Don't delude for decommission the labor force will not local

9· · · · · · MS. PERRY:· Okay.· Thank you very much for all
10· ·of you for being here tonight and allowing us to address
11· ·this issue.· I am Cordelia Perry, and that's P-E-R-R-Y,
12· ·and I'm the executive director for the San Luis Obispo
13· ·County Builders Exchange.· We actually represent 500
14· ·construction firms here locally, all of which they do
15· ·work here on the entire Central Coast, and our members
16· ·are union and non-union, and despite the mix of our
17· ·organization, we have strongly opposed PLAs. I
18· ·understand that you guys feel that the PLAs would
19· ·provide you with local hire.· Unfortunately, they do
20· ·not.· PLAs are tied directly to the unions, and with the
21· ·unions, these local men and women that have their
22· ·companies here have to pay union dues, all of their
23· ·medical benefits, retirement and their other benefit
24· ·programs all go into the union coffers.· So when they
25· ·guys are working on these projects for three or four
1· ·years, they lay out about $20 an hour out of every
2· ·paycheck just for their benefit program.· When they ·
3· ·leave this project, they do not receive any of that ·
4· ·money.· So this is money that they have been asked to ·
5· ·pay into the union for the privilege of holding a job ·
6· ·and working on Diablo or any other public works project ·
7· ·that has a PLA.· With the PLAs, you end up with about a ·
8· ·30 percent hire -- with being local hire, is what they ·
9· ·tell you, but you can achieve that just here locally.
10· ·If there is -- forgive me.
11· · · · · · So with your push for the local -- with the
12· ·PLAs, you need to talk to the local licensed
13· ·contractors, find out who wishes to sign on with the
14· ·union and those who do not, and with PLAs, the locals
15· ·are actually forced to become signatory to the union.
16· ·If they wish to join the union, they have that option,
17· ·and as far as a living wage goes, when you deal in
18· ·projects such as this, they have to pay prevailing wage
19· ·rates anyways and all of those rates were written by the
20· ·union.· That's why we have California prevailing wage.
21· ·So whether they're an apprentice or if they're a
22· ·journeyman, they still have to pay the same as anyone in
23· ·the union would have to.· So nobody -- and they say
24· ·there's no more $15-an-hour jobs.· Well, when you're an
25· ·apprentice, that's exactly what a lot of the trades do
1· ·pay, whether you're prevailing wage or not.
2· · · · · · So we're asking you to please do not recommend ·
3· ·a PLA and to ask the questions, the tough questions of ·
4· ·what is involved with a PLA.· Most of you have thought ·
5· ·it was all about local hire.· It's not.· You're tied to ·
6· ·a union and we're here to help you find the other side ·
7· ·of the puzzle and to answer those questions that are now ·
8· ·running through your head.
9· · · · · · I'm always available at the office Monday
10· ·through Friday.· I'm always going to answer questions
11· ·for you, but I do ask that you please do not recommend
12· ·the PLA and that you do your homework and you get both
13· ·sides because the union will graciously write that
14· ·contract for you and it will tie to their master
15· ·contract and nobody reads those 2,000 pages.
16· · · · · · So I do have a letter if you want it.· I will
17· ·submit it tonight as a matter of record and we do oppose
18· ·the PLAs, not just on Diablo, but all public works
19· ·projects.· You don't have to put yourself into a box.
20· ·If it's going to be specialized work and some of it will
21· ·guaranteed be done strictly by union guys that know what
22· ·they're doing out there, but when it comes to the
23· ·refurbishing, you don't have to be union, you have to be
24· ·qualified and these guys got 40 years experience in the
25· ·construction industry, they're just as qualified, if
1· ·not, more.
2· · · · · · So please don't box yourself in, please ask the ·
3· ·questions and we're here to help you.· Thank you.

