Holly: For new Public Utilities Commission,
public voting meeting on this date,
Thursday, September 9th 2021.
Today's call is being recorded.
If you have any objections,
you may disconnect at this time.
President Batjer, you may proceed.
-: Thank you, Holly.
Good morning.
We need to establish a quorum.
So will the agenda clerk please call the roll.
-: Commissioner Houck.
-: Here.
-: Commissioner Shiroma.
(loud banging)
(Shiroma giggling)
-: I'm present, thank you.
-: Commissioner Rechtschaffen.
Commissioner Rechtschaffen.
-: I'm present.
-: Commissioner Guzman Aceres.
-: Here.
-: President Batjer.
-: Here.
Thank you very much.
We have a quorum, and has been established.
So welcome everyone
to the California Public Utilities Commission.
I am calling this meeting of September 9th 2021
public agenda item 349 to order.
Due to the Corona virus pandemic
and the shelter in place order,
we are conducting today's business meeting online
and by remote participation.
The meeting is live stream on the CPUC website.
You can view the meeting at www.adminmonitor.com/CA/CPUC.
Admin monitor is one word.
Closed captioning is available in
English and Spanish through the webcast.
You can click on the green button
to select your language of choice.
We also have Spanish interpretation available
during the public comment portion of today's meeting.
Dial 1-800-857-1917,
passcode 3799627 and follow the instructions
to be connected to the Spanish line.
I asked that my colleagues
and today's speakers remain mindful
and speak slowly and clearly.
I will also occasionally pause myself
for interpretation.
We will now have the interpreter, Eric Sawyer will
speak to those paragraphs in Spanish, Eric.
Eric: Okay.
(Eric speaks in foreign language)
-: Thank you.
Public engagement is critical to the CPUC process.
If you wish to make a public comment,
dial into 1-800-857-1917 and enter pass code
9899501 and press *1.
You will be placed into a queue
and the operator will take your name and information
if appropriate, you will be called upon to speak
when we get to the public comment period in today's agenda,
if you encountered difficulty
calling into the public telephone line,
please email votingmeetinghelp@cpuc.ca.gov.
More voting meeting help is all one word.
There are some moments in history,
you will always remember where you were when they occurred.
September 11th, 2001 is one of those dates in American
history for which this is true.
Saturday marks the 20th anniversary of those deadly attacks.
On this anniversary,
we must all remember the lives lost.
The heroic efforts made of the first responders
and how we as a nation had to collectively
heal from that trauma.
We must also remember the hate and the racism
suffered by many in the Muslim American community.
It is important to remember so that it is never repeated.
For many of us at the CPUC,
another event we will always remember
is a natural gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno.
Today marks the 11th anniversary
of the San Bruno pipeline rupture and explosion,
which was caused by PG&E's failure,
to properly manage its system
and that took the lives of eight people,
including the life of our colleague, Jacqueline Gregg,
and her daughter Janessa
and injured, 58 other people.
In the aftermath of the catastrophic event,
we as a Commission have worked
to rebuild the CPUC's approach to safety.
We have taken a series of actions to hold PG&E accountable
and to improve our safety oversight,
all with the focus on ensuring public safety
in the immediate and long-term.
The San Bruno tragedy is a reminder of why
it's vitally important.
We continue to strive for safer
and more reliable utility operations.
Remembering the strengths we have had in the past
is this greater strength to weather current
and future challenges.
I personally find strength from watching the brave efforts
of all the first responders
working to battle the wildfires
and all of the healthcare professionals
battling this unprecedented pandemic.
I also find hope in the commitment and dedication
you all show to the mission and work of the Commission.
So I want to thank you.
We will now turn to public comments.
If you wish to make a public comment,
you have are these dialed
into the public comment telephone line,
please press *1 and unmute your phone
to enter the public comment que.
The CPUC rules do not allow for parties in proceedings
to speak about open proceedings.
The public can make comments addressing items
on the consent and regular agenda
as well as items not on today's agenda.
Please note that there will not be public comment
on items 31, 32
and all items that are on the closed session agenda today.
You will have one minute to speak today.
You'll hear a bell sound when your time is up,
please be mindful of other speakers in the queue
and keep to your allotted time.
So we're able to have everyone
who wishes to address us today, do so in a timely manner.
As a reminder, please speak clearly and slowly
to accommodate Spanish interpreters
who are available during the public comment portion
of today's meeting.
With that guidance in mind,
I welcome today's speakers.
I will now turn to the operator to open the public comment,
telephone line.
Operator, did you open the line?
Operator: Thank you.
The public comment line is now open.
If you wish to speak during the public comment period,
please press *1, unmute your phone
and clearly record your first and last name when prompted.
Our first caller is Michael Shapiro.
You may go ahead.
Micheal: Yes, it's Michael Shapiro.
I'm from Ohio, California.
This is a time in our nation and in California,
we're advancing climate change
in a very profoundly hostile way,
is threatening all of us here in Ohio and elsewhere
throughout California, we're looking over our shoulders.
If we smell something like ash,
whereas the next fire gonna come from.
We need to do everything we can to stop
and slow global climate change.
And the CP, the Commissioners must keep that in mind
as they vote today.
And also I would ask you,
even if they're not in your presence right this moment
to see their faces, look at your children,
see their faces.
Your grandchildren, if you have any.
What are you going to do today in today's vote
that's going to serve them and the future
that lays before them right here in California?
Thank you.
-: Thank you, operator the next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is John Brooks.
You may go ahead
Again, John we're not able to hear you.
Can you check your mute button?
John: Can you hear me now?
-: Yes, we can.
John: Oh great.
Thank you so much.
I am John Brooks, a member of
the West Side Clean Air Coalition and Sea Frog.
I wanna thank executive director, Rachel Peterson,
who acting at the request of the Commissioners,
attended the Senator Lehman and as Senator Bennett,
the recent community meeting,
and for temporarily at least
putting a hold on Southern California Gas',
soil removal and compressor expansion project
in West Ventura.
But, then there's always a but isn't there?
The requirements that SCG show the community
its analysis of alternatives and other factors
is not the same as an EIR.
The public is not able to bring in
our experts to review their data
and make an independent analysis in an EIR.
That's why we need one.
This project was okayed in a rate approval.
It does not meet the spirit or requirements of SQL.
Not ordering an EIR invites litigation.
And I urge you, to order an EIR for
the Southern California Gas McFarlane Compressor Project.
I thank you so much.
(bell dinging)
-: Thank you.
Next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Alden Slyder.
You may go ahead.
Alden: Good morning Commissioners.
My name is Alden Slyder and I'm a guest
and residence on the land of the Chumash people.
In solidarity with the Chumash
and with the thousands of residents in the city of Ventura,
we're not privileged to be able to attend
this nominally public meeting.
I am calling to demand Commissioner Houck
any expansion of SoCal Gas' operations
at the Aliso Canyon and Playa Del Ray storage facilities
and the Ventura Compressor Station.
I further demand the Commissioner immediately
discontinue the use of fossil fuels
as a source of energy for our communities.
I thank you for your time and support.
-: Thank you.
Operator the next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Alex Navy.
You may go ahead.
-: Good morning Commissioners.
My name is Alexandra Navy.
I am with the SoCal Gas Coalition.
You will hear many of us today because our community is
across Los Angeles and Ventura counties are uniting
to protect our communities
from harmful SoCal Gas operations.
Right now we're actively fighting to shut down
the Aliso Canyon storage facilities
Playa del Rey storage facility
and stop the expansion of the Ventura Compressor Station
and ultimately shutting that facility down,
which is right next to the elementary school.
We urge you to,
to consider the climate and health impacts of
all of these actions to reject
SoCal Gas applications for expansion.
Just wanna make a note about the climate change impacts.
We know that methane is extremely harmful
and coming from the ITCC report, we are in a code red.
A lot of that is contributable to methane emissions.
Methane is nearly 90 times more powerful
as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide
over a 20 year period.
And right now we're dealing with fracked gas,
whether it's fossil fuel gas or bio gas,
as SoCal gas likes to green wash these new technologies.
That will continue to keep these open.(bell dinging)
I urge you to please reject these expansions.
-: Thank you.
Operator the next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is George Courser.
You may go ahead.
George: Thank you, good morning.
-: Good morning.
Go ahead, we can hear you.
George, are you there?
George: Yes, I am.
Good morning.
-: Go ahead now.
George: Oh, I'm so sorry.
Thank you.
