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By Miriam Raftery
March 13, 2013 (San Diego)—The law firm of former City Attorney Mike Aguirre has filed a lawsuit on behalf of Masada Disenhouse seeking an injunction to halt the California Public Utilities Commission from holding a closed-door , invitation-only meeting with energy industry stakeholders at the Scripps Seaside Forum in San Diego on March 20. Disenhouse asked to attend, but her name was removed from the list.
“California Government Code section 11123 requires that all meetings of a state body shall be open and public, and all persons shall be permitted to attend any meeting of a state body,” the lawsuit states. The suit further notes that Government Code section 11120 requires that “proceedings of public agencies be conducted openly so that the people may be informed.”
The statute, known as the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act further states, “The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know.”
The California Attorney General identifies the forum to be held at the Scripps Seaside Forum as a meeting that must be open to the public per the Bagley-Keene Open meeting law.
The CPUC has come under increasing fire since Michael Peevey became president in 2002. A recent column in the San Diego Daily Transcript by sundicated columnist Thomas Elias titled “Are utility regulators creating a banana republic?” cites numerous examples where the commission “has taken care of big utilities and power producers at the expense of ordinary citizens, called `ratepayers’ in utility parlance.”
For example, the CPUC forced customers to foot most of the bill to fix pipelines after the 2010 explosion that killed eight people in San Bruno, even though Pacific Gas & Electric Co. took responsibility for the blast.
Now the CPUC is weighing approval of three gas-fired “peaker” power plants in San Diego County. Peevey asked the head of the California Energy Commission to send a letter supporting his claim that one of them, Pio Pico, is needed – even though it’s not. The CPUC’s own administrative law judge found there is no need for this new plant or any other until at least 2018. Moreover, even if San Onofre stays permanently shut down, by late this summer, Southern California will have ecess generating capacity of 30 percent and Northern California nearly 40 percent.
Pio Pico would cost ratepayers $80-$90 million each year, or $1.5 billion over the next 20 years—with profits flowing to SDG&E.
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CALIFORNIA: TAKE ACTION TO REMOVE CPUC PRES. PEEVEY
CALIFORNIA: TAKE ACTION TO REMOVE CPUC PRES. PEEVEY
Posted on March 12, 2013 on www.stopsmartmeters.org
From the grassroots wire:
Enough is enough! We can get nowhere with CPUC's President Michael Peevey in office. More than ten years of his self-serving incompetence is enough! He is destroying our state and our public health, causing people to abandon their homes due to unsafe, torturous conditions - a direct result of his policies.
CA Public Utility Commissioner President Michael Peevey (formerly Southern CA Edison CEO) has shown incompetence, conflicts of interest, and disdain for people he puts in danger, like those blown to bits in San Bruno in the gas explosion, those harmed by smart meters and unnecessary power plants and other projects such as wind and solar farms in occupied areas and sensitive habitats, and the SunRise Powerlink in San Diego County.
Peevey is a menace to the public safety and health in California. Peevey needs to be removed by the Governor, immediately, and be replaced by a non-industry protector and advocate for the public with a strong track record. We need someone who is clearly a champion of the people, such as Ralph Nader or Sandi Maurer of EMF Safety Network. Commissioners from TURN have done nothing but support the status quo, they appear to sell out immediately upon being appointed. Peevey is losing the plot. He yelled “shut up” at the public in a CPUC public meeting who were wanting to speak about smart meter injuries. Also, read about how he secretly asked his rich buddies to support a power plant in Southern CA. Read more about the secret life of Michael Peevey in the San Francisco Bay Guardian’s recent article.
People from all over are coming to the same conclusion- Peevey REALLY MUST GO!
WHAT CAN YOU DO????
1. Sign a petition to have Peevey removed, and share this message widely!
We now have 832 signatures on the petition to Gov. Brown to appoint a new President of the CPUC….Lets get 1000+ signatures! Peevey has got to go!
https://www.change.org/petitions/governor-jerry-brown-appoint-a-new-president-of-cpuc-immediately-2?
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2. You may contact Governor Jerry Brown to request the removal of Michael Peevey as head of the CPUC, and replacement with a true, proven, people’s advocate, such as Ralph Nader, at: http://govnews.ca.gov/gov39mail/mail.php by email or:
Mailing address:
Governor Jerry Brown c/o State Capitol, Suite 1173 Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916) 445-2841 Fax: (916) 558-3160
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3. Attend upcoming CPUC public meetings and tell him to his face- “Peevey you are not serving the public and you need to step down!”
CPUC Upcoming meetings: March 21 9am San Diego, April 4, 18, May 9, 23rd in San Francisco- see CPUC site for full details of Commission times and locations for 2013.
Join Center for Electrosmog Prevention (CEP) and Stop OC Smart Meters at a rare full-Commission CPUC Meeting San Diego March 21, 9AM, for directions and more details click: http://eepurl.com/wNNzz