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We reported a few weeks back about a bill being sponsored in CA that would among other things attempt to undue a three decade ban on the construction of new [tag-tec]nuclear power[/tag-tec] plants in the state of California. Well once it reached the legislative committee in Sacramento for discussion it was quickly shot down by the committee chairwoman Loni Hancock.
“You’ve spoken for five minutes … and I’m wondering if you can wrap up,” said Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley.
The vote was 6-3 against the bill as committee members voted along party lines. So it was basically dead in the water before the discussion even began. It seems funny now that a few weeks ago the media were covering this thing as though there were some sort of groundswell of public opinion that would lead to reconsidering the building of nuke plants in California.
Here is some of the coverage from the Chronicle:
It was clear that the legislation would get a chilly reception in the Assembly Natural Resources Committee when the chairwoman abruptly interrupted a presentation by the bill’s author, Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, R-Irvine (Orange County), and asked him to finish his opening remarks.
As his main argument for the bill, AB719, DeVore called nuclear power the answer to meeting the state’s growing demand for electricity without exacerbating the problem of global warming.
His measure sought to repeal a 1976 moratorium on building new [tag-ice]nuclear [/tag-ice]reactors in California until the federal Department of Energy builds a permanent storage facility for nuclear waste. The federal agency has chosen a site in Nevada, but the effort has been stalled by technical, legal and political challenges.
AB719’s opponents — largely environmental and anti-nuclear groups — on Monday argued that nuclear waste is harmful to the environment, there is no permanent solution for storing spent fuel rods, and nuclear power plants could become targets of terrorism.
“[tag]Nuclear[/tag] technology is the most dangerous technology on earth,” said Dan Hirsch, president of the Committee to Bridge the Gap, a California-based anti-nuclear watchdog group.
So what does the bill’s sponsor Chuck Devore (R-Irvine) have to say? He was not surprised but is not giving up either.
“We’re going to keep bringing this back,” he said. “California’s energy needs are not going to go away.”
