Notes of the Prehearing Conference
CPUC Prehearing Conference
December 12, 2014 - 2:00 p.m.
BACKGROUND: The Prehearing Conference was cancelled on short notice and replaced by a teleconference. The cancellation was announced after NOPOC members had departed for San Francisco. Consequently NOPOC members who drove to the meeting audited the teleconference on a cell phone in the CPUC cafeteria. Since the public hearing was cancelled, a court stenographer was not present and a CPUC transcript of the conference call is not available. The following is a paraphrased summary of the teleconference compiled from notes by NOPOC members.
Robert Mason, CPUC Administrative Law Judge:
Matthew Fogelson, PG&E Attorney:
Mason:
Fogelson:
Mason: So the question is, what is CAISO going to recommend?
Fogelson: Yes.
Mason: Mr. Parkin is not available?
Allison Norton, Wittwer Parkin, counsel for NOPOC:
Mason: Do individuals have anything to add?
Marco Romanini: We concur with our counsel.
Mason: Ms. Orsaba, can you speak to the time frame for the permitting process?
Lisa Orsaba, CPUC:
Mason: If CAISO says in January that project is needed, when would the Draft EIR be released?
Orsaba:
Mason:
Fogelson agrees.
Norton:
Mason:
Teleconference ends.
December 12, 2014 - 2:00 p.m.
BACKGROUND: The Prehearing Conference was cancelled on short notice and replaced by a teleconference. The cancellation was announced after NOPOC members had departed for San Francisco. Consequently NOPOC members who drove to the meeting audited the teleconference on a cell phone in the CPUC cafeteria. Since the public hearing was cancelled, a court stenographer was not present and a CPUC transcript of the conference call is not available. The following is a paraphrased summary of the teleconference compiled from notes by NOPOC members.
Robert Mason, CPUC Administrative Law Judge:
- This will be an informal prehearing conference on the PG&E application.
- There is no court reporter.
- I received statements from PG&E and NOPOC.
- I am trying to get a sense of where this application is going, and when we might reach resolution.
- To Fogelson: When do you expect to hear from CAISO, and what is a realistic timeline for resolution?
Matthew Fogelson, PG&E Attorney:
- I received an update an hour ago from CAISO.
- They are hoping to provide their reassessment before Christmas, perhaps next week.
- The timeframe is out of our hands, and could slip.
- Once we have CAISO's reassessment in hand, PG&E will need to evaluate and decide next steps.
- I propose to set up a time in the first week in January to reconvene. We will have heard from CAISO by then, and talked with our people to come up with a recommendation.
Mason:
- After you hear from CAISO, then PG&E will do an internal reassessment.
- I have gleaned from correspondence that PG&E is doing a reassessment of load forecasts for Santa Cruz.
- The project might still be needed, but not needed for a number of years.
Fogelson:
- We have done an internal evaluation and have determined that the project is not needed in the next 10 years.
- We asked CAISO to do its own analysis.
- If CAISO were to say the project is not needed now but needed in 5 years, we would need to determine whether to continue the permitting process because of lead time.
- If CAISO says it is needed, we would have an obligation to permit and build the project.
- If CAISO agrees the project not needed in the next 10 years, we would concur that the application could be dismissed without prejudice.
- If they come back with something in between, we would need to evaluate.
Mason: So the question is, what is CAISO going to recommend?
Fogelson: Yes.
Mason: Mr. Parkin is not available?
Allison Norton, Wittwer Parkin, counsel for NOPOC:
- He is ill today and not able to attend. He has brought me up to speed.
- We are OK with the proposed timeline.
- We want the reassessment to be completed as soon as possible. If it is forthcoming, we can wait until mid-January so we can come to a conclusion.
Mason: Do individuals have anything to add?
Marco Romanini: We concur with our counsel.
Mason: Ms. Orsaba, can you speak to the time frame for the permitting process?
Lisa Orsaba, CPUC:
- The Draft EIR was pretty much completed when PG&E notified us they were seeking reassessment from CAISO.
- When we hear from CAISO, we are ready to issue the Draft EIR quickly.
Mason: If CAISO says in January that project is needed, when would the Draft EIR be released?
Orsaba:
- Very shortly, about three weeks.
- The Draft EIR needs to be reviewed and authorized to print before release.
Mason:
- We will wait to see what CAISO says.
- I ask Fogelson to provide a status report to the parties about what he hears from CAISO, and what PG&E plans to do with the project.
Fogelson agrees.
Norton:
- We are hoping that the CAISO reassessment is forthcoming.
- If it is not coming soon, we will be advocating more aggressively for dismissal without prejudice.
Mason:
- I will take that into account.
- We are obligated to move cases forward.
- I am anxious to have this move forward to some type of resolution.
- If a further prehearing conference is necessary after Fogelson gets report, we will do that by conference call as well.
Teleconference ends.
