With the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) considering the future of the San Onofre Generating Station (SONGS), activists are set to make some noise. A group of Southland residents, including members of the Sierra Club and California Environmental Justice Alliance, caravanned last night to the front steps of the CPUC headquarters in San Francisco where today they will raise their voices in support of solar and wind energy.
The protest was organized in response to Governor Brown's plan to build new natural gas plants around the state–a plan that could potentially see the former San Onofre nuclear plant, (which was shut down after tubes were discovered leaking radiation), converted to a natural gas facility.
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Though supporters of natural gas say the cleaner-burning fuel could be part of an energy independent California, a press release issued by those participating in today's rally say natural gas will take the state in the wrong direction.
“New natural gas plants would lock in more carbon pollution for decades to come and would undermine California's climate targets,” the release states.
Participants planned to bring replicas of solar panels and windmills to today's rally to show support for alternative energy solutions. No word yet on whether protesters plan to aim windmills at stacks of commissioners' paperwork in an effort to stymie the hearing.
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