San Onofre Settlement Federal Case

Direct link to this page: https://copswiki.org/Common/SanOnofreSettlementFederalCase

Background

Our federal complaint was filed even before the settlement was approved and thus long before the Warsaw, Poland RSG Notes were revealed. There were oral arguments heard in San Diego on April 16, 2015 and the utilities used the "Johnson Act" to block any review of the case at the federal level. Further review of the (Hiram) Johnson Act revealed that it was originally passed to block the unscrupulous utilities from using appeals to the federal court to delay after the issue was given a fair hearing within the regulatory agency.

The Johnson Act became law in 1934 or so (the discussion in the May 8 and May 9, 1934 in the Federal Register is informative reading). At that time, the utilities had a habit of not accepting the ruling of the Railroad Commission (the precursor to the CPUC) and then appealing it to the state appeals court, which only reviews the case based on the evidence provided in the case as heard by that commission. Then, the utilities, still not satisfied with that result and having no shortage of ratepayer funds to litigate the case, would then reopen the case in the federal courts, and they would hear it "de novo" i.e. newly, thus rehearing the case completely. By the time that is completed, decades may have passed, and many of the people who should get the rate relief have moved or died, so they just are allowed to keep the money.

So the Johnson Act was an attempt to put a stop to this misuse of the justice system by the utilities. But the federal courts are only excluded if they commission has provided the opportunity for a fair hearing. This brief points out that with the new evidence of the RSG Note from Warsaw Poland, the settlement was predetermined and the hearings became only a sham.

The original complaint included the fact that the evidentiary hearing on the settlement was not fair due to the fact that no evidence was allowed (because Phase III was discontinued) to determine if the claims of the ratepayer -- that the demise of the entire plant was due to the failure to complete the RSG project -- was indeed valid.

The result of the appeals court should be to say that indeed it is the responsibility of the federal courts to at least review whether a fair hearing was conducted and not just duck by saying they have not responsibility in the matter.

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Project Filings

Timeline

• 14 Nov 2014 - Complaint filed
• 16 Apr 2015 - Oral Arguments in San Diego
• 09 Sep 2015 - Appeal to 9th Circuit

Summary of articles submitted (Add | All):

• (CitizensOversightStatusUpdate2019) 2020-04-13 Citizens Oversight Status Update 2019 -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight,
• (CitizensOversightStatusUpdate2018) 2019-02-09 Citizens Oversight Status Update 2018 -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight,
• (M1866) 2018-07-26 CPUC Commission Meeting on 2018 San Onofre Settlement -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight,
• (M1867) 2018-07-26 State regulators approve San Onofre nuclear settlement, trimming $750M from original deal -- Jeff Mc Donald, Rob Nikolewski, San Diego Union Tribune,
• (M1820) 2018-01-30 CITIZENS OVERSIGHT SIGNS $873 MILLION SAN ONOFRE SHUTDOWN SETTLEMENT WITH SCE, SDG&E AND OTHER PARTIES -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight,
• (M1810) 2018-01-10 New San Onofre deal reached between utilities, consumer groups -- Jeff Mc Donald, Union Tribune,
• (CitizensOversightStatusUpdate2017) 2017-12-20 Citizens Oversight Status Update 2017 -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight,
• (M1808) 2017-11-21 CPUC Privilege Log -- , California Public Utilities Commission, Documents withheld from production by CPUC in response to Attorney General's June 5, 2015/ March 9, 2016 document production
• (M1634) 2016-01-27 San Onofre Power Plant closure sparks lawsuit -- Dan Plante, KUSI,
• (M1632) 2016-01-25 Judge calls for review of CPUC emails Ruling -- Utilities commission won't get last word on withholding San Onofre emails -- Jeff Mc Donald, Union Tribune,
• (M1624) 2015-09-25 Citizens group appeals San Onofre ruling -- Jeff Mc Donald, Union Tribune,
• (M1622) 2015-09-23 Appeal Opening Brief -- Citizens Oversight, Inc. vs. CPUC re Settlement -- Aguirre Severson LLP, Citizens Oversight Aguirre Severson LLP, Gist: Fed. Court must decide if fair hearing conducted
• (M1571) 2015-04-14 San Onofre Deal in Federal Court -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight,
• (M1519) 2014-11-14 Lawsuit alleges phantom power billings -- Advocates say customers pay for nonexistent San Onofre energy -- Jeff Mc Donald, Union Tribune, Related to: Peevey Party Protest
• (M1518) 2014-11-13 COMPLAINT FOR DECLARATORY AND INJUNCTIVE RELIEF - San Onofre -- Aguirre Severson LLP, Citizens Oversight,
• (M1625) 2006-06-07 Initial NRC Briefing by SCE on RSG Project, June 7, 2006 -- , Southern California Edison,
• (M1623) 1934-05-08 Johnson Act -- U.S. House of Representatives, Federal Register,

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