Last summer’s rolling blackouts in California did not last that long, relatively speaking. But the first statewide outages in nearly 20 years drew a quick and pointed response from Gov. Gavin Newsom.
“Let me make this crystal clear: We failed to predict and plan for these shortages and that’s simply unacceptable,” Newsom said at the time, no doubt keenly aware that Gray Davis became a former governor after a string of blackouts helped to trigger a recall effort that cost Davis his job. Newsom ordered the California Energy Commission, the California Public Utilities Commission and the California Independent System Operator to deliver a report explaining what happened and why.