Category: Energy

By Miriam Raftery / East County Magazine

Ocotillo – Neither blistering heat nor blowing dust dissuaded Native Americans from at least four different tribes from taking part in a five-day occupation in Ocotillo last week. They came to be with the spirits of their ancestors. They also aim to show that desert devastation occurring with construction of the Ocotillo Express wind facility is wrong and must be stopped.

By Michael Blood / HuffPost / June 19, 2012

AN JUAN CAPISTRANO, Calif. — A botched computer analysis resulted in design flaws that are largely to blame for unprecedented wear in steam tubes at the San Onofre nuclear power plant, but it isn’t clear how the problems can be fixed, federal regulators said.

The preliminary findings by a team of Nuclear Regulatory Commission investigators were disclosed Monday night nearly five months after the seaside plant was shut down following a break in a tube that carries radioactive water. There is no date to restart either of its two reactors.

The problems center on excessive tube wear in steam generators that were installed at San Onofre during a $670 million overhaul in 2009 and 2010. Tests found some tubes were so badly corroded that they could fail and possibly release radiation, a stunning finding inside the virtually new equipment.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission to Release Investigation Findings on San Onofre Monday, June 18 in San Juan Capistrano

Anti-nuke, environmental activists and their supporters plan to rally at today’s – June 18th- NRC hearing and demand that the nuclear power plant at San Onofre be closed for good. They also plan on holding a press conference – all at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission public meeting on Monday, at the San Juan Capistrano Community Center at 25925 Camino Del Avion, San Juan Capistrano, California.

The rally and press conference in opposition to continued operation of the San Onofre nuclear plant is at 5pm prior to the 6pm public meeting scheduled by the NRC.

This will be the first public hearing of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission after the emergency shut down of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station on January 31, 2012. The NRC has had months of investigation into the steam generator failures.

The OB Rag had heard that the Ocean Beach ARCO, at the prominent corner of Newport and Sunset Cliffs Boulevard, was closing. As I drove by the site yesterday afternoon, I noticed workers placing items into a white van, and the yellow, caution tape draped across all the pumps. So I parked and went looking for answers.

Inside the station itself, 95% of everything had been removed. There were some former ARCO workers milling about, papers in hand, and a woman videotaping what remained. After asking her if I could speak to her for a minute, Jennifer informed me that ARCO did not renew their lease with the property owners of the site. So, the property owners were leasing it out to Shell, which owns USA Gas, and it is USA Gas that will be the new station going in. It will be open in about a week I was told.

Ocean Beach – Where oh where is OB’s ARCO going? Is this part of the BP plan?

Did ARCO inform Ocean Beach that they were pulling up stakes? Did they tell OBMA? The Planners? The Town Council? Their own staff?

What do you think, oh wise OBcean?

Let us know if you have a clue, an inkling, or have found the secret plans of British Petroleum.

by George J. Janczyn / Grofsurf’s San Diego / May 24, 2012

The San Diego City Council Natural Resources and Culture Committee (NR&C) approved on Wednesday (May 23) two substantial reports that recommend how recycled water can be used more effectively in the future as San Diego struggles with ways to reduce its extreme dependence on imported water that is becoming an increasingly expensive and less reliable source [link to the agenda].

• 2011 Recycled Water Master Plan Update [link to the report].

By Leon Dale Thompson / East County Magazine / May 24, 2012

More than 50 people called Wednesday, May 23rd, for Sempra Energy Chief Donald Felsinger to come down and address the public’s concerns over the San Onofre nuclear reactors, which have been closed for months due to serious safety problems. (Felsinger was invited last Friday in a written-hand-delivered petition.) The crowd chanted “Donald Felsinger come on down” on this overcast afternoon, with Sempra Energy’s building looming above.

SEMPRA denies activists access to property to deliver letter outlining their concerns about the San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant – (Or Marcia, Carol, Hugh and Ray’s magnificent adventure)

by Carol Jahnkow

May 19, 2012–Representatives of the Peace Resource Center of San Diego, Citizens Oversight Project, the Green Party of San Diego and the newly formed Shut San Onofre Working Group were told Friday morning by SEMPRA security officers that they would not be allowed on SEMPRA’s property at 101 Ash Street to deliver a letter directed to SEMPRA Executive Chairman, Donald Felsinger.

Marcia Patt, Hugh Moore, Carol Jahnkow and Ray Lutz were told that instead, a security officer would come out to the street to accept the letter on behalf of SEMPRA Executive Chairman, Donald Felsinger. Three San Diego Police Department cars with 5-6 officers observed from across the street.

By Michael Greger, M.D. / HuffPost / May 18, 2012

Yesterday was a good morning to wake up and smell the coffee. The New England Journal of Medicine published outcomes from the the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study, which found drinking coffee was associated with living longer in both men and women. This is not only the largest study ever to look into this question, NIH-AARP is one of the largest prospective (forward-looking) studies ever performed on nutrition and disease, following more than a half million people for a dozen years.

This follows on the heels of an editorial published last month in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition entitled “Coffee Consumption and Risk of Chronic Diseases: Changing Our Views,” which reviewed the growing evidence that for most people, the benefits of drinking coffee likely outweigh the risks. Though the study published today found no significant relationship between coffee consumption and cancer, a recent analysis of the best studies published to date suggests coffee consumption may lead to a modest reduction in overall cancer incidence. Each daily cup o’ joe was associated with about a 3% reduced risk of cancers, especially bladder, breast, mouth, colorectal, endometrial, esophageal, liver, leukemic, pancreatic, and prostate cancers.

These next couple of days will see San Diego streets swell up with protests of different sorts, as nurses, janitors and anti-nuke activists and their supporters stage demonstrations across the City.

Thursday, May 17th: San Diego Janitors Continue Hunger Fast and Hold 12-Hour Vigil at Civic Center Plaza

San Diego area janitors will hold a 12-hour vigil with community and religious leaders at Civic Center Plaza in downtown San Diego, joining hunger fast participants fighting for health care for themselves and their families. Throughout the day, community volunteers will be visiting hunger fasters at their base camp at the Church of the Brethren in San Diego, where volunteers are working hard making preparations for Friday’s march and rally at La Jolla’s UTC.

Friday, May 18th – Rally for a ROBIN HOOD TAX! at NBC Building

Also on Friday, May 18th – Anti-Nuke Activists to Present Demand Letter to SEMPRA Chair

Wednesday, May 23rd – Rally at SEMPRA

With more and more doubts about San Onofre’s safety and future being raised on a nearly daily basis, San Diego and Southern California activists are converging on utility giant Sempra as a focal point for their protests here locally. And there are apply pressure that is mounting across California.

For instance, activists will be presenting a “Demand Letter” to Sempra Energy Chair Donald Felsinger on Friday, May 18th. And a rally is being held at Sempra headquarters in downtown San Diego on Wednesday, May 23rd – part of a state-wide coordinated day of actions at utilities. Actions will also be held in Irvine, San Francisco, Oakland, and Fresno – all to demand a nuclear-free California.

Engineer warns that tube plugging and low power operation are risky “non-solutions”

By Friends of the Earth / May 15, 2012

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Southern California Edison avoided federal regulatory guidelines when replacing defective steam generators at the San Onofre nuclear power plant — a costly mistake that can’t be fixed by plugging the tubes that carry radioactive steam or by operating the plant at reduced power, according to a new report released today by Friends of the Earth.

The content of the report by nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen details the significant design changes that should have triggered a license review which would have uncovered problems that subsequently led to serious damage and the release of radiation from the defective equipment at San Onofre in January.