Every member of San Francisco’s legislative delegation voted to support Gov. Gavin Newsom’s PG&E bailout bill that will allow the creaky, dangerous Diablo Canyon nuke to keep operating—and none of them appears willing to talk about it.
The bill, which would give PG&E $1.4 billion in state money and would undo a carefully negotiated compromise to shut the plant down, passed the Assembly 69-3 and the Senate 31-1.
Assemblymembers Matt Haney and Phil Ting voted in favor, as did Sen. Scott Wiener.
None of the three has put out a press statement about the vote. None of them responded to my text messages seeking information.
It’s as if Fukashima never happened (yes, Diablo Canyon sits on an active earthquake fault), as if deadly toxic nuclear waste isn’t an issue—and as if the state has any business subsidizing a criminal company and getting nothing in return.
PG&E’s stock (despite everything) is up this fall. The company can pay its own bills. More important, if the state is going to give taxpayer money to a private utility, the state should get a share of the company—this bailout should be the first step in the process of breaking up PG&E and turning it over to public power agencies.
But no: It’s just a gift from all of us to PG&E. And all of the people San Francisco sent to Sacramento seem happy with that.
