Friends of the Earth reacts to California Legislature’s decision to extend the life of Diablo Canyon
SACRAMENTO – Early Thursday morning the California legislature voted to pass a measure supported by Governor Gavin Newsom to extend the life of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant.
Erich Pica, President of Friends of the Earth, issued the following statement in response:
Governor Newsom’s shameful proposal to keep Diablo Canyon open undermines almost 10 years of advocacy and agreement to responsibly retire the plant by 2025 and continue California’s clean energy transition. Allowing these nuclear power reactors to operate beyond 2025 exposes the surrounding communities and environment to serious risk while costing taxpayers and ratepayers potentially billions of dollars. Today may be a victory for Gov. Newsom, but it comes at a major cost to California and the fight against the climate crisis. Friends of the Earth will continue to campaign to ensure that PG&E retires the Diablo Canyon nuclear reactors in 2024 and 2025 as was agreed upon by the Joint Proposal.
Senate Bill 846 overrides the 2016 Joint Proposal which established that Diablo Canyon would retire in 2025. That proposal, which was negotiated by Friends of the Earth, NRDC, and Environment California was later endorsed by the legislature almost unanimously in 2018.
Communications contact: Erin Jensen, [email protected]