The California congressional district home to one of the Golden State’s former nuclear power plants could have a new representative in Congress after November’s midterm elections.
Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.), the incumbent for California’s 49th district, faces a primary challenge from a slate of rivals including Lisa Bartlett (R), a member of the Orange County, Calif., board of supervisors and former State Department special agent Josiah O’Neill (R). The 49th district’s nonpartisan primary, which is open to all comers should whittle the field down to the top two candidates, is scheduled for June 7.
In the 2020 election, Levin held onto his seat against challenger Bryan Maryott (R) with around 53% of the vote. Maryott is again running for the 49th district’s House seat alongside five other challengers.
Levin’s district is home to San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) and around 123 canisters of spent nuclear fuel, currently stored at the plant on a dry storage pad. Since his election in 2018, the congressman has been an outspoken advocate for a nuclear waste solution on the federal level, reintroducing a bill in February alongside Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) aimed at amending the Nuclear Waste Policy Act to bump SONGS to the top of the Department of Energy’s list for spent fuel collection when a permanent repository comes online.
Levin was also a founding member of the House’s “Spent Nuclear Fuel Solutions Caucus,” which he put together in July 2021 with Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.). The bipartisan coalition “seeks to address the challenges associated with stranded commercial spent fuel across the country,” Levin said at the time.
SONGS operator Southern California Edison is currently decommissioning the Pendleton, Calif., plant, located about halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego along the California coast.
