Trump Attacks Palisades Fire Permit Delays And California Wildfire Response, But Gets Facts Wrong

President Donald Trump is attacking cities in the Palisades Fire area for moving slower than he wants on issuing building permits for fire victims.

The president hinted that he may take federal action to speed up the buidoign permit process.

The president gave a rambling … one hour long interview on the Fox And Friends breakfast show this morning,. 

He veered from topic to topic … 

And the pace of building permits in the Eaton and Palisades Fires came up. 

TRUMP FIRE 71528

“They lost 25 thousand houses to fires because they didn’t have any water come down from the Pacific Northwest.

“They have a lot of water but they send it out into the Pacific to protect a little tiny fish .. right … which did very badly when they didn’t have any water by the way.

“But just the whole thing is so crazy … you wouldn’t have lost any houses.

“If you had a fire, they would have had sprinklers going, they would have fire hydrants.

“But they lost 25 thousand houses. 

“Now they want to build low income housing where many of those houses were.

“I don’t know if you heard this… this came in last week.

“Nobody has got their permits, the federal government … Lee Zeldan is incredible … and they are much tougher permits … everybody is permitted in California in Los Angeles … everybody has a permit to build their house .. to rebuild their house … except the city and the state haven’t given the permits. 

“It’s a long time now.. and the people want to build ow.”

FOX TALENT: “Why? What’s the reason???”

TRUMP: “It’s because they are just incompetent. It’s really their incompetence. 

“My environmental is tough than his.  Everybody had it within 30 days

“This is now over a year and these people are standing outside their house and they want to rebuild their house. 

“In my opinion, even worse, they not want to take a large section and they want to build low income housing in a very high end area.

FOX TALENT #2: “Pacific Palisades.”

TRUMP: “It’s unfair. 

“I mean it is unfair to the people.” 

President Donald Trump .. .  part of his rambling one hour long interview on Fox News this morning, 

Fact checks.

California gets no water from the Pacific Northwest.  There is no canal to California from the Pacific Northwest.

And water flushed down the ocean at one end of the Sacramento delta is necessary keep salt water out of the sea level intake pipes at the other end … the intake pipes that serve 25 million Californians … including us in Malibu.

As for the January fires … 25 thousand houses were not lost in the fires.

More like 15 thousand. 

Low incline housing was proposed … that trial balloon was shot down instantly.

There is no active proposal right now to replace the low income housing that was lost in the Palisades Fire … the 500 or so mobile homes that were burned in Pacific Palisades.

And the federal government does not issue building permits …. It has nothing to do with that local issue.

Two New Wildfire Detection Cameras Installed Above Point Dume

Two new cameras that automatically detect fire have been installed in the hills above Point Dume.

The cameras are part of the Alert California system.

They were switched on yesterday at Rancho del Cielo … a tree nursery in the hills above Paradise Cove.

The cameras sit atop the KBUU transmitter pole … and are fed blackout-proof power from KBUU’s solar panels and battery. 

Artificial intelligence monitors video feeds from the 12 hundred cameras up and down California. 

When they spot a flame or a smoke plume … they zoom in and notify dispatchers to take a look.

Often … they beat the 911 system, in reporting fires.

City council member Haylynn Conrad arranged for UC San Diego to install the cameras. 

The new Rancho del Cielo cameras keep an eye over Kanan Dume Road … Paradise Cove and Ramirez Canyon … 

You can look at them …. And at any of the 12 hundred cameras in the AlertCalifornia system … by going online to

https://cameras.alertcalifornia.org/?pos=34.0400_-118.7900_10&id=Axis-RanchoDelCielo2https://cameras.alertcalifornia.org/?pos=34.0400_-118.7900_10&id=Axis-RanchoDelCielo1 and https://cameras.alertcalifornia.org/?pos=34.0400_-118.7900_10&id=Axis-RanchoDelCielo2https://cameras.alertcalifornia.org/?pos=34.0400_-118.7900_10&id=Axis-RanchoDelCielo2

Big Fish Sets Sights On Whale: Malibu Resident Making Play To Become Giant Hollywood Mogul

The big might be getting even bigger.

Malibu resident David Ellison and his Paramount Skydance is preparing a majority cash bid for Warner Bros Discovery.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the situation.

Shares of Warner Bros surged nearly 30% while Paramount was up 7% after the news. A bid has not yet been submitted and the plans could still fall apart, WSJ said.

The bid will be for the entire company, including its cable networks and movie studio, the report said. 

Offshore Oil Platforms Get Throttled, Bakersfield Area Wells To Increase By 2,000, In Enviro ‘Compromise’

Details are leaking out about a big legislative compromise in Sacramento … that will affect wildfire damage money and a leaky oil pipe 70 miles up the coast from Malibu.

Under plans emerging from the state capitol … electric ratepayers across California will see their rates go up .. again … to add $18 billion to the state’s wildfire fund.

