Crowds Gather in San Luis Obispo to Prevent the Closure of California’s Largest Source of Clean Energy
On a sunny Saturday in December, over 150 people camped out on the front lawn of the San Luis Obispo courthouse. They were there to protest the upcoming closure of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant. The plant’s owner, Pacific Gas and Electric decided in 2016 not to renew its license with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission after years of pressure from the state. The closure was announced through a “Joint Proposal” with Friends of the Earth, the Natural Resource Defense Council, and surprisingly, the union that represents many of the plant workers, IBEW 1245.
The plant is scheduled to close by 2025, resulting in the loss of 1,500 jobs and the 17% of California’s clean electricity generation that comes from nuclear energy. While the electricity demand that is no longer met by Diablo Canyon is planned to be replaced with renewables, there is little evidence that this will be the case. Due to the short time frame to replace the lost energy production from nuclear energy, this demand will most likely be met with other sources — primarily natural gas and out-of-state coal-fired generation.
This effort, now five years old, has been reignited by nuclear energy influencer Isabelle Boemeke. Motivated by the urgency of climate change, the hope to save thousands of jobs, and the future of the San Luis Obispo economy, members of the community and nuclear energy advocates from all over took to downtown San Luis Obispo on December 3rd and 4th to get their voices heard.
The night before the Saturday rally, nuclear energy advocates attended the annual San Luis Obispo Holiday Parade to get the word out about the event. While some weaved through the crowds wielding customized Nerds candies and flyers, others stayed behind to project pro-nuclear messages and information about the rally onto both the Courthouse and the buildings around parade-watchers.
On Saturday morning, the rally began with a 33-foot helium-filled blimp guided through downtown San Luis Obispo. The blimp represented the 7 million tons of CO2 that will be added to the atmosphere with the closure of the power plant. Blocking traffic and armed with a megaphone, those parading the blimp chanted phrases such as, “we are on a mission, to stop all emissions!” and “split don’t emit!”.
Then came the speeches. One after another, the rally’s leaders — all of them women — gave their reasons for supporting nuclear energy and why they thought Diablo Canyon should remain open. Isabelle Boemeke, nuclear energy influencer and founder of Save Clean Energy, emphasized the findings from MIT and Stanford that showed how much money keeping the plant open would save the state.
Dawn Ortiz-Legg, San Luis Obispo’s 3rd district supervisor, urged people to ask questions and be curious about nuclear energy. Nuclear engineering Ph.D. candidate and Gen A Government Team badass Alyssa Hayes focused her speech on the economic impacts that resulted from the closure of Zion nuclear plant in Illinois and the loss of tax revenue that followed.
Mothers for Nuclear founders Heather Hoff and Kristin Zaitz shared their story of how the organization they founded, Mothers For Nuclear, was born out of the fight to save Diablo Canyon. Finally, renowned planetary scientist, Carolyn Porco took to the podium to send a message to those who are anti-nuclear: “I am asking you, for the sake of your future, and the future of your progeny, please reconsider”.
For the rest of the day, supporters shared pizza and had conversations about the future of Diablo Canyon and nuclear energy in general. Most importantly, they came together as a community to save clean energy and the quality jobs that brings. Many had traveled from out of state, brought together by this fast-growing network of nuclear energy advocates and the hope to protect the future of clean energy.
Stories were shared about some of the previous actions to save Diablo, sparked by the 2016 announcement that the plant would be retired. At the time, Generation Atomic’s founder, Eric Meyer was working for Environmental Progress, where he organized the ‘March for Environmental Hope’.
The 2016 march began at the Sierra Club’s global headquarters in Oakland, California before staging sit-ins at Greenpeace, and the Natural Resource Defense Council, and embarking on a five-day trek that ended at the very State Lands Commission hearing that sealed Diablo Canyon’s fate by extending their water-use permit for only 8 years (instead of the customary 20.)
Five years on, the pro-nuclear movement has grown, as has its support among the public. The “Save Clean Energy” rally gained attention from several news stations and press outlets. California Central Coast news station KSBY reported on the event and gave it the first slot on its nighttime news cycle, highlighting the comments made by Dr. Seaver Wang, senior climate and energy analyst, who noted that Diablo Canyon is “the single largest source of clean energy in California”.
Other news outlets covered the rally, emphasizing the loss of good-paying jobs and millions of dollars in tax revenue, and the MIT and Stanford study called Diablo Canyon a reliable source of green energy. A video released by pop star, Grimes also made news headlines following the rally, where she emphasized that the closure of Diablo Canyon would set the state back in its efforts to reach 100 percent clean energy.
The effects of the rally to save the Diablo Canyon have traveled farther than the lawn of the San Luis Obispo courthouse. Following the rally, support for Diablo Canyon was tweeted from Elon Musk, Sam Harris, and various energy journalists. Those who believed that the closure of the plant was a done deal now have reason to believe that this may not be the case and that California’s largest source of clean energy has a fighting chance. Three of the most recent US Secretaries of Energy seem to think so, including Secretary Granholm. There is still time to help, follow the links below to do your part and support the movement for a brighter future.
Sign the Save Clean Energy Petition
