California regulators want PG&E to conserve thousands of acres of coastal land to keep the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant running through 2030. (The Tribune)
The utility’s current plan offers phased easements and new trails but falls short of the scale the California Coastal Commission demands.
Lawmakers and local leaders called PG&E’s mitigation plan “wholly inadequate,” urging permanent conservation of all 12K acres around the facility. They argue that full land protection is the only meaningful offset to decades of marine damage caused by the plant’s massive seawater cooling system.
What’s next: PG&E and the Commission will renegotiate the conservation package and present an updated proposal in December, when the Commission will vote on whether to grant the 5-year permit.