Things are about to get a little too close to Homer Simpson territory.
According to an op-ed published in the Los Angeles Times, "Southern California Edison is keeping 3.6 million pounds of lethal radioactive waste at the shuttered San Onofre nuclear plant in San Clemente," and that has made San Onofre, in the words of San Juan Capistrano Councilwoman Pam Patterson, a "Fukushima waiting to happen."
Enter Songs for SONGS.
At 7 p.m. on Oct. 8, Belly Up is set to transform into a '60s style activist rally featuring musicians and speakers protesting nuclear waste storage at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS).
It's a free affair that aims to generate support for those fighting to stop SONGS from storing those 3.6 million pounds of high-level radioactive material and moving that waste ever closer to public beaches -- just over 100 feet from the ocean, to be exact.
"That’s about the distance from the front door to the back door of the Belly Up," Belly Up Entertainment President Chris Goldsmith said in a press release.
“I cannot think of a worse place to store spent nuclear fuel than on the beach,” Samuel Lawrence Foundation Director Bart Ziegler said in the same release. “For decades, the nuclear industry has excluded the public from every meaningful decision. Let’s change that at Songs for SONGS.”
Featured performers include Switchfoot's Jon Foreman; Iron Sage and Wood with special guest Rob Machado; Jupiter & Okwess; Oceanside rockers the Shift, composers of the event’s theme song, “San Onofre Blues"; B Side Players' Karlos Paez; Nena Anderson; Latanya Lockett; members of Trouble in the Wind; and a special solo performance by emcee and surf staple Chris Cote.
U.S. Green Chamber of Commerce Chairman Jim Bunch; ex-pro surfer Ian Cairns; Fukushima evacuee Cathy Iwane; San Juan Capistrano Councilwoman Pam Patterson; and documentary filmmaker Adam Salkin are all set to speak as well.
Rutger Ansley Rosenborg has been an Associate Editor at NBC SoundDiego since 2016. Find out more here, or contact him here.