I'm calling about the
advantages of rooftop solar as an immense
and growing capability.
The obstacles that are being placed by the Iowa youth
are really without substance and without merit.
And there's no entity who understands this better
than the value of actual forward than the ISO.
Rooftop solar can be reviewed as really
a huge back resource of power augmenting
the ISO during flex alert.
If only Pacific Gas and Electric
had the required infrastructure for solar,
reliability and safety,
they would not be in the position they are now.
Thank you very much for your time Commissioners.
-: Thank you.
Operator, the next caller please.
Operator: And our next caller is Joshua Hirsch.
You may go ahead.
Joshua: Can you hear me?
-: Yes we can.
Joshua: Yes, my name is Joshua Hirsch.
I'm calling from Santa Monica, California,
and others have said it more eloquently than I can.
Aliso Canyon Gas storage facilities should be shut down,
not have its capacity expanded.
My friends in Porter Ranch had their lives ruined
by Aliso Canyon.
Governor Newsome promised to shut Aliso Canyon down.
The ITCC has made it clear that fossil fuel infrastructure
must be not be expanded.
There, there should be no more expansion of fossil fuel
infrastructure anywhere in the world.
It needs to be closed down as soon as possible
and replaced with renewable energy, thank you.
-: Thank you
Operator the next caller please.
Operator: And our next caller is Abigail Thomas.
You may go ahead.
Abigail: Good morning.
My name is Abby Thomas
and I work on the environmental team at Patagonia.
Although Patagonia is optimistic about the CPUC's
recent decision to pause the SoCal Gas Compressor Project
in West Ventura,
this is just one step in creating a healthy and safe future
for our community.
We need oil and gas out of our community
and we urge the CPUC to permanently halt
and require a full environmental impact report
for the SoCal Gas Ventura compressor expansion project.
Patagonia recognizes that we cannot accomplish this
without collective solidarity.
And we demand with fellow community,
community members across Los Angeles and Ventura county,
a shut down at the Alisa Canyon
and the Playa del Rey Gas storage facilities.
It's past time for California to demonstrate
real climate justice leadership and we need action now.
Thank you.
-: Thank you.
Next caller please operator.
Operator: Our next caller is supervisor Chris Lopez.
You may go ahead.
Chris: Good morning Commissioners.
Can you hear me?
-: Yes supervisor, we can thank you.
Chris: Wonderful, thank you.
My name's Chris Lopez.
I'm the supervisor representing
Monterey County School District,
which is its largest and most rural district,
including the bulk of the Salinas valley.
I'm calling to request your support for
item six on your Consent Agenda today,
which is a unique partnership between
the community of San Gerardo Cruzio
and the county of Monterey.
It brings access to the
needed fast internet to a farm working community
that has lacked for so long
and I know that it's on your Consent Agenda
and we've had your ear for a long time
to bring this project forward.
And this change will greatly improve
the lives of so many children in my community
who have not had access for generations.
And so I just thank you for your support
and look forward to celebrating this
with you guys in the long run,
but thank you for your consideration.
I can't say thank you enough.
-: Thank you, supervisor Lopez for calling.
Appreciate it.
Operator the next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Liz Compost
with West Side Community Council.
You may go ahead.
Liz: Good morning.
I know you've heard from me before.
Liz Compost with the West Side Community Council
in the midst of which sits
the Southern California Gas compressor station.
I thank you for your pause on the construction
and expansion there, but ask that you put an end to it.
A pause is not enough.
We need an environmental impact report completed
for this project as soon as possible.
And I also want to thank you for reminding us
of the horrible devastation that happened in San Bruno,
because that's a reminder for you also
that no expansion can take place at Aliso Canyon.
No further expansion can take place in Ventura
and adding more fuel to the fire in the San Bruno must stop.
Thank you for always sharing us.
-: Thank you for calling.
Operator the next caller, please.
Operator: Our next caller is David McCord.
You may go ahead.
David: Hi, this is a David McCord.
I'm a rate payer in El Sorito.
In the CPUC's work, big electric utilities
proposals would discourage you rooftop
and storage installations
and reduce credit for exported energy.
These proposals support their out dated
business models and culture.
Your charge on the other hand
is to direct these utilities operations
to implement state laws,
to reduce and eventually eliminate net greenhouse gases
from the electricity sector.
We all know that climate change
due to greenhouse gas emissions
is beginning to bite and to bite hard.
Please act in the interest of us all
to incentivize the installation of rooftop
and other distributed energy resources, thank you.
-: Thank you Mr. McCord.
Operator the next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Ray Kepler the third
from Claremont, California.
You may go ahead.
Ray: I plead the Commission
to provide an expanded definition of medical
in order that those of us who are patients
who must have a full battery backup system
can qualify for the program through the SGIP
even though we live a very short distance
from the nearest fire zone territory.
In brief, I am totally confined to my home doing,
due to physical disability, permanent.
Should there be a fire
and by electricity goes out,
I cannot operate my whole house filtration system
because I am confined from going anywhere
except to a medical or other such facility
where my body is required,
I do not have the option of
going to a cooling center in my city
or certainly to a hotel or any other public place.
In short, if I have smoke inhalation,
it's very likely I could die.
I will put all of this in writing(bell dinging)
in my letter to public advisor, CPUCca.gov,
but I put this now pleading
that the Commission will consider this exception, thank you.
-: Thank you for your call.
Operator the next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Jillian Hall
with Food and Water Watch.
You may go ahead.
Jillian: Hi, can you hear me?
-: Yes, we can hear you fine.
Jillian: Okay, sorry, yeah.
Hello, my name is Jillian Hall.
I worked for the organizations that are in Water Watch
and I am also a Ventura county resident.
I'm very concerned about SoCal Gas' plans
to expand operations at the Alisa canyon
and Playa del Ray storage facilities
and Ventura compressor station
despite the negative health impacts
on surrounding communities.
Besides often emit toxic chemicals and carcinogens.
As a Ventura county resident,
the possibility of expansion of the Ventura Compressor site
deeply concerns me,
but is located right next to an elementary school
and neighborhood.
This site leaks methane and toxic chemicals
right above school children and families.
I urge the CPU,
CPUC to reject the request by oil companies
and SoCal Gas to increase storage limits
at Alisa canyon.
I urge the CPUC to permanently stop
the SoCal Gas compression of station doubling in Ventura
and require a full environmental impact report.
And finally I urge the CPUC
to stop SoCal Gas' expansion at the client,
Playa Del Ray storage facility,
extending gastros limits and ignoring community needs
sends a message to these communities
that their health is not a priority.
Thank you for that, thank you for your time.
-: Thank you for your call.
I'm going to just remind all the callers
to please speak clearly and slowly
to accommodate the Spanish interpreters
or available during the public comment portion
of today's meeting, thank you.
Operator the next caller, please.
Operator: Our next caller is Dem Ames.
You may go ahead.
Dem: Good morning Commissioners.
I'm a resident of the city of Los Angeles
and I'm calling in because I'm concerned about the CPUC,
allowing the Southern California Gas company
to expand operations at the Aliso canyon,
Playa del Ray storage facilities
and the Ventura compressor station.
This is not the time to be expanding natural gas projects.
Just last week,
the LA City Council voted unanimously instructing
LADWP to meet a 100% clean energy target by 35, 2035.
And I think this action is setting a great example
for the rest of the California.
And I urge the CPUC to follow suit with similar actions.
The CPUC needs to be expanding in battery storage,
wind and solar and not expanding natural gas,
letting SoCal gas continue to expand on
the natural gas operations
is really a public health issue you know,
we do not deserve this exposure to respiratory illness,
nosebleeds and migraines.
When the toxic pollutants are inevitably leaked
from these natural gas operations.
So Commissioners, please consider that
California needs to be cleaner with its energy production
and reject these expansions often natural gas,
not expanding it.
Thank you.
-: Thank you.
Operator the next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Kathleen Weeper.
You may go ahead.
Kathleen: Hello, I was pleased to hear
in the introduction about the increased focus
on public safety, both immediate and long-term.
And what I see that we have here is
a lot of good people on a dying planet.
It's easy to stop hearing the word emergency,
but it's harder and harder to compartmentalize
and ignore what's happening to our world.
And the CPUC has a larger responsibility than most
to do the right thing.
You're in a position to make more, far more of a difference
than I can by going electric in my home
or driving less and so on.
