A few weeks ago, I had a post here on how California's penchant for green statism -- a trend displayed most vividly in AB 32, the state's version of cap and trade, which is expected to cost its economy $183 billion -- is fueling its continued decline. According to a report in today's Orange County Register, the state's newest green initiative would only deepen the problem:
A proposed measure aiming for the November ballot would force California's nuclear power plants at San Onofre and Diablo Canyon to cease operations - and could cause rolling blackouts and cost billions, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst.
The Nuclear Waste Act of 2012 would require that no nuclear power be generated in the Golden State until the federal government can permanently dispose of high-level nuclear waste.
The details in the LAO report are grisly. Noting that the state gets approximately 16 percent of its electricity from nuclear power, the analysis envisions an economic loss as high as tens of billions of dollars a year. And the resultant skyrocketing of energy prices, it warns, would significantly hamper both private industry and government, with the loss in private-sector revenue also depriving the state of tax dollars.
In short, the results would be chaos; voluntary and avoidable chaos. California voters already missed one opportunity to stop the green bloodletting last year when they failed to pass Proposition 23, which would have suspended implementation of AB 32 until the state gets out of its current unemployment doldrums. If they fail again, the last person out of the state won't even have to bother turning out the lights.
In short, the results would be chaos; voluntary and avoidable chaos. California voters already missed one opportunity to stop the green bloodletting last year when they failed to pass Proposition 23, which would have suspended implementation of AB 32 until the state gets out of its current unemployment doldrums. If they fail again, the last person out of the state won't even have to bother turning out the lights.
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