"As of August 7, 2015, after multiple requests, and two months after the search warrant was served on CPUC, no records have been produced ... as required by California law," Diaz wrote. Published in The San Diego Union-Tribune on Aug. 25, 2015 (Written with Ricky Young)
A state investigator reviewing back-channel dealings between utility companies and regulators is getting limited cooperation from the California Public Utilities Commission.
Special Agent Reye Diaz of the California Attorney General's Office filed a search warrant on June 5 seeking certain utilities commission documents related to its handling of the premature failure of the San Onofre nuclear plant in San Diego County.
Diaz updated Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor on June 24, saying the agency was citing federal subpoenas and requests under the California Public Records Act for delays in responding to the state investigation.
On August 7, Diaz updated the court again.
"As of August 7, 2015, after multiple requests, and two months after the search warrant was served on CPUC, no records have been produced ... as required by California law," Diaz wrote. "No extension has been requested and no indication has been given as to when the records will be produced."
The San Diego Union-Tribune asked the utilities commission whether any records have been forthcoming since August 7, and received this response from spokeswoman Terrie Prosper:
Overall, the CPUC has received 10 separate and extensive formal demands for documents over the past 8 months. We have identified, collected, and are reviewing more than 6.5 million potentially responsive documents. So far we have produced more than 1.5 million documents, tens of thousands of which contain search terms covered in the San Onofre-related document requests. We continue to review and produce documents in the order in which the formal requests were served. The San Onofre-related document request was the last served to us. The Attorney General's office did not request it to be responded to before any of the other document requests. We will continue to fully comply.
The nuclear plant's majority owner is Southern California Edison, which is apparently producing volumes of documents in response to a May 19 search warrant.
According to Diaz, Edison has produced numerous records and emails involving the San Onofre settlement agreement. The company has also released records related to an undisclosed meeting in Poland between a former Edison executive and former CPUC President Michael Peevey.
At that meeting, a framework was set for the $4.7 billion settlement agreement that assigned 70 percent of the costs of the premature plant closure to utility customers. One component of the plan was research funding for greenhouse gas emissions, which Peevey wanted to go to the University of California. Diaz said Edison has turned over records of that funding matter as well.
The settlement agreement has come under fire since its approval by the commission in November. Two consumer groups that were parties to the deal have said it should be reopened, in light of recent revelations about its clandestine origins.