66· · MR. SIMONIN:· Yeah.· That was perfect.· Thank.
7 you
8 · Good evening, Panel.· We sure appreciate the · · ·
9· ·ability to come up and do public comment, appreciate all
10· ·your volunteer efforts.· I know it's taken a lot of
11· ·time. It seems like it's probably taken more time than
12· ·you were aware of when you were getting on the panel.
13· ·You guys are doing a terrific job and you're very
14· ·thoughtful.
15· · · · · · I was just coming up, really, just to make some
16· ·positive comments.· Mr. Jones had indicated talking
17· ·about the solar farms that were project labor agreements
18· ·on the two solar farms, might not have been aware of it,
19· ·I wasn't aware of it, and the positive impacts it had on
20· ·our local community.· I was in charge of distributing
21· ·the manpower out there at the time.· There were
22· ·opportunities for the larger contractors to bring
23· ·out-of-town workers in.· Somebody brought up the teeth
24· ·in these agreements.· We were able to stop that and go
25· ·to the priority, which was local.· That's what the PLA ·
1· · is all about, is local hire.
2· · · · · · I didn't want to get into a back-and-forth with ·
3· ·Mrs. Perry, but if it wasn't for misinformation, there ·
4· ·would be no information.· 2,000 pages for a project
5· ·labor agreement.· There was 4 billion dollars worth of ·
6· ·solar work in the plains.· The project labor agreement ·
7· ·was 32 pages long.· So they aren't big agreements.· They ·
8· ·accentuate local hire priority.· It's very important on ·
9· ·projects of this size, this magnitude.· Hopefully, there
10· ·will be local contractors to participate, but chances
11· ·are it's going to be out-of-town contractors that have
12· ·the qualifications to perform this work and we need to
13· ·protect our local workforce.
14· · · · · · So thanks again.· I appreciate your time and
15· ·consideration.

How much of the 85 million that the county has been allocated are they willing to put on the table to give back to PG&E for delays due to bureucratic red tape and indicisiveness and inability to approve permits. Furthermore when, not if, the coastal commission shuts down ANY option other than complete destruction. What will be the result of the money that's been allocated for "repurpose". All of this is assuming that someone will be willing to PAY for the land. How is ownership and taxation of the land going to be established?

Who is going to own the land?

DCDEP Panel Members:

Tonight you are being asked by big labor special interests to place a discriminatory and wasteful Project Labor Agreement (PLA) on your work. This would be a mistake.

My name is Eric Christen and I am the Executive Director of the Coalition for Fair Employment in Construction (CFEC). Formed 21 years ago to oppose Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) CFEC seeks to educate those considering their use and why that would be a terrible idea.

Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) are banned in 24 states and 11 entities have done the same in California Why? Because, in California’s case, they implicitly and explicitly discriminate against the 85% of the workforce who are union-free.

PLAs create barriers for local, minority and women-owned construction employers and their employees from participating in building their community because they contain provisions that do not allow for the full utilization of their own workforces and force union-free workers to pay into union pension plans they will never vest in. This is wage theft. (see attached)

Furthermore, studies show these types of agreements increase project costs – anywhere from 10-30% above prevailing wage because they restrict competition. Open competition is healthy and increases quality. It levels the playing field and local money is invested into the community. With the construction market so busy right now and with more work than workers, why would you do anything that makes is less likely you’ll attract bidders. If you want to see what this means in real life here is what happened to the City of Selma just last month! Their new police station was supposed to have beeen awarded already but despite having 10 pre-qualified bidders only 1 ended up bidding the project. Why? As you can see from the attached document, staff lays the fault squarely at the feet of the PLA.

And finally, PLAs exclude the men, women, and veterans who have chosen to enter into state approved, unilateral apprenticeship training programs in pursuit of a construction career from the opportunity to work and gain the invaluable on-the-job training experience that provides stability for them, their family and their community.

