ML19309B261
| ML19309B261 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | South Texas, Comanche Peak  |
| Issue date: | 03/06/1980 |
| From: | Poirier M TEXAS, STATE OF |
| To: | Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8004030344 | |
| Download: ML19309B261 (18) | |
Text
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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION BEFORE THE ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARD In the Matter of )
)
HOUSTON LIGHTING & POWER ) NRC Docket Nos. 50-498A COMPANY , _e_t_ _a_l . ) 50-499A
)
(South Texas Project, Units )
1 and 2) )
)
)
In the Matter of )
)
TEXAS UTILITIES GENERATING ) NRC Docket Nos. 50-445A CCMPANY, e_t _a_l . _
) 50-446A
)
(Comanche Peak Steam Electric ) g3 2 l
Station, Units 1 and 2) ) 4 O c- ..~ ,
l COMMENTS OF THE PUBLIC UTILITIES BOARD , \1 OF THE CITY OF BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS g, _
ON THE JOINT MOTION OF THE "
WR 0 r - -
i DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE AND THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION STAFF OJ Offlee OccAc!.ig &er g g3,3,h87 FILED FEBRUARY 28, 1980 Crts p 01 A @
Pursuant to the Board's Order of March 3,1980, the Public Utilities Board of the City of Brownsville, Texas
("Brownsville") hereby files comments on the Joint Motion of the Department of Justice and the Nuclear Regulatory Commisalon Staff for Modification of the Board's Order Regarding Protection of Settlement Discussions and for an Order to
- Compel Production of Certain Documents and Testimony.
I It appears to Brownsville that several parties to this proceeding have been relying on this Board's ruling of June l,1979, granting a privilege to settlement negotiations, 8 004 0303bhi
to create a broad umbrella for refusing to provide testimony or evidence about a number of recent discussions and develop-ments. Brownsville belioves this use is improper, has obstructed the progress of this proceeding, and goes far l beyond what the Board intended in its June 1 Order.
Brownsville has not attended the depositions of ;
employees and experts of Houston Lighting and Power Company and the Texas Utilities companias, consequently it defers to the description of the exact circumstances provided by the Department of Justice and the Commission Staff in their joint motion.
Similar assertions have been made by Central Power and ,
i Light Company ("CP&L") and Central and South West Corporation I
("CESW"), however, at depositions of officers of CP&L. For l example, at the deposition of Mr. William C. Price , a Vice President of CP&L, Mr. Price was instructed not to answer a l question regarding CF&L's modifications of its off-peak interruptible energy contract with Texas Power & Light Company on the basis of settlement discussion privilege.
l (Attachment A).
l l
' l The attorney for the Department of Justice at this -
l l
l deposition was likewise precluded by a similar assertion of l
l privilege from inquiry into the specifics of CP&L's 1
transmission planning or any past offer of part.icipation in the South Texas Project to Brownsville. (Attachment B).
l
1 l
Again in the deposition of Merle Borchelt, Vice President and Chief Engineer of CP&L, counsel for CP&L instructed the witness not to answer a question about the ;
role of C&SW in CP&L's planning of new transmission on the l l
' oasis of a settlement discussion privilege. (Attachment C).
The Joint Motion provides this Board an opportunity to clarify its earlier ruling on settlement discussion privilege.
In Brownsville's view, the privilege is not properly invoked to creclude testimony about unrelated negotiations, such as those surrounding negotiations of a new Brownsville/CP&L interchange contract. Nor is it proper to invoke this privi-lege to preclude testimony about recent activities, such as CP&L's modification of its off-peak interruptible contract with TP&L, simply because they are recent and the underlying facts may become an issue in this proceeding. If a settle-ment discussion privilege is appropriate at all in this pro-ceeding, it should be invoked only to protect positions taken, statements made, or documents prepared explicitly for the purpose of arriving at a settlement of this proceeding; j not because general issues might be raised as part of a settlement a discussion at some other time.
e
-- .__..g-
i ,
1 Accordingly, the Public Utilities Board of the City' of Brownsville respectfully requests this Board to clarify the scope of the settlement discussion privilege in this pro-caeding in accordance with the above.