It would be so inspirational
for the public to see the CPUC being a partner
in fighting this planetary crisis,
demonstrating that you're working on
a responsible transition for your workers
and that you're thinking about your customers as well
and helping us make the shift.
That you understand the risks
and are helping all of us affected by them(bell dinging)
with a sense of urgency that matches
the peril that we're in.
Thank you.
-: Thank you.
Operator the next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Patty Glick
with Aliso Moms Alliance.
You may go ahead.
Patty: Thank you.
I was dismayed to see the August 27th ruling for 170202
that says," Aliso is needed for liability."
Seems like your agency has already made a decision
about whether Aliso can still be used.
The problem is,
that you have disregarded the many health
and safety problems caused by Aliso,
from the cancer coughing polytoxins
to the major seismic and high fire risk.
I hate, have to mention that the,
your agency hired a consultant who works for FTI
and known pro-fossil fuel company for this proceeding.
Rather than consider that many cities
are passing rich codes
and hopefully the state will enact a de-carbonization
building code sooner than later.
The CPUC seems to want to, want SoCal Gas
to continue to profit off of the health and safety
at the more than 1.5 million residents
of the San Fernando valley,
as well as those who live in Ventura county,
near the compressor station and those who live
in Playa del Ray, thank you.
-: Thank you.
Operator the next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Judith Hauer.
You may go ahead.
Judith: Thank you.
I'm calling because I have worked across the street
for 15 years at the side on all the street
where the compressor is supposed to be expanded.
I want to let you know that
never in the 15 years that I worked there,
did the gas company come to explain any of the dangers
or any of the warnings that we should have had.
The second point that I want to make very clear here
is that unfortunately
when school resumed every September, every August actually,
we were reminded by the staff
of our organization that we had to go to high ground,
if the siren went off, having to do with the Ventura river,
possibly flooding because of a dam failing,
which is a very old dam.
That compressor is in a very dangerous location.
It probably should have been removed a long time ago.
This is unthinkable that nobody has brought this up.
There are dangers created there that are enormous.
Thank you for your time and for being here.
-: Thank you.
Operator the next caller, please.
Operator: Our next caller is Mary Alvarado.
You may go ahead.
Mary: My name is Mary Alvarado
and I live on the east side of Ventura.
And I recently became aware of the proposed expansion of
the already existing compressor station in west Ventura.
I was quite alarmed when I became aware of this location,
especially because it's so close to the school
and keeping my fellow citizens health and safety in mind,
the more logical position to take
and this is very upsetting to me
would be to relocate the compressor station
to an area where health and safety are a top priority.
Knowing that my fellow citizens
are not only being exposed to harmful gases,
but also to a possible explosion
not only hurts them, but it's spirit.
It hurts us all.
Thank you for your time.
-: Thank you for your call.
Operator the next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Claire Bruhm.
You may go ahead.
Claire: Good morning President Batjer and Commissioners.
I'm Claire Bruhm from Berkeley, California,
professor of public health.
Wanna speak on agenda item 29,
a PD extending the ACC proceedings for a year
because of further delay
and opening a cost-effectiveness framework.
Please demand that the energy division and your staff
document how and when they will incorporate health impact,
land use impacts, community resiliency
and other environmental justice objective measures
into CPUC decision-making.
In the ACC and cost effectiveness analysis as appropriate.
Specifically what is a firm date
for initiating the rulemaking on
cost-effectiveness framework?
Where are the results of the evaluation of
the societal cost test?
Including a health adder you ordered in 2019?(bell dinging)
How will they be...
And when?
Your decision today should not mean
an additional two years delay to incorporate these measures.
Thank you so much.
-: Thank you professor.
Operator, the next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Tom Rosenhan.
You may go ahead.
-: Is Tom there?
You might have your, our telephone on mute.
Operator: And he's currently in the
Spanish line, one moment here.
-: Oh, okay.
Operator: I'm gonna actually just transfer him
to the English call, one moment here.
Tom: Hello?
Operator: Okay, Tommy you may go ahead.
Tom: Hello?
-: Hello you can go ahead.
Tom: Can you hear me?
-: Yes, we can Tom,.
Tom: I wasn't getting response please.
Thank you very much, good morning.
My name is Tom Rosenhan
and I live in north Hollywood these days,
but I have lived near both Valona Creek
and in Granada Hills in the past
and I know these areas well.
There is ample and growing body of evidence
clearly showing the toxic effects on the local communities,
affecting the health of individuals, notably children,
but also pollution of the water, air and ground
where these facilities are located.
Aliso Canyon,
Playa del Ray and Ventura are all highly settled areas
and pollution of them damages delicate ecosystems
with irreparable harm.
And the effects of these pollution,
of this pollution is not contained locally,
but radiates outwards to varying degrees.
The effects of pollution
continues to reveal that those effects(bell dinging)
are more serious than previously believed.
These are all in controvertible facts
to the extent that there's pushback against them
and the responses that the facts indicate
this pushback is all noise sound and fury
signifying nothing meant only to break
the momentum of reasonable responses to
these dangerous situations.
What is going on here?
We all know the answer.
Money, money(bell dinging)
and the backroom arrangements
that keep the major canals of the stuff flowing into...
-: I'm gonna ask you to wrap up
you're over your time limit.
Tom: Oh, I'm sorry.
I didn't understand.
Well, the point is that,
this is a unique angle now because
the capitalist model that's based on externalities
continues to destroy finite
and eerie irreplaceable resources
and puts us at existential risks.
So this is a unique time to challenge
the traditional arrangements.
Thank you very much.
-: Thank you.
Operator the next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Cheryl Gayle.
You may go ahead.
(indistinct chatter)
Again Cheryl Gayle, you may go ahead.
Your line is open.
-: Cheryl, are you there?
Is she on the, is she on the line operator?
Operator: She is on the line.
We're getting background noise.
Cheryl: Can you hear me at all?
Operator: Yes, we can hear you now.
Cheryl: Okay, at that moment, I'm in a noisy Starbucks.
Thank you Commissioners.
We must prioritize shutting down toxic methane
fueling facilities near or under housing and school
and not letting SoCal Gas expand Aliso Canyon,
Playa del Ray and the Ventura Compressor station.
Don't we have enough severe drought,
wildfires, methane blowout, viewing pollution?
Instead of more greenhouse trapping gas incidents,
we need more community rooftop solar and battery storage.
This will create many more jobs,
local jobs and reduce greenhouse gases
and lower the prices to repair.
Thank you Commissioners.
I hope you could hear some of it.
-: Thank you.
Operator the next caller please.
Operator: And our next caller is David Klein.
You may go ahead.
Klein: Good morning Commissioners.
My name is David Klein, I live in Los Angeles.
I'm calling to urge you to vote against
the expansion of the Aliso Canyon Gas facility
and the Playa Del Ray storage facility
and the Ventura compressor station.
To vote for them is a vote for planetary suicide.
We have to start treating the climate crisis
as an actual crisis and shut down as rapidly as possible
all fossil fuel sources,
sources of greenhouse gases in United States
and California in particular, thank you.
-: Thank you.
Operator the next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Alexander Austin.
You may go ahead.
Alex: Hello.
My name is Alex Austin,
and I grew up in the Porter Ranch area
for over 20 years with my family.
I along with so many other San Fernando Valley residents,
I've experienced the traumatic,
traumatic environmental disaster
of the Aliso Canyon Gas blow out.
As you know, it was the worst gas blow
in our country's history,
I urge the CPUC to reject the request from SoCal Gas
to expand operations at the Aliso Canyon,
Playa Del Rey and Ventura facilities.
Our health and climate has been and will continue to be
affected by decisions like this.
There's too much evidence now to deny the harmful impact
by fossil fuel companies
and facilities like these have on our environment.
You see and hear about these impacts all over the news
and it's time for the CPUC to respond appropriately
by shutting down these facilities
and moving toward clean energy.
Thank you.
-: Thank you caller.
Operator, the next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Jane Fowler.
You may go ahead.
Jane: Hello.
Operator: Again Jane.
Yes, go ahead.
Jane: Sorry, I'm I'm Jane Fowler.
I live in Granada Hills, near Aliso Canyon.
I woke up with electric body, that's what I call it
When my body feels like electricity is running
up and down it you know,
it's a, it's an Aliso thing.
Like so many other issues,
I have a very sore throat today.
I'm lethargic, forgetful, depressed
and my daughters are visiting now
and they both have sore throats
and have gone to urgent care.
And one daughter said,
"Mom, it's not gonna go wait until we leave home."
