Thread by @ShellenbergerMD

Three and a half years ago I started Environmental Progress with the goal of saving nuclear power from oblivion.

The first nuclear plant we sought to save was the one in my home state: Diablo Canyon...

https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1168753551801077761

Over the years, people have asked me why we kept fighting for it.

My answer was always the same. "Because I believe we are going to save it. I just don't happen to know exactly how, at the moment."

Then, its owner, Pacific Gas & Electric went bankrupt. Lawsuits filed because of the company's role in sparking deadly wildfires racked up billions in fines the company couldn't afford.

As his first major act as governor, @GavinNewsom this summer fought for a bail-out of the company that will cost ratepayers at least $10 billion in the form of a tax on electricity bills.

EP and our ally, Californians for Green Nuclear Power, saw an opportunity: why not count nuclear as renewable, which would instantly value Diablo Canyon at $3.6 billion, and thus reduce by one-third the bail-out tax that the Governor & legislature are imposing on ratepayers?

The assembly member who represents the district that is home to Diablo Canyon agreed that such an approach was in the best interests of California's ratepayers, the workers at Diablo, the people of his district, and the climate.

I am thus happy to announce that California Assembly Member @Cunning_Jordan last week introduced legislation to count nuclear as renewable starting now, not in 2030.

Now, the decision whether to let Diablo live or die rests squarely with California's governor @GavinNewsom

The good news is that Governor Newsom has strong political motivations to save the plant, which is a whopping 20% of the state's clean, carbon-free electricity, as I explain @Forbes

forbes.com/sites/michaels…

@Forbes Will it work? I hope so. If it doesn't, I am confident we will find another way, for the simple reason that keeping Diablo Canyon operating is in the best interests of the California people and natural environment, including the climate.

@Forbes The moral of the story is that nobody could have known in 2016 that lawsuits from wildfires would make PG&E bankrupt and create a major opportunity to save Diablo Canyon.

I started EP because while it is impossible to predict the future it is our duty to seize opportunities to make it more humanistic & ecological

I hope you will read the story of why California may go nuclear, and share the good news with friends & family

forbes.com/sites/michaels…