Newsom Diablo Canyon

Governor Newsom: Don’t Gamble With Diablo Canyon’s Planned Retirement

Gov. Newsom: Don’t Gamble with Diablo Canyon’s Planned Retirement

In 2016, you supported an orderly retirement plan for Diablo Canyon. While serving on the Public Lands Commission, your vote initiated the Joint Proposal that provided transition dollars for the workers at the aging reactors and the communities dependent on tax revenue from the reactors, as well as a transition to greenhouse-gas-free replacement energy while extending the life of Diablo Canyon to ensure an orderly and risk-free transition.  

The future of Diablo Canyon was settled for environmentalists, the workers, Pacific Gas and Electric, the communities, state regulators, and the state legislature.  

You are now recklessly proposing to destabilize this orderly transition with a last-minute proposal betting politically and economically on nearly 40-year-old reactors. This gamble is a risky venture for several reasons:  

• There are well-established earthquake fault lines under Diablo Canyon that it was not designed to withstand. 
• Nuclear power from Diablo Canyon is one of the costliest ways to generate electricity, posing the threat of future price increases. 
• Diablo Canyon will not help avoid blackouts. 
• Your proposal to exempt or waive environmental laws poses a risk to the environment and the people of California. 

Gambling with Diablo Canyon’s planned retirement is the riskiest pathway to deepen California’s commitment to fighting climate change while supplying reliable energy. Please withdraw your reckless proposal and support efforts to deepen investments in needed transmission, storage, and renewable energy.