LA Times flamed for advocating closure of California nuclear power plant, citing climate change fight

Critics flamed the Los Angeles Times editorial board for arguing that California's last remaining nuclear power plant needed to be closed in the name of doing even more to fight climate change.

"California is approaching an energy crossroads. In three years, its last nuclear plant will begin to power down and the state will lose its largest single source of emissions-free electricity," the board wrote. "If [regulators] don’t move more quickly to replace its electricity with renewable energy from wind, solar and geothermal, the void will almost certainly be filled by burning more natural gas."

The board argued the state couldn't allow the plant's retirement to prolong reliance on natural gas or increase emissions, and it claimed that no assurances had yet been made that an uptick in the latter would be avoided.