Some good news to follow up the Morning Jolt of August 24: The California state legislature agreed to go along with governor Gavin Newsom’s plan to keep the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant operating until 2030. (Yes, that Gavin Newsom.)
Not too long ago, some of the more “green” Democrats in the state legislature hoped to block the proposal, and to move ahead with shutting off nearly one-tenth of the state’s electricity-generating capacity, making up for the lost energy with new light bulbs and tax credits for solar panels. This led to a surprisingly nasty fight among California Democrats; Newsom spokesman Anthony York said that the legislators’ proposal “feels like fantasy and fairy dust and reflects a lack of vision and a lack of understanding about the scope of the climate problem.”
In the end, it wasn’t even that close; the proposal was approved by a vote of 31-1 in the state Senate on Wednesday and 69-3 in the Assembly early Thursday morning.
The debate about the value and continued need for nuclear power in California is over, and the pro-nuclear side won – by a landslide.