Watchdog Group Says Californians Suffer as Lawmakers Punish California Public Utilities Commission
By Mark Matthews ••
State lawmakers’ attempts to reign in the California Public Utilities Commission are not working as they had hoped. It appears that rate payers and California residents are going to bear the brunt of the legislators’ punishment. Mark Matthews reports.
State lawmakers' attempts to reign in the California Public Utilities Commission are not working as they had hoped. It appears that rate payers and California residents are going to bear the brunt of the legislators' punishment.
The CPUC has been in hot water over its cozy relationship with the utility companies it is supposed to regulate -- so much hot water the PUC hired outside lawyers to defend them. As it turns out, very expensive lawyers.
The investigation into the San Bruno pipeline explosion ultimately led to accusations of influence peddling and judge shopping by both PG&E and CPUC, who was supposed to regulate the utility. CPUC spent $5 million on outside attorneys to defend itself.
NBC Bay Area
The gas line explosion in San Bruno one year ago left a neighborhood looking like a war zone.
Jodi Hernandez
This is the pipe that burst.
Jacqueline Greig, 44, worked for the California Public Utilities Commission. Her daughter Janessa Greig, 13, went to St. Cecelia Catholic school in San Francisco, where she was student body president. They were both killed in the explosion.
NBC 5 News
Jessica Morales, 20, was watching football at her boyfriend's house when she died in the blast. Her 19-year-old boyfriend, Joe Ruigomez, was seriously injured
Greg Bullis, 50, his son William Bullis, 16, and his mother Lavonne Bullis, 80 (not pictured) were all killed.
NBC 5 News
Elizabeth Torres was also killed in the explosion. She was not officially identified until five days after the blast.
Jodi Hernandez
These were some of the first photos from behind the fire lines once the fire was out. Reporter Jodi Hernandez was among the first reporters to tour the scene.
Jodi Hernandez
It looked like a war zone according to Hernandez.
necn
Every car on the street was destroyed.
Jodi Hernandez
This is a charred newspaper found on the ground that included a headline that reads "Preparing for the worst scenarios."
9NEWS
It was an eerie find to say the least the day after the explosion.
Javier Castro
The damage and destroyed cars were each given a number for both investigative and insurance purposes.
Jodi Hernandez
Homes were marked with spray paint as well. The color determines whether it is inhabitable.
Jodi Hernandez
As you walked closer to the crater where the explosion happened, the cars were more and more damaged
Jodi Hernandez
Work crews began the heavy lifting the day after the blast, but clean up continued for weeks.
Jodi Hernandez
Home windows were shattered by the heat.
NBC Bay Area
First responders gathered among the ruins to discuss their plan of action.
NBC Bay Area
The explosion happened without warning, at a time when many people were just sitting down to have dinner.
NBC Bay Area
Many people said they had minutes -- if not seconds -- to get themselves, their loved ones and pets out before a wall of fire and a hail of asphalt rained down on the neighborhood.
KNBC-TV
Emergency officials declared 38 home destroyed. They said seven more homes were significantly damaged and dozens more were damaged in one way or another, but still standing.
NBC Bay Area
A crater is left behind where the pipe exploded.
NBC Bay Area
Engineers get a better look at the source of the inferno -- a broken pipe that left a gaping hole in the ground when it exploded.
NBC Bay Area
Investigators check out a segment of pipe that was found on the street just a few feet from the blast crater.
NBC Bay Area
Emergency vehicles lined up in the "ground zero" spot of the blast.
NBC Bay Area
Some homes in the vicinity escaped fire but were still at risk of catching on fire.
NBC Bay Area
Yellow fire truck hoses were a common sight in the San Francisco suburb.
AP
An injured evacuee who wished not to be identified, touches her head as she walks around a Red Cross shelter the night of the blast.
Jodi Hernandez
Orange tags means the home is unsafe.
"If the commissioners are doing something wrong, they should pony up and say this is what we're doing wrong and take the brunt of it," said State Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo.
Hill, who represents San Bruno, helped pass $5 million in cuts to CPUC's budget to send a message that hiring the lawyers was wrong.
CPUC Executive Director Timothy Sullivan then decided to make up for the missing $5 million by cutting funds and delaying implementation of programs, including Hill's efforts to update security measures for the state's electrical infrastructure.
Those measures were approved after gunmen sprayed more than 1,000 bullets into the Metcalf power station in April 2013.
"What it tells us and what I think it tells the public is they are prioritizing criminal defense attorneys over electrical grid infrastructure safety," Hill said. "That's what it tells me."
Sullivan and all CPUC commissioners were unavailable for comment on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the head of the utility watchdog group TURN said delaying safety programs, computer upgrades and inspection of electrical plants is not punishing the CPUC, it is punishing Californians.
"It's simply not fair for ratepayers to be caught in a pissing match between the legislature and the CPUC," said Mark Toney with TURN.