He's still suffering from physical and mental effects of
Aliso canyon.
My liver is now failing because it cannot get rid of
the toxins in my body.
In my community we fought for years
and we finally got the City Council
board of supervisors and even a letter from Governor Newson
to oppose increase and expedite
shut down of Aliso Canyon.
Why are you not listening to the community
and all the local leaders?
Why are you the CPUC not listening?
We need you to listen and talking about days
you'll never forget the San Bruno
well on October 23rd, 2015 is the day
that Aliso Canyon blew open.
We are still suffering about Aliso
and I hope you would prioritize,
prioritize health before wealth
and the environment before the gas companies please
we're at a crisis environment, environment,
environment, not the gas company.
Thank you so much, I'm sorry.
Thank you.
-: Thank you.
Operator the next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Franny Cooper.
You may go ahead.
Franny: Good morning, this is Franny Cooper
from Monterey Bay Economic Partnership
also speaking on behalf of
the Central Coast Broadband Consortium
regarding item six on your Consent Agenda.
Just speaking in favor of the,
the grant to cruise IOMEDIA for the San Gerardo co-op,
this is bring much needed service at no cost
to those residents for the first five years.
And that is very valuable in our region.
The affordability is just as support, important
as accessibility to broadband service for students
and other residents alike.
So I thank you for,
for that grant to make this happen, it's,
it's really an asset to our, to our region and,
and the city of Salinas, thank you.
-: Thank you.
Operator the next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Helen Atie.
You may go ahead.
Hellen: Hello, my name is Helen Atie,
I live in Granada Hills when I stay on the show,
mom and I and the co-founders.
Let me see, what can I tell you?
Slow and clear in only one minute,
I have so much to tell you.
I'm just telling you today,
I'm calling you from my bed because I cannot get up.
I have such a bad body sore,
my muscles and I'm easy to them.
So this happens a lot in this area.
I have so much to do today and I cannot even get up,
get out of my bed.
We have been telling you for that at least
almost six years about how we feel here.
We have in repeating why this place,
this Aliso needs to be shut down.
I do not understand how many times
we need to be calling you
and they didn't you know that you're suffering.
Just listen to all the people who are calling you.
This place is a ticking bomb right now here next to us.
I mean, the health effect it has also
is dangerous because of the earthquake
and all these other stuff that's been telling you.
A fire that California is just burning up to that.
I mean, just his days(bell dinging)
And I don't understand if you care,
if your purpose is to care about you know,
at least care about people
would listen and shut this place down.
But if you don't,
let's just make more holes and more storage places
and just kill everybody
because two of my neighbors just died.
Thank you.
-: Thank you.
Operator the next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Dominic Selzou.
You may go ahead.
Dominic: Good morning, my name is Dominic Selzou.
I live in Los Angeles.
I urge you to deny the Southern California Gas Company's
applications increase storage limits 3% of these
in the Los Angeles, in the Aliso Canyon in Los Angeles,
Playa del Rey area and didn't Ventura county.
People who live near these facilities are suffering
from the toxic effects which these facilities cause.
63% of people who live near
the Aliso Canyon facility reported health problems
when the facility had a massive fallout.
According to the Los Angeles County
Public Health department.
Approximately 30 firefighters from my city
responded to the emergency
have also reported various health problems.
Two of these facilities leak methane gas,
which is extremely harmful.
The third facility could also be methane gas.
Fossil fuels apparently cause
numerous types of environmental harm,
including global warming.
I retreated decrease your use of fossil fuels.(bell dinging)
Numerous so-called government policies proposed expansions
my city government, my school district
and my county government opposed these proposed expansions.
Thank you for your help.
-: Thank you for your call.
Operator, the next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Terrance Foley.
You may go ahead.
Terrance: Hi, good morning.
My name is Terrance Foley,
I'm a Ventura resident for 67 years
and an officer of the pure Palm Bay Community Council.
So I'm calling today in solidarity with
the West Side Community Council
with assembly members, Steve Bennett,
and with Ventura mayor Sophia Rubalcava
regarding the Ventura of gas facility.
On a global level regarding climate change
and on a local level of the safety of Avenue residents.
I urge the CPU to close the Avenue compressor facility.
Thank you very much.
-: Thank you.
Operator the next caller please.
Operator: And our next caller is Jamie DeRosa.
You may go ahead.
Jamie: Hi, can you hear me?
Hello?
-: Yes we can.
Please go ahead.
Jamie: Okay, my name is Jamie DeRosa.
I live in Chatsworth only about 1.4 miles
south of the Aliso Canyon facility.
I'm very concerned about the expansion operations
you have planned, not just at the Aliso site,
but at the Ventura and at Playa del Rey.
Back in 2015, when we had the Aliso blowout,
I've developed severe asthma sense,
a nodule in my throat.
And I was in the ER for 10 days back
starting November 29th, 2015 in the ICU.
My daughter comes to visit here from Santa Monica.
Every time comes here, she has bloody noses.
My husband works on the roofs here
at two properties in Chatsworth,
and he has a hard time working up there
just because of the smell sometimes.
Not only are we facing a drought in a climate emergency,
but expansion to these facilities threatened our health
and our livelihoods.
And can you imagine how much more devastation would occur
if these sites are expanded
and we had another methane blowout?
Or a major earthquake?
There's gotta be other ways,
healthier ways for our communities, thank you.
-: Thank you.
Operator the next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Ken Jones.
You may go ahead.
Ken: Good morning, President Batjer and Commissioners.
I'm Ken Jones,
a rate payer from Greenbrae in Marin county
focused in my life constantly on the climate crisis.
And speaking about my concern related to item 29,
it may seem on the surface to be an easy decision
to extend the time for the completion of the IRP will making
that has gone on so long already.
If I understand it though, with that decision,
you also appear to be pushing down the road
revision of the societal cost test.
In this item on the agenda
it says there are no costs in doing this.
If you are dealing, delaying dealing with societal cost,
healthcare impacts,
the effect of what type of energy goes in what communities
you are deferring dealing with the resiliency
of our communities in the middle of fire season,
where we see the effects of having deferred
getting enough local solar and wind and battery storage.
You should be incentivizing battery storage
over gas facilities.
I strongly support everybody's desire to
shut down Aliso Canyon as it was the worst climate crisis,
climate disaster we've probably seen in this country.
Climate should be the one issue that you focus on every day.
It should have been for many years,
always ask yourself,
how does this decision impact protecting all of us
from the effects of climate disasters
that are already more than we can adjust to?
Thank you.
-: Thank you.
Operator the next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Pamela Dreyfus.
You may go ahead.
Pamela: Hi, can you hear me?
-: Yes.
Pamela: Hello?
Okay, great great, good morning.
Good morning, yes.
My name is Pamela Dreyfus.
I'm a climate activist.
I am a friend of Jane Fowler who spoke earlier
and I'm really shaken up by,
by her her message to you.
I have friends in Porter Ranch suffering terrible,
terrible health effects,
and it gets worse and worse.
And the idea of that,
that the CPUC will allow expansion of,
of the gas facility and building out of other facilities is,
is really shocking, very shocking to me.
I am, I am,
I wanted to read you some words
and I want you to keep in mind
the UN panel on climate change warning, change warning
We are in a code red.
Here are words that I have picked out from the newspaper.
Bomb, cyclone, irreversible extinction, ice pack,
death spiral, permafrost melts,
tipping point, thousand-year floods, category five hurricane
apocalyptic wild fires, smoke inhalation,
super typhoons, tipping point altered jet streams,
wildlife collapse, irreversible ghost forest tipping point,
cheek dome, rising seas.
These are all horrible and scary words
and nothing is scarier than
hearing my friends talk about her health
that's directly caused by the Aliso blowout.
It's really time.
This is your job.
It's time to take a stand against Southern California Gas.
Thank you.
-: Thank you.
Operator the next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Kristin Kessler.
You may go ahead.
Kristin: Hi, good morning Commissioners.
My name is Kristin Kessler and I live in Ventura.
I'm commenting today because I'm extremely concerned about
the effects of air pollution and climate change.
Natural gas emits methane,
a potent greenhouse gas along with other pollutants,
which endanger public health.
Please deny SoCal Gas' requests to expand
the Ventura Compressor station.
And please do the same with the Aliso Canyon
and Playa del Rey stations for the sake of public health
and the health of our planet,
SoCal Gas needs to be reined in,
stop green washing and acknowledge the climate crisis.
Thank you so much.
