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Proposed Ballot Measure Would Shut California Nuclear Plants and Impact Nevada

For the past three decades, the State of California has banned the development of new nuclear reactors inside its borders. Green groups and environmental advocates have pulverized any effort to overturn the ban, and have now launched a major offensive on California’s two remaining nuclear power plants that could make the state virtually impossible to inhabit.

Just when you thought special interest couldn’t get any worse, here comes the mother of all ballot initiatives. The proposed Nuclear Waste Act of 2012 would force the state’s two nuclear power plants to shut down indefinitely until the federal government can permanently dispose of high-level nuclear waste.

The initiative, proposed by Ben Davis Jr. of Santa Cruz, has been cleared for circulation, and all supporters have to do is gather 504,760 signatures to get the initiative on the November ballot. Although the deadline to collect the signatures is April 16, the ballot initiative could find its way on the ballot due to the publicity and media frenzy surrounding the controversial initiative.

Davis, a delivery driver and self-taught legal professional, said he proposed the measure in response to the tsunami and radiation crisis at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex earlier this year. He called the legislative analyst's projections "very dire and very unrealistic. It's not an accurate analysis at all."

Davis said he launched a similar ballot initiative targeting the state's two nuclear plants in 1988, but abandoned it after a critical report by the legislative analyst at that time. However, this time around Davis has his foot on the throttle and has vowed to forge ahead with a signature drive. “This is a Christmas present to the nuclear industry,” Davis said.

In response to the proposal, the state’s non-partisan Legislative Analyst’s Office released a report on Nov. 3, warning of dire consequences should the measure pass. According to a nonpartisan analysis, if the proposed Nuclear Waste Act of 2012 passed it would result in continuous rolling blackouts, skyrocketing rates that could become unaffordable for nearly all residents outside of the wealthy and upper-class, and the local economy would lose billions of dollars. The loss of the San Onofre plant, in particular, would "reduce the capacity to deliver electricity in the Los Angeles Basin area to below state and local standards for reliability"

The doomsday report also directly informed lawmakers that the loss of the San Onofre and Diablo Canyon reactors would have an immediate impact on consumers, businesses and governments. The report also revealed that the plans provide about 16 percent of California’s overall power. “Because the state’s two nuclear facilities are integral parts of the state’s electricity grid, their operation is currently necessary to ensure that the state has reliable access to electricity,” the LAO report said.