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go-0OS Joe Feuchard, Neue Service transk Jemmary 2, 1964 Divisies of Public Infesiasties, 59 Rodney L. Southorick, Assistant to the Msonger for Public Information, SAN' PGM vs. M.Y. TIMES EDITORIAL FI:RLS Attached is self-empleastory correspondence betusen PGM and the W. T. Times concerning a recent editorial on' Bodega and the nuclear power plant proposed by POLE for constructies et that site.
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l Robert Lowenstein.,. DIAE, itQ, w/ attack.
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CLIPPlHG FROM (New York Edition) Friday, December 27, 1963 New York TIMES (Western Edition) Saturday, Decentbar 28, 1963 PUSLIC AT 80s 70su Daft I
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A Park at Bodega, at Last?
j When, an effort to save a threatened
'oenic treasure fails, it usually Yatis for-
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s ever. The chance for a rare exception.
to this familiar lament is offered on the
' Pacific Coast at Fodega Head, a wild j
,scente promontory several miles north of 1
San Francisco. Only a'few months ago i
Mga seemed certain to be lost.
' Bodega Head-enjoyed a place on the master plan of California, and
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' 19tN the stats legislature appropriated s
$350,000 for its purchase. But the Pa-cifia Gas and Electric Company moved more swiftly than the state and purchased t'ho site in 1960 for a nuclear power
" plant.
y; In anticipation of hearings before the ntemle Energy Commission, P. G. & E.
pegan excavation for its reactor unit last spring. Then, in August, an earth-quake fault was found through the verv center of the site of the proposed gen-erstor _All construction has now been halted and the company has canceled fur-ther contracts. Fortunately, Bodega Head is not irreparably damaged.
Nor is the golden opportunity yet lost for the appropriate authorities in Califor-nla to begin planning the ways ' and means to add Bodega Head to the state's park system as originally envisaged.
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gmAIGEr Menaam CIARGB TO FACIFIC GA8 AED IIECTRIC C(BWANY VIA VESER N IMION 8AN FRANCISCO, CALIFtRNIA EDITS EBf YtRK TDS8 ST9WEgghp mWer I
ERf YtRK, EBf Yt3K FRIBAY'S TIME 8 EDITGtIAL 05 BGMGA NUCI2AR FRQTECT IS 8BOCKING DINGtTIM W FACTS, AFFARIETLY BASED 05 UNCEECKED CIMGES Frost wrarmanrun 80tR3. BCEEGA PROFECT NOT i
Ama'amnm; 30 CogggAcr8 eaurwrrun YOGt EARTEEIAEI FAUUr SEATBSET 18 50m IIA 0GR ATED. EECAVATION TO 73 FEEf EE!4W SEA LEVEL IIFOSED IN FOUED8f15 cF SaLID mAEITE.
OUTSTARDIEG nantmTSFS AED EEISEMAGIsr8, 3025 00FERMantAL AND j
i FRITAS CGISULTARS, SrtBIED EVEtY SEEF IN EECAVATIGI, MAKING SCIENTIFIC EEFtRT8 FGt ABC D WPERMIIIEQ SITE SUITABILITY. ABC EEARIEQ8 EEPECTED NY 8FRIEG.. 70kB EEQDGERS, 0058ULTARS BEf THVE SITE rrt'at.rmmT.
85tUCTtRAL ENITERERDG TO WITREMam i
EART54UAKE SEOCK8 00ESCIG% ACE D CALIFGutIA. B(EEGA IIAD NOT WIID, SCENIC AND JUR GEVERAL MILES FROM SAN FRANCISCO.
IT IS BARREN, LGIG f*fnWD TO FUILIC EY PREVIOUS PRIVATE WEl!RSEIF, AND 65 MILES FRON SAN FRAECISCO. LOCAL E5iSEN, DCLUDIEG ABIE
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TDGt8 REPORTERS, EAVE VISITED SITE, CHARACTERIZE BODE 3A HEAD YARIOUBLY A8 UGLY, DESOLATE, IMACCES8IBLE, AND SEASIDE SLUM.
BODEGA READ EEFER AVAILABIE TO RATE i
FGt FARK.
STAE LAW FIA38 TEIS DECI8ICII WITE COUNTIE8.
