Newsom Decides to Use His Emergency Powers for Something Useful
Newsom uses emergency powers to roll back regulations preventing the clearing of dry brush. As Newsom revs up for a 2028 presidential run, perhaps he has decided that his best play is to mimic Republican policies?
It has been almost two months since the Greater Los Angeles Wildfires began, including the historically destructive Palisades and Eaton fires, which we covered for nearly three weeks as firefighters struggled to contain and control them.
The final death toll in the Palisades fire was 12, and the Eaton fire claimed 17. The two fires consumed about 14,000 buildings, and the total expected damage and economic loss are estimated to be between $250 billion and $275 billion. This includes damage costs, loss of life, healthcare, business disruptions, and other economic impacts.
Now, in a move that is too little and too late, California Gov. Gavin Newsom is using his emergency powers to actually do something useful: Rolling back environmental rules preventing the clearing of dry brush.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom tapped into his emergency powers Saturday to roll back environmental regulations so that the state can speed up wildfire prevention projects, including clearing flammable brush out of forests, following criticism from President Trump.
Newsom, 57, suspended the enforcement of regulations in the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the California Coastal Act and streamlined the process for government entities to clear up potential fuel for wildfires.
“This year has already seen some of the most destructive wildfires in California history, and we’re only in March,” Newsom said in a statement. “We’re taking action with a state of emergency to fast-track critical wildfire projects even more.”
“These are the forest management projects we need to protect our communities most vulnerable to wildfire, and we’re going to get them done.”
The fact that President Donald Trump suggested he do this during his first term, and reiterated it again during his presidential visit to the disaster area, has not been forgotten.
“Governor Newsom is starting to clear the flammable brush from California forests—Trump had told them that they should be doing that.” pic.twitter.com/3FQaqLIhoG
— Quotes By Scott Adams
(@QuotesFromCWSA) March 3, 2025
The social media response to Newsom’s move has not been kind.
How many lives homes, and communities would’ve been saved if you would’ve done this six years ago when President Trump told you to? https://t.co/DFXcatVyFd
— Kevin Dalton (@TheKevinDalton) March 1, 2025
Laughably, the USAID-paid propaganda machine that is Politico asserts that the move is to prevent finger-pointing at Democrats…who completely dominate the state.
But his emergency declaration is an implicit acknowledgement that the state’s actions so far have not been enough to prevent partisan finger-pointing and blame laid at the feet of Democrats who run the state.
Newsom’s headline-grabbing action comes as he appeals to the Trump administration and congressional Republicans for nearly $40 billion in federal disaster aid to help rebuild Los Angeles after January’s devastating wildfires.
Politico reports that Governor Newsom announced a state of emergency to clear forests of flammable brush to "prevent partisan finger-pointing and blame laid at the feet of Democrats who run the state." https://t.co/AhVTVyhztS pic.twitter.com/ymMTP6uwgG
— Ryan Maue (@RyanMaue) March 3, 2025
As Newsom revs up for a 2028 presidential run, perhaps he has decided that his best play is to mimic Republican policies?
At least the governor is using his emergency power for something useful. As we recall, Newsom bitterly clung to his COVID emergency powers for the better part of three years. He declared a state of emergency on March 4, 2020, officially ending on February 28, 2023. This period allowed him to exercise broad executive powers to manage the pandemic response, including issuing lockdowns, mandates, and directing state resources.
The result? COVID is now an endemic disease that we will all likely experience regularly. So, eat well, exercise, take vitamins, and get lots of sunshine.
Hopefully, the clearing of dry brush will help prevent another epic disaster. Perhaps now Newsom can start working on dealing with the state water infrastructure issues, which are no less problematic.
Maybe I should suggest this to him during his podcast????
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Comments
Stop wasting fresh water by dumping it in the ocean, complete idiocy. I hope enough people have learned that Newsom totally F ed Californians over.
Perhaps Governor Nuisance could come up with another brain storm and start arresting illegals in his state who commit even more crimes and suck up all the resources meant for citizens of the state.
Just another equally ununique idea for the hopeful president.
Is that an original H. Biden artwork hanging on the wall behind him?
Beautiful.
Truly inspiring.
Great comment! Perhaps a self portrait.
It’s an original Kamala. Don’t you know a Venn Diagram when you see one?
The state, and the country, would be much better served if Newsome used his emergency powers to resign and exile himself to Cuba or Venezuela. He can take Bass with him, since she’s very familiar with the Latin American commie scene.
This is something these morons should have learnt from the Great New South Wales fires in Australia not that long ago, as there are some direct correlations with Florida.
NSW, an adherent to the catastrophilia of Mann Made Global Warming ™, made it illegal to remove tinder and vegitation from land, stopped clearing firebreaks and allowed Eucalyptus trees to grow in to local neighbourhoods.
The end result is that when fire eventually came, because NSW is a hot, dry shit hole, it had a ready supply of fuel to power the fires in raging torrents. What made it all the worse is that Eucalyptus trees are incredibly flammable an relies on fire as part of its life cycle.
Same thing happened in California with the same, predictable, end result.
hose You Calla Peatus trees were imported into Southern California in the early 20th century mainly used as windbreaks on the edges of the new orange groves. They grow fast, and tall, thus being effective that way. But, since they were only in single-file rows, they were never a fire hazard. Letting them grow rampant does turn them into fire hazards.
I still think it’s high time to rename the San Andreas fault, to Newsom’s Fault
Too little, too late, not enuf.
>Wildfires are the norm for California, as if it was a land out of Marion Zimmer Bradley’s imagination.
>And that’s not due to the people currently living there, way before loony-tunes homeless arsonists and sparking poorly maintained electricity infrastructure were there, the area would spawn wildfires routinely.
>The brush will grow back to serve as tinder for the next year’s (and so on) wildfires,
>The emergency powers halting stupid limits on brush removal will end.
If Governor Handsome really wants to Do The Right Thing he would task the legislature (which his party runs, btw) with permanently removing the anti-brush-removal rules he’s put on pause. He’s tacitly acknowledged they are harmful now, so why not ignore for once the eco-freaks behind them? Spotted owls and other “endangered” critters are not fire salamanders, like people they are killed and their living spaces destroyed by the wildfires those rules and poor brush management makes worse.
And how many of these fires were arson?
“The Gavin Newsome Fault is a major geological fault in California that has been the focus of much study and speculation regarding its potential impact on the region. While the fault is capable of producing significant earthquakes, the idea that it will “split” California into two separate landmasses is a misconception.”
Damn the bad luck.
While he’s at it he should clear the brush on the top of his head. Brylcream is so 1950s.
That Gavin sure does love him some ’emergency powers’.
“Newsom Decides to Use His Emergency Powers for Something Useful”
This is the first real “news” story run by LI in a long time. Just about everything else it reports (Leftist’s latest nonsense) is predictable, or at least not unexpected or surprising.
Ok I’ll bite, what is the carbon foot print when all of these diesel powered machines start hauling out the brush?
Stack it in big piles and burn it, oh no, no, no.
How many little bunnies are going to run over by these massive machines?
More than once I’ve seen suburban baby bunnies appear and run away from a mower about to turn them into baby bunny itty bitty pieces. Baby bunnies are not idiots.