SLO Supervisors vote to support extension of Diablo Canyon operations is ‘shameful’ | Opinion
Shame on SLO Supervisors
“PG&E hopes Diablo Canyon can operate past 2030. So do 3 SLO County supervisors | Opinion,” (sanluisobispo.com, March 12)
How shameful that the Board of Supervisors voted to recommend the resolution to continue the operation of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant for another 20 years at their March 26 meeting. Sup. Dawn Ortiz-Legg, a former PG&E employee, most definitely should have recused herself from this vote. Instead, she stated: “We are here to say we want this plant to be operating as long as possible.” She is most definitely not protecting the citizens of San Luis Obispo County now or in the future.
The continued argument that high-paying jobs will be lost is meaningless if people can no longer live in SLO should there be any kind of accident (man-made or natural) at the plant. Back in 2019, the county did fiscal planning for the closure of Diablo. Payments have already been budgeted for, including to the SLO Unified School District.
It is time to continue on the path of closure that was agreed to after much debate in 2015 and close Diablo Canyon’s Unit 1 by 2024 and Unit 2 by 2025. A more useful discussion should be about how to safely store all the nuclear waste already stored onsite and how residents can get out of the county on the consistently backed up routes both north and south in the event of an accident.
Patricia Kohlen
San Luis Obispo
In defense of Diablo
“PG&E hopes Diablo Canyon can operate past 2030. So do 3 SLO County supervisors | Opinion,” (sanluisobispo.com, March 12)
The conflation of rising PG&E rates with Diablo Canyon’s extended operations to 2030 and beyond is particularly galling. Since California ratepayers will have essentially paid off Diablo Canyon’s construction and upgrade costs by 2025, the cost of Diablo is safe, abundant and cost-effective.
However, producing the annual equivalent of five Hoover Dams of electricity will not drop to zero, hence the $5 billion to 2030 estimate in the editorial. The cause of PG&E’s rate increases are hardening its transmission and distribution network, as discussed in recent California Senate and Assembly Committee hearings that Californians for Green Nuclear Power attended. This has nothing to do with Diablo.
Gene Nelson
Arroyo Grande
Opinion
Preserve Morro Bay
“Morro Bay CA releases draft EIR for battery plant project,” (sanluisobispo.com, March 27)
When I read the project’s only “significant and unavoidable” impact would be to remove a historical resource, I thought that meant Morro Rock. No, it meant the smokestacks. I could not believe the incredibly ugly plan the city and Vistra Corp. have for one of the most beautiful bays in California.
The site used to be an oil tank farm that contaminated the land. Now, it can “only be safely used for industrial or commercial purposes.” In other words, pollution on top of pollution. Vistra could just avoid cleaning up the site by building another polluting industrial facility on it.
Morro Bay’s beauty would be destroyed. It’s just unbelievable that the city and California Coastal Commission would allow this travesty to occur. An oil tank farm and a power plant should never have been built near Morro Rock, and a battery plant should not be allowed to compound this desecration.
Morro Bay should be preserved and cherished as a special place on the Central Coast for present and future generations.
Charlotte Daigle
San Luis Obispo
Reality check
“Morro Bay CA releases draft EIR for battery plant project,” (sanluisobispo.com, March 27)
I empathize with well-meaning citizens who fear for the lives of sea creatures and are concerned about changes to our storied waterfront in Morro Bay. As valid as these concerns are, their shortsightedness overlooks the long-term potential for catastrophic changes to our environment caused by our refusal to accept that the problem is us and our continued use of fossil fuels.
When the Arctic ice sheet disappears altogether, there will be no more whales to migrate past our scenic coast. Our well-preserved stacks in Morro Bay will be pretty lonely when our lack of power denies us the ability to filter sea water into drinking water to replace dwindling supplies due to climate change.
Please, get a grip, people. Our shortsightedness will cause the end of life as we know it on the entire planet, let alone our view of the stacks!
Michael Morin
Los Osos
