Is Chevron blithe about solar?

Perhaps it's the recent election, but somehow the idea has entered my brain that oil companies are evil. I mean, if the TV says that they're evil, it must be true. A lot of time was spent on TV talking about evil Texas oil companies such as Valero, and evil English oil companies such as British Petroleum.

But somehow the opponents to California's Proposition 23 (which lost, by the way) never got around to talking about the fact that there's a California oil company, San Ramon-based Chevron Corporation, which employs Californians, and which would have benefited from Proposition 23. The opponents kinda sorta left that out of their negative campaign ads.

Of course, companies such as Chevron could be harmed by market conditions. There are other energy sources, and those of us who live in the Inland Empire know about them. Just drive out toward Palm Springs, and you'll see more windmills than you can shake an oil rag at. And if you keep on driving, you'll find another energy source in the future:

A 250-megawatt solar power plant planned for Riverside County received final regulatory approval Thursday from the Secretary of Interior.

To be developed by NextEra Energy Resources, the Genesis Solar Project will be located on nearly 1,950 acres of public land 25 miles west of Blythe.

But NextEra, please don't refer to your project as the "Genesis" project. When you put something out in the middle of the desert and call it "Genesis," next thing you know aliens will start showing up and attacking Blythe and Yuma. And we can't let that happen.