By John Stang
California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) announced Wednesday he had signed legislation intended to offset potentially harmful economic impacts from the pending closure of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant.
Senate Bill 1090 was among several dozen bills signed by the governor, according to a statement from his office.
Owner Pacific Gas & Electric is scheduled to close the San Luis Obispo County plant’s two reactors in 2024 and 2025, transitioning to other greenhouse gas-free energy forms, under an agreement with a number of labor and environmental groups. In approving the 2016 agreement, California’s Public Utilities Commission in January made two significant changes: it axed the $85 million set aside for post-closure community mitigation funding and reduced the balance for employee retention from $350 million to about $211 million.
The state legislation, coauthored by state Sen. Bill Monning (D) and Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham (R), directs the commission to allow full funding for both line items. It was approved overwhelmingly last month in both chambers of the California State Legislature.
“By fully implementing (the) proposal under the legislation, the region will have stability and security as the transition to the closure of Diablo Canyon moves forward,” Monning said in a press release.
The additional funds, as with other parts of the “Joint Proposal” for Diablo Canyon’s closure, will be paid via ratepayer fees. The mandates in the bill translate to a 0.2 percent increase in the average customer’s monthly bill, said PG&E spokesman Blair Jones in a Thursday email. That increase is supposed to be eliminated in 2026, he wrote.
The new law “will help California meet its clean energy goals by providing the support needed to run Diablo Canyon Power Plant to the end of its current licenses, and ensuring that it is replaced after 2025 with other greenhouse gas free energy resources. Just as important, it will help the local community transition to a post-Diablo Canyon economy,” Jones wrote.
