Recent Comments
Re: “A response to the city of SLO's climate goals”
It’s good to see sensible comments like Mark Henry’s. There’s some sense left in California. Fake green Gov Newsom didn’t lift one of his green fingers to save our biggest emission free Diablo Canyon that provides 10% of the electricity for our 40 million residents. Amazing. Where is the Chamber of Commerce on keeping Diablo open? Closure will greatly harm SLO businesses. It’s supposed to be the Chamber’s Job #1 to protect businesses. Closing this non emitting plant is crazy in a time of increasing fires burning down our beautiful forests. People - please get angry. They are ignoring your children’s and grandchildren’s future for natural gas profits and campaign contributions. If atomic power is dangerous where are the dead bodies? The sick? ZERO. Why is the whole U S Navy nuclear if it’s dangerous? Why is China building so many nuclear power plants if it’s too expensive and a bad form of energy? People you are being fed a line of BS to protect fossil fuel profits. Stop being the sucker again. Call all your representatives and tell them you vote to protect Californian and your children and grandchildren even if they don’t care about your family. Greta said it so perfectly at the UN. They are willing to destroy your environment for profit today. VOTE THEM OUT OF OFFICE!!
William Gloege
1130 e Clark Ave
Santa Maria, Ca
805-332-2610
Re: “Money is king”
RightWord is an active writer for sure. But respectfully he or she needs to read on energy comparisons. Studies (in books) show comparisons of actual injuries and fatalities from generation of energy by various means like hydro, coal, natural gas, nuclear)
Nuclear is always so tiny its almost non-existant. The trouble nuclear haters get into is using fatalities they can IMAGINE, in place of actual fatalities. Again they need more education on supposedly terrible nuclear accidents. In the vast majority of accidents no one has been injured or killed: Fukushima, Three Mile Island, etc. Only Chernobyl killed people - about as many killed by burning fossil fuel world wide in one hour. To learn all details about any nuclear mishap go to the UNSCEAR organization with the U. N. This is a group of scientists tasked with investigating any incidents at nuclear plants world wide. Get education. Its so much better than just shooting off our mouths about something we just KNOW is true. We know it so surely we dont need to go to the trouble of study of incidents.
Hey RIGHTWORD. Whats your name? Publish it like I do.
William Gloege
Santa Maria, CA
Re: “Community choice seems like a scam”
Mark Henry wrote,(New Times, 8/1-8/2019) "Community Choice seems like a Scam." Yes in deed it does. But no surprise. Public Utility's history is filled with scams. Think about it. A company like PG&E or Edison or any owner has a sweet deal. The public has to pay for the product - electricity, water, transport - whatever- at the profit level the corporations wants. These utilities are the lifeblood of our daily lives. What we pay is supposed to be "regulated" by the California Public Utility Commission, a part of California government. The Commission has a long history of deciding in favor of the corporation owning the utility and ignoring citizen pleas for fairness. A "mom and pop" average group of citizens protesting Golden State Utility's constant raising of water rates in my neighborhood was treated so dismissively the citizen group quit their protest since they were up against experienced attorneys working for the Commission. A recent highly educated group of citizens banding together as "Californians for Green Nuclear Power" protested the outrageous closure of carbon free Diablo Canyon power plant in a severe, five alarm climate crisis. Diablo Canyon is the State's largest generator of clean, carbon free electricity. The group contained PhDs highly trained in nuclear energy and utility work, but the Commission found in favor of the PG&E Corporation. The Commission ignored key parts of the protest brought by the citizen nonprofit, namely that PG&E ignored State law saying any change in land use on the coast had to undergo an EIR and other hurdles by government agencies. The group stated PUC overlooked this omission to help the corporation do what it wanted - make more money in natural gas generation and other factors.
And remember the Enron scam of our State a few decades ago. That cost ratepayers billions and government let it happen including the PUC.
