dChan
Anonymous ID: 6bacfd Dec. 15, 2018, 8:04 p.m. No.4329888   🗄️.is đź”—kun   >>9913 >>9926 >>9944

>>4329580

Fuckery afoot between Public Utility Commission and PG&E x years.

Suspect another pay to play situation.

Check it out:

 

PG&E fined $97.5 million for improper back-channel PUC talks

 

The fine was imposed by the Public Utilities Commission — the same state agency with which PG&E conducted the improper communications.

The PUC has been harshly criticized for nurturing a cozy relationship with PG&E. Some critics believe those close ties created an atmosphere in which improper communications could occur between PG&E lobbyists and PUC staffers and policy makers, including some of the PUC commissioners.

San Francisco-based PG&E has been fined numerous times for an array of misdeeds connected with the aftermath of the San Bruno explosion, which occurred in 2010.

 

In 2015, the PUC imposed a $1.6 billion penalty on PG&E for causing the San Bruno explosion, the largest such financial punishment ever levied on an American utility.

A federal jury in 2016 convicted PG&E of six felonies for crimes the utility committed before and after the San Bruno catastrophe. PG&E was branded as a felon after a judge sentenced PG&E in 2017, following the convictions.

 

The disclosure of 65,000 emails among PG&E executives and key PUC officials revealed the cozy nature of the relationship.

In one email, former PUC President Michael Peevey offered advice to a former PG&E executive about how the utility should handle its public relations regarding a federal criminal indictment of the utility.

“PG&E’s decision to issue a press release last week anticipating all this only meant that the public got to read two big stories rather than one. I think this was inept,” Peevey wrote.

In another email, Carol Brown, formerly chief of staff for Commissioner Peevey, wrote to Laura Doll, a former PG&E executive, with some advice about how to handle one of the proceedings related to the San Bruno explosion. In the email, Brown said she had talked to one of the PUC administrative law judges about the matter.

 

“Send back a sweet note” to the PUC about the matter “and then wait for them to throw a fit” was part of Brown’s advice. Brown also said she was “happy to chat” about the matter with PG&E to help guide company officials through the PUC process.

 

Doll replied to Brown, “Love you. Thanks.”

 

https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/04/26/pge-fined-97-5-million-for-improper-back-channel-puc-talks/