Proceeding Number A.12-04-019 APPLICATION OF MARINA COAST WATER DISTRICT FOR REHEARING OF DECISION 12-10-030

ABSTRACT: Re: In the Matter of the Application of California American Water Company (U 210 W) for Approval of the Monterey Peninsula Water Supply Project and Authorization to Recover All Present and Future Costs in Rates, APPLICATION OF MARINA COAST WATER DISTRICT FOR REHEARING OF DECISION 12-10-030 document is embedded. Importantly, CONCLUSION "There is no reason for the Commission to violate its own well-settled precedents, as well as those of the California Supreme Court, to make a premature and speculative final determination concerning preemption of the Desal Ordinance, as it applies to this application at this point in time. The Commission cannot lawfully decide the preemption question until it determines that the present or future public convenience and necessity requires the MPWSP, in some form and with some as-yet unknown conditions, and issues a CPCN. Withdrawing the Decision or modifying it to make only a preliminary determination that the Commission has the authority to preempt the Desal Ordinance, if necessary, and deferring a final decision on preemption pending the Commission’s resolution of the CPCN proceeding, would injure no one, would preserve the integrity of the Commission’s CPCN process for this application, would adhere to Commission precedent, and would ensure the Commission’s compliance with the black-letter law governing ripeness as well as preemption."
"The scope of the Decision is in error, and thus presents a real threat to the parties’ and the public’s trust in the legal integrity and transparency of the Commission’s process. It could give the appearance, despite the Commission’s statement to the contrary, that the Commission has already pre-approved the utility’s proposal, when the Commission’s role in an application proceeding is that of a regulatory fact-finder and decision-maker, dedicated to service of the public interest and resting its determinations on a full and accurate evidentiary record. Hurrying to make a final preemption decision before there is a concrete controversy where an actual CPCN is in conflict with a local ordinance does not serve the public’s, the parties’ or the Commission’s interests in a fair hearing that does not “delegate[] its power to decide the question of public convenience and necessity.” (Ventura, supra, 61 Cal.2d at 464-66.)"

Application of Marina Coast Water District for Rehearing of Decision 12-10-030 11-30-12

Filing Date 11-30-12
APPLICATION OF MARINA COAST WATER DISTRICT FOR REHEARING OF DECISION 12-10-030