Sylvia Alcon

11 MS. ALCON: Good evening. My name is Sylvia
12 Alcon. I'm a long-time resident of Avila Beach. I sure
13 appreciate you coming and listening to all of us.
14 Sometimes it feels as though we are not heard, but I feel
15 as though you are hearing us.
16 Last month I visited friends in Marin County.
17 Their family home is in Inverness, located on Tomales Bay.
18 It's amazing to look across that bay or to drive to Drakes
19 Bay, the lighthouse, places I went to as a child, and to
20 find that they look today very much as they did those many
21 years ago. This is thanks to the passage of Point Reyes
22 National Seashore Act that in 1962 protected some
23 71,000 acres from development. Certainly involved working
24 with the large dairy ranchers and many people whose
25 economic interest would be affected.
0073
1 And back in 1959, a Pacific Coast Recreational
2 Survey of the Diablo Canyon area, before the nuclear power
3 plant was built there, found data and I take a quote from
4 that survey, recently referenced in the New Times article
5 by Andrew Christie, quote, "This large unspoiled area
6 possesses excellent seashore values and should be acquired
7 for public recreation and conservation of its natural

Diablo Canyon Decommissioning Public Engagement Panel
August 29, 2018 Panel Meeting
Public Comments
8 resources." It's not too late for us. We can create a
9 national seashore here which would be maintained by the
10 National Park Service and be a place for generations to
11 use and to enjoy. Thank you.

Don Conesto

12 MR. CONESTO: Hello. My name is Don Conesto,
13 and I'd like to thank you for your time and your efforts
14 in this endeavor. I am the director of the Ken Norris
15 Rancho Marino Reserve up in Cambria, California. I work
16 for the University of California Natural Reserve System.
17 The Natural Reserve System has 39 reserves throughout the
18 state and manages over 150,000 acres. Our mission is to
19 contribute to the wise understanding and management of the
20 earth, and we do that by facilitating university research
21 and education throughout many different habitats in this
22 state.
23 Been lucky, our 2 miles of coastline and
24 500 acres sort of parallels on a smaller scale the Diablo
25 Canyon area. It has coastal grasslands as well as the
0074
1 Monterey Pine Forest and the Bishop Pine Forest. I had
2 the pleasure of seeing Diablo Canyon lands with Bob
3 Blanchard, the rancher, and Sally Krenn, the biologist,
4 and have worked with Tenera folks, who is a marine
5 biologist by training. Anyway, I just want to put out
6 there that the University of California Natural Reserve
7 System may be a very good group to help with this
8 management of the lands of the Diablo Canyon when you
9 finally make a decision.

Diablo Canyon Decommissioning Public Engagement Panel
August 29, 2018 Panel Meeting
Public Comments
10 And I'd also like to invite you on a tour of the
11 reserve. So if you can get in touch with Sally, or
12 anybody, if you look at the reserve system, I'm there, and
13 I can show you how it works on a small scale at our place
14 and talk more about the whole system. But it's an option
15 for land management that differs from any other
16 organizations and has quite a bit of experience and
17 expertise statewide. So thank you very much for your time
18 and keep up the good work, and I look forward to seeing it
19 all resolved.

Kimberly Perez

20 MS. PEREZ: Hi. Thank you, everyone. It's
21 late. I know you guys are ready to go, probably. Just a
22 few more of us to speak. My name is Kimberly Perez and
23 I'm associated with Pacific Wildlife Care, and I am the
24 president. I just want to thank all of you for your time,
25 and again, PG&E for bringing the community into these
0075
1 negotiations to review and recommend for future use of
2 those lands and facilities.
3 So we attended the first day of the
4 presentation, and it was exciting to hear the unified
5 response to conservation of those lands. We are advocates
6 for wildlife, Pacific Wildlife Care is. And so the
7 critical envirohabitat is very important for their
8 survival. We see firsthand the effects of wildlife that's
9 affected through development day to day, just every day in
10 our facility. So keeping these lands wild to the extent
11 possible with some public access is a really good plan.
12 We are very interested in the facilities, and so
13 we hope to give a presentation in September, but I want to
14 thank everyone again. I'm not going to take much more
15 time. Thanks.

