The City of San Luis Obispo decided against joining a county-wide letter in support of Diablo Canyon, and instead voted to write their own letter asking the California State Legislature to reinstate a long-standing tax on the nuclear power plant.
Last month, the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors circulated a letter addressed to state legislators and asked local municipalities to sign on in support.
That letter includes several requests, starting with a recommendation to extend Diablo Canyon’s operations for another 20 years.
SLO City Councilmember Michael Boswell said the city shouldn't weigh in on the future of California’s only nuclear plant, given how controversial the issue remains.
“As of today, I would not take a position and I really question whether we should at all, at any point in the future,” Boswell said.
The county’s letter also calls on the legislature to reinstate the expired unitary tax on Pacific Gas and Electric, the company that operates Diablo Canyon. The tax has historically, in part, provided funding for the San Luis Coastal Unified School District.
The Diablo Canyon Power Plant was meant to close last year, but operations were ultimately extended until 2030. The unitary tax, however, still expired on the power plant’s planned closure date.
In a statement, PG&E said that any changes to Diablo Canyon’s tax structure would require legislative action. State senator John Laird told KCBX last week that he plans to introduce a bill to the state legislature addressing the unitary tax before the end of February.
At the Tuesday meeting, SLO City Councilmember Jan Marx said the tax on PG&E should be revived in some way.
“ It's unconscionable that the plant is continuing to operate, but is not subject to tax at all under the assumption that it's already been decommissioned, which is not true. It's like a fiction,” Marx said.
Ben Lippert, whose two daughters attend Los Ranchos Elementary, urged council members to consider the issue carefully.
“You need to know what's going to be in that legislation,” Lippert said. “Hand-wavy language is not the way to get the right funding for our kids.”
The SLO County Board of Supervisors’ letter to the state legislature also voiced support for a deal between the California Coastal Commission and PG&E that would conserve thousands of acres of land near the Diablo Canyon Power Plant.
Multiple cities have signed on in support of the letter, including Grover Beach, Atascadero and Paso Robles.
The SLO City Council will review the draft of their new letter at a February 3 meeting.
