Will California’s Quest for Clean Energy Get in the Way of Land Back?
PG&E and a Chumash Tribe Had a Deal for Diablo Canyon. Until the State Stepped In
In 2019, the California public utility Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) announced that once its Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant closed, they would sell the land it sits on—12,000 acres of Central Coast hills rolling with chaparral and oak called the Pecho Coast. That same year, the California Public Utilities Commission adopted a Tribal Lands Transfer Policy mandating that public utilities disposing of lands give tribes the first right of offer to negotiate a land agreement prior to a public sale. When PG&E offered the lands (at market value) to …
