What’s that sucking sound? It’s either the 2.5 billion gallons of ocean water Diablo Canyon Power Plant (DCPP) draws in daily to cool its systems or it’s the sound of PG&E getting away with murdering what the California Coastal Commission estimates to be 2 billion larval fish every year.
Now that the Coastal Commission has extended PG&E’s Diablo operating permit to 2030, my quick math tells me 10 billion more little fishies will perish as the plant sucks in 4.5 trillion gallons of water over five years.
That’s sad, and so is the fact that PG&E has filed for bankruptcy twice, once in 2001 thanks to California’s energy crisis and again in 2019 thanks to the wildfires the company was held responsible for due to its lack of proper infrastructure maintenance. Taxpayers bailed out the company, so we’re paying PG&E for electricity, and our tax dollars are paying to keep the poorly managed investor-owned company afloat. We’re dummies.
The 2001 bailout cost PG&E and the state of California, and by “state of California” I mean taxpayers, between $40 billion and $45 billion. The 2019 fire debacle cost about $58 billion more and also found PG&E guilty of 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter for those who perished in the Camp Fire, which is downright tragic.
Now the Coastal Commission has handed PG&E the keys to a rickety old nuclear power plant and told it to have fun making money for its investors for five more years. Dummies? We’re total idiots.
Yet, what’s the alternative? Diablo supplies about 9 percent of California’s power supply and 17 percent of the state’s zero-carbon energy supply. Between future AI’s energy needs and the effects of global warming and human beings’ increased energy needs, we’re basically screwed without Diablo. We’re probable screwed with it. We’re just screwed.
In case you’re looking for a silver lining to the five-year operating permit extension, here it is: PG&E is required to conserve 4,500-plus of Diablo’s 12,000-acre property.
“The Coastal Commission’s decision on Diablo Canyon is a major victory for land conservation and public access, ensuring that future generations will benefit from the conservation of these special lands,” state Sen. John Laird (D-Santa Cruz) announced.
Hm. I guess that’s good. The plan includes 25 miles of trails and $10 million to build them. Of course, it’s important to remember that the $10 million PG&E will spend to build the trails is money they made from us. It’s our money, but that didn’t stop Laird from praising the Coastal Commission.
“Today, their long-held vision has been realized, and this coastline will be conserved and made available for public access for present and future generations,” Laird said. “I am grateful to everyone who helped bring us to this momentous day.”
Just think, fellow Obispians. Someday, maybe when the plant closes in 2030, or maybe when the plant closes in 2045 (because PG&E has a proposal to extend it 20 more years), you’ll be able to take a hike along the coast next to concrete casks filled with radioactive material like plutonium-239. Its half-life is about 24,000 years. Sizzle!
No worries, right? All tucked away in a nice, safe concrete cask, right? According to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, “Moist marine salts and other conditions can cause short-term corrosion and cracks in canisters. A 2-year-old Diablo Canyon canister was found to have cracking conditions. Once cracks start, they can grow through the wall in 16 years.”
Yes, PG&E has planted a giant radioactive turd on our coast, but we’re excited to hike near it. Yay! Conservation for the win!
Here’s where it gets really sucky. Diablo’s tax burden used to contribute about $7.5 million annually to our schools, but when the plan to shutter the plant in 2025 was inked in 2016, PG&E agreed to pay $85 million to seven local cities, San Luis Coastal Unified School District, and SLO County to offset the loss of that revenue. Of course, now that the plant’s open for another five years, those taxes will roll in again, right? Right?
Nope! According to PG&E, that $85 million settlement wiped the slate clean. As far as PG&E is concerned, the $800 million-plus plant now has no taxable value.
“When local officials told us PG&E’s position—that the assessed value of the physical plant at DCPP [Diablo Canyon Power Plant] was zero for property tax purposes—we thought there was some miscommunication, because the idea itself just sounded absurd,” SLC Parent Information Network wrote in a letter to PG&E, Sen. Laird, Assemblywoman Dawn Addis, and others.
Keep in mind San Luis Coastal is facing a massive budget shortfall thanks to the triple whammy of disappearing COVID funds, rising costs of operating expenses and pension contributions, and the loss of Diablo-driven tax revenue. Oh yeah, and the state requirement to offer transitional kindergarten without full state funding.
The district has proposed around $5 million in cuts for the 2026-27 school year, including a prosed cut to music programs, which has some parents whistling an unhappy tune. About 30 full-time positions may be cut and various programs reduced.
Diablo, you little devil! If we let PG&E keep destroying our environment and leaving its nuclear waste on our coastland, the least it can do is pay to educate our children so they grow up smarter than the dummies that let this happen. ∆
The Shredder wants solar panels for everyone. Shine your light at shredder@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Dec 18-25, 2025.
This is the best Shredder I’ve read in a long time. Well researched and thorough.