Shades of Black

In the Oc­tober 5 issue, Kevin D. Williamson’s article “The Heart of Cali­fornia’s Darkness” describes the re­cent blackouts affecting California as “utility-imposed.”

The blackouts to which he refers were not im­posed by a utility company. They were imposed by an agency called the “California Independent System Operator,” or “CAISO,” which acts as a sort of ombudsman for the state’s electrical grid. When CAISO projects or determines that energy usage could or will outstrip supply, it first asks consumers for more extreme conservation tactics and then orders utility companies to impose blackouts. It is unfortunately important to draw a distinction between these rolling outages and the increasingly common “public-safety power shutoff” (PSPS) outages, in which utilities such as Pacific Gas and Electric decide that the hot, dry, and windy weather may cause their equipment to spark — as with the high-voltage transmission lines from which major fires originated in the past two years in Butte and Sonoma Counties, the Camp and Kincade fires, respectively. These PSPS outages, which truly are “utility-imposed,” typically are fixed in scope once initiated, in contrast to the rolling outages imposed on utilities and Californians by CAISO because of supply-and-demand issues.

Will Schmitt Graton, Calif.

Outside Oneself

John D. Hagen’s article on Thomas Carlyle’s French Revolution (“The Gospel of Jean-Jacques,” September 7) was not only well written but frighteningly apt in its analysis of how Rousseau’s ethics are influential today. Hagen offers Carlyle’s maxim “Pleasure is pleasant” as explanation and reasoning for all manner of modern vices serving the individual — from pornography to unrestricted abortions. I would counter that sentiment with one of my favorite basic truths from Gordon Livingston’s wonderful little book How to Love: “The mindless pursuit of pleasure causes pain.” It seems that, century after century, we all find that out anew, and the hard way.

Cathy Sidlowski Via email

Correction

“The 1980 Presidential Election in Retrospect” (Craig Shirley, October 19) identified its author as a frequent lecturer at the Reagan Ranch. In fact, he lectures frequently at the Reagan Library.