Lefty California Gov. Gavin Newsom is shortchanging the state’s vital fire-prevention programs while shelling out tens of billions of dollars on “Don Quixote’’ Green New Deal handouts, critics — including some environmentalists — say.
The embattled governor’s new budget slashed the state’s firefighting efforts by $101 million, to just $2.6 billion, in June — only seven months before devastating wildfires began wreaking deadly havoc in Los Angeles.
But that hasn’t stopped Newsom from ringing up a mind-boggling $14.7 billion price tag in transitioning the state to zero-emission-only vehicles and other clean-energy initiatives — and $100 billion in costs over the next several years for even more “pure political’’ climate initiatives, reports have said.
“Even with the funding, many projects get delayed or stalled because of [the California Environmental Quality Act], lawsuits, and bureaucracy,’’ seethed California Republican Assembly leader James Gallagher on X last week.
He noted that the town of Berry Creek had been trying to clear out dead wood and other fuel to help prevent wildfires when it was stopped by environmental laws. The northern California town was later all-but destroyed by 2020 wildfire.
Meanwhile, Gallagher said, “Gavin Newsom blamed cars’’ for the horrific 2020 wildfires — including the North Complex blaze, one of the most widespread and deadliest in California history.
Authorities said the fire was caused by lightning, but Newsom said such events by Mother Nature — which have been spurring fires in dry, windy California since before it was settled — is now only reacting to climate change.
The current wildfires raging through the Los Angeles area are on track to rack up between $250 billion and $275 billion in damages, Accuweather said — making the disaster the costliest ever in the US.
“MYTH: California has bad fires because of ‘droughts’ caused by ‘climate change,’ ” conservative commentator Vince Dao tweeted Sunday.
“FACT: California saw RECORD rainfall in 2023. They currently lack water because they refused to STORE it.
“It’s not climate change. It’s bad leadership by @GavinNewsom.”
Some critics have claimed that Newsom’s pandering to the left — for political sway for himself and his Dem buddies — makes him a futile “Don Quixote’’ when it comes to effective fire-prevention.
Newsom has tried to explain away the disturbing discrepancy between anti-fire and “green’’ on a new website he created just to deal with the snowballing criticism of his wildfire policies.
The site notes that the state’s firefighting budget has nearly doubled since 2019, when Newsom came into office. The number of state fire personnel has also doubled, and investments in forest management projects increased tenfold, the site — which is paid for by the governor’s campaign committee — said.
Newsom’s office declined to comment when reached by The Post.
State Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones isn’t convinced, pointing out that Newsom has a history of embellishing his resume.
“Just a few years ago, he overstated California’s wildfire prevention treatment by a staggering 690%,” Jones told The Post, in reference to a 2021 investigation by CapRadio and NPR.
“I’ve always said Newsom’s budget priorities are completely out of touch. Instead of addressing urgent needs like wildfire prevention, he has focused on policies that burden Californians with higher costs, like raising gas prices in the name of climate change.”
Other critics noted this week that while the budget may have been boosted overall since Newsom came into office, it still is being cut by tens of millions of dollars from last year to this year.
“This is not a time to be nickel and diming the people of California around climate investments. The cost of not investing is far, far greater than investing in climate preparedness today,” Ryan Schleeter, a spokesperson for environmental think tank The Climate Center, told The Post.
For Schleeter, that means beefing up fire protections and other hedges against severe weather.
The governor tried to play fast and loose with the facts in another uproar over state and local officials’ fire preparedness.
A key reservoir in Los Angeles County was bone-dry when the fires broke out last week because it has been undergoing repairs since February.
Newsom brushed off the criticism by saying it was a county and not state reservoir, refusing to take any responsibility as California’s leader for the issue.
The gov also has claimed that his billion-dollar-plus push to make 100% of new cars in the state emissions-free by 2030 will be paid for by pollution fines.
But critics claim that such costs will only be pushed down the line on consumers.
The 2035 ban on the sale of gas-powered cars also could cost California taxpayers up to $20 billion, according to a study by the University of California, Berkeley in April.
The increased need for EV chargers will need a major upgrade on the state’s power system, researchers said.
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