Respectfully submitted, bM bfn Marc R. Poirier Attorney for the Public Utilities Board of the City of Brownsville, Texas March 6, 1980 I
i 9
l i
- _ _ y
,s in g DOGC ur:-
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA : N 101730 >
I BEFORE THE L-NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 0'f, 0, BEFORE THE ATOMIC SAFETY LICENSING BOARD h e In the Matter of )
)
HOUSTON LIGHTING & POWER COMPANY, ) Docket Nos. 50-498A et al. ) and 50-499A
)
(South Texas Project, Unit Nos. )
1 and 2) . )
)
)
)
In the Matter of )
)
TEXAS UTILITIES GENERATING COMPANY, ) Docket Nos. 50-445A et al. ) and 50-446A
)
(Comanche Peak Steam Electric )
Station, Unit Nos. 1 and 2) )
)
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby certify that I have caused copies of the foregoing COMMENTS OF THE PUBLIC UTILITIES BOARD OF THE CITY OF BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS ON THE JOINT MOTION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE AND THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION STAFF FILED FEBRUARY 28, 1980 to be served on the followirg by hand *, or by deposit in the United States mail, first class, postage paid, this 6th day of March,1980.
- Marshall E. Miller, Chairman
- Sheldon J. Wolfe , Esquire Atomic Safety & Licensing Board Atomic Safety & Licensing Board Panel Panel Nuclear Regulatory Commission Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D. C. 20555 ,
Washington, D. C. 20555
- Michael L. Glaser, Esquire Joseph Rutberg', Esquire 1150 17th Street, N. W. Antitrust Counsel Washington, D. C. 20036 Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D. C. 20555 Roy P. Lessy, Esquire R. Gordon Gooch, Esquire Michael B. Blume, Esquire - John P. Mathis, Esquire Nuclear Regulatory Commission Baker & Botts Washington, D. C. 20555 1701 Pennsylvania Avenue, N. W.
Washington, D. C. 20006
Jerome Saltzman, Chief Antitrust & Indemnity Group Robert Lowenstein, Esquire Nuclear Regulatory Commission J. A. Bouknight, Jr., Esquire Washington, D. C. 20555 William J. Franklin, Esquire Lowenstein, Newman, Reis, Chase R. Stephens, Chief Axelrad & Toll Docketing & Service Section 1025 Connecticut Avnue, N. W.
Office of the Secretary Washington, D. C. 20036 Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D. C. 20555 Frederick H. Ritts, Esquire Law Offices of Northcutt Ely Joseph R. Saunders, Esquire Watergate 600 Building Chief, Public Counsel & Washington, D. C. 20037 Legislative Section Antitrust Division Wheatley & Wolleson Department of Justice 1112 Watergate Office Building P. O. Box 14141 2600 Virginia Avenue, N. W.
Washington, D. C. 20444 Washington, D. C. 20037 Joseph Gallo, Esquire Roff Hardy, Chairman and Robert H. Loeffler, Esquire Chief Executive Officer
- David M. Stahl, Esquire Central Power " Light Company l
Isham, Lincoln & Seale P. O. Box 2121 1050 17th Street, N. W. Corpus Christi, Texas 78403 Suite 701 Washington, D. C. 20036 G. K. Spruce, General Manager
. City Public Service Board Susan B. Cyphert, Esquire P. O. Box 1771 Antitrust Division San Antonio, Texas ' 78201 Department of Justice P. O. Box 14141 Jon C. Wood, Esquire Washington, D.C. 20444 W. Roger Wilson, Esquire Matthews, Nowlin, Macfarlane Jos tph Knotts, Esquire & Barrett Nicholas S. Reynolds, Esquire 1500 Alamo Natinn21 Building Debevoise & Liberman San Antonio, T(s s 78205 1200 17th Street, N. W.
