Pacific Palisades home destroyed by wildfire. (Photo: Katy Grimes for California Globe)
Gov. Newsom’s Climate Grift Spent $33 Billion in Cap-and-Trade to ‘Make Communities Cleaner and Healthier’
Wildfire smoke has added enough pollution to the air to wipe out nearly half of the total air quality gains made from 2000 onward
By Katy Grimes, May 8, 2025 3:20 am
California Governor Gavin Newsom claims that greenhouse gas emissions are down in California – not just down but “down 20% since 2000.”
“Pollution is down and the economy is up,” Newsom said. “Greenhouse gas emissions in California are down 20% since 2000 – even as the state’s GDP increased 78% in that same time period,” Newsom says, in a press statement bragging that the “State invests nearly $33 billion in cap-and-trade dollars to make communities cleaner and healthier.”
Newsom gets this groundbreaking information from none other than the California Air Resources Board – a board made up of Newsom appointees. And now the governor wants to extend the shady cap-and-trade program out beyond 2030 to reach the 2045 goals. Oy. The grift never ends in Newsomworld.
As the Globe has been pointing out for many years, California already surpassed its original greenhouse gas emissions reductions target of 1990 levels of by 2020 – this was achieved in 2016 – even the Governor’s Climate Dashboard website admits this:
“The 2006 California Global Warming Solutions Act (Assembly Bill 32) set a target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions back to 1990 levels by 2020. California surpassed this target four years early in 2016, and emissions have continued to drop since then. California’s next climate target is to reduce emissions by 40% below 1990 levels by 2030. The Scoping Plan lays out how California will achieve this target.”
This is why California Democrats have to keep moving the goals – we already are a clean state, with some of the cleanest air in the world.
It’s also interesting because since year 2000, there have been 194,844 wildfires in California according to CalFire and Frontline Wildfire News.
California’s most destructive fires have all taken place since year 2000, save for the 1991 devastating fire in the Oakland Hills:
| Ranking | Wildfire Name | Structures Destroyed | Acres Burned | Year | Fire Cause | Deaths | County |
| 1 | Camp | 18,804 | 153,336 | 2018 | Powerlines | 85 | Butte |
| 2 | Tubbs | 5,636 | 36,807 | 2017 | Electrical system | 22 | Napa & Sonoma |
| 3 | Tunnel | 2,900 | 1,600 | 1991 | Extinguished fire rekindled | 25 | Alameda |
| 4 | Cedar | 2,820 | 273,246 | 2003 | Human related | 15 | San Diego |
| 5 | North Complex | 2,352 | 318,935 | 2020 | Lightning | 15 | Butte, Plumas, & Yuba |
| 6 | Valley | 1,955 | 76,067 | 2015 | Electrical system | 4 | Lake, Napa, & Sonoma |
| 7 | Witch | 1,650 | 197,990 | 2007 | Powerlines | 2 | San Diego |
| 8 | Woolsey | 1,643 | 96,949 | 2018 | Electrical system | 3 | Ventura |
| 9 | Carr | 1,614 | 229,651 | 2018 | Human related | 8 | Shasta County & Trinity |
| 10 | Glass | 1,520 | 67,484 | 2020 | Undetermined | 0 | Napa & Sonoma |
| 11 | LNU Lightning Complex | 1,490 | 363,220 | 2020 | Lightning & arson | 5 | Napa, Solano, Sonoma, Yolo,Lake, & Colusa |
| 12 | CZU Lightning Complex | 1,355 | 86,509 | 2020 | Lightning | 1 | Santa Cruz & San Mateo |
| 13 | Nuns | 1,355 | 54,382 | 2017 | Powerlines | 3 | Sonoma |
| 14 | Dixie | 1,311 | 963,309 | 2021 | Powerlines | 1 | Butte, Plumas, Lassen, Shasta, & Tehama |
| 15 | Thomas | 1,063 | 281,893 | 2017 | Powerlines | 2 | Ventura & Santa Barbara |
| 16 | Caldor* | 1,003 | 221,774 | 2021 | Under investigation | 1 | Alpine, Amador, & El Dorado |
| 17 | Old | 1,003 | 91,281 | 2003 | Human related | 6 | San Bernardino |
| 18 | Jones | 954 | 26,200 | 1999 | Undetermined | 1 | Shasta |
| 19 | August Complex | 935 | 1,032,648 | 2020 | Lightning | 1 | Mendocino, Humboldt, Trinity, Tehama,Glenn, Lake, & Colusa |
| 20 | Butte | 921 | 70,868 | 2015 | Powerlines | 2 | Amador & Calaveras |
Source: CAL FIRE
Notably, here are the 5 most destructive fires in California, again, all since year 2000 other than the 1991 Oakland Hills fire:
As the Western Fire Chiefs Association explains, “Wildfire smoke is a complex mixture of gases and particles that can have far-reaching effects. The composition of wildfire smoke fluctuates depending on the type of vegetation burning, the temperature of the fire, and other variables,” citing data from OEHHA.ca.gov
A study published in Nature found that since 2016, in western states like California, Washington and Oregon, wildfire smoke has added enough pollution to the air to wipe out nearly half of the total air quality gains made from 2000 onward.
