Keep California’s Last Nuclear Plant Running

A Proposal to Retrofit San Luis Obispo’s Diablo Canyon Carries Big Risks—and Big Opportunities

California can claim to be an international leader in energy.

Or California can close its last operating nuclear power plant.

But it can’t do both.

Under a 2018 agreement, Diablo Canyon Power Plant, on the San Luis Obispo County coast, is scheduled to close when its operating licenses expire in 2025. Whether it actually shuts down—a loose coalition of plant employees, heterodox environmentalists, and federal officials seeks to save it—is emerging as a major test for Californians and our stated commitments to transform ourselves in the face of a scary future.

Do we have …

by Joe Mathews | December 21, 2021

California’s Recall Was Worth Every Penny

When It Comes to Supporting Democratic Infrastructure, $276 Million Is a Bargain

by Joe Mathews | September 28, 2021

It’s hard to think of a better bargain in our high-cost state than the failed recall election against Gov. Gavin Newsom. At an estimated cost of $276 million—less than $7 …

Where I Go: The Geology of Memory | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

I Should Have Recalled Myself!

The Speech and Strategy That Gov. Gavin Newsom Didn’t Know He Needed

by Joe Mathews | September 14, 2021

This is the speech Gov. Gavin Newsom should have given during the recall campaign, but didn’t.

I know a lot of you think this recall is pretty strange. But you don’t …

Your Recall Confusion Is Part of a Much Bigger Problem

California’s Elections ‘Don’t Match How Human Beings Think, Choose, and Vote’

by Joe Mathews | August 31, 2021

It’s not just our recall elections that are broken in California. It’s all our elections that are broken.

Even before the voting started, Democrats and California elites were crying foul. And …

Sack Octavius and Newsom! The Recall Is as Old as the Roman Republic

The Tool for Removing Elected Officials Has Had Centuries of Champions—from the Levellers to Lenin

by Matt Qvortrup | August 30, 2021

The recall—the tool being used in an attempt to remove Gavin Newsom as California’s governor before his term is over—might seem strange or novel. It’s neither. The recall is nearly …

Does the Recall Matter if Republicans Already Run California?

Whatever Happens in September Won’t Change the Fact That the State Is Ruled by GOP Members From Beyond the Grave

By Joe Mathews | August 24, 2021

The big narratives around the recall campaign are wrong—because the things we, Californians, think we know about California governance are wrong.

The Republicans who want to remove Gavin Newsom from office …

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