ML20234B718

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Informs of Problems at Bodega Bay Where Util Expects to Install First Major Nuclear Reactor.Such Installation Will Irreparably Damage Headland & Disastrous to Lives of People in Area
ML20234B718
Person / Time
Site: 05000000, Bodega Bay
Issue date: 04/16/1962
From: Hedgpeth J
AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED
To: Seaborg G, Udall S
INTERIOR, DEPT. OF, US ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION (AEC)
Shared Package
ML20234A767 List: ... further results
References
FOIA-85-665 NUDOCS 8709210053
Download: ML20234B718 (5)
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1 UNIVERSITY OF THE PACIFIC.

PACIFIC MARINE STATION DILLON BEACH ALI O A 8

Dr. 01enn T. Seabra g U. S. Atomic En'rgy Commission Washington 25, D. C.

1 Mr. Stewart Udall '

Secretary of the Interior washington 25, D. C.

i Gentlemen:

The problem at Bodega Bay, where the Pacific Gas and Electric Company expects to install the first major nuclear reactor on the seacoast ~of western North America, has many ramifications. _ To begin with, we might point out that such an installation would be impossible in ' Oregon, at least as I under ; {

stand it, as all the shore is reserved, and obviously unnecessary in Washing- (

ten.or Alaska. Many of us wonder whether it is necessary or even the best -

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possible use 'of this site at Bodega Head. -Not only will'the headland be ir-4"*' reparably damaged, but an entire community, rich in individual human values, is boing sacrificed'as a byproduct of this project. This is coming about i because the County of Sonoma is using the powers of"the Pacific' Gas and" Electric Cocpany to violate human and property rights in' this community. 'It )

is the avoued hope of the Supervisor from that district' to "put~ these people on the skids and get them out of there".' At this' time, recall petitions against this person are being circulated.

~ As a marine biologist, concerned for preservation of the environment and for laboratories to study the life of the sea, I have becdhe dismayed by the developments. As Dr. Seaborg may recall, since it'was during his tenure 'i as Chancellor of the University, the University of California originally hoped to share Bodega Head with the State Beaches and Parks as a reserve for study. About the time they were ready to come to agreement on this, the -j Pacific Gas and Electric Company stepped in, at the level of the President 8s )

Office, apparently, and the ward was passed down that Bodega Head was to be-forgotten as a laboratory site, as Pacific Gas and Electric Company planned to take all of it.' lat,er they moved their' site to the southern end of the headland. Then the people most concerned with establishing a marine labora.

I tary came to the reluctant conclusion that there 'was ~ simply no other possible i place than Bodegs Head,- PG/2 or no, and urged acquisition of land for what might at worst be simply a' field base. Since.then, almost'the worst has ^

happened, in the shape of a ioad proposed by'the County, to be built by this (.-

- PGE along the bay shoreline. This will leave only a few bits'of open sea-a coast on the outer shore available. Furthermore, a condemnation jury has i

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Page Two - Glenn T. Seborg; Stewart Udall April 16, 1962 set the value of this land at $1,000 per acre as a result of the suit by the PGE for 67 acres to establish the required AEC exclusion zone around the reacter. This is a high prico to pay for exclusion. It may be an even higher prieo to pay for land for study purposes. I deeply cympathise with the members of the University faculty who hope to establish this laboratory, but I find tsrself confronted with questions from bystanders (such as members of faculties of other colleges and universities) about the value of this area as a study site with this reactor and tidolands road encroachin6 upon it. Ainittedly, Bodega Head has been reduced from a first class to a second class--orlower--

laboratory site, by this impending development. Those who serve on panels to considor granting federal monoy may find ,it a hard but necessary choice to

- mke between requests from institutions that can Euarantee a protected environ-ment and that from the University of California for a 3atoratory located in the very middle of active exploitation of the environment. If this laboratory is critically needed, and 1 certainly believe it to be needed, the Federal Govern-ment should take steps to save it from this impending disaster.

I am aware that Athelstan Spilhaus has written to Secretary Udall, recon-nending offshoro scientific preserves. This area is a prime choice for such.

