The San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Tuesday emphatically dismissed PG&E’s attempts to overturn a certification that is needed for the city to move forward in the process of acquiring the utility’s infrastructure.
Efforts to acquire PG&E’s assets in the city, which include infrastructure like poles, substations and wires, began back in 2019. As part of the process, the city is required to provide an Environmental Impact Report, or EIR, assessing the possible environmental effects of the project.
“I think San Franciscans deserve a reliable and safe utility system,” said Supervisor Connie Chan. “We also have long fought for a municipal power system, and this is the next step.”
The city’s Planning Commission voted unanimously to certify the EIR in July, but PG&E is appealing that decision, arguing that the final EIR is insufficient and inadequate in adhering to the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA. The seven-member Planning Commission acts as an advisory body to the Board of Supervisors.
Before PG&E’s lawyer could present the utility’s arguments Tuesday, Supervisor Matt Dorsey ripped into the appeal, seeing it as an attempt to delay the city’s acquisition process.
“I have seen more than my share of bad actors and querulous litigants, and none is worse than PG&E,” Dorsey said. “To come into this board chamber and to waste our time with its expensive and dilatory stunts demonstrates a contempt for this body and this city, that is, in my view, breathtaking.”
Christian Cebrian, an environmental lawyer representing PG&E in its EIR appeal, walked up to the podium and delivered the main points from PG&E’s appeal letter, arguing that the EIR does not provide an in-depth analysis relative to the scope of the project. PG&E also appealed the certification on technicalities, accusing the Planning Commission of not recirculating the final EIR among the public after it was updated from the draft.
“I think we’re just asking you to send this back to planning to cure those deficiencies,” he said.
Members of the city’s Planning Department pushed back, addressing in detail each of the points raised in PG&E’s appeal letter.
Some supervisors shook their heads, and others appeared uninterested in the merits of PG&E’s appeal.
Supervisor Myrna Melgar, who has reviewed many EIRs in her career, called PG&E’s appeal the “most ridiculous” she’s ever seen.
Dorsey reiterated his disdain for the appeal after hearing the arguments from PG&E and the Planning Department’s rebuttals.
“PG&E is a bad faith actor of using CEQA with this appeal, and nothing I have learned in this hearing changes that view,” he said. “On the merits of this appeal, I am convinced it’s baseless.”
Chan used the appeal hearing as an opportunity to reinforce the city’s reasoning behind wanting to acquire PG&E’s assets, reminding the board of the citywide blackout during the holiday season last December that lasted three days for some customers.
“PG&E utilities and infrastructure failed us,” she said in reference to the December blackout. “I am very disappointed in PG&E for appealing this altogether … I would hope that PG&E is more of a partner, especially after what we’ve been through last December, and yet here we are.”
The board ended up unanimously approving the EIR, strongly rejecting PG&E’s request to send the report back to the commission.
What comes next for the grid
The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, the entity hoping to take over PG&E’s infrastructure, praised the board’s decision.
“Today’s decision moves San Francisco forward as we explore expanding public power,” said SFPUC General Manager Dennis Herrera in a statement. “San Francisco has been a public power provider for more than a century … What we don’t own is the local electric grid. Owning it would give us the ability to invest directly in San Francisco’s power infrastructure, with a focus on reliability and affordability for our customers.”
SFPUC owns power generation facilities and large electric lines outside of the city, thus a majority of San Franciscans get power from SFPUC’s CleanPowerSF program. However, PG&E owns the last few miles of electric lines and substations that connect that power directly to homes and buildings in the city. SFPUC provides the power, but PG&E delivers it to customers.
The next step in the city’s process to take over PG&E’s infrastructure involves coming to a determination on a monetary valuation of the utility’s assets in the city. Proceedings will go before the California Public Utilities Commission, with the goal of establishing a value of the electrical infrastructure and evaluating a potential transaction for the city to buy out PG&E.
