California is dreaming of more power 2001-05-08

California has been a harbinger state for the nation for the last half-century. Like the canary in the coal mine, it signals what's ahead for the rest of the nation.

It was the first state for a system of community colleges. The first cries of the property tax rebellion were heard there. America's love affair with domestic wines began there, as did college unrest, recreational drugs, environmentalism and the anti-nuke movement.

So it's worth paying attention to what is going on in California as it begins its long dark summer -- the result of the West's severe power crisis.

* Electricity bills have nearly doubled. Businesses are spending millions of dollars to purchase backup, gasoline-fired generators so they can operate when the rolling blackouts resume, as they did yesterday.

* Small businesses are adding power surcharges to their customers' bills in order to stay in business. The Englander Sports Pub & Restaurant in San Leandro adds 5 percent to bills. A popular ice cream parlor in Oakland adds 25 cents per each $10 order for takeouts and 30 cents for those who dine there.

* The YMCA in San Francisco has added a $1 per month surcharge to its membership bills. Another Y is dipping deep into its reserve funds to pay electricity bills that have nearly tripled.

* Car lots are unplugging their billboards at night and removing every other bulb in the strings that hang over their outdoor lot. The move is reducing their power bills, but also costing them customers. Casinos in Palm Springs have set their thermostats warmer, even as the temperature outside is nearing 100 degrees.

* Public institutions are having to shut down occasionally to avoid blackouts. Law enforcement agencies are patrolling shopping malls and supermarkets looking for nonessential lighting. State workers, meanwhile, are being sent into disadvantaged neighborhoods urging the poor and elderly to conserve power as well.

The power crisis has made conservation a way of life in California. That's not all bad, of course. But these are short-term steps to get the state through its immediate predicament.

Treating consumption as a problem is not a viable energy policy for the long haul. Providing a stable, affordable supply of power for the century ahead is.

That's why we're encouraged with the Bush administration's approach to the mounting national crisis. While the president and his aides are promoting conservation, they have said loud and clear that the principal aim of the energy policy they're developing will be to increase supplies.

President Bush also has acknowledged that ``it's going to take a lot of political will for people to buck some of the trends (and people) who believe that without finding additional supplies of energy, this nation is going to be OK.''

California officials are now predicting that forced rolling blackouts could occur on as many as 30 days this summer, potentially threatening the health of the elderly, creating traffic hazards and contributing to crime.

After decades of ambivalence to energy policy, California and the nation are facing a stern test.

http://www.southcountyjournal.com/sited/story/html/53018

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), May 08, 2001