Negative coverage of San Onofre

A North County newspaper recently gave leading coverage regarding incidents at the San Onofre generating plant. I’m not sure of the newspaper’s editorial view regarding nuclear power, but they gave an awful lot of space to two staff writers with an obvious negative view.

Cases in point: a reporter got three columns to report that a minor electrical fault caused the shutdown of a small piece of electrical equipment. No indication that this “glitch” put the safety of the community in jeopardy – yet three alarmist columns to report an insignificant event! Would there have been even a mention in the newspaper if this event had occurred elsewhere? I think not.

More recently, a front page ‘splash’ by another staff writer reporting an employee at the San Onofre plant who “fudged the books” for several years by reporting completion of safety walk-arounds when he didn’t actually perform them. Big deal! It’s not unusual for watchmen, janitors, and others to “goof-off” – especially during nighttime hours. Dishonest? Yes – but the world doesn’t come to an end at other large industrial plants, such as refineries – and it doesn’t at San Onofre either!

Robert F. Green