SCE Admits To Plotting Cover-Up Of Nuclear Failure

Southern California Edison (SCE) Has Made An Official Admission That It Colluded With The President Of The California Public Utilities Commission In A Nuclear Cover-Up Scheme

For background contact Charles Langley at (858) 752-4600

In a jaw-dropping official admission, SCE’s authorized spokesperson, Maureen Brown, has confirmed publicly that Michael Peevey, former president of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) solicited the help of Southern California Edison in planning a cover-up that helped kill an investigation into the $5 Billion nuclear failure and near-miss safety disaster at San Onofre.

This is what SCE’s Media Relations Project Manager Maureen Brown, said in a recorded interview on Friday:

According to Mr. Picket, Mr. Peevey outlined key elements of what Mr. Peevey regarded as potential elements of a settlement of the Commission’s investigation into the technical and shut-down issues at San Onofre.

The statement appears at minute 7:20 of a KBPS Television story on corruption at CPUC featuring an interview with Utility Fraud Investigator Maria Severson from the law firm of Aguirre & Severson LLC.

Prior to this public admission, SCE and Peevey kept the talking points of the unlawful meeting in Warsaw Poland a secret.  Reporter Jeff McDonald exposed the meeting as part of an ongoing fraud investigation of CPUC by the U~T San Diego Watchdog

This is the first public admission by SCE that the meeting was about developing “key elements” in SCE’s litigation strategy for San Onofre, and that other unlawful activities may have occurred.

Specifically, Peevey appears to have machinated a cover-up of the failure at San Onofre by proposing what turned out to be an unlawfully crafted out-of-court settlement between SCE and consumer groups such as TURN, The Utility Reform Network.

The settlement that TURN approved (TURN has received millions in Peevey-approved intervenor compensation awards) has terminated a legally required investigation into who was responsible for the near-miss nuclear disaster at San Onofre.

Equally alarming is the fact that TURN and its former employee, Commissioner Michel Florio, participated in the cover-up by fraudulently touting the settlement as a refund (*) when it actually forces ratepayers to foot the bill for at least $3.3 billion of the $5 billion cost. (Florio was recently disgraced for his participation in a judge-fixing scheme at the request of PG&E after the deadly explosion that killed 8 in San Bruno).

Here are the $5 Billion questions:

Is it reasonable for ratepayers to foot the bill for SCE’s poor decisions?

Who made the decision to install unlicensed nuclear generators at San Onofre?

Why did Commissionr Florio and TURN falsely portray a $5 billion utility bailout as a “refund?”

Why did Administrative Law Judge Melanie Darling decide to pursue a stall and delay hearing strategy intow hether SCE was responsible for the failure? (What did she know and with whom did she speak?)

Yesterday’s front page story in the San Diego U~T sheds light on why Peevey was motivated to orchestrate an out-of-court settlement.

For background or to arrange an interview with fraud investigators Mike Aguirre and Maria Severson, please contact Charles Langley at (858) 752-4600

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(*) TURN and Commissioner Florio originally touted the $3.3 Billion bailout as a “refund.”  On March 28, attorney Michael Aguirre notified Matthew Freedman, the attorney for TURN, that the claim was fraudulent. In response, TURN immediately took its Web site offline. By Monday the fraudulent claims of “refunds” had been removed. Below are screen captures of the TURN Web site and social media before and after it was informed that is claim of “refunds” was fraudulent. Note that TURN simply changed the text without changing the date. Florio’s press release has been removed from the CPUC Web site. Commissioner Florio (see vitae) is a former employee of TURN.

TURN WEB SITE BEFORE ALLEGATIONS OF FRAUD

TURN WEB SITE AFTER ALLEGATIONS OF FRAUD.

It is noteworthy that although TURN changed its false claim of a refund, it still touts the refunds in a reproduction of this LA Times story.

TURN Web site, March 25, 2014 reprint of LA Times Story making the false claim that customers will get refunds if the settlemnt is approved.

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