State lawmakers: Show us the math before you vote on Diablo Canyon extension | Opinion
It was a good — make that great — day for PG&E.
On Thursday, the company announced that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission had renewed the operating license for the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant for 20 more years.
While not unexpected, it nonetheless signaled a remarkable turnaround for a utility that was poised to close the plant near Avila Bea in 2025, until Gov. Gavin Newsom stepped in and led an effort to keep it running for five more years — a move some attributed to the governor’s unwillingness to take the heat for power outages that could otherwise have occurred.
With its license in hand, PG&E has only one more major hurdle to clear to remain in operation until 2045: It requires the blessing of the Democrat-controlled state Legislature.
That shouldn’t be hard. The Legislature passed SB 846 — the 2022 legislation granting the five-year extension — by an overwhelming margin: 69-3 in the Assembly and 31-1 in the Senate.
PG&E cites California’s growing demand for energy
The five-year extension was intended to give the state more time to transition to clean energy — and to keep the lights on in the meantime.
The state has been making great progress in adding solar and battery storage, but there is a growing demand for electricity attributed to electric vehicles, the electrification of homes and the proliferation of data centers that power AI.
The California Energy Commission projects that electricity consumption will increase between 42% and 61% between 2025 and 2045, according to Politico’s E&E News.
That’s staggering, and if accurate, it verifies P&GE’s position that California can’t meet the demand if Diablo Canyon shuts down in 2030.
But not everyone is convinced there is a need to keep an aging and expensive nuclear power plant operating until 2045; there have been grumblings that it’s more about PG&E’s bottom line than an altruistic concern for California.
Financial benefits for San Luis Obispo County
Most San Luis Obispo County residents, however, are thrilled to have Diablo Canyon stay in business., which was reflected in many of the comments on The Tribune’s Facebook page.
“It is an awesome, clean, safe, well maintained, and well managed plant that is prepared to run well into the future,” one reader posted. “That statement is from inside experience.”
(Full disclosure: There were several negative comments as well.)
The plant remains a major provider of high-paying jobs and in previous years, it was generating $21 million in annual tax revenue for local agencies.
That income has been especially important to the San Luis Coastal Unified School District, which recently cut $5 million from its budget when Diablo tax payments were suspended. (State Sen. John Laird and Assemblymember Dawn Addis have introduced legislation to restart the payments.)
State Legislature has some homework to do
The financial health of San Luis Obispo County is a strong argument for keeping Diablo open until 2045 — but that is not reason enough.
The Legislature has a duty to act in the interests of all ratepayers by securing an adequate supply of energy — something it has failed to do in the past — while ensuring utility rates won’t break Californians.
It cannot rely solely on PG&E’s word. This truly is one of those trust-but-verify situations.
So show us the numbers.
How much will it cost us to keep Diablo Canyon open 20 more years, versus relying on other forms of energy?
How reliable are demand projections?
How much alternative energy — solar, wind, geothermal, battery power, etc. — is scheduled to come online over the next 10 years? Will it be enough to replace Diablo Canyon and meet growing demand?
Meanwhile, is it time to reconsider California’s moratorium on new nuclear plants, so we can incorporate next-gen nuclear reactors into the mix?
Please be transparent in your analysis, so locals do not feel as if they are being kept in the dark.
And one more thing: Start looking beyond 20 years, which seems like a long time, but will be over before we know it.
Because Diablo Canyon won’t be around forever to bail out California.
This story was originally published April 5, 2026 at 5:00 AM with the headline "State lawmakers: Show us the math before you vote on Diablo Canyon extension | Opinion."