So Mark Henry is right on the money to question the new initiative of "Community Choice." None of these "money saving, innovative, etc." ideas are properly reviewed. Citizens are at fault, too, for not being more involved in government at all levels. Its a "democracy" after all. But some sit back and leave it to government.
I second Mr. Henry's protest, Get on the alert to ANY scheme to "make your utility wonderful and cheaper." Community Choice very much included.
William Gloege
1130 E. Clark Ave. 150-223
Santa Maria, Ca 93455
805-332-2610
Re: “Hot mess?”
Scientists like James Hansen and many others say only Nuclear can have a chance of turning back global warming. France, the big US Navy, now China, South Korea, India, Sweden are building many more reactors. But California decides not to use nuclear?
Why? Many residents saw a Hollywood movie like China Syndrome or the scary, highly exaggerated HBO series, Chernobyl. It seems thats how we make our energy decisions here. Meanwhile our nuclear industry loses jobs and reactor sales in the billions to South Korea, China and other informed nations. Way to go Governor Newsom!! We used to lead- Remember?
Re: “Clean air is an everybody issue”
Possible closure of Diablo Canyon in 2024-25 will add many, many more tons of pollutants and CO2 to earths atmosphere. Senator Monning is not, to my knowledge, lifting a finger to save this magical clean energy, carbon free plant that is equal to five Hoover dams in clean energy production. Senator Monning also seems not to care about the economy of central coast residents.
Diablo Canyon pours an estimated $1.5 billion into our economies every year. Hundreds of high skill residents at the plant must sell their homes, essentially all at once, to find new work in larger cities.
Closing a carbon free plant that protects all of us and our planet seems a true crime against humanity and all life on earth.
But sorry people, cats and dogs and great whales in our seas, thats what it takes to get re-elected for one more cycle.
Call Senator Monning and all your elected representatives and demand they keep trouble free, carbon free Diablo Canyon operating another 50+ years as is possible. Tell them your vote for their reelection depends on what they do.
Renewables are fine but they last a short time before needing to be rebuilt (20 yrs). But first if politicians get their way we first have to figure out how to build the vast numbers of panels, wind generators and power lines. There is no plan for that, nor where to store vast toxic waste from current renewables.
Dont just complain. Take action. Thats how democracy succeeds.
William Gloege
Santa Maria, CA
Re: “Diablo Canyon already produces clean energy”
Letter writer Mark Henry is correct. In terms of actual injury or fatalities, Nuclear Power is by a wide margin the safest. Google safest means of generating electricity.
Re: “Get Diablo closed”
Rex, You list all the problems that happened to one of France's many nuclear plants. Are you familiar with oil trains incinerating cities, oil platforms exploding killing workers and forever polluting the Gulf of Mexico? Do you know that the World Health Organization says burning fossil fuels kills about 3 million people every year? Do you know about global warming? Scientists fear it will eventually kill ALL life on earth. The cause of global warming is emissions of green house gases when fossil fuels like natural gas, coal, oil are burned. Sadly, poor countries can only afford to burn coal to make electricity they need to live (lights, AC, refrigeration for food, machines to run society). Last I heard, France is doing fine. Electric, nonemitting trains are running smoothly, lights are all on, they export nuclear produced electricity to Germany who shut their reactors before they waiting to see UN report on Fukushima. Germans were surprised to read that not a single person was hurt or killed by reactor incidents in Japan. But it was too late. Politics pulled the plug on their reactors. Now Germans are burning coal to keep the lights on. There are folks who love to be scared of something. Radiation!! But its all around us and is as natural as water. You just can't have too much of either or you'll die. Why do top scientists like James Hansen and James Lovelock(UK) all recommend we use carbon free nuclear power? Answer: because they know what they're talking about having studied all this for their whole lives.
So, save your kids and grandkids from global warming and help get the US on nuclear - like France, China, South Korea, Sweden and many more smart countries. Oil countries like UAE and Saudi Arabia are building reactors, too!. Save you kids and grand kids. Save great Diablo Canyon serving California flawlessly for 35 years. William Gloege, Santa Maria, Ca