California, which prides itself on leading the effort to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, is emitting massive amounts of carbon due to wildfires, losing six times more carbon from federal land than any other state in the past 17 years.
The Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday:
While federal land ecosystems in most states are sequestering carbon dioxide on average, California’s lost six times more than any other state during the 17-year period from 2005 to 2021 that the study analyzed.
…
In five of the 17 years the [U.S. Geological Survey] team analyzed, California’s federal lands acted as a carbon sink — not a source. For example, in 2019, the state experienced well over two times its average precipitation in many regions, boosting plant growth and, despite the devastating Kincade fire, had a relatively mild fire season.
But just a year later, the state’s federal lands released more carbon than any other year in the study period due to a record-setting fire season that burned over 4 million acres and, according to the USGS study, emitted over 90 million tons of carbon dioxide on federal land alone.
Democrats have long claimed that wildfires are caused by climate change — which could be a factor, but not the only factor. President Donald Trump has also blamed poor forestry management and water policy for the dramatic fires.
In another irony, the fires have caused hazardous waste to be emitted by damaged lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles (EVs) — the same vehicles that Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) wants to compel Californians to buy.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