Washington, D. C. 20036 ?erry G. Brittain, President Texas Utilities Generating Co.
Douglas F. John,_ Esquire 2001 Bryan Tower Akin, Gump, Hauer & Feld Dallas, Texas 75201 1333 New Hampshire Avenue, N. W.
Suite 400 Joseph I. Worsham, Esquire
- Wachington, D. C. 20036 Merlyn D. Sampels; Esquire Spencer C.' Relfea, Esquire
- Worsham, Forsythe & Sampels l 2001 Bryan Tower Suite 2500 Dallas, Texas 75201 e
g 4 0
- - , v
l R. L. Hancock, Director G. W. Oprea, Jr.
City of Austin Electric Utility Executive Vice President Department Houston Lighting & Power Co.
P. O. Box 1088 P. O. Box 1700 Austin, Texas 78767 Houston, Texas 77001 Jerry L. Harris, Esquire W. S. Robson, General Manager Richard C. Balough, Esquire South Texas Electric Coop. , Inc.
City of Austin Route 6, Building 102 P. O. Box 1088 Victoria Regional Airport Austin, Texas 78767 Victoria, Texas 77901 Dan H. Davidson Michael I. Miller, Esquire City Manager Isham, Lincoln & Beale City of Austin One First National Plaza P. O. Box 1088 Chicago, Illinois 60603-Austin, Texas 78767 Donald Clements , Esquire Don R. Butler, Esq. Gulf States Utilities Co.
Sneed, Vine, Wilkerson, Selman P. O. Box 2951
& Perry ^ Beaumont, Texas 7'074
- P. O. Box 1409 Austin, Texas 78767 Knoland J. Plucknett Executive Director ;
Morgan Hunter, Esquire Committee on Power for the l McGinnis, Lochridge & Kilgore Southwest, Inc. 1 900 Cengress Avenue 5541 Skelly Drive Austin, Texas 18701 Tulsa, Oklahoma 74135, Kevin B. Pratt, Esquire Jay M. Galt, Esquire Linda Aker, Esquire Looney, Nichols, Johnson & Hayes P. O. Box 12548 219 Couch Drive Capital Station Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73101 Austin, Texas 78767 John E. Mathews, Jr., Esquire E. W. Barnett, Esquire Mathews , Osborne , Ehrlich, McNat-Charles G. Thrash, Jr., Esquire- Gobelman & Cobb J. Gregory Copeland, Esquire 1500 American Heritage Life Bldg Theodore F. Weiss, Jr., Esquire Jacksonville, Florida 32202 Baker & Botts 3000 One Shall Plaza Robert E. Bathen Houston, Texa 77002 R. W. Beck & Associates P. O. Box 6817 Orlando, Florida 82803 1
Somervell County Public brary P. O. Box 417 Glen Rose, Texas 76403
. Maynard Human, GenerPl Manager Western Farmers E? ' .tc Coop.
P. O. Box 429 Anadarko, Oklahoma 73005 James E. Monahan' .
Executive Vice President and General Manager Brazos Electric Power Coop., Inc.
P. O. Box 629t.
Waco, Texas .6706 Robert M. Rader, Esquire Conner, Moore & Corber 1747 Pennsylvania Avenue, N. W. .
Washington, D. C. 20006 .
W. N. Woolsey, Esquire Dyer and Redford 1030 Petroleum Tower Corpus Christi, Texas 78474 l Mr. G. Holman King ,
West Texas Utilities Co. -
P. O. Box 841 l Abilene, Texas 79604 i Robert A. /Jablon Attorney for the Public Utilitiesj Board of the City of Brownsville ,;
Texas i 1
March 6, 1980 '
. . At-Mrnent A, Price Depositicn
. . . ' . 128 1 A It would benefit all of the customers of I Central Power and Light Company and I cannot 2
3 see that there would be any disappropriate 4 accrual from one group of customers to some 5 other group of customers.