Oops, Gov. Newsom.
Additionally, NPR reported:
“In 41 states, air quality had been getting better between 2000 and the 2010s. But as wildfires exploded, those improvements stopped or even reversed. Smoke was responsible for just intermittent ‘exceedances,’ when air pollution exceeds EPA’s limits, in the early part of the record. By 2020-2022, wildfire smoke was the primary cause of bad air in four western states and a major contributor in 17 others.”
Oops, again. Wildfire smoke is causing most of California’s air pollution.
Even more notable, in the CARB report Gov. Newsom refers to, this chart doesn’t even list wildfires as a contributor to air pollution:
“The annual report provides detailed information about California Climate Investments (CCI), which distributes funds generated by cap‑and‑trade to 117 climate programs across the state,” the governor says. “CARB oversees CCI, which puts cap‑and‑trade dollars to work reducing greenhouse gas emissions, strengthening the economy, and improving public health — particularly among communities and households facing greater economic and environmental challenges.”
Most notable is Western Climate Initiative Inc (WCI, Inc.), the corporation created by the California Air Resources Board in 2011 to manage the then-new cap and trade auctions. The problem was that Western Climate Initiative Inc. was formed in Delaware, and not California. Delaware is not subject to California state open meeting or sunshine laws, leaving many questioning why CARB opted for such secrecy. The only reason to register the corporation in Delaware is the lack public or legislative scrutiny on any of their meetings or actions they take.
CARB operates like no other state agency. The rogue agency conducts its business in private, without the scrutiny of the public it is accountable to. Despite legislative and public outrage over the shroud of secrecy at CARB, then-Assembly Speaker John Perez was said to have crafted the language for SB 1018, which specifically exempted CARB from open meeting rules in cap-and-trade auctions, allowing CARB’s WCI Inc. to manage carbon trading auctions without any public scrutiny.
The outrage comes from the sole purpose of WCI Inc. — to impose hidden taxes on energy customers, as well as large and small businesses, without accountability or public knowledge. The CARB says in a November 2011 document that “WCI Inc., a new non-profit corporation formed to provide administrative and technical services to support the implementation of state and provincial greenhouse gas emissions trading programs.”
So when Gov. Newsom says “CARB oversees CCI, which puts cap‑and‑trade dollars to work reducing greenhouse gas emissions, strengthening the economy, and improving public health — particularly among communities and households facing greater economic and environmental challenges,” it’s a shakedown of businesses the CARB deems “polluters” to pay for their unproved climate programs across the state.
Newsom is excited that the shakedown of California businesses provided $13 billion to “climate programs across the state,” but only $1.5 billion went to wildfire prevention, according to his chart. Wildfire prevention should have been the priority. Affordable housing units and rebates for zero-emission vehicles don’t matter at all if your neighborhood burned down because of empty reservoirs and fire hydrants, and tinder-laden forests.