80 BONA COUNTY DECIDED BGEGA REST SUITED FGt Col 85RCIAL AED IEDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AED WOUID NOT MAEE IT AVAILAED FGt NATE FGtCHASE.
MATE PARK FIANUES, LISEDG "Fnanturm" FARK SITES, RRED BGBGA GELY 93RD ANDWG 123 TROUGECUT CALIFGUTIA.
RTmm MII28 & STATE AND U.8. FARK8 AUGADY ARE ALONG TIIS 00 AREAL AREA.
Poke FRQTECT INCLGES tannacAPIEG EEADLAEDS, 30FIDDG ROAD, PUBLIC ACCESS, FARK FACILITIES FGt VISITOR 8.
OBJECTIVE OBSERVR8 AGtEE B0 JECT WILL DGROFE SITE FGt FUELIC ENJ0 DENT.
COUNFY EAGEt TO BAYE PROJECT, ColWTT ISSUED UEE PERMIT FGL PLANT.
FERMIT UPEEID D COLEtT. SEATE i
GLAMIED CERTIFICATE & FUELIC 00NVWIENCE AND une unserTY, FOLI4 WING FULL PUBLIC EEARIBQ8.
MATE EAS REJECTED PETITIONS BY SIALL, YOCAL GLOUF & OFF0EENF8 muurm RE-ERARIBQ. AEC 18 TEE Darunwrum 3GyY cs SITE SUITABILITY. REGRR TDS8 EDITGLIAL 15tITWt DID NOT CIBCE WITE TDS8 ME IN BAE FRANCISCO FAMILIAR WITE FACTS. 12TTER FOLI4WS WITE DOCLBENTATICE.
(SIGEED) EAL E5LOUBE ATmIC netzesATIm SrEcIAI.Isr PGh3 RBf8 REtEAU
P CIFIC GAS AND-ELEC tlc COMPANY u.u u COPY December 30, 1963 AIR MAIL The Editor New York TIMES 229 West 43rd Street New York, New York Dear Sirs Our telegram Friday pointed out substantial errors in your editorial of December 27 about the Bodega Bay = 1aar power project and indicated we would supply further information.
The editorial says that P. O. and E. best the State to the punch in acquiring Bodega Head, suggesting that otherwise W site would have became a State park. The facts on this point are available in the transcript of hearings on P. G. and E.'s license application before the California Public Utilities Commission on June 8, 196e.
The official representative of the State Division of Beaches and Parks (Mr. Charles Mahlert) testified that:
- 1) Acquisition of Bodega lands for a State park veo assigned thr~e~d the Dtate().93rd among 123 passible park sites a very low priority (Tr.,p.1266).
- 2) "When the State Park Planner began his investigation in 1958, he found that the Sonoma County master plan desig-asted some portions of the w tanda to ecumsretal use.
This fact barred the State from seguiring it for park purposes under provisions of Chapter 1422, Statutes of 1945." (Tr., p. 1267).
- 3) Further, Mr. Mahlert testified (Tr., p.1275):
"I don't want to state that the scenery of Bodega Bond is not good (but) we do have approximately la miles et that some type of shore line from the mouth of the Russian River to our-present ownership near Bodega Esed." (Estes the Point Reyes Estional Ra=% provides at Amest an additional four miles of park lands along this ocastal area.)
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9 PdCIFIC GAS AND ELEC
!!C COMPANY
.....u COPY The Editor New York TIMES December 30, 1963
- 4) The witness was asked:
"Is it the policy of the Division of State Besches and Parks, whenever there is a conflict between industrial groups and the public interest in parks, to give way to the seeming industrial interest 7 Rio reply was:
"It's the policy of the State Division of Beaches and Parks to conform to the laws of the State of California. The law I am referring to is the one, Statutes of 1945, Chapter lh22, which states ths.t we nust
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cooperate with the counties and aequire necessiias to their J
shore line naster plan."
(Tr.,p.1283).
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- 5) The transcript (p. 2272) shows the following exchange which sheds additional light on the subject:
" Q.
Could the State have acquired the whole of Bodega Head back in 1956 at the time the Five Year Master Plan that you mentioned was adopted?
