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Group calls for state oversight of San Onofre nuke plant

Gene Stone with San Clemente-based Residents Organized for a Safe Environment was "elated" at news that Southern California Edison would permanently shutdown the San Onofre nuclear plant. 
(Photo: Gene Stone, an anti-nuclear power activist with Residents for a Safe Environment, took part in a protest on San Onofre State Beach on April 6, 2012.)
Grant Slater/KPCC
Gene Stone, an anti-nuclear power activist with Residents for a Safe Environment, took part in a protest on San Onofre State Beach on April 6, 2012.

A San Clemente-based anti-nuclear group wants the California Attorney General to create a safety committee to oversee the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.

A safety committee was created years ago for the state’s only other nuclear power plant in Northern California.

Gene Stone with Residents Organized for a Safe Environment (ROSE) said his group is launching a letter writing and phone campaign to urge Governor Jerry Brown and Attorney General Kamala Harris to create a watchdog committee to keep an eye on what is going on at the San Onofre nuclear plant.

Stone said he also wants any committee to include members of Orange and San Diego county environmental groups.

He said when the Diablo Canyon safety committee was formed as part of a legal settlement, it was filled with members of the nuclear energy industry. The committee does not have any enforcement power.

But Stone said the Diablo Canyon safety committee does provide people with more information about what is happening at that facility.

“We are aware of what happened when a committee like this was formed at Diablo Canyon,” said Stone. “It has taken a very long time for a very small amount of good to come out it. We will not tolerate a San Onofre safety committee filled with people from Southern California Edison or Pacific Gas and Electric and the nuclear industry. We demand true public participation.”

The Attorney General’s office would not comment whether any plans are underway to create a similar committee for the San Onofre nuclear plant.