Gas

Senate Turns Up Heat on Gov Brown's PUC Nominee

Senate leader Kevin de Leon took the unusual step of withholding his support for Governor Brown’s nominees to the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), Cliff Rechtschaffen and Martha Guzman Aceves, arguing that they have many questions to answer before de Leon agrees to give them a vote by the full Senate.

Question Cliff's Fitness for the PUC

Aliso Canyon was the biggest methane well blowout in U.S. history, and we still don't know why it happened. The California Public Utilities Commission just reopened the facility without the necessary environmental and safety reviews, so we have no way of knowing if it will happen again. 

Capitol Watchdog: Upcoming Meetings to Watch

Consumer Watchdog will present new evidence at the upcoming Petroleum Market Advisory Committee meeting to show that refiners have used market power to raise gas prices. The committee will be discussing recommendations for the legislature on how to fix the California petroleum industry.

Details on that, the DTSC's Independent Panel Review, which will be discussing the scandal surrounding the now-shuttered Exide battery recycler, and the FPPC's move to close a loophole that allows lobbyists to avoid registering, below.

Exxon's Torrance Explosion Could Have Been A Catastrophe

When Exxon’s Torrance refinery exploded last February, it injured four workers and took down an air pollution filtration system twelve stories high. That hobbled a refinery feeding Southern California 20 percent of its gasoline, and exacerbated a gasoline price spike. Californians wound up paying $10 billion more for their gasoline than elsewhere in 2015 as refineries gouged and gorged on swollen refining profits.
 

Capitol Watchdog is owned and operated by nonprofit Consumer Watchdog. For more information about Consumer Watchdog visit http://www.consumerwatchdog.org