News: Speak of the devil

Monday, August 15, 2022

Speak of the devil

Aug 15, 2022

By Lara Korte, Jeremy B. White and Sakura Cannestra

Presented by Southern California Edison

THE BUZZ: If you're going to talk about grid reliability, it's only a matter of time before you start talking about the Diablo Canyon Power Plant.

Devastating wildfires, scorching heat waves and drought have underscored California's urgent need for reliable sources of power at a time when lawmakers are looking to move quickly on ambitious goals for reducing carbon emissions. Diablo Canyon, the nuclear power facility in San Luis Obispo owned by PG&E, provides nearly a tenth of the state's electricity and is on track to shut down completely by 2025, per a 2016 settlement.

But on Friday, after months of hinting about the need for an extension, Gov. Gavin Newsom introduced draft bill language that would prolong the plant's operations by up to a decade and give PG&E a loan of up to $1.4 billion to do so. The governor's office said Diablo Canyon "continues to be an important resource as we transition away from fossil fuel generation to greater amounts of clean energy," but the move has the potential to aggravate environmental advocates who worry about the facility's use of seawater for cooling and radioactive waste.

Ideally, the state would replace the power lost with the retirement of Diablo Canyon with power from other renewable resources, like wind and solar. But between supply chain delays and increased demand, the state is likely to face serious shortages if Diablo goes offline, especially as other power plants are also set to be retired. And a nuclear power plant has the added benefit of always being on — unlike solar or wind.

At a nearly-six hour long workshop hosted by the California Energy Commission on Friday evening, lawmakers from the San Luis Obispo area stressed that an extension of the plant would need to prioritize safety, but also ensure the state doesn't take its foot off the gas when it comes to building green energy projects.

"The key reason for this discussion today about the unexpected continuation of Diablo Canyon is inadequate planning. We can't afford to make this mistake again," said Sen. John Laird (D-Santa Cruz). "And so if we were to continue to operate Diablo Canyon…we must use the time provided by that extension to create a Marshall Plan to move us toward the state's ambitious goal of zero carbon electricity by 2045."

Extending the life of Diablo is not just up to the Legislature: Renewing its license would require state, federal and local approval and could require expensive inspections and upgrades . But nuclear power is a key part of the Biden administration's climate change strategy, and support for relicensing could come from a $6 billion federal program.

Speaking of climate change legislation: Late Friday Newsom's administration dropped language for five more bills that largely mirror the environmental goals he outlined to lawmakers in private caucus meetings a few weeks ago —

Codifying the state's goal to be carbon neutral by 2045 into law.
Ramp up the 2030 greenhouse gas emissions reduction target from 40 percent to 55 percent below the 1990 level.
Establish setbacks of 3,200 feet between new oil wells and schools, homes and parks.
Set clean electricity targets of 90 percent by 2035 and 95 percent by 2040 to keep the state on track to the previously-established goal of total clean electricity retail sales by 2045.
Establishing a regulatory framework for carbon removal and capture, utilization and sequestration.

BUENOS DÍAS, good Monday morning. Capitol folks — try not to overwhelm Chicory, which is set to reopen today.

Got a tip or story idea for California Playbook? Hit us up: jwhite@politico.com and lkorte@politico.com or follow us on Twitter @JeremyBWhite and @Lara_Korte.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "There is potential for bad wildfires every year in California, but a lot of years go by when there's no major flood news. People forget about it." Daniel Swain, UCLA climate scientist and co-author of a new study released over the weekend which found that climate change has already doubled the likelihood of an extreme storm scenario that leads to catastrophic flooding in California.

TWEET OF THE DAY: Rep. @RepAdamSchiff celebrating signing the historic climate bill: "I just voted YES on the single biggest piece of climate change legislation in American history.

And let me tell you, it feels pretty damn good."

WHERE'S GAVIN? Nothing official announced.

A message from Southern California Edison:

Southern California Edison is taking steps every day to protect the safety of our customers and communities. By installing covered power lines, upgrading our electric infrastructure, investing in new technologies and strengthening our partnerships with fire agencies, we can prevent wildfires before they happen, better predict when they may occur and respond quickly if one starts. Protecting 32 million acres in Southern California and the people that live here is a job we take seriously.

TOP TALKERS

— "California Efforts to Reduce Jail Population During Covid Come to End as Crime Rises," by the Wall Street Journal's Zusha Elinson: "Los Angeles, San Diego and Santa Clara are among the counties that recently stopped setting zero bail for certain misdemeanors and nonviolent felony offenses."

