Rep. Levin named next guest for Coffee Chat

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By Lillian Boyd

US MP Mike Levin will be the next guest speaker for the Dana Point Civic Association coffee chat event on Friday, August 27th at 8:30 a.m. via Zoom.

Levin’s law update addresses the current status of a proposed infrastructure bill and its impact on the district, funding community projects for Doheny Village, the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS), and the newly formed bipartisan committee on Spent Nuclear Fuel Solutions, Veterans Affairs Updates and environment news.

The budget allocation legislation going through Congress currently includes more than $ 22 million in funding to largely support infrastructure projects in North San Diego Counties, along with Dana Point and San Clemente, said Rep. Mike Levin’s Office in July with.

Levin, a Democrat whose districts include South Orange Counties and North San Diego Counties, secured funding for several projects in the bill, which was recently approved by a Funds Subcommittee.

If the bill is approved by the General Grants Committee and passed by both the House and Senate Houses, the U.S. Army’s engineering corps would receive more than $ 9.3 million to begin construction on the San Clemente coastal defense project.

An additional $ 1.87 million would also go to the city of Dana Point for their Doheny Village Connectivity Improvement Project, which aims to add bicycle and pedestrian facilities like sidewalks, lighting, bike paths and landscaping to improve road safety, Levin’s office explained.

Funding would also go to other cities, including Oceanside, where police could buy vehicle cameras and the Oceanside Museum of Art could offer literacy programs for underserved children.

Levin’s office noted that including the funds in the bills approved by the Budget Subcommittee is the first step in the funding process, as the bill also needs to be discussed in plenary before it is negotiated with the Senate.

“All of these projects will strengthen the communities in our district, and I will continue to fight for this funding throughout the approval process,” said Levin. “My primary focus is delivering results on our local priorities and I’m proud to secure this much-needed funding that addresses some of the challenges facing North Counties San Diego and South Orange Counties,” Levin said in the Announcement.

The bill also provides funding for vocational training, education and health care benefits for veterans for families in the 49th district. The bill increases the funding for state grants for adults and youth under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), which provide vocational training for 116,000 eligible youth and adults in the district. It also offers a 118 percent increase in Title I education funds, which benefit an estimated 44,000 children in the district.

The bill also funds an 8% increase in funding for the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), which serves 15,000 veterans in the district.

Last month, Levin and MP Rodney Davis (R-IL) announced the creation of their Spent Fuel Caucus, a bipartisan group of members of the House of Representatives, advances in the safe storage, transportation and disposal of spent nuclear fuel across Europe will drive the country forward.

With District 49 including the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS), Levin made nuclear waste storage solutions one of its priorities during his tenure.

Including SONGS, there are approximately 80 locations in 34 states across the country storing spent nuclear fuel after it has been removed from a commercial nuclear reactor. In addition, 25 of these locations are located next to nuclear power plants that are no longer in use, some of which have even been completely dismantled.

“The current system of spent nuclear fuel storage is unsustainable, especially for sites that are no longer operating reactors and that could be rehabilitated for other useful purposes,” Levin said during a media briefing. “It is also a violation of the promise codified decades ago that the federal government will take ownership of the waste in return for payment of the fee payers’ contributions to the nuclear waste fund.”

Levin added that the caucus is trying to address the challenges related to stranded commercial spent fuel across the country.

“It is a forum for members interested in solving any commercial spent fuel problem, where members can come together to move forward, whether or not they have a preferred solution,” Levin said.

In January 2019 Levin put together a task force with the aim of developing solutions for the transport and safe storage of sensitive waste at SONGS. About 17 months later, the Task Force’s report containing the findings and recommendations was published.

The task force – co-chaired by Len Hering, a retired Rear Admiral who served in the US Navy for 30 years, and Gregory Jaczko, former chairman of the Nuclear Oversight Commission – consists of 33 community members, councilors from neighboring cities, activists and academics Experts |

While the report focuses primarily on the safe storage of nuclear waste, it includes a number of federal and state policy recommendations to address many of the problems the Task Force has raised in relation to SONGS and US nuclear power plants in general.

One of the recommendations in the report was that Levin’s office should work to create a congressional assembly on spent nuclear fuel to discuss storage, disposal and transportation issues.

“It is my great hope that this spent fuel caucus will serve as the basis and starting point for discussion for other members like myself who care about solving commercial spent fuel problems on behalf of our constituents, the nation and our planet . “, Said Levin. “I am optimistic that with the support of this caucus we can make progress to finally move the garbage in San Onofre, a problem that has plagued my district for years, as quickly and safely as possible off our coast.”

After discussing the planned topics, Levin will answer questions from the audience at the end of the coffee chat. Audience members are encouraged to send questions to [email protected] for possible inclusion in the Q&A area.

While the civic association was hoping to return to face-to-face coffee chat events in September, it is unclear when they will skip out of the virtual discussions at this point.

There is an update on surfing the Olympics and updates on the Town Center project in Dana Point on the civic association’s calendar for future coffee chats. On Friday, September 17th, Andrea Swayne, USA Surfing’s Chief Operating Officer, will speak about the results of the surfing events at the Tokyo Olympics. On Friday, October 15th, Jason Check, Managing Director of Raintree Partners, will provide an update on the Town Center project, including retail tenants for the first floor space.

The zoom link can be sent to interested readers by email to [email protected].

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