In 1989, Sacramento voters agreed to shut down their utility's nuclear power plant, rejecting warnings that their electricity bills would skyrocket.
Twenty years later, the area has among the lowest electricity rates in California, even as the Sacramento Municipal Utility District considers a 13 percent increase.
That's a message former state lawmaker Tom Hayden and others involved in the 1989 campaign say the federal government should note.
Hayden held a news conference Friday in the capital to mark the 20th anniversary of the vote and urge the federal government to invest in conservation and renewable energy.
The U.S. Energy Department is evaluating loan guarantees to four companies planning new nuclear plants. The reactors being considered are in Maryland, Georgia, South Carolina and Texas.
"Shot Heard Round the World" Echoes in Strong Local, State Opposition Across U.S. to New Nuclear Reactors
SACRAMENTO, Calif., June 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Ahead of the 20th anniversary on Saturday of Sacramento voters going to the polls to shut down Rancho Seco, a nuclear reactor operated by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) about 25 miles southeast of the city, organizers held a news conference today to mark the event.
In his remarks at the news conference, Scott Denman, former executive director of the national Safe Energy Communication Council, emphasized that votes against nuclear power continue to this day.
Since the historic Rancho Seco shutdown vote, more than two dozen states have legislated or passed referenda requiring that utilities meet a specific target - usually ranging 10-30 percent of the electricity supply - for sustainable energy resources by a specific date, Denman said. Power that will be available from these "renewable portfolio standards" (RPS) sources is now routinely cited as a reason not to pursue more nuclear reactors.
Sacramento's Rancho Seco nuclear power plant has been formally decommissioned by the federal government, the first action of its kind in response to a public vote.
The 20-year decommissioning process cost Sacramento Municipal Utility District ratepayers $500 million.
District voters decided in June 1989 that such a costly endeavor was justified to eliminate the risks posed by nuclear power.
The vote followed a long series of accidents and costly unplanned shutdowns at Rancho Seco, which began operating in 1975.
Sacramento's Rancho Seco nuclear power plant has been formally decommissioned by the federal government, the first action of its kind in response to a public vote.
The 20-year decommissioning process cost Sacramento Municipal Utility District ratepayers $500 million.
District voters decided in June 1989 that such a costly endeavor was justified to eliminate the risks posed by nuclear power.
The vote followed a long series of accidents and costly unplanned shutdowns at Rancho Seco, which began operating in 1975.
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