PG&E should be allowed to keep Diablo Canyon open, build more nuclear plants 

Pacific Gas and Electric Company has produced affordable electric power for our state for decades. The Diablo Canyon Power Plant produced 10 percent of all the electric power in California and was the cleanest form of energy production, yet the environmentalists could not stand PG&E's success so they shut them down through government regulations. The combination of radical environmentalists, government regulations, government subsidies to wind and solar, along with faulty forest management practices resulted in last year's catastrophic forest fires, finally forcing PG&E to file for bankruptcy.

Now that the environmental movement has forced PG&E to bankruptcy, who will provide cheap electric power to the population? Will it be the environmentalists? I think not; they never provide solutions to the problems they create. The environmentalists' unreasonable demands and government regulations have put us in this mess.

Please don't say you are going to buy electricity and redistribute it via the PG&E-owned power grid. If that is the case, all we will have is a government "middleman" who will ration our power and create additional increased costs. Will we never learn that government is the problem, not the answer? The private sector is fully capable of producing and marketing all the cheap electric power we need. The government and the environmentalists need to get out of the way and let the private sector work.

The state wants everyone in an electric vehicle yesterday, yet there is no way our power grid can support the power needed to bring this about. We need all sources of energy to include keeping the Diablo Canyon Power Plant open as long as possible. Nuclear power is the cleanest and most cost effective power source. Until technology and the private sector can develop what is required to meet the state's electric energy needs, we should utilize all available energy resources. This includes nuclear, as well as oil, natural gas, wind, solar, and hydro-electric plants. Natural gas is a clean and cost effective energy source.

Government and the environmentalists need to get out of the way and let the energy industry experts do their job and develop the state's energy needs in accordance with the cleanest and most cost effective means possible.

The sun doesn't shine at night and the wind doesn't blow 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and the environmentalists don't want us to mine the rare earth materials required for battery production.

Keep Diablo Canyon open and let PG&E construct three new nuclear power plants and three new hydro-electric power plants to power the grid. Our elected representatives need to start providing solutions instead of creating problems! Δ

John Texeira writes to New Times from Paso Robles. Respond with your own opinion, by emailing a [email protected].