New lawsuit demands that PG&E close Diablo Canyon power plant as planned
A new lawsuit aims to keep Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant from remaining open past its originally scheduled closure dates in 2024 and 2025.
The lawsuit, filed filed Tuesday in San Francisco Superior Court by Friends of the Earth, alleges that PG&E, which operates the 2,200-megawatt power plant in coastal San Luis Obispo County, will violate a contract it made with environmental and labor groups in 2016 if the plant stays open.
The 2016 contract outlined a new future for the power plant, which at the time was undergoing a license renewal process with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to extend the twin nuclear reactor’s operations 20 years past 2024 and 2025. Through the contract, PG&E agreed to close the two reactors in 2024 and 2025 and work with the California Public Utilities Commission to replace the plant’s electricity generation with sources of clean and renewable energy.
Friends of the Earth, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Environment California, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1245, the Coalition of California Utility Employees and the Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility all signed onto the 2016 contract with PG&E.
After the state failed to procure enough clean energy to replace the power plant, however, PG&E is now pursuing a license renewal so it can operate the plant for at least another five years past 2024 and 2025.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission in March told PG&E that it can run the power plant past the closure dates without a current license as long as the utility company files a license renewal application for the two reactors by the end of 2023.
Tuesday’s lawsuit from Friends of the Earth claims that PG&E is ignoring the 2016 contract between itself and the other environmental groups.
“Contracts simply don’t vanish into thin air,” said Hallie Templeton, legal director for Friends of the Earth, in a prepared statement. “Yet ever since California passed legislation supporting Diablo Canyon’s extension, PG&E has been acting as if our contract has disappeared.”
Templeton was referring to Senate Bill 846, the legislation California Gov. Gavin Newsom pushed for and signed in September of last year. That bill allocated up to $1.4 billion in a forgivable loan to PG&E to help finance the process to keep the nuclear power plant operating past its scheduled closure date.
The bill invalidated the state Public Utilities Commission’s approval of PG&E’s proposal to close the power plant by 2024 and 2025. That proposal was born out of the contract signed by the utility company and environmental and labor groups.
Senate Bill 846 does not mention the 2016 contract.
“PG&E is required to follow the policies of the state,” wrote PG&E spokesperson Suzanne Hosn in an email to The Tribune on Wednesday. “PG&E’s actions toward relicensing Diablo Canyon Power Plant are consistent with direction of the State of California in Senate Bill 846.”
Friends of the Earth’s lawsuit claims otherwise and aims to hold PG&E accountable to the 2016 contract by prohibiting it from continuing to operate Diablo Canyon past 2024 and 2025.
The group wants PG&E to stop pursuing continued operations at Diablo Canyon largely due to concerns that the aging power plant is unsafe.
At the time the 2016 contract was signed, Friends of the Earth and other environmental groups were suing PG&E over its license renewal application because of safety and environmental concerns. But the groups agreed, with the 2016 contract, to drop the lawsuits.
”In light of Diablo Canyon’s planned retirement, in the years since the contract was entered into, PG&E did not undertake the maintenance and safety upgrades it otherwise would have,” the lawsuit says.
However, PG&E has long refuted concerns about the safety of the power plant’s continued operations.
”We have performed and continue to do all maintenance and make all necessary investments to ensure the continued safe and reliable operations of the plant as required by regulations and consistent with our operating licenses,” Hosn wrote in a statement to The Tribune. “Should the plant be relicensed, we will continue to maintain the plant to the very highest standards, and will ensure we meet all additional regulations and requirements to support extended operations.”
Regardless, Friends of the Earth asserts that the 2016 contract should not be ignored.
“We hope our litigation can push PG&E to re-consider its potential breach and uphold its obligations, including preparing for the agreed-upon retirement,” Templeton said in the prepared statement.
This story was originally published April 12, 2023 at 4:03 PM with the headline "New lawsuit demands that PG&E close Diablo Canyon power plant as planned."
