Grapevine: Will LAX have to move due to global warming?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}And now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine...
It Was this Big
Exaggeration happens all the time in politics.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}This week's example?
California Governor Jerry Brown issued a dire warning about the effects of climate change -- a possible four foot rise in sea levels over the next 200 years.
Quote -- "The Los Angeles Airport is going to be underwater. So is the San Francisco airport...You're going to have to move all that...That's billions, if not tens of billions of dollars."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Turns out that warning was kind of a stretch.
LAX is more than 100 feet above sea level even at its lowest point.
A spokesman for the Democratic governor told the Los Angeles times that Brown misspoke but stands by the larger point about needing to prepare for the impact of climate change.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Summer is Coming
Well, summer is almost here and the temperature and electric bills are on the rise.
One piece of good news, the bill is going to be a little lower following a court decision demanding the Energy Department stop collecting a fee to fund a federal nuclear waste site.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Why?
No such site exists. One state utility commissioner called the end of the fee -- quote -- "A victory for customers...People shouldn't be paying for something that doesn't exist."
The fee has been collected for 31 years and has amassed $37 billion.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Want a refund? Too bad.
The Energy Department plans to use the fund to design and build a new site by 2048.
Somber Occasion
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Finally, today's 9/11 Memorial Museum dedication ceremony almost took an uncomfortable political turn.
On the original program after New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's speech, a Broadway singer was going to perform the song "Bridge Over Troubled Water."
The choice seemed to be a not-so-subtle reference to the accusations that Christie's staff intentionally created traffic on a bridge into New York City last year.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Just before the ceremony, a museum spokesman announced the singer was ill and "Amazing Grace" would be performed instead.
The spokesman said the change had nothing to do with Christie or the song.