"A.
It is not 1N1y fcr two reasons: The Sonoma County Master Plan did not include that area for park and recreation purposes in their master plan. And, another thing, the sonoma County project was at quite a low priority on the Five Year Master Plan.
It, in effect, had no urgency for land
='=aa4a=.
And, on those two reasons, we would not have game ahead in 1956."
- 6) Finally, the witness defined W 9 tate Park master plan of 1956 as follows:
"The Nanter Plan af 1956 was in eeneopt only. It authorised or gave projest status tg a study for additions to S-==
Coast State Park (the adjoining 12 miles of share line park mentioned above) and that is all."
(Tr.,p.1286).
i Turning to another point, your editorial refers to Bodega Beed j
as "a wild, scenic promentary several miles north of San Fransiseo."
As a matter of fact, Bodega Emed lies in the soooed county north of the Goldas Gate, 65 highway miles from San Franeisoo and about 50 miles by direct line.
As to whether it may be described as " wild and seenie," plasse note the emelooed elipping from the August 19, 1963, edition of the San Fremeises RBf84:ALL BULLErIN in which Mr. George Dumbeek, the paper's seienee editar and a noted conservationist, describes the area as "a ammadAm 31m
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1 P4CIFIC GAS AND ELECT]IC COMPANY
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'1 The Biitor New York TDS8 Deeeleer -30, 1963 A personal visit to Bodega Moed on SeptembN 14, 1963, by Rep. Craig Boomer, ranking minarity member of the Joint Congressional
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Committee on Atomic Basegy, resulted in his deoeription of Bodega Head as "a barren, brown,.windowept piece of property without any charm,-
which will be laproved if a power plant is built there," aoeceding to Assoaisted Press reports. Similar cosmeents are made frequently by news-
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men and other rseponsible visitors to Bodega. (Attaahad are typical editorials from California papers comumenting on Bodega's " beauty." The Realdsburg MIEUEI is published in Sonoma County, about 38 miles from
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nodegamay.).
i Your editorial' comument that P. G. and E. began site work last Spring "in anticipation of hearings before the AEC" leeree an inference that such work was premature and perhaps illegal. ABC regulations (10 CFR 50.10 (b) (1)) Permit an applicant fcv a reactor ocastruction permit to conduct " site exploration, site azoavention, preparation of the site for the construction of the facility and construction of roadways, rsil-road spurs and transmission lines." On that basis, P. G. and E. was authorized to commence site preparation work last January 7 (not "last spring").
When controversy arose about the. nearness of the San Andreas fault to the plant site, and there was some speculation that an earth-quake fault adght run across the site, P. G. and E. during September and October excavated a pit 142 feet h diameter rWng down to 73 feet be-low sea level into the underlying foundatice of. solid granite. The pit would house the reactor contain==at footlity.. This excavation was sanc-tioned by the AEC in a letter dated July 23, 1963, agreeing that the work constituted site preparation and could be performed at P.10. and E.'s financial risk without prejatioe to the granting of a reactor permit.
b exoavation of the pit was undertaken expressly to permit thorough inspection of the walls and botton of the reactor excavation by geologists and seismologists re+=1aad by P. G. and E. as well as by those i
assigned by government agencies to oceduct an lavestigation of the site.
When the pit was bottomed out at elevation -73 on October 18, site preparation work was ocupleted. At that time P. G. and E. announeed that it would 30 ao further M n* ABC hearings on the Company's appli-cation for a construction permit. Thus, the editorial's ccmelusion that work was halted and contracts cancelled boomene of a supposed earthquake fault "through the very center of the r N " is incorrect.
The final reports of==rt===t consultants on geology, seismology and seismic ' design who have been roamined HT- " __;1y by P. G. and E.
are now being prepared for transudttal to the ABC. The findings of government geologists and seismologists also will go to the ABC.
PhblFIC GAS AND ELEC hC COMPANY i
COPY m mt.
New York TDe5 December 30, 1963 l
ABC chairman Dr. Olenn T. Seaborg has announeed pe licly that these reports and all other aspects of the Bodega application will be re-viewed thoroughly by the ABC staff and aired completely a>t forthcoming public hearings.
