The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "California Public Utilities Commission" ...
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California Utilities' Donations Shed Light on Blackout Crisis
In an effort to find a fresh angle to the California energy crisis, the Center for Public Integrity discovers that the major utilities in the troubled state have spent tens of millions of dollars toward political activities since 1994. Pacific Gas & Electric Corp., Edison International and Sempra Energy in an all-out effort put a total of $39 million in 1998 "to defeat Proposition 9, a statewide referendum that would have overturned parts of the 1996 deregulation law." The moneys were spent on campaign contributions to "a handful of select lawmakers," lobbying activities, gifts, travel and other compensation, including those from industry-backed non-profit organizations.
Tags: utilities; energy; Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); personal financial disclosure reports; consumer advocacy; deregulation; CAR
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Power Struggle: California's Engineered Energy Crisis and the Potential of Public Power
Multinational Monitor investigates how huge oil and gas companies close to George W. Bush have profited from the energy crisis in California. "The blackouts ... have many causes. But neither a shortfall a supply nor a surge in demand for electricity is among them," the magazine points out. The story finds that California's consumers and taxpayers are victims of a massive, complex double-theft, first by the biggest electric power utilities, and second by some of the president's closest associates and contributors. Another finding is that the U.S. barons of fossil and nuclear fuel have used the crisis as " a pretext to declare an all-out assault on environmental protection."
Tags: American Public Power Project; environmental protection; oil; gas; president; utilities; deregulation; power plants; electric market; Public Media Center; Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights; California and U.S. Public Interest Research Groups; American Public Power Project; Concerned Stockholders of California; Dick Cheney; Federal Electrical Regulatory Commission; PG&E Corporation
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Free Market Shock
The American Prospect looks at problems with energy deficiencies in Illinois, Ohio and New York. The reporter finds that "California isn't a unique failure" because "electricity and deregulation just don't mix." The story explains that electricity cannot obey the supply and demand laws, because it cannot be stored except in minuscule quantities. "Deregulated markets have had to operate at mind-boggling levels of complexity that make the old regulatory approach seem like the very soul of efficiency," reports the magazine.
Tags: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; electricity; hydropower; power plants; nuclear energy; utilities; regulation; deregulation; Energy Information Administration; Public Utilities Holding Company Act; Edison; Pacific Gas and Electric
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The Energy Crunch
San Francisco Chronicle follows the controversies surrounding the energy crisis in California over a 10-month period. The package of stories examines the political manipulations relating to the talks between the energy companies and the state and federal regulators. Some of the articles also look at how the energy deregulation approach has been applied in other states and with what results. One of the findings is that "despite the huge run-up in prices and revenues, only a handful of regulators today can say whether the energy wholesalers are engaged in brazenly illegal price-fixing, merely unethical market manipulation or just good business." The investigation exposes "the veil of official secrecy that allows the companies to bid on lucrative energy deals behind closed doors."
Tags: California Public Utilities Commission; San Diego Gas & Electric; Enron Corp.; consumers; taxpayers; wholesale costs; Pacific Gas and Electric Co.; bankruptcy; Edison; El Paso Natural Gas; Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; power plants; blackouts; electricity; Duke Energy Corp.; California Power Exchange; economy; business; market; SoCalGas; Mexico; Pennsylvania; Nevada; deregulation; nuclear power; coal; environment; Green Mountain Energy
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Phone Fee Furor
Using CAR, Wallack analyzed more than 125,000 complaints against long-distance phone companies filed with the California Public Utilities Commission. In this analysis, he found that problems with long-distance carriers has nearly doubled in a two-year period. Wallack's in-depth look at these companies also includes a list of reasons for the increase in problems with the long-distance carriers.
Tags: CAR; long-distance; business; phone companies
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No title (id: 4438)
San Francisco Bay Guardian in-depth report looks at Pacific Bell and how this post-divestiture company is changing to meet its competition; discusses who will pay for the changes and what the California Public Utilities Commission's role will be, March 19, 1986.
Tags: None
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No title (id: 4047)
San Francisco Bay Guardian article examines the efforts by Pacific Gas and Electric to persuade the California Public Utilities Commission that its customers, not its stockholders, should foot the bill for costly mistakes the company made in constructing its Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, Nov. 27, 1985.
Tags: CA