-: Thank you.
Operator the next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Jonathan Almon.
You may go ahead.
Jonathan: Hi, good morning.
This is John Almon in Santa Barbara.
I'm making eggs on my electric stove
and all electric house.
I'm alive, I'm not polluting myself.
The world is great without gas.
We should be reducing, not expanding gas.
That means we should be doing an AIR at Ventura compressor.
That means we should not be expanding reservoirs
in LA area or any reservoir, even Lago Lita,
which is what SoCal gas wants to do,
which is right under UC, University of Santa Barbara,
UC Santa Barbara,
the airport, the Santa Barbara airport,
and up and parks, with families.
I mean, this is ridiculous.
We have to be moving away.
So when I would ask you to do is just
keep on tightening then the news on gas
so that you are doing something about global warming.
You know, the guy running against
the guy running against nuisance,
he called global warming a crock.
If he gets elected,
you all will be replaced with oil and gas representatives.
So vote now.
-: Thank you.
Operator the next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Maryland Fuss.
You may go ahead.
Maryland: Thank you.
Can you hear me all right.
I'm calling to support Food and Waterwatch.
And SoCal350.org.
I have most recently visited the almost ideal
middle and working community
surrounding the Ventura compressor project site,
which is right next door to a school
or across the street actually.
Any kind of expansion of that site
would threaten the health of the children there
and all the rest of that pristine community as well.
The very same kinds of factors
apply at Playa del Ray and Aliso Canyon.
You heard the people speaking of their, of the health
suffering terribly in those locations.
Please close them all down.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak.
-: Thank you for your call.
Operator the next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Leslie Purcell.
You may go ahead.
Leslie: Sorry.
Hi, can you hear me?
-: Yes, Leslie we can hear you, go ahead.
Leslie: Thank you.
I'm calling to support Rooftop Solar
and local micro grid and battery storage.
And to have the CPUC please
regulate in that direction rather than
in favor of the utilities.
I also wanted to say that we appreciated the CPUC,
heard the hearing on the west Ventura SoCal compressor's
gas station and Rachel Peterson
was chairing that I believe.
That was very appreciated by the,
by the community and activists,
So, we would encourage the CPUC to
vote against any expansion
and continuation of that compressor station.
As you've heard it's across the street from old school
and so forth in a community that's
under threat of other kinds of
environmental degradation from
adjacent oil fields as well.
But the SoCal Gas station
is something that we could address right now.
I also like to mention the leakage at Playa del Rey
into the Ballona Wetlands,
which is health and safety issues been going on for many,
many years.
It's one of the oldest, apparently in the state
and climate and habitat benefits that would be addressed
if SoCal Gas was to,
to get out of that storage field as well as
not expanding Aliso canyon and shutting that down as well.
Thank you.
-: Thank you.
Operator the next caller please.
Operator: The next caller is Layla Tambourine.
You may go ahead.
Layla: Hello, my name is Layla Tambourine
and I live in Altadena, California.
I urge CPUC to stop expansion of gas storage and operations
at the Aliso Canyon and Playa del Ray storage facilities
and the Ventura Compressor station.
It baffles me that we need to fight for clean air,
water and energy in 2021.
This is an old hat issue
that is contributed to the ever-present climate catastrophe.
So called SoCal gas knows how toxic
methane is to people on the planet.
I am tired of SoCal Gas continued doing nor democracy
the people have in our speaking out against this company
and their inability to shift to sustainable energy practices
due to their greed,
putting profits over people needs to end.
We need to be focusing on removing excess methane
from the environment.
It is not the time to expand.(bell dinging)
I have been deeply impacted by our climate catastrophe.
I was exposed to two weeks of wildfire smoke last August,
which has damaged my vocal chords,
making it painful to speak.
I can only imagine the physical trauma,
those who are living near facilities are experiencing
due to unnecessary methane exposure.
I'm tired of this nonsense and needs to end.
Health over wealth must be the priority.
Please, please, please stop this expansion.
Thank you so much.
-: Thank you.
Operator the next caller please.
Operator is there another caller on the line?
Operator: And before we go to the next caller,
if you was to speak during the public comment periods,
please press *1 unmute your phone
and clearly provide your first and last name
clearly when prompted.
Our next caller is Daniel Tam
with Interfaith Solidarity Networks.
You may go ahead.
Daniel: Yes, hi, this is Daniel Tam.
Good morning Commissioners.
I'm chair of Interfaith Solidarity Network.
We're a consortium of 54 diverse faith communities,
churches, mosques, synagogues and temples
in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles.
And Commissioners,
increasingly as I attend a Bible studies, services
and one-on-one meetings with our partners,
the issue of climate crisis,
not climate change by the way,
but climate crisis is how people put it.
It comes up as an urgent concern
among families and clergy leaders.
This is now a central faith issue,
expanding gas storage facilities in Aliso Canyon.
Playa del Ray and Ventura is an egregious
and unwarranted expansion of fossil fuels
the exact opposite direction of where we need to be going.
If we care about the care of our common home,
the earth and our families,
it demands that we put people, health
and the climate before SoCal Gas profits.(bell dinging)
The city of Los Angeles is moving towards
100% clean, renewable energy.
Work with them.
Please go in that direction, thanks for your time.
-: Thank you.
Operator the next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Craig Galante.
You may go ahead.
Craig: Hi, good morning Commissioners.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you directly.
I live within a Stone's throw of Aliso Canyon.
I can walk very easily to the entrance of the facility
and my community has been severely impacted
by the presence of Aliso Canyon.
The expansion of such a dangerous facility
is just unconscionable.
So many speakers have said so many eloquent things
about how the CPU has the backing
of not only countless residents,
but also all of the local government officials
to cease the operation of Aliso Canyon.
Yet the CPUC seems to be much more aligned
with the bad faith actors like SoCal Gas.
I have to reiterate to this, to this Commission,
which I happened in the past.
You do not have a good partner in SoCal Gas,
you, you have partners alignment with residents
and local and state government officials
to support you to take a leadership role
and contain and control and minimize,
forget expansion, migrate away from these very,
very dangerous facilities that are horribly run
by SoCal Gas because they're more interested in profits
than they are of the health of their own,
their own employees or those residents around it.
I urge you take a leadership role
and put, take, make the changes that are necessary
for climate control as well as health impacts
to community members by using your complete authority
to control, not forget the expansion,
control the contraction of these very bad faith actors.
Thank you for your time,
because they are making you look bad.
-: Thank you.
Operator next caller please.
Operator: The next caller is Troy Corley.
Your line is now open.
Troy: Hi, thank you very much.
Can hear me?
-: Yes, we can, please go ahead.
Troy: Okay, terrific, thank you so much.
I don't have that much to add.
I am brokenhearted to hear my friend Jane Fowler
and what she was going through,
and that's just representative of what's happening up
in Porter Ranch and what is happening on Ventura west side
with numerous children suffering from asthma
and families who cannot afford healthcare,
having to deal with this
and someone who suffers from asthma,
I did experience one day of the gas being leaked
from Aliso Canyon when it had not been announced
and it made me very ill.
I, I cannot fathom living there.
It's amazing.
You have, as this gentleman said,
you have all the support of the local government,
state government officials, legislators even the Governor,
please move away from the gas company completely
not just not expand, shut it all down.
Ventura, Goleta, Playa del Rey, Aliso Canyon done.
Do what you need to do for the health of all of us
in California and be a beacon of climate change
in the right direction, thank you.
-: Thank you.
Operator next caller please.
Operator: The next caller is Elliot
from Long Beach your line is now open.
Elliot: Hello, good afternoon Commissioners.
I just wanted to just basically echo
a lot of the comments that you're hearing.
I'm hearing a lot of heartbreaking testimony.
I've heard very similar testimonies at other hearings
regarding SoCal Gas and, and the Aliso Canyon blow out.
I live in Long Beach where we suffer from a lot of
oil pollution and I know as we go up north,
we deal with gas pollution.
All of this of course is leading to the warming
that we're seeing throughout the state, throughout the world
forest fires air pollution,
hurricanes on the east coast.
This is all directly created by the activities
that you have the option to approve or not approve.
How will we provide energy for our state?
Are we going to continue using fossil fuels
knowing that they cause asthma, cancer, all of the,
the conditions that residents are telling you today
and global warming,
or are we going to demonstrate the necessary courage
to invest in renewable technologies,
the much needed technologies to clean our air
and invest in our future?
And that's the option that you have before you today.