Kaila Dettman

11 MS. DETTMAN: Hi. I'm Kaila Dettman, executive
12 director of Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County.
13 And I want to first off say thank you to the panel and to
14 PG&E for hosting this process. It's really important for
15 us to be heard and I'm grateful for that.
16 Our land trust is your local land trust. We
17 work throughout the County to protect special places here.
18 And you all heard from my colleague, Daniel Bowman, at the
19 workshops. And I simply want to say tonight that we
20 encourage PG&E to consider conservation of these lands.
21 We want to serve as a resource and hope we can help make
22 that happen moving forward into the future.
23 It has been said here many times tonight, it's
24 an incredibly special place, amazing resource and a
25 treasure. And there are opportunities now that's already
0051
1 been mentioned. We have had a recent passage of Prop 68.
2 We are seeing more money flowing from the private sector
3 towards conservation of the lands because millionaires and
4 billionaires are out there investing in the future of our
5 community. So I think there is a real opportunity to make
6 something really amazing happen here. And I hope that the
7 panel will make a recommendation that conservation be a

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August 29, 2018 Panel Meeting
Public Comments
8 part of the future of these lands. So thanks so much.
9 I'll keep it short and sweet.

Kathy Redden

10 MS. REDDEN: Kathy Redden, and I am a member of
11 the Atascadero Horsemen and The Trail Alliance of San Luis
12 Obispo County. I also was able to speak at the workshops,
13 and I appreciate that opportunity. Thank you to everyone
14 for your service.
15 So our vision is definitely public access with
16 multiuse trails for those of us who walk and ride on the
17 dirt. We believe trails can be designed to protect
18 cultural resources and flora and fauna. State Parks
19 already has a magnet system in place at Montana de Oro,
20 and covenation of those lands would make this an amazing
21 jewel in the crown for State Parks. Funding sources, as
22 discussed, are very much available in land conservancy.
23 They pulled off a great thing with the Pismo Reserve, and
24 I think that's a great example. Thank you.

Cheryl Conway

6 MS. CONWAY: Good evening. My name is Cheryl
7 Conway. I'm from Cayucos, where we've learned a thing or
8 two in the past decade about conserving the land. I am
9 here tonight to speak on behalf of the Democrats of
10 San Luis Obispo County club and, as of 30 minutes ago, as
11 our chair could not be here, the Cayucos Citizen's
12 Advisory Council. As we passed virtually the same
13 resolution, I don't see that as any kind of conflict.
14 We want to thank PG&E for being a great steward
15 of that land for the last 50 years. I have no doubt, if
16 there hadn't been a power plant there, there would be a
17 constant battle against development of that. As it is
18 now, we have pristine ecosystems zones.
19 Back in 2000, The Nature Conservancy recognized
20 these lands as the highest conservation priority. They
21 were joined in that by California state agencies,
22 including the Wildlands Conservation Board, the Coastal
23 Conservancy, Parks and Rec, the Coastal Commission,
24 Caltrans, the State Water Board, and the Regional Water
25 Quality Conservation Board. Many of those have already
0056
1 demonstrated a willingness to support conservation efforts
2 for this land.

Diablo Canyon Decommissioning Public Engagement Panel
August 29, 2018 Panel Meeting
Public Comments
3 What we would like to ask is that PG&E and
4 others ensure that all of the Diablo Canyon lands,
5 including Wild Cherry Canyon, and with the exception of
6 the requisite decommissioning zone while needed, are
7 conserved in perpetuity for public access and resource
8 protection. I'd like to thank you for your time.

