San Luis Obispo City Council urged the California State Legislature to support safety efforts, reinstate tax revenues and support land conservation in SLO as the legislature deliberates on extending nuclear plant Diablo Canyon’s operations by 20 years. The council voted 5-0 to send their letter to the legislature but not without disagreement.
San Luis Obispo is the only city to write its own letter about Diablo Canyon’s extension. The other six cities in SLO county signed onto the letter written by SLO County. Councilmember Michelle Shoresman and councilmember Jan Marx were the main authors of the letter.
“Being pressured by other cities or the board of supervisors, or unions, or pro-nuclear activists, we feel that pressure,” Marx said.“But, in the long run our job is to represent the people who vote us into office.”
The city council broke down their letter into three parts: public safety and emergency preparedness, fiscal mitigation and long-term planning and land conservation. The letter advocates that these issues must be addressed before supporting a 20-year extension.
Both Marx and Shoresman stated they felt the letter addressed SLO’s community needs given the short time they had to write it.
However, some of the SLO community didn’t fully approve of the city council’s letter. Diablo Canyon produces 10% of California’s energy and provides more than 1300 head-of-household jobs for SLO County. Citizens wanted more direct language that advocated for the advancement of the plant and establishing the unitary tax.
Advocacy for the Unitary Tax
Ben Licker, a founder of The San Luis Coastal Parent Network that advocates for school funding, noted he wanted to see more explicit language used around taxes.
“I think it’s important that we focus on the revenues that are going to my kids,” Licker said, “And it’s really just paying property taxes, that’s really what it comes down to.”
The San Luis Coastal Unified School District is currently in a $5-7 million deficit, the unitary tax can add to needed school funding.
In the letter to the lawmakers, the city states that they know schools and local governments have relied on unitary taxes as a major source of funding for a long time.
Rachel Whalen, the government affairs officer for SLO County, noted that the plant needs to be operating in order for schools and cities to receive money from the unitary tax.
“Five additional years is simply not enough,” Whalen said. “Our community relies on this revenue to support local schools and essential services and the loss of the unitary tax has already had real and massive impacts.”
Whalen added that as much as they appreciate SLO City Council’s letter, the county’s position stays the same, and they hope to see the city start to explicitly support the 20-year extension.
Questions about safety
The city received a letter from SLO’s Senator John Laird regarding his concerns on safety. According to Marx, this informed their decision to make safety a part of their letter to the lawmakers.
In Laird’s letter to SLO County, which he attached in his letter to city council, he outlines issues such as providing funding for preserving surrounding land and needing more safety review processes for workers and residents.
SLO City Council’s letter addressed that SLO is 10 miles away from the plant’s evacuation point. They want to see more safety efforts from PG&E before moving on with extending operations.
However, Mayor Erica Stewart disagreed with the letter on its stance of safety. She agreed that it is important, but felt it was already addressed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
“We would not be looking at this 20 year option from the NRC if we did not find it was safe,” Stewart said. However, She also adds that she recognizes Laird’s concerns and wants to see those addressed.
Land Conservation
Stewart noted she spoke to the yakʔitʸutʸu tribe in SLO to see how they are going to be affected by the plant.
Going forward, according to the letter, the city wants PG&E to allow some public access to the area so that they don’t encroach on local communities.
The California Legislature will submit an introductory bill on Diablo Canyon on Feb. 20.
