? What kind of volume do you get out of a "typical" plant per day. Obviously, you get salt as a side product... Is that usable?

Edit: In a effort to cure some of my ignorance here, I found this... probably a 2 min read (note that for some in this thread, more like 20min).

Maybe off topic, but one issue with desalination is dumping the brine. Corpus Christi has a water supply issue and desal plant(s) were going to be built a couple years ago. But the EPA told the desalination company that the plans looked great except you need to run more pipe and dump it further out in ocean or you'll kill everything in the bay. Companies wouldn't part with extra expense and walked away. I'm sure our new environmentally conscious administration will fix that. Who needs those damn fish and crustaceans.
 
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This seems like a reasonable post. I'm ignorant of the processes involved in desalinating ocean water, but I suspect it's a bit more expensive than just pumping it out of a river for irrigation. A couple of questions, does desalinating water turn it into drinking water or simply remove the salt? What kind of volume do you get out of a "typical" plant per day. Obviously, you get salt as a side product... Is that usable?

Edit: In a effort to cure some of my ignorance here, I found this... probably a 2 min read (note that for some in this thread, more like 20min).

Thanks man! I've made a career of bringing regulators and industry together (I was on a couple of non-profit boards, too) to get things done. Slinging mud does nothing but get everyone filthy dirty, so you have to learn to listen, educate & meet in the middle as best you can.

Short answers to your questions:

Yeah, can be a lot more expensive and energy intensive as well. Desal is often referred to as the most expensive drinking water on the planet. Brackish water? Not bad. The higher the dissolved solids content, the harder it is to purify, which makes sense to most folks. If you can pair a desal plant with a power plant discharge, you essentially get a "free" source of heated water and that saves costs.

You remove salts and other undesirable anions/cations. Sulfur is an obvious one that you'd like to get rid of.

Poseidon is rated for 50 MGD; SCE's plant (it's actually two) on Catalina Island (I know a little about it, LOL) puts out about 250,000 GPD. Poseidon is the largest in the U.S., for context.

Discharge of the salt (really a strong brine) is an issue. Not really useful for anything (unless it contains Lithium--hint, hint) and discharging to land or the ocean requires NPDES permitting. Also, the CA Coastal Commission has to grant you a permit before you can build/discharge to the ocean. If too much goes out too quickly, you get a "dead zone" around the discharge area. Similar issue we had for the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in San Clemente, but that was a temperature-only limit...you don't discharge nuclear-contaminated water that way--it's an entirely separate cooling loop.
 
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Both post I can understand. My point was, I don't think it's impractical nor unfeasible.
First @southerncaltiger last sentence is spot on.

I would think Cali, like other similar climate areas is big into water reuse. If not, it damn should be. Pumping is not always done by electric motors. I get the vast amount of forest, but is everywhere in Cali (forest-wise) this susceptible to long dry periods and high winds?
As far as the "Donald" reference. I will take that as a compliment, for the fact that at least he is throwing ideas out there, instead of blaming everything on CC and totally ignoring the issues. Sounds to me a lot of residences there seem to agree.
Oh, yeah, absolutely. Have to do it. Detractors in Orange County started calling it "Toilet to Tap".

Again, failed middle school education by many who over reacted...ALL water is "recycled"; you know, the Water Cycle. 🤣

I agree about throwing ideas out there. Trump is talented in that area. One of my early successes at SCE was a "radical" proposal for how to dispose of a very specific waste stream from our then newest power plant in Redlands, CA. You shouldn't re-tread failed ideas of the past, but if you're not trying to innovate then you're likely stagnating. If I'd had a dollar for every SCE old-timer who responded to my inquiry with "But, we've always done it that way; your way won't work/we can't do it", I'd have retired 5 years earlier. LOL.
 
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Oh, yeah, absolutely. Have to do it. Detractors in Orange County started calling it "Toilet to Tap".

