Nuke Plant Opponents Rally at SoCal Edison

San Clemente-based anti-nuclear groups Residents Organized for a Safe Environment and San Clemente Green will hold a rally from 4 to 6 p.m. today in Irvine at 14555 Bake St., in front of the offices of Southern California Edison. The following is a letter from ROSE outlining their concerns with the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station:

THE LETTER FROM ROSE:

To: Chief Executive Officer Southern California Edison
Senator Barbara Boxer
Governor Jerry Brown
Orange County Supervisors
CC to all Mayors in Orange County,

Citizens and environmental groups are very concerned that SCE will consider gambling with safety of our communities and children to restart the crippled San Onofre nuclear power plant without understanding fully and repairing completely the damaged steam generators.

We do not think turning this plant on until it starts to vibrate and then turning it down to 50% or 75% is anything but a dangerous experiment, and should not be attempted under those circumstances. KEEP SAN ONOFRE SHUTDOWN & START THE DECOMMISSIONING PROCESS.

Southern California Edison announced today (May 23) they plan to give Senator Boxer documentation about their re-design of steam generators at San Onofre that was given to the NRC. We demand that this information be given to the public and all the city councils in Orange and San Diego counties as well, so that the public and be as informed as possible.

The citizens and environmental groups of Orange County are very concerned that the California Edison’s energy conservation program appears to have almost $600,000,000 left unspent with only six months to go to the end of this program. With San Onofre nuclear power plant closed the question to be answered is why this money has not been spent on real and effective conservation programs?

No one denies that SCE has a number of small conservation programs in place, which unfortunately go widely unused by the county's residents. We believe it is high time that SCE coordinated with local city governments and environmental groups and other citizens groups to place into action some real hardcore & effective conservation programs to help lower peak demand during the summer season for electricity use. Is it your intention to squander away these funds on consulting fees instead of actual materials & programs that would improve electric efficiency for our residents? We do not want to see this money wasted away.

This new working group city by city could come up with ideas that would be effective for all involved pertinent to their communities. Just one example of a program that could affect peak electric use during the summer months could be a efficiency conditioner replacement rebate plan. As we all know during summer months the replacement of old inefficient air conditioners would be a real way to achieve electrical conservation during the peak season to mitigate any fears of rolling brownouts.

Residents Organized for a Safe Environment (ROSE) is just one of the local environmental groups that would be willing to help if such a program would be established.

Sincerely,

Residents Organized for a Safe Environment (ROSE)

Editors Note: This article has been updated with the latest draft of this letter. The above text was the letter that was presented to SCE.