— "Sacramento agrees to pay $1.7 million to Stephon Clark's parents, ends family's lawsuit," by the Sacramento Bee's Rosalio Ahumada: "Clark's death was one of the most controversial police shootings in Sacramento history. The shooting was followed by huge protests all over Sacramento, stopping traffic on Interstate 5 and downtown Sacramento at rush hour."

— "Newsom, out front on marriage and marijuana, faces 'different animal' on drug sites ," by the San Francisco Chronicle's Joe Garofoli: "[Gov. Gavin] Newsom was out front early and loudly on those issues — even when the rest of America thought he was nuts and the moves jeopardized his career."

CAMPAIGN MODE

— "After Nancy Pelosi: A San Francisco Race 'That Shall Not Be Named'," by the New York Times' Shane Goldmacher: "Some clues to Ms. Pelosi's future may be found closer to her home in San Francisco — where the tantalizing possibility of the city's first open congressional seat since the fall of the Soviet Union has become the political talk of the town."

— "Ex-S.F. D.A. Chesa Boudin is sending out fundraising emails, fueling speculation over whether he'll run again ," by the San Francisco Chronicle's Megan Cassidy: "Boudin has said he would not enter this fall's special election that will decide who will finish out the rest of what would have been a four-year term. But he has also not ruled out reentering next year's scheduled DA's race."

— " He's antigay and a race extremist. He's running unopposed for a Bay Area school board seat," by the San Francisco Chronicle's Jill Tucker: "Unless another candidate steps forward in the next few days, [Morgan Hill school board candidate Dennis] Delisle will automatically win the seat, his race for the Area 3 position not even appearing on the November ballot — a cost-saving state policy that applies to unopposed candidates in school board and special elections."

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CALIFORNIA AND THE CAPITOL CORRIDOR

END OF TRIP: It turns out Sen. Scott Wiener's bill to decriminalize hallucinogens and MDMA didn't survive the Appropriations Committee after all. It was converted into a study bill, leading Wiener to pull the measure and say he would try again next year.

COMMITTEE CHANGES: Assemblymember David Alvarez (D-San Diego) is now chair of the Joint Committee on Legislative Audit. Speaker Anthony Rendon's office said Friday the change was made in anticipation of former chair Rudy Salas's departure from the Assembly. The Bakersfield Democrat is running against Rep. David Valadao for CA-22.

ON THE HORIZON — "The Coming California Megastorm," by the New York Times' Raymond Zhong: "But in a state where scarcity of water has long been the central fact of existence, global warming is not only worsening droughts and wildfires. Because warmer air can hold more moisture, atmospheric rivers can carry bigger cargoes of precipitation."

GETTING MESSY — "What takes years and costs $20K? A San Francisco trash can ," by the Associated Press' Olga R. Rodriguez: "City officials hired a Bay Area industrial firm to custom-design the pricey trash can along with two other prototypes that cost taxpayers $19,000 and $11,000 each. This summer, residents have the opportunity to evaluate them along with three off-the-shelf options added to the pilot program after officials faced criticism."

— " Insurance rates climb from fires, COVID, inflation, worker shortage," by the Mercury News' Ethan Baron: "The pandemic and high costs of living, especially in the Bay Area, have aggravated a shortage of construction workers, and combined with inflation-boosting prices for building materials, insurers are on the hook for rising replacement costs when homes and commercial buildings are destroyed or damaged."

— "Embattled Sacramento councilman faces new investigation by state politics agency," by the Sacramento Bee's Theresa Clift: "The agency received the complaint in June, four days after The Sacramento Bee reported [Councilman Sean] Loloee does not appear to live in the home where he is registered to vote."

— CalEPA secretary to depart for Powell Jobs climate foundation, by POLITICO's Debra Kahn: [Jared] Blumenfeld will become president of the Waverley Street Foundation, a new charity launched by philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs that is devoted to 'the intersection of climate and community.'

HOUSE OF POLITICS — "Government squabbling cripples plans for the homeless," opines CalMatters' Dan Walters: "California spends billions on homelessness but a lack of coordination among public agencies is an impediment to success."

'NO CONTRACT, NO COFFEE' — "First California Starbucks store to unionize just became the first to go on strike," by the San Francisco Chronicle's Danielle Echeverria: "The workers at the store at Ocean and Water streets, who unionized in May, accused the company of unfair labor practices and refusing to bargain with the union, prompting the labor action. The store, along with another Santa Cruz location, was the first in California to unionize."

— "Vacaville man is blind, homeless and schizophrenic. Why can't California help him? " opines the Sacramento Bee's Melinda Henneberger: "But his predicament shows that even with the strongest possible advocates, in a state willing to spend billions on this challenge, you can still be left to die on the streets. And most of all, what his story illustrates is why the "simple" solutions touted by politicians over the decades have so far solved nothing at all."

