Secret Meetings Erode Trust

Secret Meetings Erode Trust
Letter to the Editor

As you may be aware, the Southern California Edison Nuclear Generation Station, located 14 miles south of our Mission Viejo city limits, has been shut down since the end of January. The shutdown was forced by radiation leaks from defective, improperly designed two-year-old generators.

Now the games have begun by Southern California Edison. Here are some basic questions you should be asking YOUR city representatives, the California Public Utilities Commission, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Senator Barbara Boxer:

  1. Why did Southern California Edison CEO Ron Litzinger and Chief Nuclear Officer Peter Dietrich meet secretly with our local elected officials from dozens of cities (including Mission Viejo) surrounding the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station on August 3 at San Onofre, to discuss the power plant without the public present?
  2. Why did Edison specifically request in their invitation to local elected officials and city staff, that the public and press not be invited?
  3. Was the NRC involved in this Edison decision to exclude the public from important discussions about public safety issues at San Onofre?
  4. Does the NRC support Edison’s decision to secretly lobby city councils, mayors and city managers against the public's wishes, and the public interest, on the issue of public safety?
  5. How can the public trust either the NRC or Edison when we find out about such secretive meetings about public safety?

Joe Holtzman
Mission Viejo