I urge you to support Assemblyman Cunningham’s bill AB2898 to keep the Diablo Canyon plant open past 2025. The main goal of AB 2898 is to include Diablo Canyon in the state’s current renewable energy mandates. We as Californians are on the forefront of combating climate change, and it is imperative that renewable generation be used to replace fossil fuels instead of other zero-emission sources like Nuclear. Using intermittent renewable power as a justification to shut down Nuclear power will end up wasting precious time and costing taxpayers more money. California will fail to live up to stated renewable mandates and will fall behind as a climate leader if it persists with replacing one non-emitting source with another instead of closing down fossil fuel power first. The climate and the planet does not have time for this kind of inaction. The San Onofre plant has already closed and been replaced with natural gas generation; the further closure of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear power plant will erase the climate benefits of all the solar and wind generation the state has built, at further great expense to taxpayers. Given the crisis of global warming that California faces, there is zero basis for hypocritical energy and climate policies that discriminate between non-CO2-emitting sources. It is vital that all non-emitting power sources be treated the same by the State, so that logical and evidence based policy gives each power source a fair chance at competing against fossil fuels to achieve CO2 emissions reduction goals. Keeping Diablo Canyon open makes as much financial sense as it does climate sense. AB 2898 would direct significant revenue from the continued operation and license extension of Diablo Canyon towards compensating fire victims and hardening the State energy grid to help reduce the risk of future wildfires.

I urge you to support Assemblyman Cunningham’s bill to keep the Diablo Canyon plant open past 2025, which will be introduced soon. The main aspect of the bill is to include Diablo Canyon in the state’s current renewable energy mandates. If we are genuinely concerned about global warming, it is imperative that renewable generation be used to replace fossil fuels as opposed to other non-emitting sources like nuclear. Otherwise, we will end up wasting time and large amounts of money treading water on global warming, as we replace one non-emitting source with another. The planet does not have time for this. The San Onofre plant has already closed, and if the Diablo Canyon plant closes as well, the loss of nuclear will neutralize most of the climate benefits of all the solar and wind generation the state has built, at great expense. Given the serious of global warming, there is little basis for having energy/climate policies discriminate between non-CO2-emitting sources. It is clear that including all non-emitting sources, and letting them compete on a fair, level playing field, will result in more emissions reductions at lower cost. In fact, it is expected that keeping the plant open, through the sale of Diablo Canyon to another operator, will generate significant income. The proposed bill would direct a significant amount of those funds towards compensating fire victims and hardening the grid to reduce the risk of future wildfires.

I urge you to support Assemblyman Cunningham’s bill AB2898 to keep the Diablo Canyon plant open past 2025. The main goal of AB 2898 is to include Diablo Canyon in the state’s current renewable energy mandates. We as Californians are on the forefront of combating climate change, and it is imperative that renewable generation be used to replace fossil fuels instead of other zero-emission sources like Nuclear. Using intermittent renewable power as a justification to shut down Nuclear power will end up wasting precious time and costing taxpayers more money. California will fail to live up to stated renewable mandates and will fall behind as a climate leader if it persists with replacing one non-emitting source with another instead of closing down fossil fuel power first. The climate and the planet does not have time for this kind of inaction. The San Onofre plant has already closed and been replaced with natural gas generation; the further closure of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear power plant will erase the climate benefits of all the solar and wind generation the state has built, at further great expense to taxpayers. Given the crisis of global warming that California faces, there is zero basis for hypocritical energy and climate policies that discriminate between non-CO2-emitting sources. It is vital that all non-emitting power sources be treated the same by the State, so that logical and evidence based policy gives each power source a fair chance at competing against fossil fuels to achieve CO2 emissions reduction goals. Keeping Diablo Canyon open makes as much financial sense as it does climate sense. AB 2898 would direct significant revenue from the continued operation and license extension of Diablo Canyon towards compensating fire victims and hardening the State energy grid to help reduce the risk of future wildfires.

I urge you to support Assemblyman Cunningham’s bill AB2898 to keep the Diablo Canyon plant open past 2025. The main goal of AB 2898 is to include Diablo Canyon in the state’s current renewable energy mandates. We as Californians are on the forefront of combating climate change, and it is imperative that renewable generation be used to replace fossil fuels instead of other zero-emission sources like Nuclear. Using intermittent renewable power as a justification to shut down Nuclear power will end up wasting precious time and costing taxpayers more money. California will fail to live up to stated renewable mandates and will fall behind as a climate leader if it persists with replacing one non-emitting source with another instead of closing down fossil fuel power first. The climate and the planet does not have time for this kind of inaction. The San Onofre plant has already closed and been replaced with natural gas generation; the further closure of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear power plant will erase the climate benefits of all the solar and wind generation the state has built, at further great expense to taxpayers. Given the crisis of global warming that California faces, there is zero basis for hypocritical energy and climate policies that discriminate between non-CO2-emitting sources. It is vital that all non-emitting power sources be treated the same by the State, so that logical and evidence based policy gives each power source a fair chance at competing against fossil fuels to achieve CO2 emissions reduction goals. Keeping Diablo Canyon open makes as much financial sense as it does climate sense. AB 2898 would direct significant revenue from the continued operation and license extension of Diablo Canyon towards compensating fire victims and hardening the State energy grid to help reduce the risk of future wildfires.