Uh, this doesn't sound good.
A day after federal judges ruled that Southern California Edison (SCE) can't reopen its troubled San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) without a full public review–something that won't happen for months–SCE is announcing a Friday media relations meeting to discuss possible power outages throughout Orange County this summer.
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When it was up and running, SONGS provided about 20 percent of Orange County's electrical power. But it hasn't been operating since January 2012.
SCE's email announcing the meeting doesn't give specifics but sates that the topic of conversation will be “critical infrastructure changes that could affect power delivery in Orange County this summer.
On Monday, SCE officials in San Diego warned local residents that there was a likelihood that power would be cut to homes and businesses this summer if there is an extended heat wave. The company says that in a worst case scenario, rolling blackouts would occur, but that residents (who SCE urges to conserve power as always) would only lose power for a few hours. Residents of South Orange County would also be affected.
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Award-winning investigative journalist Nick Schou is Editor of OC Weekly. He is the author of Kill the Messenger: How the CIA’s Crack Cocaine Controversy Destroyed Journalist Gary Webb (Nation Books 2006), which provided the basis for the 2014 Focus Features release starring Jeremy Renner and the L.A. Times-bestseller Orange Sunshine: The Brotherhood of Eternal Love’s Quest to bring Peace, Love and Acid to the World, (Thomas Dunne 2009). He is also the author of The Weed Runners (2013) and Spooked: How the CIA Manipulates the Media and Hoodwinks Hollywood (2016).