And every day that you sit on this Commission,
I hope that you will do what is the thing,
what is in the best interest of a future generations
and residents of California, not corporate interest.
Thank you.
-: Thank you.
Operator next caller please.
Operator: The next caller is Cayenne Schaeffler.
Your line is now open.
Cayenne: Hi, good morning Commissioners.
As I look at your wEPPage for the
California Public Utilities Commission,
it says that your purpose is to help Californians
receive safe, clean, and affordable utility services.
And I look at all the categories
and I look at the news and updates.
So that tells me that you're here to protect
the interest of the public and the interest of people.
So I'm hoping that this application and this vote
and this time for public comment is simply a formality.
But then in fact,
we can have confidence that you will vote
with the people's health in mind
and with the health of our communities,
the health of our future, the health of our planet,
all of the sciences,
and you really don't need civilians calling in, you know,
telling you the science and the data that you already know.
What we really need from you is to,
to take a strong stand and to make,
make a statement to SoCal Gas that they shouldn't
even have the audacity to apply for such a thing.
This is not a time of expansion.
This is a time of shutting down these dangerous practices
that were not moving in that direction any longer.
They shouldn't even have had the nerve
to have asked for this.
Thank you.(bell dinging)
-: Operator the next caller please.
Operator: The next caller is Laura Rosenberger-Hyder.
Your line is now open.
Laura: Okay, hello.
This is Laura Rosenberger-Hyder.
Come to the storage doesn't always make energy clean
because there was a big leak.
This leak was reported by Dan Zegerid of Hufford Post
found that a pipeline carrying CO2 leaked
and sickened dozens of people.
Now this incident causing me to worry about
the safety of gas pipes.
That also we need electric panel,
solar electric panels, but onsite battery storage.
That's near the near the place of creation
of the electric power,
so it doesn't use so many power lines
and you'll have to build so many power lines
to carry it such long distances.
And we need,
well it's two, kind of expensive,
$2,000 to upgrade solar panels,
and you need 48 million more solar panels
in US single family homes to meet our needs.
So we should be giving more incentive to rooftop solar
and with battery storage combined.(bell dinging)
A lot of people don't have income,
have disabilities from the pollution from fossil fuels.
They just can't earn that much, thank you.
-: Thank you.
Operator the next caller please.
Operator: There are no more participants
on the public comment telephone line.
-: Okay.
Thank you very much, operator.
With no more callers on the line,
the public comment period is now closed.
Thank you all who called in today, we greatly appreciate it.
Moving on in our agenda,
we will turn to changes to the agenda today.
Item two,
as will be held until the September 23rd, 2021 meeting.
Item three will be held until the September 23 2021 meeting.
Item 11 will be held until the September 23rd, 2021 meeting.
Item 12 will be held until the September 23rd, 2021 meeting.
Item 13 will be held until the September 23rd, 2021 meeting.
Item 15 will be held until the September 23rd, 2021 meeting.
Item 24 will be held until the September 23rd, 2021 meeting.
Item 28 will be held until the September 23rd, 2021 meeting
and item 33 will be held until
the September 23rd, 2021 meeting.
No changes to today's agenda,
we will now move to take up the consent items.
Is there a motion?
-: So move.
-: Thank you.
And is there a second?
-: Second.
-: It's been moved and seconded.
Thank you.
Will the agenda clerk,
please call the roles the Consent Agenda.
-: Commissioner Houck?
-: Yes.
-: Commissioner Shiroma?
-: Aye.
-: Commissioner Rechtschaffen?
-: Yes.
-: Commissioner Guzman Aceres?
-: Aye.
-: President Batjer?
-: Aye.
Thank you.
The Consent Agenda passes unanimously.
I believe that Commissioner Guzman Aceres
would like to speak to item number six.
-: Yes, thank you, President Batjer.
As you heard from some of the public comments,
we had a supervisor Lopez and Tranny Cooper from the
Monterey Bay Economic Partnership
during the public comment
in support of this broadband project.
And I just wanted to give a little bit of history
of the project and also
the really exciting prospect that it has
for us moving forward.
It was about a year ago, I'm sure you all will remember
when there was national attention brought to Salinas
because of the two young girls
that were in front of the Taco Bell
and really the local leadership,
some of the ones that were on the public comment today,
they started to bring everybody together
and there was a lot of
just immense leadership coming from the educational sector,
the Superintendent,
the Superintendent of the county,
the Superintendent individual school districts in particular
Monterey county Superintendent.
I mean that as well as the
Aliso School District Superintendent, Jim Connie
and all of their staff,
their IT staff, their teachers,
everybody was really working hard
as well as the consortium area,
which as I mentioned is the Monterey Bay Economic
partnership, Franny Cooper and her colleague Steve Bruhm.
Anyhow, the community really came together
not just for San Gerardo but for other children
in particular and the recognition that hotspots
were not working everywhere.
I know you all remember this issue.
It's mostly in urban areas and rural areas.
And just to give you a little picture
of what San Gerardo is,
I know many of you seen this,
but it's actually a little farm worker cooperative housing.
It was built in the 70's.
There's about 250 permanent residents
and they could go as high as up to 100 seasonal residents.
There's 64 low-income households in their average
per adult resident is a little below 14,359.
So there's also about 70 students.
And that really was you know,
the motivation behind working with the community.
And again, there were so many creative ideas
that were happening particularly from the school districts.
San Gerardo is not unique
unfortunately in California as we know.
There are many communities like it that live
just on the perimeter of town
or a donut within the town itself,
within the city itself.
And those are the,
what we have been finding as redlining,
digital red lining occurring in California
and in other parts of the nation.
And it is part of our focus and our broadband deployment,
a proceeding and really looking at the causes of this.
And as we found in many of the studies that
have been presented under that proceeding,
usually poor communities and they're usually brown or black.
So another aspect that is really exciting about
this resolution is,
is really that this wasn't a typical CSF project where
a carrier came to us with a proposal.
This was a real collective effort to try to find a solution.
The local government obviously was very involved.
The consortium was very involved
and our staff was very involved
in reaching out to multiple carriers
to see who was in the area?
Who could expand their service territory?
And unfortunately you know that,
fortunately I should say for this community,
there was some local providers
that have been doing amazing work
on serving these communities.
And it's not to say that some of the incumbents,
they were also involved in conversations and doing some,
some work as well, but it's,
it's just this different type of approach
its approach we've been talking about now
with the new federal funding that we've been tasked with
last mile funding for taking this approach of which
we've been terming the caseworker approach,
where we will be proactive into the communities
and with our partners to finding a solution
and not only utilizing our current competitive
solicitation process, but really coupling that
with our expertise and all of the partners on the ground.
And, and this is particularly exciting because
there are these communities
that are chronically underserved.
We all know them.
This communication division has pointed them out
for some time.
I always like to mention Lost Hills is one of those
that I hope to accomplish and their major,
my term here is that we get a solution for.
I want to also mention that the legislature
or really urge the legislature
to extend this program because of projects like this
and I know they're in the mist.
I know the assembly last night or yesterday evening
successfully passed one of the two bills,
FB4 and AB14.
And so we are looking forward to
the legislative leadership on accomplishing the expanse,
the extension, the continuation of
this very important programs, the CSF program.
Okay.
I wanna thank not just supervisor Chris Lopez
from Monterey County, but also supervisor.
I mentioned already the Superintendent Delingus
and the Aliso County school district Superintendent,
Jim Connie, and their staff.
I think Oracea Mesquita who's the general manager of
the San Gerardo Housing Co-op
and his endless effort for his advocacy for his residents.
I mentioned against Steve Bruhm and Franny Cooper
from the Central Coast Broadband Consortia
and the organization that they,
that Franny works for Monterey Bay Economic Partnership.
Of course our tremendous staff
in the communications division,
in particular, the leadership of Selena Wang
and her staff of Tim and Moose Fisher,
who I believe took a big lead also in this resolution
and I know she's was very active in discussions
with multiple carriers and finding how to be
solution-oriented and innovative, innovative.
I wanna really, I thank Cruz IO,
who's the provider here that will be receiving this funding
and really the amount of projects and creativity
and partnerships that they have are something that is
really encouraging and provides a lot of hope
for folks there.
Not every Californian is fortunate to have
a provider like this as they are obviously primarily
in the Santa Cruz area,
but this is obviously a Monterrey.
And so they're in that central coast area
and they really have a mindset of a building for a future,
making sure that their investments can be enhanced
and be affordable.
