Tesla founder and tech billionaire Elon Musk is blaming excessive regulation for enabling the ongoing California wildfire crisis.
According to Musk, California’s environmental regulations are preventing sufficient water quantities from flowing to local communities to fight these wildfires while also inhibiting them from clearing biomass, such as dead trees and shrubs, that fuel wildfires.
“Take California wildfires—obvious solutions like fire breaks, clearing brush, and filling reservoirs are blocked by environmental rulings,” said Musk during an X live show.
Moreover, some California lawmakers have similarly complained of excessive environmental regulations crippling local authorities from adequately managing their land and taking preventative measures against wildfires.
“Regulatory policies limit the ability of local government and fire management services to clear dead trees and vegetation,” said State Representative Bill Essayli (R).
One environmental policy criticized is the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), which forces local authorities to undergo complex procedures and paperwork for simple activities such as removing dead or hazardous trees.
Among other regulatory hurdles it imposes, CEQA requires local authorities attempting to prevent wildfires by removing dead trees to review if dozens of regulations apply for every tree removed.
President-elect Donald Trump recently similarly criticized California’s environmental regulations as he attacked California Governor Gavin Newsom.
Trump claimed Newson “refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water…to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way.”
According to local news, water supplies to combat the ongoing wildfires are running short of firefighter demands to prevent the further spread of the fires.
President Trump, blamed Newsom for the water shortages, claiming his water management policies failed to channel sufficient water from such reservoirs to areas that are now exposed to wildfires.
California manages its water supplies by holding and releasing water from state-managed reservoirs.
