The California Coastal Commission is one of the few remaining venues to stop the extended operation of Diablo Canyon, so this request for action is crucial.
The Coastal Commission (CCC) is holding a hearing in Sacramento on Thursday, Nov 6, 9am. PG&E requires a Consistency Certification (federal permit) and a Coastal Development Permit (state permit) from the CCC in order to extend the operation of Diablo Canyon nuclear plant (DCNP). The CCC has combined these two permits into one hearing, one staff report, and is considering both the five-year and twenty-year extensions. Agenda
Action Request: Communicate with the Commissioners in person, testify remotely, or submit a written comment.
Message: Deny the Consistency Certification and the Coastal Development Permit. Key points are below.
In person: Holiday Inn, Downtown Sacramento 300 J Street, 9am
Complete a Speaker Request Form by 5pm on Nov 5. Select Agenda Item TH8a on Thursday, Nov. 6. Or you can fill out a speaker slip the morning of the hearing. You will have 2-3 minutes to speak.
Remote testimony:
Fill out this Speaker Request Form by 5pm on Wednesday, Nov 5. Select Agenda Item TH8a on Thursday, Nov. 6. The Zoom link will be provided when you complete the form. You will have 2-3 minutes to speak.
Written comments:
In order to be distributed to all Commissioners in time for the hearing, submit your comments by 5pm on Friday, Oct 31.
- Email ExecutiveStaff@coastal.ca.gov
- Put “11/6/25 Items 8a and 9a Public Comment” in the subject line.
Detailed instructions on how to participate can be found here.
KEY POINTS
Use any or all of these key points to explain why you are requesting a denial of the Consistency Certification and the Coastal Development Permit:
- The once-through cooling system harms the marine environment. The enormous detrimental impacts on the marine environment from DCNP’s cooling system is well documented and is not in debate: the death of 1.5 billion fish larvae annually, plus large amounts of plankton and larger sea organisms (through entrainment and impingement against the intake screens). The discharged water is 20 degrees warmer and harms the local waters, impacting kelp, algae, and other sea life.
- The proposed mitigation for the continued and substantial damage to the marine environment falls short. PG&E has proposed, and the CCC staff report supports, a very complicated, meager, and uncertain land conservation deal. But land conservation does not protect marine life. There has been no attempt at direct mitigation – artificial reefs or fine-mesh screens.The proposed mitigation plan in the staff report is grossly inadequate, given the impacts associated with Diablo’s continued operations.
The staff report admits that the proposed mitigation plan is “not sufficient to achieve consistency of the proposed project with the Coastal Act and [the California Coastal Management Program] marine biological resource protection policies Sections 30230 and 30231 due to the large scale of the entrainment impacts” (p.6 staff report).
In addition, all 12,000 acres of land at DCNP were to be conserved as part of the mitigation for DECOMMISSIONING when the plant finally shuts down, as supported by the County Dream Initiative, the Diablo Canyon Decommissioning Engagement Panel, and the Conservation Framework for the Diablo Canyon Lands.
- The energy from DCNP is no longer needed. Senate Bill 846 requires that DCNP may continue to operate only if there is a need for its energy. The legislators approved this bill in 2022, but a lot has changed since that time. California’s reliability standards and greenhouse gas targets can be met without DCNP. Its energy is replaceable by the significant increase in new renewables, storage, and geothermal resources.
- Seismic safety has not yet been determined. Neither the Diablo Canyon Independent Safety Committee nor the Diablo Canyon Independent Peer Review Panel have made their final evaluations – both required by SB 846. DCNP is dangerously built on interconnecting and active earthquake faults, and these faults are unpredictable.
- Plans for the storage of high-level radioactive waste are uncertain. The dry cask storage at Diablo Canyon can accommodate 40 years worth of high-level radioactive waste – no more. If the plant is allowed to operate for an additional 20 years, PG&E plans to store the accumulated waste in the spent fuel pools which is significantly more risky than storage in dry casks.
Please distribute this action request to others. If you know people who live in and around Sacramento, urge them to attend in person. Thank you so much for your support!