Local News in Brief : San Onofre : Edison Will Finance Campground Project
The owners of the San Onofre nuclear generating plant have agreed to pay $4.7 million to expand the campground at San Onofre State Park.
Officials of Southern California Edison Co. announced Thursday that the company has agreed to pay that amount to the state Department of Parks and Recreation under an agreement with the California Coastal Commission.
In order to get commission approval to build the second and third units at the plant, the utility company was required to “mitigate” the reactor’s impact on coastal access.
The $4.7 million will pay for construction of 160 campsites, a campfire center, roads and a nature center in the San Mateo area of the state park, which is east of Interstate 5. A mile-long trail and road, which will go underneath the freeway, will connect the campground and the beach.
The state already has 220 campsites east of the freeway.
The initial $3-million agreement between the Coastal Commission and the utility was reached in 1982, but a third-party legal challenge, since resolved, put that plan on hold. In the interim, $1.7 million accrued in interest.
The nuclear plant and state campgrounds are on land leased from the Marine Corps.
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