That fund has been depleted to zero by Southern California Edison … which faces maybe more than 40 billion dollars oil claims after last winter’s fire in Altadena.

SCE and the other two big utility companies had pushed hard to replenish the fund as it was running dry.

Their argument … let us go broke … and California utility companies would be in crisis.

Contributions to the bailout fund would be split equally among the shareholders and ratepayers of Southern California Edison, Pacific Gas & Electric and San Diego Gas & Electric.

SCE is still settling lawsuits brought by Malibu homeowners who suffered financial loss from the Woolsey Fire six years ago.

The last-minute legislative deal would also allow increased oil drilling in interior California, while putting additional restrictions on efforts to restart oil drilling operations on the coast.

Lobbyists from big oil have forced through a bill to add 2 thousand oil wells in Kern County … and to reopen an old oil pipeline that spilled oil into the Pacific upcoast from Malibu 10 years ago. 

The pipelines is connected to three offshore oil platforms near Santa Barbara … 60 year old platforms that environmentalists say are played  out and want removed. 

The legislation requires offshore oil production to use pipelines with the best available technology … apparently better than the leaky 60 year old pipe that the oil company wants to use.

The old company also has to get a Coastal Commission development permit before it can resume operation.

Governor Gavin Newsom gave in to oil … but won some environmental protections for the California coast.

Parts of the big compromise include extending cap and trade … a landmark California law that puts a price on every ton of air pollution emitted by an industry. 

And some of that cap and trade money will be earmarked to finish the high speed rail line … between Bakersfield and Modesto but not all the way into Los Angeles or San Francisco. 

Coastal Again Delays Action On Escondido Canyon Concrete Zigzag Walls

A controversial trail … proposed for the canyon walls near Escondido Falls … was supposed to be decided by the California Coastal Commission Thursday.

It was postponed to an indefinite date.  This is the second delay for the controversial trail, next to a house controlled by the MRCA at the north end of Via Escondido.

As we’ve been reporting .. the Coastal Commission has been asked to bless a plan by the MRCA to build a switchback trail up the side of Escondido Canyon north of the Sycamore Park neighborhood.

It’s part of a plan by the Mountains Resource and Conservation Authority to build a trail up a series of connecting private driveways… to provide a second access route between PCH and the popular, overcrowded Escondido Falls.

The MRCA plan is bitterly opposed by longtime homeowners in the lower canyon, in a neighborhood called Sycamore Park.  Many of them face expensive fines proposed by the MRCA for failing to go along with the plan.

MRCA is not planning any additional parking or restroom facilities on Pacific Coast Highway. And the trail would connect to the road at Escondido Beach where on street parking is already scarce..

Caltrans plans to ban half of the parking along that stretch of PCH as well… Adding to the parking shortage there.

It’s not clear the MRCA Trail construction was pulled from the agenda yesterday.

Also yesterday … the California Coastal Commission yesterday postponed a decision on a permit for the wintertime sand berms … built every year at Zuma beach.

Some person .. not identified … raised written objections to the sand moving project … which happens every winter.

LA Beaches and harbors pile uop sand in front of the lifeguard headquarters and bathroom structures along the mile long beach every year.

The berms protect the buildings during high tides and winter storms.

Meeting yesterday in Fort Bragg … the commission agreed to delay the county’s hearing to request a renewed permit until next month. 

Chances Growing For Another Dry Winter in Malibu

The North Pacific weather cycle is shifting gears again.

There is growing evidence that a La Niña weather condition is developing.

The National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center says there is now a 71% chance that La Niña develops this fall.

La Niña is defined by cooler-than-average sea surface temperatures along the equator in the central and eastern Pacific. 

That causes the jet stream to shift northward … the stream track will come ashore in Canada instead of California.

Usually … that means drier-than-average conditions along the southern tier of the U.S. … including Southern California.

If a La Niña does develop … federal foirecasters say this event will likely be a weak one. 

It was a weak La Niña last winter, but it was enough to cause Southern California to face drier-than-normal weather.

12 Story Apartment Buildings, 6 Of Them, Delayed on Lincoln Blvd

The largest housing project ever in Santa Monica has been shelved … for now.

A gigantic residential development … with 12 structures, each six stories high …  was planned for the site now occupied by the Gelsons supermarket at Lincoln Avenue at Ocean Park Boulevard.

Opponent warned of massive traffic congestion from the 521 apartments … clogging the main road between the Malibu and LAX areas.

The City of Santa Monica was powerless to stop the 521 apartments … because of a state law aimed at encouraging housing. 

The development company has quietly withdrawn the proposal … according to the Santa Monica Lookout newspaper.

But the landowner is looking for another development company to pick up the project. 

Opponents of the project say adding 521 apartments and 800 parking places to the corner of Ocean park and Lincoln will choke streets in the area.

Lincoln is the main route linking Malibu to LAX and points south.