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Rules Committee advances Art Torres nomination to SFPUC after discussion of safety and community choice
Summary
The Rules Committee moved to forward Mayor Gavin Newsom's nomination of former state Senator Art Torres to the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, after Torres spoke about environmental justice, ratepayer protection and pipeline-safety oversight and after public comment urging community choice aggregation.
Senator Art Torres, nominated by Mayor Gavin Newsom for seat No. 2 on the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, appeared before the Board of Supervisors Rules Committee on Nov. 4 and the committee agreed to forward his confirmation to the full board as a committee report. Chair David Campos took the action to move the confirmation (item 1) forward and to table the rejection (item 2) without objection.
Torres, who identified himself as a longtime public servant and former state senator, told the committee his environmental record and consumer-protection work would inform his service at the PUC. He cited creating the Senate Toxics Committee and work on Proposition 65 and said those experiences make him attentive to pollution and public-health impacts. "My heart goes out to the families" affected by the San Bruno gas-pipeline explosion, Torres said, and urged closer coordination between the city PUC and the state PUC to ensure infrastructure safety and stronger enforcement.
The nomination drew public comment and questions from supervisors. Eric Brooks of the San Francisco Green Party urged the PUC to accelerate community choice aggregation, a clean-energy procurement model that would allow the city to assemble electricity supply on behalf of customers. Torres responded that community choice aggregation is a top priority for him and that he would support bids before the PUC that are economically and environmentally viable.
The committee did not take a roll-call vote on the appointment in committee; instead it agreed to send item 1 to the full Board as a committee report. The full Board will consider the confirmation at its next scheduled meeting on Nov. 16.
