California’s elected officials are great at setting lofty goals.

Providing the resources and leadership to reach those goals without sticking it to industry? Not so much.

Assembly Bill 65 is one such example. The bill would’ve allowed developers of small modular reactors to apply for the nuclear certification process in California. A far cry from Chernobyl or Fukushima, these advanced nuclear reactors are small enough to replace coal plants. With a power capacity of up to 300 megawatts — equivalent to some of the largest solar farms in the U.S. — they can be pre-manufactured, shipped and installed onsite to keep costs down.

Some designs require less frequent refueling — think 3 to 7 years compared to 1 or 2 years for conventional plants. Some can operate up to 30 years without refueling, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Supporters include Bill Gates, John Kerry and even President Joe Biden. They recognize the technology’s potential to provide much-needed energy without burning fossil fuels.

The California Legislature — specifically the Assembly Natural Resources Committee? Not so much.

A bipartisan bill from a pair of area lawmakers, AB 65 couldn’t make it past committee last month. Introduced by Assemblymember Devon Mathis (R-Visalia) and co-authored by Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula (D-Fresno), AB 65 is pro-climate and pro-energy, Mathis said.

“What the Committee has shown is that they clearly don’t understand the difference between old nuclear plants and advanced nuclear plants,” Mathis said in a statement. “As it stands now, our state will not reach its goal of becoming carbon-neutral by 2045. In fact, according to a report from the Environmental Defense Fund, Stanford & Princeton, even if we could achieve our 2045 carbon-zero goal with only wind & solar, electricity prices would rise by around 65% compared to current rates. Expanding nuclear power is the only way our state can reduce carbon emissions while ensuring that we have enough power to reduce costs for the public & prevent blackouts that are all too common in this state.”

Instead of “trusting the science,” legislators exhibited the same knee-jerk reaction to nuclear energy that doomed the Fresno Nuclear Energy Group’s plan to build a power station in Fresno that started in 2006.

Of course there are very real problems with nuclear energy, safety and waste disposal chief among them. But here in California, the vote on AB 65 shows the conversation is a non-starter. Don’t even try.

It’s a shame. Had that plant been built in Fresno County, who knows what our energy bills would look like today.