For these reasons we ask you to NOT approve this PLA on your work but instead consider the following:

Hold a study session on the issue of PLAs where both sides are allowed to fully present their side of the issue and where you can ask questions of the participants.
Survey contractors who do work for you and ask them about PLAs. When the San Jose Unified School District and East Bay Municipal Utility District did this they found they would receive 50% FEWER bidders and as a result they chose not to employ a PLA. (see attached)

Best regards,

Eric Christen
Executive Director
Coalition for Fair Employment in Construction
www.opencompca.com

I have to say I am seriously disappointed in all of you! For you to recommend a project labor agreement on one of the biggest project our county's will ever be a part of - "shame on you". You are only protecting the Unions under the belief it will ensure local jobs, which it does not, you are only talking to one side.

You need to speak with Eric Christen and he will explain to you the
● Wage theft - with a project labor agreement ($200.00 to $500.00 aweek) medical, and retirement benefits that the non-union workers have to pay and will never receive the benefits
● Added cost (15% higher) to implement a project labor agreement.
● It is discriminatory towards small business owners, women owned business and veteran business owners
● Eliminates competition, Eliminates how many core employees from a Non-Union company can work on the project.
● Requires a non-union company to take on the liability of an employee that has not gone through their training.
● No man or woman should have to pay for the right to work unless they choose to join the union. PLA's force them to join and to pay union dues.

I will be sure to let my 500 local license contractors know that they will not have the opportunity to work on Diablo nuclear power plant decommissioning.
I am severely disappointed in all of you.

The recommendations are very reasonable. They’re pretty general, without many specifics, so it would be difficult for anyone to take issue with them.

Suggestions for priorities and action steps:
1. Advocate for the most expedited decommissioning and remediation of the site possible to enable new uses. Post the timeline and anticipated availability of parcels so that interested parties can propose uses. Help the CPUC appreciate that the most expedited decommissioning and remediation schedule is the most likely to enable reuse and potential for reduction of overall decommissioning costs.
2. Free-up open space lands for compatible light recreational uses. Sequence the opening to get some early wins and momentum. Tap the creativity of National Parks and other organizations with experience in opening sites with access limitations.
3. Review an inventory of PG&E lands supporting DCPP and determine potential to free-up parcels not essential for operations as soon as possible for other economic uses (for example, workforce housing, where suitable).
4. Initiate a design competition with prizes (cash and/or in-kind support) to crowd source creative use ideas. This will help boost awareness of our opportunities and stimulate broader thinking. The thesis presentation from the Cal Poly Architecture student shows the promise for fresh thinking.
5. Engage private sector developers to brainstorm Public-Private Partnerships for master development and reuse opportunities. Other communities have done this for brownfield and redevelopment situations and found ways to accomplish desired objectives with little or no public sector cash investment.

How realistic is it that an entity could continue to operate Diablo in the unlikely event that Jordan Cunningham’s legislative amendment gets passed into law?

What are the specific health risks vis-à-vis nuclear contamination once DCPP is decommissioned? Once the plant stops operating, it seems that the health risks are relatively minimal.

A dollar value can be assets to risk !!!!!

But will the decomish money be spent here ????

In order to contemplate concrete repurposing opportunities, the business community needs the following: 1) clear understanding from the county of what level of access and development/use of the facilities might be possible (e.g. how many people could come to the site, etc.) 2) timelines for when facilities might be available and accessible.

Let’s find way to harness the creative ideas and resources of entrepreneurs and entities beyond our area. This could include crowdsourcing ideas with a competition and substantial prizes that would attract national and international interest in helping us achieve our objectives. Have you considered such approaches?

If we can save decommissioning costs by some repurposing, can we negotiate to get more rapid decommissioning and storage of spent fuel in exchange? Have you considered this?

It’s important to know not only how many people can visit now but also how many could visit in a decommissioned world? Any information about future?

Impact 3 of the Berkeley report appears to ascribe all decommissioning expenditures to the benefit of the County. Aren’t there likely to be many out of county contractors who will be taking the money out of the county?

