On Tuesday, former California Governor Jerry Brown, speaking at a hearing in front of the House Oversight Committee in Washington D.C., blamed the Trump administration and Republicans for the wildfires ravaging California, saying, “the blood is on your soul.”
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Brown, who cited climate change as the cause of California’s wildfires, accused Republicans of being “flat Earth” science deniers, adding, “California’s burning while the deniers make a joke out of the standards that protect us all. The blood is on your soul here and I hope you wake up. Because this is not politics, this is life, this is morality. … This is real.”
The hearing revolved around the Trump Administration’s actions targeting California’s decision to implement higher fuel economy standards in the state. The Chronicle noted in September that the Trump administration revoked the state’s authority to set its own auto-emissions standards; Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler stated, “California has the worst air quality in the United States. We hope that the state will focus on these issues rather than trying to set fuel economy standards for the entire country.”
Breitbart noted, “Critics fault California and its utility companies for spending money on complying with ‘green’ initiatives rather than on burying power lines. Others also cite homeless camps, where past fires have started, and poor forestry management policies that have barred the clearing of brush that can provide fuel for wildfires.” National Geographic pointed out, California’s worst fires over the past few years, including the Camp Fire and 2017’s Thomas Fire, started when power lines sparked flames in dry grasses.”
The Insurance Information Institute wrote, “As many as 90 percent of wildland fires in the United States are caused by people, according to the U.S. Department of Interior. Some human-caused fires result from campfires left unattended, the burning of debris, downed power lines, negligently discarded cigarettes and intentional acts of arson. The remaining 10 percent are started by lightning or lava.”
In November 2018, Chuck Devore of the Texas Public Policy Foundation wrote in Forbes:
California’s deadliest year of wildfires has been decades in the making, with overlapping environmental rules, both state and federal, making fuel load reductions in forests and coastal chaparral nearly impossible, while hostility towards commercial timber harvesting has allowed a massive build up in tree density and brush with a concurrent reduction of access roads and firebreaks.”
The same month, as The Sacramento Bee reported, after President Trump tweeted, “There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor,” Brown responded by claiming climate change was responsible for the California wildfires, saying, “We have a real challenge here threatening our whole way of life. We’re going to have to invest more and more in adaptation. It’s not millions. It’s billions and tens and probably hundreds of billions (of dollars).” He continued, “Managing all the forests everywhere we can does not stop climate change, and those who deny that definitely are contributing to the tragedies that we are witnessing and will continue to witness.”