Gov. Newsom Traveling to Scotland for Climate Change Conference with 22 Lawmakers, Agency Heads

California Governor Gavin Newsom is traveling to Scotland to attend the United Nations Climate Change Conference next week, “to end the reliance on oil,” and he’s taking 22 lawmakers and agency heads with him.

“Governor Gavin Newsom today announced that he will join global leaders at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland next week to highlight California’s groundbreaking policies to combat the intensifying climate crisis and rally the global community to end their reliance on oil,” Newsom’s press statement says.

How will they travel to Scotland? On a sailboat, to cut their carbon footprint? Not likely.

This large delegation from California, which Newsom says “is on the front lines of climate impacts,” will likely fly on a Boeing 777, with Two General Electric GE90 or two Pratt & Whitney PW4077/4090 engines, rated up to 115,300 pounds thrust each.

Those “world leaders” attending the conference in Glasgow will discuss the worldwide need to lower greenhouse gas emissions, having flown in from countries all over the world on giant jet planes, belching giant carbon footprints – while there is a “global energy crisis.”

This is just a little ironic after 18 months of Zoom meetings, Zoom virtual travel, Zoom conferences, and Zoom school.

They will harrumph and evangelize about why the common people must consume less, and compromise their standards of living to fight the good fight against catastrophic climate change.

Newsom will brag about California’s “move away from fossil fuels – reducing demand for oil by ending the sale of new gas cars by 2035, moving to phase out harmful oil production in our communities and no later than 2045 statewide, and advancing a historic $15 billion climate package this year to tackle wildfire and drought challenges, help communities transition during the climate crisis and support the state’s Zero-Emission Vehicle goals.”

Obviously anticipating the United Nations Climate Change Conference next week, Newsom, announced a sweeping new proposed regulation last week to ban any new oil or gas development  from being within 3,200 feet of all schools, healthcare facilities, nursing homes, and homes statewide, the Globe reported.

As Gov. Newsom is pushing to move the state to all-electric home appliances and cars, ostensibly because they are “clean,” electric cars have a dirty little secret: Every electric vehicle, and most hybrid vehicles, rely on large lithium-ion batteries weighing hundreds or thousands of pounds, made with rare-earth minerals – cobalt, nickel, and manganese, among other components. These batteries are very expensive, costing thousands of dollars and aren’t environmentally friendly, requiring ingredients sourced from polluting mines around the world, and contaminate soil and water. And in the Congo mines, children are used as slave labor.

The other dirty secret about electric cars is that they are being pushed hard on the U.S. and Europe – by China, which has the most lithium resources and has been buying stakes in mining operations in Australia and South America where most of the world’s lithium reserves are found, according to the Institute for Energy Research.

People are so bombarded with one narrative on “clean vehicles” and “climate change” that many are unaware that there are alternative clean energy sources (nuclear, hydroelectric), or automobile options other than electric vehicles, including clean, technologically efficient gasoline-powered cars that don’t generate carbon dioxide. Mazda says it is developing a car that would be cleaner to run than an all-electric vehicle. But these exciting developments get few headlines, the Globe reported.

And as California embraces all-electric vehicles, it is doing so while also banning oil extraction and hydraulic fracturing (fracking for natural gas), leaving unreliable, intermittent wind and solar to power the state. But wind towers are killing hundreds of thousands of birds every year, and millions of bats. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service admits more than 200 species of bird, including Golden Eagles, have been documented as killed by collision with wind turbines.

The Globe reported in April on dangerous new legislation specifically targeting the oil and gas industry: New Climate Change Disclosures Target ‘Commercial Development of Fossil Fuels.’  The California Air Resources Board (CARB) in consultation with the Secretary of State and the Treasurer, would be required to develop and adopt regulations, and get carte blanche, unrestricted power, unconditional authority, on developing policy, despite that developing policy is solely the responsibility of the Legislature: “Any other information that CARB determines is necessary and appropriate to safeguard the public interest or directed at ensuring that investors are fully informed regarding a covered corporation’s climate-related risks.”

Assembly Bill 766 would require a covered corporation, if it engages in the commercial development of fossil fuels, to include in the covered corporation’s disclosure an estimate of the total and disaggregated amount of direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions of the covered corporation.

Meanwhile, Gov. Newsom and his “delegation” of 22 will travel 4,962 miles, which takes 10 hours, 25 minutes, on a jet plane, consuming more than 20,000 gallons of jet fuel, to discuss the world’s need to cut fossil fuel energy.

We don’t know how many of his staff and security detail will be on this trip, or how many staff the lawmakers and agency heads will bring along. How many will fly first class?

With no demonstrable benefits to the people, what will this boondoggle cost California taxpayers?

Members of the delegation include:

• First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom
• Senator Josh Becker (D-Menlo Park)
• Senator Lena Gonzalez (D-Long Beach)
• Senator Robert Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys)
• Senator John Laird (D-Santa Cruz)
• Senator Bob Wieckowski (D-Fremont)
• Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood)
• Assemblymember Isaac Bryan (D-Los Angeles)
• Assemblymember Lisa Calderon (D-Whittier)
• Assemblymember Laura Friedman (D-Glendale)
• Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia (D-Coachella)
• Assemblymember Tasha Boerner Horvath (D-Encinitas)
• Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi (D-Torrance)
• Assemblymember Luz Rivas (D-Arleta)
• Assemblymember Mark Stone (D-Scotts Valley)
• Assemblymember Christopher Ward (D-San Diego).
• Senior Climate Advisor for the Governor Lauren Sanchez
• California Environmental Protection Agency Secretary Jared Blumenfeld
• California Natural Resources Agency Secretary Wade Crowfoot
• California Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary Karen Ross
• California Air Resources Board Chair Liane Randolph
• California Energy Commission Chair David Hochschild