San Francisco (Special to ZennieReport.com) – The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) voted yesterday to approve a fifth rate hike in 2024, this time to pass $723 million of “non-bypassable charges” to maintain operations through 2025 for the controversial Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant on to California ratepayers. Commissioners also voted to keep the dangerous Aliso Canyon gas storage facility open indefinitely.
Coalition members of the Reclaim Our Power: Utility Justice Campaign, along with Food and Water Watch and Save Porter Ranch, held a press conference and rally on the steps of the CPUC to highlight the outrage in response to another rate hike for customers of all utilities in the state of California and the decision to extend the operation of both Aliso Canyon and Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant.
Original resolution images can be found here. Images are available for reproduction provided attribution to photographer Kiki King and the Reclaim Our Power: Utility Justice Campaign.
The rally included a satirical Christmas carol and a theatrical element in which “CPU-Santa” dressed as Santa Clause presented “gifts” of hundreds of millions of dollars, as directed by Governor Newsom, to PG&E, SoCalGas, SCE, and SDG&E. Speakers included organizers with Reclaim Our Power, Local Clean Energy Alliance, Save Porter Ranch, Food & Water Watch, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, and California Interfaith Power & Light.
Original resolution images can be found here. Images are available for reproduction provided attribution to photographer Kiki King and the Reclaim Our Power: Utility Justice Campaign.
After the rally, community members made comments at the CPUC meeting – public comment lasted for two and a half hours. Speakers overwhelmingly opposed the fifth PG&E rate hike of 2024 for the extension of Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant and also called for the shutdown of Aliso Canyon. Speakers also emphasized the $2.2 Billion in record profits that PG&E had made last year. Speakers lambasted the Commission about the enormous costs that Diablo Canyon would extract from ratepayers from all the investor-owned utilities’ territories, even though only PG&E customers receive its energy. PG&E has submitted plans to charge ratepayers for $11.8 Billion to operate Diablo Canyon through 2030 – not including critical safety improvements that nuclear experts agree are needed.
Several speakers read the names and stories of people killed by PG&E-caused wildfires and gas pipeline explosions. “The CPUC is supposed to be accountable to the people,” said Sanika Mahajan, organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation. “Why should we have to stop our comments after just one minute when they have allowed dozens of people to die and thousands to live in poverty for the profit of a greedy few?”
One fifth of Californians are already behind on their bills, totalling over $2.2 Billion in arrearages. As Jessica Tovar, Executive Director of the Local Clean Energy Alliance said, “The longer CPUC allows Diablo Canyon to stay open, the higher our PG&E bills will cost! California deserves local clean energy and affordability.” “PG&E is a criminal enterprise and must be held accountable!” said Megan Montanti, mother and organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation. “Two bankruptcies, 91 felony convictions, PG&E has also burned down 1.5 million acres and 24,000 structures, killing over 140 Californians. These egregious crimes are aided and abetted by the CPUC and Governor Newsom.”
According to Rev. Gregory Stevens, minister with the Unitarian Universalist community and Northern California Director of Interfaith Power & Light, “Utility justice is a basic human right! Power is not a luxury—it’s a necessity. No one should have to choose between heating their home and feeding their family.” As Victoria Barron, a healthcare worker with SEIU UHW and the San Diego Liberation Center wrote in her statement against the SDG&E rate hikes, “People are fed up with having to be held practically at ransom by these companies. Ratepayers in San Diego literally pay [one of] the highest rates in the country just to have access to a poorly maintained grid that causes fires!” And as Emi Yoko-Young, Policy Organizer with Reclaim Our Power concluded, “We can replace the current system with Golden State Energy, a new energy system that puts people and the planet over profit.”
Original resolution images can be found here. Images are available for reproduction provided attribution to photographer Kiki King and the Reclaim Our Power: Utility Justice Campaign.
The 2015 blowout at SoCal Gas’s Aliso Canyon gas storage facility was the largest in US history. The blowout released 100,000 tons of methane and toxic chemicals, including heavy metals like mercury and lead and cancer-causing benzene. The disaster forced thousands of families to evacuate and the leak took four months to be sealed. Nearby communities are still suffering the fallout. Those who had to return to their homes suffered asthma attacks, sore throats, bloody noses, nausea, and more. Since the blowout, cancer and asthma rates in the area have jumped.
“For nearly a decade, California’s governors have made every promise to shut Aliso Canyon down, while quietly doing the opposite,” said Andrea Vega, Food & Water Watch Southern California Senior Organizer. “Sadly, Governor Newsom and his CPUC have once again shown that they’re no different. Newsom’s Administration has repeatedly, and shamelessly, expanded Aliso Canyon over the years while parroting industry’s false claims. This unnecessary facility was closed for two years with no shortages. This decision is cowardly, despicable, and ultimately only kicks the can down the road. Not only is this a slap in the face to the residents living near the facility, but it is a warning for all of us. We desperately need leaders who stand up to corporate greed and Governor Newsom has shown today that he isn’t that leader.”