It is of course said that,in opposing the' plans for a nuclear reactor on Bodega Head, we can commit the greatest crime capable of civilised man, namely of opposing progress. As a result, few people are wilmg to say they are against the reactor. But it is obvious that placing this reactor means more '

than a great box of a bn4WT on the headland and wires in front of everything; )

it means the destruction of'a quaint community, the corruption of school boards whose lust for taxus would commit them to impossible districtinE and the loss of a unique area for research. The advantages of the Bodega area as a site for a marine laboratory cannot be duplicated within several hundred miles, bat cortainly there are many places along our shores that can be' utilized for power l plant sites. The POE has hired consultants who have proved, to the satisfac-l tion of the company engineers, that we can expect no noticeable effects from l

the warm water from this plant within a few hundred feet. These conclusions are l partly based on studies at Morro Bay, several hundred miles south of Bodega.

l Obviously, if mi:xing is so thorough along this coast, the prime excuse for using i a place like Bodega is lost, since it will not be necessary to separate intake I

and outfall by more than a few hundmd feet of open shore.

l At the present tine, we have power plants on every bay in northern Califor-

. nia, but one, Bodega. Fatst this also be sacrificed to complete the company's "Camino de los Kilowatts *? I understand that Pacific Gas and Electric Company

, has had its eyes on Bodega Head'since about O. Biologists have had their l eyes on Bodega Head since the 19308s and the versity has been interested in l the site since at least 19hl.

Very truly yours, ej l' .

Nk /

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Joel W. Hedgpet Di(ector ,

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, ;I Opposition to the PG &E l plan, which is to be consid.

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ered at a State Public Utili-Q W 'T"f l y f Q B i Q (i(

ties Commission h e a ri n g here May 21, has grown re-

. cently because of the pro-Bodega 'A. Plant

& A.A Md4 'g ff /fida , .

>=~ w = t built with fill excavated from Another attempt to preserve, Bodega Head for recreational, scenic and scientific use will be made by [

  • gve o the coun , indicat a newly organized citizen group, it was lehrned it will occupy 25 acres of about 700 in the present har.

- he gro'up dents of the to, wnincludes of Bodega resi- bo{,1} fa so occupy nearly who are circulating petitions s all the tidelands that were for the recall of Sonoma -

to be used by a proposed county Supervisor E. J. (Nin)' University of Calif ornia Guidotti on the issue. As of

'- 2narine laboratory on the last night, a spokesman said, shore of Bodega Bay. The they had collected about half university has previously ex.

the signatures necessary to pressed oHicial opposition to force a recall election. 4 the road plans on that Guidotti has consistently (

  • vMed for the Pacific Gas &g' N * ' basis'e Th opponents also ex.

Electnc Co. in its plans to pressed anixety ,about the '

effect of the warm discharge bulid a nuclear power plant ..

  • en the peninsula 50 miles waters of the plant on the of the city, said Ray Ruebel, local crab fishery, about the chairman of the Sonoma
  • risks of placing a nuc1 car.

chapter of the Northern Cal- . reactor so close to the San ifornia Asociation to Preserve ' '" Ardreas .' earthquake fault, Bodega Head.

,,, ' and about the possibility of Ruebel said about 80 per. .

accidents in the nuclear plant.

cent of the townspeople have indiated opposition to plans

~ e A Bay Area chapter has of PG&E to build the plant.

. been established to seek

' support from people outside -

and especially to a proposed -

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the i m m e dI a t e area, the road along the harborside., '

' spokesman said. Its steering Ai1 hough Ruebe! is a ** ,.

committee is composed of Rodega real estate man, the Joel Hedgpeth, University association opposes real es. of Pacific marine biologist; tate development for the , writer Harold Gilliam; San Head as well as commercial . Francisco Maritime Museum or industrial use.

" Curator Karl Kortum, and J

  • The aim si' "to save'it for UC scientist J. B. Ne11 ands.

future generations as a na. The chapter's address is in tural preserve," the associa. -

care of Neilands,185 Hill tion declared in t statement .

t , road, Berkeley.

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