Again, failed middle school education by many who over reacted...ALL water is "recycled"; you know, the Water Cycle. 🤣

I agree about throwing ideas out there. Trump is talented in that area. One of my early successes at SCE was a "radical" proposal for how to dispose of a very specific waste stream from our then newest power plant in Redlands, CA. You shouldn't re-tread failed ideas of the past, but if you're not trying to innovate then your likely stagnating. If I'd had a dollar for every SCE old-timer who responded to my inquiry with "But, we've always done it that way; your way won't work/we can't do it", I'd have retired 5 years earlier. LOL.
Purple pipe waters a many of golf courses.

The engineering company I work for has 9 offices throughout CA, so I hear the concerns a lot. I stick with the east coast problems.
 
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Once again, total BS:


Note that the NG was mobilized YESTERDAY at the same time the State of Emergency was declared. But as usual, OP sees a random tweeter and just posts whatever they say without even checking.
You can't prove the exact timing. Just conflicting accounts here.
 
You can't prove the exact timing. Just conflicting accounts here.
OF COURSE YOU CAN!! The orders of a state governor to the state national guard are a matter of public record. Here's the actual State of Emergency Proclamation oddly enough, issued YESTERDAY. Again, you just posted BS without even checking.

https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SOE_Palisades-Fire_1-7-25_Formatted.pdf

The part you are looking for is:

The California National Guard may be mobilized under Military and Veterans Code section 146 to support disaster response and relief efforts, as directed by the Office of Emergency Services, and to coordinate with all relevant state agencies and state and local emergency responders and law enforcement within the impacted areas. Sections 147 and 188 of the Military and Veterans Code area pplicable during the period of participation in this mission, exempting the California Military Department from applicable procurement rules for specified emergency purchases, and those rules are here by suspended.
 
OF COURSE YOU CAN!! The orders of a state governor to the state national guard are a matter of public record. Here's the actual State of Emergency Proclamation oddly enough, issued YESTERDAY. Again, you just posted BS without even checking.

https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SOE_Palisades-Fire_1-7-25_Formatted.pdf

The part you are looking for is:

The California National Guard may be mobilized under Military and Veterans Code section 146 to support disaster response and relief efforts, as directed by the Office of Emergency Services, and to coordinate with all relevant state agencies and state and local emergency responders and law enforcement within the impacted areas. Sections 147 and 188 of the Military and Veterans Code area pplicable during the period of participation in this mission, exempting the California Military Department from applicable procurement rules for specified emergency purchases, and those rules are here by suspended.
They can drop a time on a web page after the fact. I do not know for a fact either way. If I occasionally post something that turns out to not be correct then so be it. TI community notes in action. I am right a lot more than you for sure.
 
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What's your opinion then being on the ground in cali? Speaking in general terms and not just this incident.
You know the old adage that the road to hell is paved with good intentions? 🤣

Again, I'm WAY oversimplifying things, but having been on or near the front lines on so much environmental affairs/environmental policy that's gone on out here in the last 20 years, I'd say "Over regulation".

In a well-intentioned, but misguided effort to protect the state's resources, things have become over complicated. I'm using a broad definition of resources--air, water, forests, endangered species, coast line, oceans/bays, etc. but no one entity has sole authority to approve necessary work and none of them want to give up what authority they do have. It's a lot like the Academic pissing contests that I saw between professors when I was in grad school.

When I left last year, I was responsible as the Executive Advisor (fancy name for an industry liaison at the exec level for regulatory agencies--No, not a lobbyist) to the following agencies:

Coastal Commission
State Lands Commission
Dept. of Fish & Wildlife (for heaven's sake, don't say "game")
Dept. of Toxic Substances Control (Like SC DHEC only more effed-up)
State Water Board
US Fish & Wildlife Service
USACE (They know everything; just ask them)
CA Air Resources Board-CARB (lots of air--hot air--they love to hear themselves talk)

Overlapping jurisdictions and ambiguous charters/mission statements create more permitting/approval delays than get reported in the media. I'll leave it at that. Could write a lot more, but you get my point.
 
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