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Joan Didion wrote "The apparent ease of California life is an illusion," marveling at the engineering bringing water to LA. Today's (long) piece is about that illusion and the wildfires: bloomberg.com/opinion/articl… via @bopinion $PCG 1/9
Think about PG&E: It went from A-rated to default in a little over a year. How's that for a shattered illusion? Its ultimate fate is tied up with a wider q as the costs of climate change mount: Who pays for what? 2/9 
There are obvious costs: fire claims, fire-fighting, refitting the power grid, forestry mgmt (which must improve). Less obvious ones: insurance premiums, foregone real-estate tax revenue, home hardening, de-energization 3/9
Insurance is a big problem in CA. Most people don't even insure against quakes. With fire, coverage is often inadequate, in part because reconstruction costs shoot up after a disaster. A forthcoming study suggests this is a US-wide problem 4/9
More folks live in the wildland-urban interface. Some love the views, some prefer the price. But the true cost may be much higher. One man I spoke with who defended his home from the Camp Fire spent >$20k on equipment alone and bought and cleared extra land too 5/9
The difficult q here is how will the costs of dealing with climate change be borne. PG&E's ch. 11 tells you inverse condemnation won't cut it. Power bills for some less-wealthy Californians already present a high burden: bloomberg.com/opinion/articl… via @bopinion 6/9
So will the state lend $ to build DERs? Will some communities shrink/relocate? Will only those who can self-insure/pay for a microgrid get to live in the most Instagrammable (and flammable) spots? These are divisive issues on a challenge that will require collective action 7/9
The less-obvious costs of maintaining our built environment in a changing climate surface most acutely in CA, but doesn't end there. All over, there are thriving communities that have refashioned marginal land into home. The "illusion" encompasses the Gulf coast, FL, NYC ... 8/9
Above all, the most glaring gap in how we price the risk is the lack of a price on carbon. This skews our investment (and societal) decisions; privatizing profits and socializing waste. Who pays for what, indeed: bloomberg.com/opinion/articl… via @bopinion 9/9