(The ABC is required by law to hold applications for sim1-plant construction perudta.) public hearings on Upon the testimony at those hearings and the final judgment of j
1 the Atomic Energy Cammission rests the future of the Bodega atomic project.
Sonoma County, in which the plant would be built, issued a Use Perinit which has been upheld in Sqperior Court. The State of California, through its 1%11e Utilities Commission, authorised the project after full public hearings lasting eight days, and several times rejected petitions by plant.g = = 4s for re p aing hearings.
We subudt that a factual TDRS review of the Bodega project would contribute importantly not only to the information of your readers but also to the future of peaceful uses of atomic energy.
If you choose to make such a review, Pacific Gas ami Electric Ccapany stands ready to cooperate fully. It is our firm belief that the project will ingrove Bodega Head for public enjoyinent. It will materially aid conservation work in the surrowding, areas. Our experience with de-sign, construction and operation of two earlier atcanic plants on our system, plus our participation in the Dresden atomic project, provides convincing evidence that Bodega vill be a safe, dependable and economic plant.
Moreover, Bodega and future mi=1 power plants in our construc-tion program are necessary additions to our electric system which must serve the ever growing electric energy requirements of nearly ha.lfof l
California's estimated population of almost 18 militan people.
81aserely yours, l
1 Mal Stro@e Atonio Information Specialist 70bE Nous Bureau ESind Encl.
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- 8. F. NEWS CALL BULIfrIN AUGUST 19,1%3 AN ATOM PLANT COULDN'T HURT THE VIEW Bodega Closeup: A Doran Sp t at B ega Ba, h ch conserva-tionists have claimed will be ruined by the have been taken out of the hill, most of it U0"N transmission lines leading from the PG&E's p43 BEYOND ktom power plant on Bodega Head, has already used to construct a road on the tidelands on T HIS been spoiled by uncontrolled human use.
the west shore of Bodega Bay, Cost: about LINE The tip of the spit'is a kind of seaside slum.
St.5 millions.
an ugly hodge-podge of trailers, tents, and The bottom of the cut is now about fia
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chemical toilets, complete with a makeshiftcott,acet above sea level.
hot dog and soft drink stand.
An ther 40.000 cubic yards of carth will The spit itself is split by a road running he taken out of a hole 108 feet square, down l
its length, the rock and gravel subsurface of
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which has obliterated the natural ecology of to about 73 feet below sea level. In this hole J
will rest the nuclear reactors and the refueling l
the dunes.
buildmg.
ACRES OF grass, windflowers, and santi.
l EVENTU ALLY, PG&E says, the entire ex-are buried under trucked in fill to provide access and parking for autos and semiperma-cavation will be landscaped. At present the ncnt house trailers.
henched cut slope is being stabilized with l
wet-down straw.
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At least they look semipermanent, sur, l
rounded by packing crates, cases of food, cheap If one ignores some highly pertinent issues
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beach furniture, and clotheslines fil'cd with
-the earthquake hazard half a mile from the r
garments flapping in the sea wind.
San Andreas Fault; the highest userr-research l
I On two visits there recently, this observer T o'and recreation-to which Bodega Head might found hardly a trace of the natural beauty have been put-it is possible to conclude that PG&E opponents claim the transmission lines the PG&E atom plant will not make an in.
will spoil, presumably the way a transmission appropriate background for the so called Doran line would spoil Coney Island.
County Pat k.
j DOIIAN SPIT is a county " park." At least.
Doran it.
It is called a park in signs directing autoists there from Highway 1 just south of the fishing village of Bodega Bay.
Sonoma County was once offered a m:4 ster plan for a real park and marina locused on Doran Spit.
It was rejected by the Planning Commiwion, the supervisors, and, finally, by the voters at a referendum election.
Apparently a majority of Sonomans like it the way it is; a barren, red rock trailer i
jungle, inhabited by part time fishermen and their wives.
DODEGA IIEAD lies half a mile across the fmouth of the hav.There the PG&E Fite preparation contractor has carved a huge.
benched cirque in the hill back of Campheil i
l Cove. an excavatioin not dirsimilar to the hul-wrecking cuts of the state highway doisinn in building freeways.
So far about 600.000 cubic yards of calk l
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