SLO County leaders should band together to save Diablo Canyon

Here’s a note for San Luis Obispo city Mayor Jan Marx or Lynn Compton, the chair of the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors, or Adam Hill, the vice chair of the Board of Supervisors. Rather than “roll over” because PG&E apparently can be more profitable if Diablo Canyon Power Plant shuts down, I hope that one or more of you will become a true leader, or group of leaders, and push to keep Diablo Canyon open after 2025.

Diablo Canyon annually produces more emission-free power than the equivalent of five Hoover Dams. Diablo Canyon is California’s largest electricity generator by far — and it produces power at about 4 cents/kilowatt-hour, a small fraction of what power costs from either solar or wind when taxpayer-funded subsidies are excluded.

Please follow the lead of Oswego, New York, Mayor William Barlow, Jr., IBEW Local 97 — headed by Tom Skerpon, and Exelon Nuclear who worked together to keep the FitzPatrick nuclear power plant near Oswego open, rather than closing it. Zero emissions credits for nuclear are the key. Many details are found in the July 27, 2016, Environmental Progress article, “How to Save a Nuclear Plant.” (www.environmentalprogress.org/big-news/2016/7/27/how-nuclear-plants-are-saved)

This story was originally published September 13, 2016 at 8:16 PM with the headline "SLO County leaders should band together to save Diablo Canyon."