SDG&E is proposing that ratepayers pay for the mistakes made at San Onofre. Rate payers were not responsible for the failures at San Onofre. There are provisions for handling such liability issues in the commercial code that involve the circle of liability of those responsible for the failure.
I am not personally familiar with the detailed technical issues and all of the parties involved in the failures that have resulted in the projected financial costs. However, it would appear that under standard commercial liability provisions the financial responsibilities would be assigned proportionately to the manufacturer, the design agent, the consultants involved in quality assurance along with other enterprises involved in the series of processes that ultimately led to these failures. Any remaining financial liability that cannot be absorbed by the responsible commercial parties would accrue to the shareholders – not the ratepayers.
This is the time for our local officials to take the initiative to assign costs to the responsible parties. Such an initiative would enjoy a groundswell of support from our citizens and ratepayers. After all, who would not support financial responsibility being assigned to the responsible parties, rather than ratepayer victims of this fiasco brought on by incompetence, negligence and a lack of concern for the safety and well being of our community.
As a citizen and ratepayer in this community I look forward to our local government moving forward to protect the public interest in this critical and precedent setting matter.
Vera Moldt
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of the Point Loma Democratic Club of which she is a member.
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