My friends, the time has come, yet again, for another episode of “Stream of Consciousness” theater where I write about whatever comes to mind, and there may be no rhyme or reason to any of it. It’s not that I believe our taste in music, as a people, has completely gone down the tube, but I cannot get on board with mumble-rapping, dubstep, and any other genre of music popularized by SoundCloud. Furthermore, millennials are so consumed with their handheld devices that conversations between people sitting at the same dinner table might as well be completely over text message or FaceTime. I was at a birthday brunch the other day and I recognized that when people weren’t being directly spoken to, they immediately unlocked their smartphones, rather than exist in a possibility where, even for a moment, they weren’t the center of attention.
I hope you enjoyed the above blathering, and without further adieu, here’s what you missed in the news yesterday.
It’s Electric!
According to recent statistics released by InsideEVs, nearly one million electric vehicles have been sold in the US since December 2010 through the end of September 2018. The report projects there will be 18.7 million electric vehicles driving on US roads in the next ten to twelve years. The original plan was for the auto industry to hit one million EVs by 2015, but I believe its fair to say that former President Barack Obama and President Donald Trump have different perspectives on the future of our planet’s climate and what it means to be ‘energy efficient.’ This concept is clear when we consider the fact that Trump was so distraught with the loss of 14,000 automotive jobs that he threatened the entire automotive sector by taking away their precious electric vehicle subsidy.
Trump has worked very hard to cement the United States as “the world’s largest crude oil producer” and according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), 140.43 billion gallons gasoline are used in America, alone, each year. If automakers and consumers receive incentives for opting towards electric vehicles, this will undoubtedly have an effect on the revenue streams of global oil producers, ultimately resulting in an unhappy President Trump.
Despite President Trump’s attempt to squander any potential moves by automakers that would otherwise disrupt the global crude market, automotive manufacturers have continued to research and put in motion plans for producing the next generation of electric vehicles. One such company, Volkswagen, announced on Monday that it will spend $800 million to expand their Chattanooga, Tennessee location to ramp up production on their line of electric vehicles. Considering that VW was accused of that whole emissions cheating scandal a couple years back, it makes sense that the Company is trying to earn back a favorable public opinion.
“The expansion of the plant will create up to 1,000 new jobs plus additional jobs at suppliers. The first electric car from Chattanooga is to roll off the production line in 2022. Over the next few years, eight MEB plants are to be developed in Europe, North America and China. Volkswagen is building up the production capacity needed to sell more than 1 million electric cars per year by 2025.”
–VW corporate announcement regarding electric vehicles
Pacific Gas & Arson
Towards the end of last month, investigators had determined that Pacific Gas & Electric, California’s largest public utility was the key suspect in causing the Camp Fire in Butte County, which claimed the lives of at least 86 people, and destroyed 14,000 homes, 500 businesses, and 4,300 other buildings according to CNN. Several media outlets reported that PG&E reported “an outage” on one of their transmission lines located in the area where the fire began, a fact that the company somehow convinced us not to look into. At the time of the investigation in December, fire officials had yet to determine whether PG&E was responsible. Consequently, as many of us know that when playing with, or causing, fires, sometimes one can suffer from serious burns, be they physical or metaphorical. In the wake of the fires, victims of the California wildfires filed claims against PG&E, totaling upwards of $7 billion in punitive damages. As the state’s largest utility, the Company announced on Monday that it will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in order to alleviate some of their recent debt pressures, pay all those affected by the fires, and remain in business because, you know, Californians still need gas and electricity…
In a press release regarding PG&E’s announcement, representatives from the Company assured customers that business operations would continue as usual.
“…the Company does not expect any impact to electric or natural gas service for its customers as a result of the Chapter 11 process. PG&E remains committed to assisting the communities affected by wildfires in Northern California, and its restoration and rebuilding efforts will continue. The Company also expects that its employees will continue to receive their pay and healthcare benefits as usual.”
–PG&E statement on the bankruptcy filing