And so they're, they're looking at it with really
a consumer focused perspective.
They have this initiative locally called
the Equal Access Initiative.
And because of that initiative, as we've mentioned earlier,
they're actually gonna be providing this service for free
for the next five years for the community.
And after that they'll be, if they're,
if they're not successful in continued donors,
they will be committed to a $15 a month service
for these houses hosts.
So, I just wanna acknowledge what kind of leadership
that's taken
and of course the amount of partnerships
that requires this required to get to that point.
I also wanna thank so many more people in the CD teams,
but also the legal team.
I know we had a lot of contribution from Enrique and others
to really make sure we were being accurate
in how we were using this particular set of funds.
I wanna thank my staff, Sarah Sharpe, Johnson Colt,
Bilal Enrique, my previous advisor, Stephanie Thespians.
He really was involved in pulling all of these
partnerships together as well,
and to my BK partner, Commissioner Houck and her staff,
Eileen Hodel for really making this resolution possible
and getting it across the finish line.
So thank you everyone.
And I really is hopefully the,
just the beginning of these types of projects
with the federal funding and the,
in the continuation of CSS program
that we'd be able to do more successful partnerships
and funding projects like San Gerardo.
Thank you.
-: Thank you, Commissioner Guzman Aceres.
I also believe that Commissioner Houck
would like to comment on item six.
-: Yes, thank you President Batjer.
I just want to extend my sincere thanks
to Commissioner Guzman Aceres and her office,
particularly her advisor, Sarah Sharp
for their work advocating for this project.
I greatly appreciate Commissioner Guzman Aceres'
leadership over the last few years in the area of broadband.
And this project exemplifies the type of creative thinking
that's needed to bring broadband access to all Californians.
I agree with the, you know,
and will not repeat all of the comments
that Commissioner Guzman had indicated.
San Gerardo is again a farm worker, housing cooperative,
and many of the residents there are low income,
and there are many families with small children
that were not getting access to education
during the pandemic for lack of broadband access.
This grant is gonna bring a reliable high-speed service
to these unserved households in Monterey county
and the public private partnership
and additional commitments proposed by Cruzio
will ensure that these services are affordable.
These are exactly the type of proposed, proposals
we should be funding and we welcome
and are excited to see this project come to life.
I want to thank the community,
the local representatives and our communications division
and legal staff especially you know,
Wong, Lou Fisher and Enrique Guyardo.
The new broadband funding package has added significant
responsibilities for all of our communications division
staff and the legal office supporting them
in addition to their regular programmatic work.
And they went above and beyond to make sure that
this resolution was able to get out
and cross the finish line.
So I am very proud to see this going forward,
and again, want to commend
Commissioner Guzman Aceres and her office
for all of the work in making this happen.
Thank you.
-: Thank you Commissioner Houck
We will now move on into the regular agenda.
Item 29 is an energy item
and that's Commissioner Houck to present.
-: Thank you, President Batjer.
This is an order to extend the statutory deadlines
to September 5th, 15th 2022 and rulemaking 1410003.
It's the order instituting the rulemaking
to create a consistent regulatory framework
for the guidance planning
and evaluation of integrated distributed energy resources.
A successor rulemaking that will further focus on
working towards creating a consistent regulatory framework
for the guidance planning
and evaluation of integrated distributed
energy resources is anticipated before the end of the year.
The successor rulemaking will also continue to address
avoided cost calculator policy development,
and upgrades going forward.
This OIR our 1410003 needs to remain open
to allow time to complete
the current major avoided cost calculator update,
which is currently in progress.
So I ask for your support to extend the deadline
in this proceeding to September 15th, 2022, thank you.
-: Thank you, Commissioner Houck.
Are there any questions or comments on item 29?
-: President Batjer.
-: Yes, Commissioner Guzman Aceres.
-: Thank you.
Commissioner Houck,
I just wanted to acknowledge and share
one of the public commentors mentioned
I believe it was Claire Bloom from UC Berkeley,
some of the frustration in our lack of incorporation of
the societal cost tests to date.
And I did wanna share that
I just wanted to see if you have any thoughts on that.
I wanted to share my personal thoughts
is that I had been previously prepared to vote
in incorporating that in a previous version.
And,
and there were obviously not the votes for that,
but I hope that we can really evolve our thinking here
and really follow the model of many of our sister agencies
that do incorporate particular health impact costs
into our decision-making.
And so I, I would invite you to really
consider prioritizing that as part of the next step date.
Thank you.
-: Commissioner Houck, do you have any further comments?
-: Yeah just that the,
the current process for the 2022 update it is in progress.
We are in the process of accepting testimony.
There's gonna be hearings in November.
We are looking at development of the successor rulemaking
that that will take a close look at all of the issues.
And we'll be looking for public comments on,
on where we'll be going in the future and making sure that
we're clear on how things are being developed,
both for major and minor updates.
So I think this is evolving and in process,
and we are going to look at considering all of that.
So we, we do need comments in the record to make sure that,
that we have the information we need to fully assess
how we will be moving forward.
And we need to, to finish the current proceeding though
under the proposed timeline,
given the constraints that, that we have,
that we again are in the process of taking testimony
and hearings and we'll be doing briefings as well.
-: Are there any other comments on item number 29?
Okay, seeing none will be agenda clerk,
please call the roll.
-: Commissioner Houck?
-: Yes.
-: Commissioner Shiroma?.
-: Aye.
-: Commissioner Rechtschaffen?
-: Yes.
-: Commissioner Guzman Aceres?
-: Aye.
-: President Batjer?
-: Aye.
Thank you.
The voted unanimous for item 29.
Item 30 had,
will be withdrawn as it relates to item 14,
which we voted on
when we voted to unanimously support the Consent Agenda.
So moving now to item 31,
and that is a telecommunications item
and it is signed to Commissioner Rechtschaffen.
-: This is the order extending time in the matter of
1 million new internet, internet users.
Our statutory deadline currently expires September 13th.
We settled with all parties except for one,
one remaining party has not settled.
A presiding officer decision was issued on August 26th
to resolve this action against that remaining party.
This order extends the proceeding deadline
to December 17th of this year
to allow the time needed for parties to file an appeal
or for a Commissioner request review of
the presiding office decision if they choose to do so.
And then for a final decision to be issued in this action.
So I request your support disorder extending time
until December 17th of this year.
-: Okay thank you, Commissioner.
Are there any comments or questions on item 31?
Okay, seeing none will the agenda clerk
please call the roll.
-: Commissioner Houck?
-: Yes.
-: Commissioner Shiroma?
-: Aye.
-: Commissioner Rechtschaffen?
-: Yes.
-: Commissioner Guzman Aceres?
-: Aye.
-: President Batjer?
-: Aye, thank you.
Item 31 is passed unanimously.
Moving on now to 32 which is assigned to me.
This decision extends a statutory deadline for
the investigation into Frontier Communications
service outages, and disclosure of consumer information.
A presiding officer's decision was issued
on January 4th, 2021,
approving a settlement agreement between Frontier
and our Consumer Protection and Enforcement Division.
On February 3rd, 2021,
I filed a request for review of
the presiding officer's decision.
This decision extends a statutory deadline of
this proceeding until March 21st, 2022,
to be further consider issues I raised
in the request for review.
This extension will provide necessary time
to consider those issues
and develop any potential modifications.
I ask for your support for this extension, thank you.
Are there any questions or comments on item 32?
Okay, thank you.
Seeing none, will the agenda clerk please call the roll.
-: Commissioner Houck?
-: Yes.
-: Commissioner Shiroma?
-: Aye.
-: Commissioner Rechtschaffen?
-: Yes.
-: Commissioner Guzman Aceres?
-: Aye.
-: President Batjer?
-: Aye, thank you.
Item 32 is passed unanimously.
Okay, moving on in our agenda.
We are now at the management reports.
There is no report for item 34.
Management report in discussion on
recent consumer protection and safety activities.
There is no report on item 35.
Management report in discussion
on administrative activities.
All right.
We will move on to Commissioners reports
and who would like to report first today?
Well, don't you all jump at once?
I think Commissioner Houck raised her hand first,
and then we'll go to Commissioner Shiroma.
-: Thank you, President Batjer.
I'd like to announce
that there'll be an upcoming tribal consultation
and an upcoming workshop in
related to the distributed energy resource action plan 2.0.
The tribal consultation will be held next Thursday
on September 16th, starting at 9:00 AM.
