City Officials Appealing PG&E Penalty, Call For Independent Monitor

By Bay City News Service:

The city of San Bruno filed an appeal Thursday of the California Public Utilities Commission’s $1.4 billion in fines and penalties against Pacific Gas & Electric Co., saying the penalty must also include an independent monitor and establish a California trust to ensure pipeline safety.

The CPUC levied the penalties against PG&E in September for the 2010 gas line explosion in San Bruno that killed eight people. But San Bruno city officials say the penalties are not enough to ensure public safety.

“While we concur with the CPUC Administrative Law Judges’ $1.4 billion penalty for PG&E’s reckless violation of over 3,900 pipeline safety laws, we believe that the establishment of an Independent Monitor to audit PG&E’s legal compliance and the creation of a Pipeline Safety Trust to act as public watchdog and advocate for safety are absolutely vital to protect the public in the face of lax enforcement by politically-appointed CPUC commissioners,” San Bruno Mayor Jim Ruane said in a statement.

The CPUC has been under fire due to recently released emails with PG&E employees that show commission officials discussing assigning sympathetic administrative law judges to PG&E rate-setting cases.

“If this isn’t collusion, I don’t know what is,” said Assemblyman Kevin Mullin, who represents San Bruno.

PG&E discovered the emails and fired three employees who participated in them. CPUC President Michael Peevey’s chief of staff also resigned over the incident, but elected officials representing San Bruno say they have lost confidence in Peevey and say Gov. Jerry Brown should not extend his term when it expires at the end of this year.

San Bruno is also demanding the release of 65,000 emails between CPUC and PG&E in order to screen them for additional improper communications. Emails released in July showed CPUC officials advising PG&E on how to handle fines and legal issues related to the pipeline explosion.

“CPUC regulators are guilty in this tragedy through their cozy relationship with PG&E,” Ruane said in a statement. “Instead of regulating the state’s largest utility, they let PG&E off the hook, and we believe an Independent Monitor and a California Pipeline Safety Trust are critical to preventing that from happening again.”

City officials say the independent monitor would ensure public safety and restore public confidence by auditing, evaluating, investigating and reporting publicly on PG&E’s performance.

The California-based Pipeline Safety Trust would be an extension of the National Pipeline Safety Trust and would build an extra level of oversight into pipeline safety issues.

The CPUC and PG&E did not immediately respond to calls for comment.

(PHOTO: Patch archive)