Labor Unions, Edison Plan to Counter ‘Loudmouth Protesters’ at NRC Meeting

Hoping to counter what they call "ignorant" and "loudmouth" critics of San Onofre, a San Bernardino County labor union and its allies plan a show of force at the public Nuclear Regulatory Commission meeting Tuesday, an email to members says.

Jay Rojo, business representative of the Boilermakers Local 92 out of Bloomington—near Fontana—has sent email to members of his union, Edison employees and other unions urging them to converge on the NRC meeting and show their support for the restart plan.

"I attended the San Diego Building Trades meeting last week along with Rep's from Edison, Shaw and the San Onofre Steward," Rojo said in the email, a copy of which was forwarded to Patch by San Clemente Green Head Gary Headrick.

The meeting is hosting a number of panelists on both sides of the nuclear power issue. Like the last meeting, national anti-nuclear groups  plan to show up with residents, holding a press conference on-site in the hour before the meeting.

The Dana Point meeting will provide an opportunity for input on Edison's plan to restart one of its ailing nuclear reactors. The plant has been offline since January because of a radioactive steam leak that subsequently revealed the plant's steam generators were riddled with faulty components.

"They all agreed that they do not want to get bullied or squashed at this meeting by loudmouth protesters and have asked for as many union people as possible to show up to the meeting," Rojo wrote.

"As you should be able to see by the tone of this email that this is a serious matter. It's an effort by the radical small sector of the public that is trying to shut San Onofre down and end that jobsite as a possible source of income for all of us."

Rojo and other union brass were out of the office Tuesday afternoon and were unavailable by phone, according to the desk clerk at Local 92.

The email said the group will meet at the parking lot at the San Onofre Plant at 3 p.m. for a meal, and that Edison will reimburse the unions for any promotional materials they hand out for the meeting.

The NRC meeting itself starts at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the St. Regis Monarch Beach Hotel in Dana Point.