And the purpose of the consultation is to share information
about the draft DER action plan 2.0
and the high DER rulemaking with tried
and true in engaging in these efforts
and to provide a forum to get input
and providing information to try that
we're seeing an expansion of tribes looking at
micro grids and rooftop solar storage
and other areas that fall under our DER action plan.
And again our,
looking forward to the panel and the tribal presentation
that will be part of the consultation next week.
There's also a workshop on Wednesday, September 22nd
which we're holding as a scoping workshop
for the new distribution,
distribution planning, rulemaking
or what's being referred to as the high DER OIR
to modernize the electric grid
for a high distributed energy resource future.
And the purpose of this workshop is for the PUC
to ask parties clarifying questions
about comments that were recently submitted
on the scope and schedule for the proceeding
as well as to assist us in issuing a scoping memo
later this year.
The workshop details can be found on our daily calendar.
And then I also just wanted to
mention that I attended the Low Income Oversight board
water and climate sub committee on August 27th.
I appreciated hearing from that.
The board members, the regulated water entities
and their presentations,
as well as there was an excellent presentation
from the National Weather Service.
And I thought this presentation was,
was very informative and hope to see if we can have
the presenters that,
that presented at the subcommittee return
to provide further information
possibly in the next phase of
the climate adoption proceeding that,
that we're working on developing the scoping memo for.
I also attended the IOU safety update that we held
on the 25th and the staff of
Weighted Cost Calculator workshop in the afternoon of
that same day and the energy
I for workshops regarding energy efficiency
and renewable natural gas,
as well as our IRP, PSP workshop that was held on
September 1st.
And I just also wanted to note that
the Biden administration has recently appointed
the chairman Willie Phillips
of the Washington DC Public Service Commission
to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
and wanted to offer congratulations.
I think this is well-deserved
and he will be a great addition to
the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
And last, I just wanted to mention
that I attended the Coral Fellows presentation last Friday,
a logic study of the CPUC.
I was very impressed with the fellows and their presentation
and the,
amount of research and what they were able to put together
in such a short period of time.
And I look forward to hearing more regarding any followup
on their initial findings and again,
congratulate them for all of the great work that they did.
And with that, I will conclude my report.
-: Thank you, Commissioner Houck.
Thank you also for reminding us of the
yesterday appointment of a new member
of the circuits excellent, thank you.
Commissioner Shiroma, I believe you were up next.
-: Yes, thank you President Batjer.
I have four items report on, briefly.
First of all, energy efficiency.
I was pleased to attend the quarterly meeting
of the California Energy Efficiency Coordinating Committee,
also known as CECC.
Their quarterly meeting was on September 2nd,
and I had a chance to meet the members.
It was launched in 2016.
It's an advisory group to
the Energy Efficiency Program Administrators
created out of a need for meaningful stakeholder engagement,
and it was authorized by 2015 Commission decision
to revive an ongoing forum for stakeholders
to bring ideas and recommendations on
energy efficiency matters.
We at the CPUC will leverage CECC to develop the metrics
for the new energy efficiency programs segments,
market support and equity that we adopted out
in our May, 2021 decisions
that where we reformed our energy efficiency policy.
And I also appreciate that CECC is embarking upon soliciting
additional diverse customer voices
and representation on the advisory group.
Next is a Low Income Oversight board.
I'd like to share that the Low Income Oversight board
is hosting its third quarterly meeting on September 29th
on WebEx and everyone is invited to attend
and can participate virtually.
The LIOB serves as the liaison for the conditions
to low-income communities and advises the condition on low
income electric gas and water customer issues,
including low-income programs such as the
California Alternate Rates for energy or care,
the family Electric Rate Assistance
and the Energy Savings Assistant or ESA programs.
Details about the meeting will be available next week
on the LIOB and CPUC websites on October 29th.
Then ESA, I would like to share that
the four large investor owned utility
in coordination with the energy division
will host two workshops on the ESA program,
which provides energy efficiency and weatherization services
at no cost for income qualified customers.
There'll be a workshop on September 27th.
It will focus on the implementation of the staff proposal
for two pilot programs
designed to achieve deeper energy retrofits and savings
for income qualified households.
Then on September 30th,
the discussion will focus on the coordination of ESA
with other low income and clean energy programs
and how to reduce barriers and up and better align
customer eligibility to improve the customer experience
and increase enrollment across multiple programs,
serving income qualified customers.
So, I encourage all interested to attend
and provide feedback on these initiatives.
Details on the workshop will be posted on the CPUC website
and published on the low-income service list next week.
And, and now Lifeline,
Each year the first full week in September after Labor day
is Lifeline Awareness Week
by the National Association of Regulatory
Utility Commissioners or NARUC.
The week is designed to both raise awareness of
increased participation in Lifeline,
it's the federal and state program that helps make
telephone service more affordable
for income qualified customers.
In that lane,
I want to also announce two upcoming meetings
supporting the Lifeline program.
First on September 22nd, beginning at 9:00 AM
the CPUC will be hosting the third quarterly meeting
of a Universal Lifeline Telephone Service Administrative
Committee or a ULTSAC again, all are welcome.
It is public facing.
The ULTSAC is charged with providing advice
and recommendations to the Commission
to support the Lifeline program goals
of providing telecommunication services to all
qualifying low-income households.
The meeting will be held on WebEx
and more information on this meeting
can you found at the CPUC daily calendar and website.
I'd also like to announce an upcoming
Lifeline program workshop on October 22nd,
looking at the opportunity to incorporate
the iFoster pilot program,
supporting Lifeline for California foster youth
into the California Lifeline Program on a permanent basis.
Further information on this workshop,
including the agenda and WeBex details are in development
and will go out to the Lifeline service list
in the following week.
Thank you.
That's it for today.
Batjer: Okay, thank you Commissioner Shiroma.
Are there any other reports today?
Yes, Commissioner Guzman Aceres.
-: Thank you, President Batjer,
just really briefly wanted to share
since our last voting meeting,
I had the opportunity to actually visit
down in the Porter Ranch area and the Aliso facility.
It was my first time at the facility
and I was very,
I learned a lot.
I learned a lot about the amount of work that
has happened to really shut in many Wells permanently
and the amount of work I got to see a crew
actually doing a sound well test,
test of a well using sound technology
to test the thickness of the different casings.
Really extraordinary work,
hard work, a lot of young men primarily
with lots of well under around them,
given the hazard work that they're doing,
but they're doing it to ensure the safety of each well.
I'm so glad to see that firsthand.
I was able to be joined with the supervisor of the state's
Oil and Gas program Mikael Jim,
and was really thankful for his presence in providing me
some of the real history,
not just to the facility but across the state,
as well as just a deep engineering knowledge,
frankly of all the operations.
Also was able to tour the electric compressor
that was put in place,
a massive compressor.
There are actually three major units
and each unit has what they call a kind of an a pony engine
to get the major units going.
And just the immense infrastructure that
many of our colleagues talked about
and the concern with their local community in particular,
in the safety.
I can also have not obtained the bit of irony and,
and really kind of captured the difficulty of
this transition off of natural gas
and fossil fuels that we face.
And that was it you know,
as we looked down the hill right adjacent
is a new development in the Porter Ranch community.
It's a luxury development with a gas connection.
And,
you know I,
I certainly acknowledge the tremendous partnership
with the county and city of LA
and the need to really be further aligned
in our transition efforts.
But that was a very
troubling dynamic that we're facing.
So, much of the tour was
just gaining a lot of knowledge of the physical state
of the storage facility.
I really appreciate having
been able to tour the facilities,
but also be in the community and see a really
everything we've heard from the public today
and in the past of,
of the adjacent ness of the community.
So, wanted to just share that with all of you
as we continue to really dig in
to how we are going to accomplish this transition
and the absolute necessity to do so in partnership with
our local governments,
as well as our energy providers.
Thank you.
-: Thank you.
Any other comments?
I have a brief report.
I just want to remind everyone
that Tuesday is September 14th
and it is election day in the State of California.
And I encourage everyone to exercise
their civic responsibility,
get out and vote.
We are in a fortunate state
that we believe in access to voting
and we treasure that and everyone receives
a ballot in the mail,
makes it very accessible and very easy.
For more information as to voting and the election
please visit www.sos.ca.gov.
That is the Secretary of State's website.
I encourage everyone please exercise your civic duty.
It's a wonderful right.
And with that,
we finished the Commissioner's report
and the public meeting is now adjourned.
Thank you all very much.