Michael Shellenberger, who I don't know from anyone until he signed up for the Elon Musk shill squad on the Twitter Files, is a hack journalist desperately trying not to appear as a hack. I haven't seen him not be a right-wing hack so far, so he seems to have picked his side.
So he wrote about the high-fatality wildfire on Maui and headlined it this way:
Renewables Mania and Woke Dogma Behind Hawaii Fire, Not Climate Change
Of course it's a bunch of rubbish that he doesn't even support with citations. Plus he appears to be a denialist about climate change because it pays well. But it's funny how he plagiarizes in his tweet:
"It is unambiguous that Hawaiian Electric’s grid experienced immense stress for a prolonged time," said one analyst. "There were dozens and dozens of major faults on the grid and any one of those could have been the ignition source for a fire."
..."I was already fighting with the electric company because they never maintain the lines," said a fifth-generation Hawaii resident who lives on a family farm.
Compare that to this unreferenced WaPo article:
"It is unambiguous that Hawaiian Electric's grid experienced immense stress for a prolonged time," Marshall said, comparing the fluctuating data to the grid's stable readings from weeks and months prior. "There were dozens and dozens of major faults on the grid and any one of those could have been the ignition source for a fire."
..."I was already fighting with the electric company because they never maintain the lines," said Rivers, a fifth-generation Hawaii resident who lives on her family’s 40-acre farm.
It's great when people confirm their lack of ethics.
Image:linkedin.com
Extras. Reporting on the delay in getting water. Elsewhere I've read that the common people are last in line for water while the hotels, resorts, golf courses, and farmers control the distribution.
This is somewhat a story about climate change, but moreso a story of ignoring facts on the ground. A high risk of wildfire doesn't come out of nowhere. There are signs weeks in advance. However Maui didn't pay attention or didn't plan. The question is why. Local reports with comments> one, two, three.
