Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) cleared the California Coastal Commission’s regulatory hurdle and can keep the state’s last-standing nuclear power plant running for at least five years.
Diablo Canyon Power Plant’s green light came after the commission initially shot down permit requests for proposing insufficient protections for the surrounding land.
The Coastal Commission’s approvals are a result of revised mitigation measures. A jump from the previously recommended conservation easement across roughly 1,100 acres of the North Ranch portion of PG&E’s property directly adjacent to Montaña de Oro State Park, the utility company decided to protect 4,500 acres of that land instead.
PG&E also proposed establishing a purchasing option for Wild Cherry Canyon to encourage future conservation, dedicating 25 miles of new public trails, contributing $10 million for trail development and maintenance, and committing to not sell South Ranch lands until 2040.
“I don’t think, unfortunately, that anything’s going to be happening to Diablo Canyon anytime soon,” Commissioner Jaime Lee said at the Dec. 11 meeting. “We need to find ways that are safe, sustainable, efficient, reliable that aren’t increasing costs to consumers. … I think it’s critically important that we continue to invest and look to ways to help support our human energy needs, moving forward, in ways that are all of those things and not ocean dependent.”
While state Senate Bill 846, the California Public Utilities Commission, and now the Coastal Commission are allowing PG&E to keep Diablo open until 2030, the utility company is awaiting the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s approval of a relicensing permit for another 20 years.
Though the state has only approved running Diablo’s twin reactor units until October 2030, the Coastal Commission also approved a consistency certificate for the new 20-year federal operating licenses at the Dec. 11 meeting.
Nine of 12 Coastal Commissioners favored the coastal development permit and the consistency certificate over two separate votes. Commissioners Raymond Jackson, Matt O’Malley, and Linda Escalante voted against the coastal development permit application. Commissioner Ann Notthoff joined O’Malley and Escalante in rejecting the consistency certificate.
San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace and the Environmental Defense Center criticized the Coastal Commission decision.
They took issue with the plant’s continuing impacts on marine life. PG&E’s mitigation plan with land conservation measures aimed to offset the impact of Diablo Canyon’s cooling system, which cycles through roughly 2.5 billion gallons of Pacific Ocean water. Coastal Commission staff has said that the most adverse impact of this once-through cooling system is to marine life.
“Instead of addressing the ongoing destruction caused by the plant’s cooling system, PG&E proposed to offset marine damage by conserving thousands of acres of Diablo Canyon land,” the environmental groups said in a press release.
State Sen. John Laird (D-Santa Cruz) was happy with the outcome, according to his District Director and Senior Policy Advisor Kara Woodruff.
She told New Times that expanding the protected North Ranch acres and the new conservation measures for Wild Cherry Canyon were victories.
Wild Cherry Canyon is the southern-most parcel of Diablo Canyon land. A lengthy legal battle between PG&E subsidiary Eureka Energy and real estate development company HomeFed Corporation over ownership ended in a win for HomeFed, which holds Wild Cherry Canyon leases for around 140 years.
“I understand that Eureka had a limited time to appeal the case to the California Supreme Court, but the deadline to do so has allegedly passed,” Woodruff said.
At the Coastal Commission meeting, PG&E Senior Director of Regulatory, Environmental, and Repurposing Tom Jones said that HomeFed has been cooperative.
“The lawsuit has been resigned, that is settled,” he said. “They’ve expressed to us a willingness for a fair market value for the conservation on their lease interest, … and we support a contemporaneous fee title transfer to a conservation group.”
There are other issues that remain unresolved when it comes to SB 846.
Laird pointed to the uncertainty of PG&E’s repayment of the $300 million state loan, questions about Diablo’s seismic condition, the pending results of embrittlement testing on its first reactor unit, and the shortfall of unitary taxes paid by PG&E to San Luis Coastal Unified School District despite the permit extension.
“I’m committed to finding a legislative fix [for the unitary tax loss] and introducing it this year to address that issue,” he told commissioners. “I don’t have a path yet, but I’ve been working with the Board of Equalization and the Governor’s Office.”
San Luis Coastal Parent Information Network told New Times that for SLO County families, mitigation isn’t an “abstract concept.” Rather, decisions about Diablo’s continued operations affect land value and revenues for public schools.
“Despite Diablo Canyon’s continued operation, our community has already experienced a meaningful loss in revenue. While these impacts may seem small in a statewide context, they have real consequences for students, classrooms, and educational stability,” the parent group said. “We respectfully urge continued coordination among state agencies and our legislative representatives to ensure that mitigation commitments are clearly defined, enforceable, and responsive to localized impacts.” ∆