Pirate's Cove

Weirdly, the Sacramento Bee’s Tom Philp is missing a big point (non-paywalled here)

As he heads to the Vatican, Gov. Newsom is failing on climate change | Opinion

Gov. Gavin Newsom is flunking a key climate change test within a stone’s throw of the Capitol. A freeway widening project on parts of Highway 50 and Interstate 80 is moving forward under his leadership that is in blatant defiance of the Sacramento region’s climate change strategy to dramatically move motorists into carpools.

When the governor visits the Vatican later this week to attend an international climate change summit, he has reason to confess a Sacramento sin. Instead of doing the hard work of real leadership, risking the annoyance of some commuters by compelling them to use carpool lanes that produce less emissions, Newsom has instead ducked this issue for months.

Team Newsom is siding with the road builders of the California Department of Transportation and ignoring his own Air Resources Board and their two blistering critiques of the coveted Caltrans project to widen freeway lanes between Sacramento and Davis. The Air Resources Board says this project will worsen the effects of climate change, but Caltrans and Newsom and trying their damndest to ignore them. Oh, and they are also ignoring the six-county Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG), who want more carpool lanes.

Newsom is no Jerry Brown, a governor who was willing to take on CalTrans from his very first term, when necessary. When it comes to road building, Newsom has far more in common with Donald Trump, pretending that unpopular moves to tackle the globe’s biggest challenge aren’t really necessary.

But, um, is Gavin listening to what the citizens of the People’s Republik Of California want with the road? Are they in favor of the road widening project? Should Gavin be listening to the citizens more than the unhinged Air Resources Board?

There is nothing popular about reversing the effects of climate change. It will demand some big changes in human behavior to reduce the gas emissions that contribute to trapping the sun’s heat and causing drier rainy seasons and temperatures to rise.

This is one of the perfect climate cult sentences: it doesn’t matter if you like it, the Elites will force you to comply. Sit down, shut up, and do what you’re told.

Philp actually forgot to mention two things: that Newsom is taking a long, fossil fueled flight all the way to Italy, and you can bet it isn’t a commercial flight. Second, Philp forgot to mention what actions he’s taken in his own life.