UPDATE:  San Bruno sued the CPUC under the California Public Records Act in February 2014 to produce email correspondence between PG&E and the CPUC demonstrating a cozy and illegal relationship between the utility and the CPUC.

San Bruno succeeded in its lawsuit and recently obtained thousands of pages of emails between CPUC President Michael Peevey, top CPUC staff and PG&E executives. These emails demonstrate more than 40 egregious violations of the law against private (ex parte) contact between PG&E and CPUC decision makers in the ongoing proceeding to determine PG&E’s penalty and fines for the 2010 explosion and fire.

The City of San Bruno, Calif. has filed a series of legal and regulatory motions to demand the immediate removal of CPUC President Michael Peevey and substantial penalties against PG&E for engaging in illegal conversations that have irreversibly jeopardized the process to ensure that PG&E shareholders are held accountable so that what happened in our city does not happen again, anywhere.

Join San Bruno in demanding Peevey’s immediate recusal and a full investigation by the United States Department of Justice, the Office of Governor Jerry Brown, Attorney General Kamala Harris, the Inspector General of the Department of Transportation, San Mateo District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe, San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón and the California State Legislature.

The safety of our public utilities depends on it.

 

--------------- Background ---------------------

On Sept. 9, 2010, a PG&E gas pipeline exploded in the City of San Bruno, killing eight residents, injuring 66, destroying scores of homes and ripping a hole in the heart of San Bruno.

State and federal investigations found that this deadly tragedy was entirely preventable and did not have to happen.

Faulty pipeline construction, bad record-keeping and decades of neglected pipeline safety improvements are to blame for eight people losing their lives. Ratepayer dollars that PG&E should have spent on pipeline safety enhancements instead went to executive pay and shareholder dividends.  For decades, PG&E’s leadership put their bottom line ahead of public safety.

Today, PG&E says they’ve invested millions in safety upgrades to its gas pipeline system. Yet troubling discoveries demonstrate that PG&E still does not know what pipes are in the ground, and company executives recently admitted to serious errors in record-keeping and were sanctioned by the CPUC for failing to inform regulators of these problems on a pipeline in San Carlos, Calif.

This is unacceptable.

Now is the moment to make our cities safe. Join us in signing the San Bruno Gas Pipeline Safety petition and demand that the California Public Utilities Commission and the State of California hold PG&E shareholders accountable by:

1.Levying the recommended $2.45 Billion penalty and fine against PG&E SHAREHOLDERS for the devastating and deadly explosion in San Bruno. This penalty would require that shareholders – not ratepayers – invest in needed repairs to guarantee the safety of PG&E’s aging pipeline infrastructure. San Bruno would not earn a penny of this penalty and fine, which would instead ensure that money allocated for safety is used only for that purpose.

2. Assigning an Independent Monitor to serve as a statewide safety watchdog. The Independent Monitor would protect public safety at the risk of future negligence by PG&E and weak oversight by the politically appointed CPUC commissioners with close ties to utilities.

 3. Changing the way regulators do business and ending regulators’ cozy relationships and the conflicts of interest with utility companies. Federal investigators identified these troubling relationships as contributing factors to the disaster in San Bruno. 

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 New public records expose an ongoing and illegal relationship between the CPUC and PG&E.  Join us in demanding immediate action.  Our safety depends on it.

Every signature makes a difference.