San Bruno Alleges Misconduct, Seeks Removal Of CPUC President

http://www.pleasanton.com/story/San-Bruno-Alleges-Misconduct/1999217

San Bruno officials called on Gov. Jerry Brown today to remove California Public Utilities Commission President Michael Peevey from office, alleging that recently disclosed emails show "illegal and illicit" private communications with PG&E.

The commission is conducting three proceedings investigating PG&E's role in a 2010 natural-gas pipeline explosion that killed eight people and injured 66 others in San Francisco.

San Bruno officials say that emails released by the CPUC last week show at least 41 private emails between PG&E officials and Peevey related to regulatory matters, including a proposed fine for PG&E that could amount to more than $2 billion.

The emails "revealed the extent of a relationship much deeper and more shocking than even we originally feared," Mayor Jim Ruane said at a news conference this morning outside the CPUC's headquarters in San Francisco.

The confidential emails "demonstrate that the CPUC process is corrupted and that the agency has lost its ability to carry out its mandated regulatory functions as a watchdog for the public," Ruane alleged.

Ruane's letter to the governor asks Brown to remove Peevey from the CPUC presidency immediately and also to appoint an independent monitor to oversee relations between the agency and the utility.

San Bruno also filed two motions with the CPUC itself today. One asks to have Peevey removed from proceedings related to the San Bruno explosion. The other asks for sanctions against PG&E for violating a commission rule against private communications in regulatory proceedings.