A message from Southern California Edison:

BIDEN, HARRIS AND THE HILL

— 'All bad options' as Biden administration faces Western water crisis, by POLITICO's Annie Snider: Federal officials have given the states until Aug. 16 to come up with a plan to swiftly conserve as much as a third of the river's flows, the amount they believe is necessary to keep Lake Powell — a key reservoir along the Arizona-Utah border — from reaching disastrous levels next year.

— "Kamala Harris' VP portfolio is full of unwinnable issues. Abortion isn't one of them ," by the San Francisco Chronicle's Joe Garofoli: "Seizing the national abortion rights megaphone makes political sense for Harris, Democrats and the reproductive health movement."

— "The KHive Retreats as Kamala Harris' Popularity Vanishes ," by the Daily Beast's Scott Bixby: "But even the #KHive has slowed its roll since 2020, with use of the hashtag on social media now being used to antagonize the vice president's fandom as often as it is used to rally it."

— FBI search warrant shows Trump under investigation for potential obstruction of justice, Espionage Act violations, by POLITICO'sBetsy Woodruff Swan, Kyle Cheney and Nicholas Wu: The documents, unsealed after the Justice Department sought their public disclosure amid relentless attacks by Trump and his GOP allies, underscore the extraordinary national security threat that federal investigators believed the missing documents presented.

HOLLYWOODLAND

— "'Bachelorette' contestant's firefighter dad has retirement locked up in bankrupt crypto lender," by the Los Angeles Times' Freddy Brewster: "The elder [Chapman] Shallcross considers himself a hands-on, blue-collar kind of guy, but when his reality-star son tipped him off to the world of cryptocurrencies, he quickly became fascinated by the technology's potential."

MEDIA MATTERS

— "Journalist Austin Tice went missing in Syria. We need action from President Biden," opines the San Francisco Chronicle's Tony Hunter: "If the U.S. government has evidence of Austin's whereabouts and circumstances, it is beyond time to pull out all the stops to reach a solution."

— "Fox News isn't ready to dump Trump, even if the Murdochs are," by Vanity Fair's Caleb Ecarma: "Despite recent criticism in the New York Post and Wall Street Journal—and Lachlan Murdoch reportedly ripping the former president behind the scenes—Fox News hosts and guests have gone all-in defending the former president following the Mar-a-Lago raid."

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MIXTAPE

— "California's vital ocean current will soon see major disruption. Here's what's at stake," by the San Francisco Chronicle's Tara Duggan.

HOME SWEET HOME — "California's abandoned homesteads fascinated me as a kid. Then my childhood home became one," by the Los Angeles Times' Melody Gutierrez.

BURNING MONEY — " A disastrous megaflood is coming to California, experts say, and it could be the most expensive natural disaster in history," by CNN's Payton Major, Judson Jones and Brandon Miller.

— " Boiling chemical on rail car forces evacuation in California," by the Associated Press.

— "Troops patrol Tijuana as city emerges from cartel-fueled night of terror ," by the San Diego Union Tribune's Wendy Fry and Alexandra Mendoza.

— "Food poisoning and unsafe temperatures: Many meal kit companies aren't FDA regulated," by the Los Angeles Times' Laura J. Nelson.

TRANSITIONS

— "California's top environmental regulator leaves to join 'one of the biggest climate funds in the world'," by the San Francisco Chronicle's Kurtis Alexander.

IN MEMORIAM

— "Ventura County Supervisor Carmen Ramirez dies after being struck by pickup truck in Oxnard," by ABC7.

BIRTHDAYS

(was Saturday): L.A. Times' Margot Roosevelt … Cate Hurley of Rep. Adam Schiff's (D-Calif.) office … Chris Dhanaraj

(was Sunday): former Rep. Tom Campbell (R-Calif.) … CELI's Colby Bermel … Spike Whitney … Tiffany Stecker … Darren Goode

Monday: Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) … Melinda Gates …

A message from Southern California Edison:

Evolving climate conditions throughout California have made wildfires a year-round concern to many communities. With safety as our number one priority, we are working to protect our customers and communities. Our engineers, field crews and fire science experts are developing and implementing industry-leading technologies and operational practices to reduce the risk of electrical equipment igniting wildfires. We've invested $1.3 billion in 2020 and are on track to spend an additional $3.5 billion in 2021-2022 to continue to prevent wildfires and act quickly when they occur. This includes installing covered power lines, strengthening situational awareness capabilities, and expanding operational practices like enhanced overhead inspections and vegetation management. We're also improving fire agencies' ability to detect and respond to emerging fires using satellite imagery and providing aerial fire suppression resources.

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