You wish we'd shut up, Peevey

On June 5, the attorney general's office demanded documents from the California Public Utilities Commission related to the so-called settlement when it was decided that ratepayers would pick up the tab for more than $3 billion of the decommissioning costs of the San Onofre nuclear plant.

The AG's office seeks "any and all records from January 31, 2012 until January 31, 2015, involving the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station closure settlement agreement, the 2013 meeting between Stephen Pickett and Michael Peevey in Poland," and other matters, including those related to the squelching of the required investigation of what happened to force the closure of San Onofre.

The AG's office wants emails and other communications of Ted Craver, chief executive of Edison International; Ron Litzinger, former president of Southern California Edison; Stephen Pickett, who was at the secret meeting with Peevey in Poland; Peevey; Mike Florio, commissioner who handled the matter until he was abruptly removed from the case, and Melanie Darling, the CPUC administrative law judge who was handling the matter.

The demand for information on Darling could be quite significant.

In May of 2014, San Diego attorney Mike Aguirre said at a public CPUC meeting that the settlement taking money from ratepayers was a result of secret meetings between CPUC commissioners and Edison executives. Peevey blew up, told Aguirre to "Shut up! Shut up!" and said he would not answer Aguirre's "goddamned questions." It has since come out that there were, indeed, secret, unreported meetings between commission officials and Edison executives on the very issues that were recommended in the settlement and later affirmed by vote of the commissioners.

Some in the media, including the Reader, have opined that the attorney general's office was not serious in its investigation, because attorney general Kamala Harris is running for U.S. Senate and doesn't want to upset governor Jerry Brown. These search warrants may or may not suggest otherwise.

(incorrect photo replaced 7/8, 10 a.m.)