Friends of the Earth on Tuesday requested that the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) enforce an emergency hold on an agenda item to further consider the environmental group’s compensation for intervening in CPUC’s investigation of the settlement for the 2013 closure of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.
CPUC announced in April it was reopening the SONGS settlement, which dictated that state ratepayers pay $3.3 billion of the $4.7 billion cost to close the plant. The settlement was reached two years after closed-door conversations between then-CPUC President Michael Peevey and Stephen Pickett, at the time an executive for plant owner Southern California Edison, at a meeting in Warsaw, Poland. CPUC subsequently fined SCE $17 million for the company’s failure to report the ex-parte communications, and state Attorney General Kamala Harris has opened a criminal investigation against Peevey. The CPUC investigation will determine whether the settlement is fair, in light of the ex-parte communications.
Friends of the Earth has requested $483,144 for contributions to the commission’s case through expert testimony. The commission in October proposed offering $72,289 to the group, an 85 percent departure from the request. Friends of the Earth in its Tuesday filing suggested CPUC place a one-meeting hold for an agenda item at its Dec. 1 meeting, allowing it to consider Friends of the Earth’s comments on the matter at the next meeting on Dec. 15.
According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, the CPUC has granted more than $600,000 to other intervenors in the case. California’s intervenor compensation program awards money to entities that provide meaningful input on commission decisions.
