San Bruno residents pressing to remove CPUC president

SAN BRUNO, Calif.

Peevey was appointed by Governor Gray Davis in 2002. He's a former president of Southern California Edison but that isn't even mentioned by those that would oust him, in their long list of grievances.

Bullis and Rene Morales share the horror of having lost family members in the explosion. "With Sue and I standing here today, we represent four of the victims that died. That's half of the victims. Just Sue and I. Our children were ripped from us and nobody should experience that," Morales said.

Morales lost her daughter Jessica. Bullis lost her son Will, her husband Greg, and her mother-in-law Lavonne. They're adding their voices to a growing chorus calling for Peevey's removal. They say there is overwhelming evidence he is not using his position to protect the people of California, but to protect the utilities, in particular, PG&E.

Most recently, they're furious about the way he's handling the process of deciding how PG&E will be punished for the San Bruno disaster, suspending public hearings in favor of closed-door settlement negotiations. "It was life-changing for me, losing my family, but this is about more than that. This is about how things are run and how we can get to the root of the problem," Bullis told ABC7 News.

Residents have started a petition drive. The San Bruno City Council and San Mateo County supervisors will be considering resolutions calling for his removal and Assemblyman Jerry Hill is in daily contact with the governor's office, pleading for him to take action. "The governor needs to have a reason and we're certainly giving him a reason," Hill said.

"How can Governor Brown look the other way when you have grieving moms pointing the finger at the fox watching the henhouse," said Kimberly Archie with the Gas Pipeline Safety Foundation.

ABC7 News contacted both the governor's office and the CPUC but has received no response yet.

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