Californians concerned about the safety of nuclear reactors after a 9.0 magnitude earthquake did critical damage to six reactors in Japan, are asking for a review of safety standards. The California power plants are only designed to withstand a 7.0 quake. In a statement today, a spokesperson for Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) assured residents “the plants are safer than ever, as long as we don’t have a serious earthquake.” On a tour of the facilities, Senators Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein discovered what looks like a seismic fault line nearby, along the California coast, and questioned the wisdom of building a nuclear facility almost on top of it. PG&E representative Peter Darbee responded to those concerns in the same statement by saying, “Ah, that’s nothing. Besides, have you seen the price of property in California?” When phoned for comment, California Republican leader Dan Lungren expressed the Republican consensus when he asked “What’s a fault line?” – going on to compare such talk to the “mythology of global warming and belief in the rain forest.”