Berkely econ study Major League flawed ....useless

Will all of the slides, including those that presenters didn’t have time to cover, be available on the website?

Presentation at 9/14/2018 Facility Repurposing Workshop. Please see workshop video.

17 MS. SWANSON: Yes, Jane Swanson. I am speaking
18 just as an individual, not on behalf of an organization
19 tonight. And this is very brief and very general, but
20 this discussion has been excellent tonight. And everybody
21 has valid points to be made. But the question is how do
22 you bring it together? And I have no wisdom on that, but
23 I just wanted to point out some reflections on the word
24 expert. Some of the -- a fair amount of the discussion
25 was about the availability of experts and the value of
0080
1 experts. And yeah, experts are very valuable, but I want
2 to point out my own personal thoughts that being an expert
3 does not make one right or wise. If you think about what
4 experts do, in my personal vision, what experts -- there
5 is a risk -- I'm not saying all experts do this, but there
6 is a risk for an expert to get a little bit of tunnel
7 vision and not see beyond it.
8 So I was just thinking -- so talking about
9 technical experts that know a lot about nuclear physics,
10 what have they done for the world so far? Well, they
11 brought us atmospheric testing of weapons which has
12 polluted our earth totally. They brought us the bombing
13 of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and some people justify that.
14 I won't argue about that. I'll just say experts did that,
15 and some of those experts had second thoughts about it
16 also. And so I don't mean my comments to be geared only
17 toward nuclear experts, but it's true of anything. City
18 planners, experts in medicine, whatever, it's easy to get
19 into the tunnel of your expertise and not see the broader
20 vision. That's why I come to these meetings because I am
21 not an expert in anything. But like some people on this
22 panel, I've been around for 75 years, so I know a little
23 bit about life and the bigger picture. Thank you.
24 MR. ANDERS: Thank you very much.

25 MR. WEISMAN: Good evening, Panel. David
0078
1 Weisman, Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility. And it's
2 not really a question, unless the question is so what are
3 you all doing on June 28th? Okay, there you go. That's
4 the question. And I don't know, maybe this has already
5 been announced and I'm late to the party on this one. But
6 in this very room on the 28th of June -- tell me if I am
7 already -- this has already been out there. Okay. In
8 this room on June 28th will be a public forum or a
9 symposium put on -- I think the host is our senator, Bill
10 Monning. And it will be the introduction or unveiling of
11 the results of the Senate Bill 968 study on the economic
12 ramifications of a post Diablo Canyon economy for this
13 county. And as I understand it, it's 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. on
14 Friday the 28th of June in this room.
15 So having seen that that's item No. 14 here,
16 introduction of next meeting topic, Economic Impacts of
17 Decommissioning, it would seem probably a good thing to be
18 in attendance for that meeting on June 28th. And as I
19 understand it, they are going to have AGP video, and it's
20 going to be taped and recorded as well, and there will be
21 a public comment period. You'll be able to -- I'm
22 assuming we will be getting some kind of press release
23 from the senator's office about this at some point.
24 And then a couple other dates for folks to put
25 on their calendars, not just here tonight but in the
0079
1 county in general, and that would be August 7th and
2 August 8th because those are the dates the judge in this
3 decommissioning hearing has scheduled the public
4 participation hearing for the nuclear decommissioning
5 triennial proceeding at the CPUC. And once again, I think
6 they have reserved this room because of its video and
7 television capacity. So the public might want to put
8 those two dates. I think it's the evening of the 7th and
9 the day of the 8th, if I'm not mistaken. So that's all I
10 have to say is just put those dates on your calendar if
11 the public is looking to have further input and
12 participation in the decommissioning process. Thank you
13 very much.

As a result of this meeting, I know more about the Diablo Canyon decommissioning process.

Presentation at Spent Fuel Workshops. See Workshop Video.