Gavin Newsom visits KNP fire near Fresno; signs $15 billion in climate change legislation

California Gov. Gavin Newsom remembers standing with former President Donald Trump amid the devastation of the Paradise Fire and thinking he wouldn’t see anything like it again in his life time.

Two years later, California saw the worst fire season in its history.

Currently, there are 10 large, active wildfires burning across the state and some 2.35 million acres have been destroyed in what the governor sees as direct impact of climate crisis.

“You can’t deny your own eyes,” Newsom said Thursday during a press conference at the entrance to Sequoia National Park, just a mile from the KNP Complex Fire line.

“This is not debatable any longer,” Newsom said, amid thick smoke and falling ash at a podium in front of an iconic national park sign that recently was covered in aluminum and fiberglass as protection from the wildfire.

Newsom was at the park to sign AB 170, a more than $15 billion package of legislation aimed at combating the impacts of climate crisis, including wildfires. The package, which includes $1.5 billion for wildfire prevention and suppression, is an “unprecedented commitment,” by California, and also invests in drought response efforts and water resilience, clean transportation and sustainable agriculture.

The bill allocates close to $5 billion for immediate drought response, which Newsom said will include water storage in a broad sense. It puts $3.9 billion toward making California a dominant force in the electric vehicle market.

The $1.9 billion in wildfire funds will go to both suppression and prevention efforts, something that has been long overlooked.

“It can’t just be more Cal Fire engines,” Newsom said, as just such an engine passed along the highway toward the fire.

Newsom was pointed in contrasting this legislation with what is happening on the national level, at one point calling out senate minority leader Mitch McConnell to “put down the swords, rhetorically and otherwise,” and take action on what he called the “smash mouth realities,” of climate crisis.

“Here we are in California getting things done,” Newsom said.

The choice of location was an intentional nod to the true and lasting impacts of the climate crisis, beyond the rising temperatures.

“Climate is not just about degrees and decarbonization,” Newsom said.

“You can’t rebuild giant Sequoias. You can replant them and come back in 3,000 years.”

Newsom remembers coming to Sequoia National Park with his dad. He wasn’t able to find the picture of them in front of the General Sherman Tree, but the governor said he was sure one exists. He contrasted that with his own sons.

“I want them to be here. And I want their kids to be here.”

This story was originally published September 23, 2021 at 2:11 PM with the headline "Gavin Newsom visits KNP fire near Fresno; signs $15 billion in climate change legislation."