At a press conference late last week, Governor Gavin Newsom said he would not push to extend operations at the Diablo Canyon Power Plant before his term ends early next year.
The nuclear power plant is scheduled to close in 2030, and any extension would require approval from the state Legislature.
KCBX’s Kendra Hanna spoke to State Senator John Laird, whose district includes Diablo Canyon, about why he thinks an extension bill is no longer feasible in 2026.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Kendra Hanna: Last week Governor Gavin Newsom said he thinks whoever's governor next should handle a Diablo Canyon extension, and suggested it wouldn't be happening this year. First off, what are your reactions to those comments?
Senator John Laird: I'm not totally surprised, because we just have three weeks left in the legislative session. There's almost 1,000 bills still moving. We're trying to do wildfire liability in the same amount of time, and I can see where he thought there's just not bandwidth to do this.
I had spent the last few weeks meeting with stakeholders of all perspectives and was ready for this, but I sort of understand what he's trying to do. I think it means that we have to spend the fall continuing all these discussions and be ready when we come back.
My own position is that I am waiting to take any position on this until I see how any bill would address local issues and make sure that the needs of people in San Luis Obispo are taken care of in any extension.
So, I intend to move ahead with Senate Bill 931 and try to get it to the governor's desk and resolve the whole issue of the unitary tax — or the ability to get continued local revenues to school districts and other local districts — and then we'll try to wrap in future years to any further legislation that comes along.
Hanna: PG&E and a pro-Diablo advocacy group have said that waiting to do an extension next year would cost more money. Do you have any thoughts on cost when it comes to getting a deal like this done?
Laird: That's a key part of it, I can appreciate it. The cost issue cuts lots of different ways because PG&E got a very good deal for them in 2022 when we really would've run out of power without Diablo Canyon.
While there's an argument to be made that it's always good to have extra power, the Energy Commission says we're not in the same position in 2030 that we were in 2022.
And so I think it's a more political question, and I appreciate the argument that, geez, there could be more costs, but right now I'm not sure the coalition in Sacramento is coming together with the governor to get this done in a short amount of time.
Hanna: Do you have any thoughts on how this process might be different with a new governor in office next year?
Laird: I am presuming that it'll be the odds-on favorite, Xavier Becerra. He actually responded in a candidate's forum that he supported the extension, but he wanted to make sure it was safe.
So it means that the new governor is open to a bill like this, but he'll wanna make sure that seismic safety, deferred maintenance, and other things that were part of the past are part of this future extension as well.
Disclosure: PG&E, the utility that operates the Diablo Canyon Power Plant, is a financial supporter of KCBX.