What makes California so great is what Newsom and the CARB bureaucrats want to shut down – the industrial sector, agricultural, livestock, crop production, cars and trucks, oil and gas, heating and cooling, cooking, water heating, steam generation, refrigeration and air conditioning, residential homes and commercial buildings – all “polluters” according to CARB and the governor.
If you live in a home, drive a car to work in a building, buy groceries, own a farm or ranch, and travel occasionally, you are part of the problem according to Governor Gavin Newsom. He can live this way, but not you. He wants you living in a concrete apartment building with no parking, next to a bus stop or light rail.
Let’s propose that state government lay off this climate grift, save taxpayers $33 Billion, and put a lot more effort into wildfire prevention – a much more measurable and practical goal.
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Not suprising considering the Fuel Load that has built up. The Oakland Hills neighborhoods were covered in a canopy of folliage before the fire and everyone (Oaklanders like me) knew it was a fire waiting to happen.
It didn’t help that Newt Gingrich stupidly said while sitting next to Nancy Pelosi that Climate Change was real, the Supreme Court ruled that Carbon Dioxide was a Pollutant and “Republican Governor” Arnold Schwarzenegger signed AB 32 into law. However California Globe did report over a year ago that over 1500 Climate Scientists sent a letter to the California legislature saying “There is NO CLIMATE CRISIS”, that letter was completely ignored by the legislature.
Cap-and-Trade has been a Green Grifters Dream for decades.
Charitable Charade
Top to bottom revision of all 501(c) nonprofit regulations should be a DOGE priority. As Krauthammer said, “nonprofits are out of control quasi-governmental organizations.” Our 1.5 million NPOs have become partisan and subversive — wielding $6 trillion in assets. Too many NPOs have become partisan political parasites.
It’s the NPOs stupid!
Passenger vehicles are getting less affordable and, as a result, drivers are holding on to their older vehicles longer. These older vehicles produce more pollutants and GHG emissions per mile than new vehicles, especially hybrids. I thought of this last week when the news reported that L.A. is getting really smoggy again.
Climate hysteria is a de facto cult religion, complete with high priests and Inquisition tribunals. You can’t see it or feel it but it is punishable heresy to question it. The newspapers in my commie-controlled community can not go a week without publishing a letter from a resident claiming that climate change is our greatest existential threat. Apparently the letter writer has somehow missed the price of gas, groceries, housing, taxes and virtually everything else necessary to get by. And then there’s crime, drug addiction, inflation, horrible roads and failed public schools. None of that matters because we are redistributing billions of dollars “regulating” carbon on a planet where every life form is carbon based.
“Let’s propose that state government lay off this climate grift, save taxpayers $33 Billion, and put a lot more effort into wildfire prevention – a much more measurable and practical goal.”
I would differ. For CA Dems, graft, waste, and corruption are far more practical and achievable than doing anything to help the working men and women of California.
This is classic government waste. Impose draconian controls on industry and citizens to address California’s tiny part in global warming, and in doing so raise costs for energy and transportation. Then fail to clear debris from the forests and restrict water for environmentalists, and excuse energy providers who caused the majority of the fires, along with the homeless who cause the majority of the day to day fires in the state. Then claim you’re making progress, and must double down on the controls even though there has been a net loss in air quality.
Hard to believe we live in a state like that.
It amazes me how we can still function as a state, when we have such idiots running our government.
I suspect almost none of the money was spent on the claimed items. I would bet that 90% of the money went into the pockets of CARB and their enablers.
DOGE it and find the truth!
It will interesting to see what mood the average californian will be in when the price of gas is $8.00 in california, but only $2.00 in the rest of the nation. Especially after the way Newsom has been gaslighting us about how great his economy is, practically “you never had it so good! So don’t believe your lying eyes”
Thank goodness for the California Globe, or we would all be in the dark about the massive corruption and waste in this state by the Democrats.
We need cap and trade on Gov. Failure’s CO2 emissions every time he speaks.