John Ashbaugh

20 MR. ASHBAUGH: Hello, Panel. My name is John
21 Ashbaugh. I got acquainted with most of you. I didn't
22 get a chance to meet the panelists Dena Bellman or Trevor
23 Keith 10 days ago at Pismo Beach City Council chambers,
24 but I did want to take just a minute here to reacquaint
25 you with the proposal I am advancing that would be one
0049
1 source, among many, of funding that can be made available
2 in order to acquire these very special lands, and that
3 would be creating a national seashore.
4 Why a national seashore? To embrace the lands
5 beyond Diablo, but potentially also the State Park, the
6 Harbor District's lease on the lighthouse. To me, what we
7 need to think about -- in this community as a whole, we
8 often get very insular. We forget some of our own
9 history, and that history includes this plant, enlarging
10 its significance to a national scale. The history of this
11 power plant, in fact, involves controversy, a great deal
12 of it, so much, in fact, that the vast number of arrests
13 that were made back in 1980, '81, protesting the licensing
14 of the plant was, in fact, more so than any other protests
15 since the Vietnam War or the Civil Rights Movement. That
16 alone should be anthem in the eyes of the public. There

Diablo Canyon Decommissioning Public Engagement Panel
August 29, 2018 Panel Meeting
Public Comments
17 is a national investment. People were coming from all
18 over the country concerned about the impact of that plant.
19 Today and through 2024, '25, we will be able to
20 look back at that point on, I am confident, the record of
21 successful operation of this nuclear power plant. We will
22 have to deal with the long-term, very long-term storage of
23 nuclear waste on that site, but with that exception,
24 everything else is open for the kind of collaborative
25 conversation that we are having now. And I look forward
0050
1 to having many of those conversations with you and with
2 many of the people in this room in advance of the proposal
3 for a Pacho Coast national seashore. I would look forward
4 to making a presentation as I did for you folks, many of
5 the groups that are represented here tonight, including
6 people from Los Osos, Avila Beach, all the affected
7 communities. And actually, I am considering -- I would
8 like to have some help in compiling a book that would
9 represent what the significant values are of these very,
10 very special lands and structures. Thank you very much.

Sheila Ward

9 MS. WARD: Hi. My name is Sheila Ward, and I am
10 from Los Osos, and I would like to thank PG&E and this
11 panel for the opportunity to speak to you. I want to
12 speak to an issue that's very near and dear to my heart,
13 and that is the multiuse trails.
14 I was one of the people that helped construct
15 the trails on Pismo Preserve. I was one of the people
16 that originally laid the plan for Bloody Nose Trail on
17 Montana de Oro. And what I find so unique in our county
18 is the cooperation among all the trail user groups -- the
19 trail runners, the hikers, the mountain bikers, and the
20 equestrians. And I think it's very appropriate to set
21 aside a part of these lands for multiuse trails. It would
22 take up a pretty small footprint.
23 I am a member of Coast Mounted Assistance, and
24 we are putting on a poker ride next month. I posted that
25 on Facebook. And I just was kind of going through the --
0057
1 we are looking through those who are interested in this
2 ride as far away as South Dakota, so I do think you have
3 an interest of bringing money into the county with tourism
4 from establishing a multiuse trail.
5 I really give a shout out to Central Coast

Diablo Canyon Decommissioning Public Engagement Panel
August 29, 2018 Panel Meeting
Public Comments
6 Concerned Mountain Bikers for their efforts in
7 establishing such a rapport among all of our user groups
8 in this county. Thank you.

Mila Vujovich-LaBarre

9 MS. VUJOVICH-LABARRE: Good evening. My name is
10 Mila Vujovich-Labarre. I am speaking tonight as a private
11 resident. I'm a 35-year teacher in San Luis Coastal
12 Unified School District. So first and foremost, I would
13 like to thank PG&E for all the funds that they have given
14 our school district the last several years, in addition to
15 all the charitable grants that you've given to the
16 community.
17 As for tonight, although my comments are going
18 to be majority on preservation of this wonderful land,
19 there are two commercial developments or residential
20 developments that are near and dear to my heart. First of
21 all, I think that there should be some acreage on all of
22 these acres for a tiny home complex. And I would like
23 somewhere between 250 and 500 tiny homes to be allotted
24 somewhere here. And I would like the housing to be given
25 to veterans who have served our country. The housing
0058
1 crisis is incredible. It's throughout California, but I
2 think if we could set aside some precious acreage for tiny
3 homes for our veterans, it would be a wonderful gesture.
4 In addition to that, as a teacher who has been a
5 long advocate in substance abuse prevention and

