Politics & Government

New Report Questions Priorities at CA Public Utilities Commission, Says San Bruno Fire Was Avoidable

The confidential report was requested by the commission after the San Bruno gas line explosion and fire.

A report written by a Folsom-based consultant shows the California Public Utilities Commission as an agency where the regulators are too chummy with the companies they regulate.

A San Francisco Chronicle article says the report finds that public safety was not the main goal at the agency.  The CPUC is responsible for overseeing safety measures by utilities.

The report doesn’t name any officials but it does say that the relationship between paid staff, commissioners and the utilities sometimes made the commission reluctant to enforce rules that may have headed off the San Bruno disaster.

Find out what's happening in San Brunowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

According to the Chronicle article the report says an unnamed member of the CPUC staff said,  "If we were enforcing the rules, we would not have to worry about a safety culture. If we were holding the utilities accountable and doing what we were supposed to be doing, San Bruno would never have happened," one person told interviewers.” 

The report will be the subject of a legislative hearing today in Sacramento.

Find out what's happening in San Brunowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

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