A new batch of emails released by the City of San Bruno last week show Gov. Jerry Brown supervising his appointees on the California Public Utilities Commission closely.
That interaction could be seen as routine and necessary political oversight, especially now, or it could have deeper implications for Brown given that the agency has been tainted by scandal and is under criminal investigation.
San Bruno officials are arguing for sanctions against Pacific Gas & Electric for improper contact with PUC officials after a pipeline blast killed eight people in that Bay Area city in 2010.
Similar penalties were levied on Thursday against Southern California Edison for its behind-the-scenes discussions with regulators about the failed San Onofre nuclear plant, which closed amid a radiation leak in January 2012.
The proceedings of the utilities commission are supposed to take place in public, although private meetings are allowed if they are disclosed within three days out of fairness to other interested parties.
In addition to regulatory sanctions for failure to report private meetings, state and federal investigators have been probing whether pervasive backchannel communications between regulators and executives crossed the line into criminal conduct.
In one 2013 exchange, a PG&E executive refers to the governor by his first name and notes how Brown pressured a commissioner to change his vote.
On Jan. 1, 2013, former PG&E lobbyist Brian Cherry briefed his boss about a New Year’s Eve dinner he attended in the Sea Ranch neighborhood of Sonoma County, where they discussed numerous projects and shared “a dram or two of Johnnie Walker Blue Label.”
In the note, Cherry said Peevey planned to pressure PG&E to support Hydrogen Energy California, a clean-energy project in Kern County, by signing contracts to purchase all 270 megawatts.
“After the HECA asks, he reminded me how he and Governor Brown used every ounce of persuasion to get (then-Commissioner Mark) Ferron to change his mind and vote for Oakley,” Cherry wrote, referring to a different proceeding. “He said he told Ferron this was not the decision to fall on his sword over and defy the Governor.”
Cherry added: “Jerry’s direct plea to Ferron was decisive. Mike (Peevey) suggested that Tony (Earley) call the Governor personally and thank him.”
The documents came to light after San Bruno sued for PG&E emails regarding the pipeline blast. A similar case is coming up for a hearing Dec. 22 in San Francisco Superior Court, where San Diego consumer attorney Mike Aguirre is seeking PUC emails about the San Onofre failure.
The extent of Brown’s involvement in that case is not known, in part because the emails are being withheld. Officials have tallied 65 on the subject between the Governor’s Office and the CPUC that officials decline to release.
The question of whether a Superior Court judge can order the utilities commission to release public records would have been resolved under a bill passed by the legislature this summer, in the affirmative. That and five other bills aimed at reforming the commission were vetoed in October, as Brown said the overhaul provisions were contradictory and unworkable.
In addition to the 65 emails to or from the Governor’s Office, the commission is withholding 63 San Onofre-related emails received or sent by former Brown aide Michael Picker, who now chairs the panel.
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2015/dec/07/brown-cpuc-san-bruno-emails/