Brushfire Threat – Solar Rule OKd
Written by 991KBU on May 11, 2018
As we told you yesterday … California regulators were ready to approve a rule that requires all newly built single family houses to have solar panels.
Indeed … the California Energy Commission voted 5-0 to approve the measure.
The rule is set to take effect in 2020 and does not need the approval of the Legislature.
And it apparently overrides local ordinances … but it’s not clear how it would affect the local height limit in Malibu.
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Gov. Jerry Brown is alarmed by reports that climate change is dramatically increasing fire risk.
Yesterday … the governor ordered an all-out attack by land managers and firefighters on the dangerous conditions that helped spread last year’s devastating wildfires.
The executive order will launch a slate of projects to increase fire protection.
More than $200 million Will be spent by the state … mostly in forest areas.
The executive order comes a day after the release of an alarming 350-page report by the California Environmental Protection Agency that documents the ruinous domino effect of climate change — including bigger, more intense forest fires, longer droughts, and an ever-shrinking snowpack in the Sierra Nevada.
The five largest fire years since 1950 have all occurred since 2006, and eight of the state’s 20 most destructive fires have happened in the past four years.
Brown’s plan includes doubling the land actively managed through vegetation thinning, controlled fires and reforestation.
