AB1346 a Disaster for California – Banning of Small Gasoline Engines by 2024

As usual California liberals think they are on the forefront to green energy. It is clear that politicians and Governors don’t think at all. It is also clear that people living in the cities of California don’t either as they are all for this ban.

First of all when you look at the bill it is very small – only about one page and perhaps some of it may make sense. Since most people live in the city I suppose a gas powered mower or weed eater isn’t necessary. They have very small yards and that will probably allow electric equipment work for them, and of course the rich folks have riding mowers or landscaping companies (I talk about them in a minute) so for them it is no big deal.

Who this doesn’t work for is rural Californians. Again we are slapped in the face by ignorant lawmakers that have no idea what they just did. With their tiny brains they thought they just outlawed lawn mowers and weed eaters, but that isn’t what they did. Here is a short list of what they just banned in 2024 for sale.

• Lawn Mowers
• Weed Eaters
• Gasoline powered small generators
• Pressure Washers
• Chain Saws
• JR Field Mowers
• Snow Blowers
• Hedge Trimmers
• Rotor Tillers

Are you getting it yet? Yes, we in California can probably live with electric mowers and electric pressure washers but what about the rest? Rural Californians are screwed again by this unintelligent power grabbing liberal government. If it sounds like I am angry about this I am.

Lets think. I have 2 acres. There is a law to keep weeds mowed down. Are we supposed to run extension cords that are hundreds of feet long? Do you think an electric JR mower would have a battery that could last several hours mowing weeds? Will the engine be powerful enough? Doubt it or they would have an electric one.

What about my vegetable garden. I guess at 62 I am supposed to use a pick and shovel to make my garden right? I mean what would I need a rotor tiller for? Those city folk that had gardens – forget it. After all dependency on the government is required in California isn’t it?

How about gasoline powered generators. If the power goes out in a storm – sometimes for weeks should I let my food spoil? How about freezing to death with no heat. How about no water from my well. How about the folks that need power for their medical devices? How about seniors? Battery backup solutions for homes are upwards of $10,000 dollars and have about a two day lifespan. They also have no ROI since they have relatively short life cycles (10 years or less.) We are just screwed and nobody gives a damn.

Lets talk chain saws. There is a major forest fire and the fire fighters are trying to fell trees with a tiny chainsaw with a battery? Are you kidding me? Are they supposed to run extension cords through the hot embers? How am I to keep my trees trimmed and my property maintained for the 100 foot clearance? What about those folks that rely on trees for heating? How stupid are we? Electric Chain Saws? Banning Gasoline Chain saws is stupid.

Now being on a rant here – let me say a few other things. We have a broken power grid. We have a major water shortage. We will have no hydroelectric power – we have outlawed coal – we have shut down all nuclear power generation plants and are phasing out natural gas powered plants. California’s green energy is about solar and wind, but what if the sun isn’t shining and the wind doesn’t blow? How is the electrical grid going to handle charging all of those batteries? Electric Cars are already impacting the grid and internal combustion engines for cars won’t be allowed in 10 years or so. How is that going to work. I didn’t even go into the hazardous mining of lithium or the lack of battery manufacturers in California due to the environmental regulations. Why do you think Tesla built their lithium-ion battery manufacturing plant east of Reno, Nevada when they have a huge automotive production facility in Fremont California? Has anyone thought of the hazmat produced by improperly handled lithium battery waste? They can’t even manage lead-acid or AGM battery hazmat from cars now.

Well here is the mindset of folks living in California. It doesn’t effect me so I don’t care. Ask people in the cities if they care that they have to use an electric lawn mower. They will say they don’t mind. They don’t own a generator because the power rarely fails – so no issue there (except when the rotating power outages come.) They don’t need a chain saw for anything – after all the city will take care of the fallen trees or they will just call a contractor right?

Well lets talk about contractors. There are huge tree companies here in California working for PGE to remove trees and branches to keep the power grid safe. Electric saws aren’t going to work for them and they have hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars invested in chain saws and equipment. It will cost them big bucks the convert to something that won’t work – and California’s answer in the bill is a rebate? Really – are you out of your minds? These tree companies are just going to close up shop and go elsewhere and can you blame them? How about landscapers? How many batteries will they need to carry on their trucks to get through 1 day of jobs? Will they have huge charging banks at their homes to charge these batteries and what happens if there is no power? They are just out of work.

Again, mountain people are screwed because snow blowers are needed in the winter to clear driveways. Old folks will be trying to clear their driveways with shovels, heart attacks and strokes will increase – but who gives a damn if old people die shoveling their driveways anyway right? Not California.

Yes, we have a bunch of stupid politicians in charge. We have a stupid governor as well. Nothing on AB1346 was thought out. There is no plan, no fix in place, not anything.

My recommendation is for folks like myself who are rural is to buy backup parts and back up equipment. There is already a shortage of gasoline generators in California. I already have a new gasoline generator and chain saw but I will be buying backups and keeping in the sealed box until the day I will need them. As for clearing my property I am almost done with the California regulations. I wonder when California will regulate replacement parts for my gasoline items? I guess I will be headed to Nevada for those. I am sure California will pass some regulations saying that I can’t buy parts for my small gasoline engines, but yet again politicians aren’t bright enough to realize us old folks will just repair what we have. It will be the younger generation that will lose out.

All I can say is that it is clear to me why people continue to leave California. Stupidity is on the increase and it won’t be long until California is third world country. Without intelligent leaders there is no hope for the state. For those old farts like me- we are already making plans to get around California’s regulations.

For those that didn’t know – now you do. Good Luck