Diablo Canyon Decommissioning Public Engagement Panel
August 29, 2018 Panel Meeting
Public Comments
6 intervention programs and helping teens, there is an
7 immense hole in our county for serving teens with mental
8 health, eating disorders and drug abuse, and the time is
9 now to address those. I'd like to see somewhere on the
10 property be three different facilities to house
11 approximately 30 beds. Insurance normally pays about
12 $10,000 per bed, and we would be able to serve teens
13 throughout our county. Most of those teens right now have
14 to go out of our county, and it would be innovative and
15 really important to meet that need.
16 Lastly, I ran for city council two years ago.
17 I'm proud to say I was the only city council to be
18 endorsed by the Sierra Club. I am an outdoor advocate, a
19 tree hugger, and I see this land, and I am so happy to
20 hear the comments of all the other people who have spoken
21 here tonight. This land should be preserved as much as
22 possible. It is an area for triathletes, for families,
23 for seniors, for young people, for Cal Poly students, for
24 our Native Americans to treasure for years to come.
25 It sounds like we have the financial ability to
0059
1 make that happen, so I am hoping that the commission and
2 the community will vote to do the right thing and preserve
3 a majority of this land an open space and not only for
4 conservation, but for public use. And as far as funding,
5 you could definitely charge a pass. I think most people
6 that go out there would gladly fund a $20 to $30 annual
7 pass to have access to that land. Thank you very much.

I would suggest PG&E consider repurposing some of the facility as a clean energy center - a place to study and experiment with clean energy sources such as wave energy. This would provide high-paying technical jobs as well as needed research. I recall John Lindsay talking about wave energy several years ago, and I think this would be a great location. The facility is so large it can accommodate multiple uses, and creating new energy and jobs would compensate in part for the shutdown. I have no expertise in the area, but am a concerned citizen. I also want to express my appreciation for the great tour yesterday; though I've hiked both north and south ranches I had no idea of the scope of the facility.

The Diablo Canyon intake breakwater should be retained for two reasons: 1. The cove provides marine habitat, and 2. The cove provides an emergency safe harbor for vessels and crew that may be in distress.

The intake cove breakwater provides about 3300 feet of intertidal, and subtidal habitat (both sides of about 1650 feet of jetty - conservative on the low side), or about 2/3 mile. Area of habitat: 40 feet of sloped armament on either side of jetties in tidal and subtidal area, or 80’ for both sides for 3300 feet, is six acres of habitat or reef area. Tearing those out would destroy those six acres of habitat over a length of 2/3 mile. In addition to the rocky shoreline type habitat, the intake cove is protected such that more fish are living there and producing larvae than would otherwise be there (more protected = more kelp = more fish). Harbor seals have also taken up the cove as home. This habitat is an established use. Taking out the jetties would destroy this established use – about eight acres of cove area and six acres of reef area, totally 14 acres of existing habitat destroyed or impaired. Extensive energy (fuel) and other resources for removal and transportation of debris, and land for disposal would also be required.

The intake cove has been a respite for mariners from time to time – when mariners (usually fisherman) have had problems and have used the cove for safe harbor in emergency situations. The cove’s useable anchorage area is nearly seven acres. It is the only safe harbor between Morro Bay and Port San Luis on the Point Buchon/Pecho coast of nearly twenty nautical miles between harbors. The Diablo Cove could accommodate perhaps six boats at anchor in emergency situations. It is unlikely that as many six boats would ever need anchorage at one time. However, there are times when mariners (whether fishermen, pleasure boaters, sailors, or kayakers and paddle boarders) have rough weather, or equipment failures, or could use a sheltered place to organize their boat’s equipment or catch, or just have fatigue and need to rest, and could benefit from the safe harbor roughly half way between Morro Bay and Port San Luis.