Worst Governor Ever, Gavin Newsom, unelected-but-nonetheless-powerful CARB, bogus nonsensical-from-the-beginning Cap & Trade, government entities headquartering in Delaware where there are no sunshine laws, ultra-bogus “climate change” blamed for devastating but preventable wildfire-nados, corrupt elections, more destruction and lies and insanity from our CA Dem-Marxist “leadership,” also corrupt down the line from state officeholders to virtually every legislator, more purposeful pushing out of reasonable middle class Californians from the state with an unrelenting energy and commitment as if they were doing something virtuous, and this is only a partial list of course. Thus it’s no wonder we are in trouble, in a once-golden free and beautiful state that is now a degrading, stinking, smoldering, filthy, crime-ridden, fully-corrupt, dystopian and dysfunctional pit of a hell hole.
Call me when Gavin Newsom and his Key Yes-People are led away in shackles wearing orange, with nothing to look forward to but the very long prison sentences they will be serving for the many contemptible crimes they have “mindfully” committed against the safety and welfare and freedom of the People of the State of California.
WHAT?? NO mention of the recent Palisades & Eaton CONFLAGRATIONS that WIPED OUT entire NEIGHBORHOODS and BURNED FOR WEEKS???
How many TONS of “greenhouse gas emissions” were released in THOSE FIRES, Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass???
How many TONS of “Fire Debris Removal” waste is being sent to the Waste Management dump in Simi Valley, Gavin Newsom, Karen Bass and CARB tyrants???
Why are people in north Simi Valley complaining about the awful smells emanating from the Simi Valley dump on the Ring app and Nextdoor, Gavin Newsom, Karen Bass and CARB bureaucrats???
All of you, and ALL the corrupt Democraps that run this state are LIARS, GRIFTERS and CHEATS and you all deserve eternal damnation for the HELL that YOUR policies have released on California residents….
AND – thanks to Katy & Co., here’s the PROOF : https://californiaglobe.com/fr/gov-newsom-making-illegal-climate-change-compact-with-china/
Our Boy-Governor is in bed with the CCP, shilling for their BYD EV vehicles, solar panels, wind turbines and every implement of their “green new deal” (for THEM!!!)
See my post below for the math. The LA fires produced as much CO2 (207,000 MMTCO2) in a couple weeks as driving all the vehicles in the US for the next 160 years. But if we only ban cars in CA it will all be better.
As soviet dictator stalin once said about not caring who votes, but about who counts the votes…
Wow, how many of us didn’t know until reading this article that the Western Climate Initiative Inc. (CCI) was a corporation created by Democrats on the California Air Resources Board in 2011 to manage the then-new cap and trade auctions and that it was formed in Delaware because it’s not subject to California state open meeting or sunshine laws? No doubt this shady CCI distributes funds generated by cap‑and‑trade to Democrat controlled slush funds under the guise of being “climate programs?”
Katy Grimes is right that Gov. “Hair-gel Hitler” Newsom and his handpicked unelected CARB bureaucrats want the majority of Californians living in Soviet style concrete apartment buildings within 15 minute cities where travel is restricted to crime ridden public transit while they and their well connected Democrat cronies live in lavish mansions with high walls protected by 24 hour security and they’ll br able to travel freely in luxury vehicles paid for by taxpayers.
Hopefully a majority of Californians will wake up and will put a stop to this cap and trade insanity?
Great article, once again Katy hits it out of the park!
Truth is being spilled on here by so many readers!
Amen!
I just have to say this state has survived this nonsense because of our high taxes combined with federal handouts! It does hurt the people of this state! Many subsist with the help of government assistance and family assistance.
This grift must come to an end!
I hope you all can follow the math. Here goes. According to CARB, there is 18 MMTCO2 of structural lumber in the average home in CA. The Palisades/Eaton fires burned 11,500 homes. That is 207,000 MMTCO2 produced. According to the EPA, all of the vehicles in the US produce 1300 MMTCO2 per year. Now divide 207,000 by 1300. You get 160 years of driving all the cars in the US to equal the CO2 produce by the fires. And that is just the lumber in the homes.