Habitat and safe harbor are two good reasons the intake breakwater should be retained. Additionally, the cost savings would be considerable. PG&E’s estimate from 2016 for dismantling and transporting the breakwater alone was $198.5 million. That figure may not include the intake structure demolition. This savings is more than twice the cost of SB 1090, the bill that would ensure SLO County agencies receive $85 million to help mitigate the impact of the Diablo Canyon power plant closure.

Thanks for considering my ideas,
Roger Briggs

Dear Commissioners,

As a long time resident of SAN Luis Obispo County, I am thrilled the commission is working to creat a land use plan for the property surrounding Diablo Power Plant. It is my great hope that the commission will leave the property as open space for wild life, with some access for hiking and biking trails. This is a once in a life time opportunity to perseve this beautiful land. I’m also very supportive of leaving Wild Cherry Canyon as open space. Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to comment.

I am for the community vision to purchase the use of the lands that are surrounding Diablo Canyon and Wild Cherry Canyon to create multipurpose trails; a connection to Montana De Oro Trails; a horse camp; ample parking for horse trailers for "day" riders, hikers and/or bikers. This would create a jewel of the central coast for generations to come to enjoy and experience outdoor natures beauty along the coast. I have had the opportunity to see the property and it is spectacular! Willing to support this opportunity and help in any way possible.

I would like the panel to consider as a land use a Veterans Cemetery. There are a large number of veterans that live on the central coast and this would be a wonderful benefit to them and their families. The closest Veterans Cemetery is outside of Bakersfield.

Thank you

Please consider a multi-use trail connecting Montana de Oro to Avila and Perfumo/See Canyon to the coast.

Please make all lands available for public access, hiking, biking and especially horse back riding. Especially Wild Cherry Canyon. Our trails are being gobbled up by development and this is an opportunity to give back in a big way to the community. Thank you so much.

I would like to encourage an inland and coastal non-motorized Trail system with connections to create loops that would be opened to hiking, bicycling and horseback riding. SLO County Non-profits would fund raise and volunteer to create & maintain the trail system. This trail system could join into the Condor Trail and Coastal Trail, creating a world class Trail system that would draw trail tourism. I have hiked similar trails in Nepal & France, as well as other states. My friends have also traveled to Ireland, Scotland, New Zealand, Argentina, Portugal, France, Spain, Iceland, Alaska, Canada and other countries to hike, bike or ride on trails. Trail tourism is in demand and trails also help keep locals healthy & happy.

We would need a Trailhead that supports horse trailers on the south end, at Cherry Canyon. You might want to also consider a Trailhead at the north end on MDO. I would not encourage road access other than to the trailheads and on the paved road that accuses the plant site. Limiting driving access will help to protect sensitive resources and reduce the potential for trash.

If you develop a Campground, please include an area for equestrian camping. Thanks for your time and consideration.

It is very exciting to think that Diablo Canyon lands may someday be converted to open space! There are many hikers, equestrian, and mountain bikers that look forward to this. I pray that I will be physically able one day (I'm 57 now) to take advantage of this. Thank you.

I would like to see recreational opportunities and particularly mountain biking and hiking trails on the land.

Please open up access for hikers/cyclists/equestrians. Preserve this natural space.

This land should be open for public recreational space to include trails for hiking and biking. CCCMB should have input on trail design and building.

Whatever is done should not have a negative impact on the environment - or traffic in and out.

Please include in proposal that the land can be used by dogs and their owners. Possibly have hiking trails and fenced dog parks. Thank you.

Public access during and after decommissioning must be controlled through the oversight and management of volunteer docents as educators and guides, after the model provided by Friends of the Elephant Seal. Carrying capacities of visitors will be adhered to for accessible areas once they've been identified for seasonal and ecological sensitivity. Part of decommissioning process will include funding to establish a nonprofit organization to recruit, educate and train docents to manage public access.

Develop for housing