6 Q All right, sir. Mr. Price, Mr. Baldwin deposed 7 you regarding a wheeling to the Public Utili-8 ties Board from Texas Utilities be interruptible 9 off peak power. Do you remember that this 10 morning?
11 A There was some mention of that, yes, sir.
N
- 12 Q Does the Central Power and Light purchase 13 interruptible of f peak power from Texas N
14 Utilities?
15 A Yes, sir.
16 Q Do you recall when the contract was first 17 executed?
18 A No, sir, I do not know.
19 Q It has been several years?
20 A It has been some while. I have seen the 21 contract, but I don't recall its date..
22 O Was this prior to the execution of the 23 schedule, the agreement between Central Power J
24 and Light Company and the Public Utilities
- ~
l 25 Board?
l l
129 1 A Mr. Davidson, I understand the question to 2 be was the contract for off peak interruptible l 3 power under which CP&L purchased this from 4 TP&L prior to the discussion of the Schedule 5 T for Brownsville,' and the answer is yes.
6 Q Mr. Price, this is a recent agreement, this 7 agreement to wheel power for the Public 8 Utilities Board from Texas Utilities, isn't 9 that correct, executed last month, I believe?
10 A Would you restate your question, sir?
11 Q The execution o f Schedule T between the 12 Public Utilities Board and Central Power and 13 Light oc. curred last month, I believe?
14 A Approximately, yes, sir.
15 o nas central Power and Light recently increased 16 the amount of interruptible off peak power 17 that it purchases from Texas Utilities?
18 A I do not know, sir. That is a matter that 19 is a daily schedule thing by our dispatcher 20 and we may be taking more o. may be taking 21 less, depending on the system conditions. .
22 O Do you know what the maximum limitation of 1
23 the agreement on Texas Utilities and Central l
24 Power and Light to purchase interruptible 25 off peak power? -
l
130
, y A It's my understanding that the agreement as r' pp sed to what we take currently 2
has a 500 megawatt level currently.
3 4
Q Since July 9, 1979., was that ceiling increased fr m 200 megawatts to 500 megawatts?
5 A I understand that it was increased but I do 6
not know what the prior limit was.
7 g Q You know what the take was, say, as of Friday 9
under this e neract between Central Power and 10 Light and Texas Utilities?
A Not long ago, within days, I was told ' tha t 11 12 we were taking in the order of 400 megawatts.
13 Q All.right, sir. Was that the maximum amount 14 that was available?
A I was n e specifi ally t id chat but based 15 16 n prior knowledge, I would have understood 17 it not to be the maximum amount.
18 Q Were there any studies compiled or done at 19 Central Power and Light Company to determine 20 the necessity for increasing its purchases 21 fr m Texas Utilities? ,
22 A I do not know.
23 Q Mr. Price, do you remember when Brownsville 24 first proposed that Central Power and Light 25 interruptible off peak power for it?
l
131 1 A I believe that I recall that.
Was that July 9, 1979?
f 2 Q I
3 MR. CARNEY: The witness has 4 warned me that this is part of the settlem'nt e l -
5 negotiations, so I'm going to instruct him no t 6 to answer the question on that ground.
7 ,
MR. DAVID SON : Certify it.
8 Q Can you answer, Mr. Price, as to whether the 9 increase from the 200 to 500 megawatt ceiling 10 occurred before or after Brow'nsville 11 first r e q u e s t e d w h e e l i n g f o r- t h e interruptible 12 off peak power from Texas Utilities?
13 MR. CARNEY: Again, it's my under-14 standing that this is part of the continuing 15 settlement nego tiatio ns , and on that basis 16 I will instruct the witness not to answer the 17 question.
18 Q Well, Mr. Price, can you tell me who deter-19 mined the necessity, who in the company, Cen-20 tral Power and Light company, determined to 21 request increased interruptible off peak power .
22 from Texas Utilities?
l 23 A I can only speculate as to who made that ;
1 24 decision. .
I 25 Q Nhose department, the name of.the person
132 1 whose department would be responsible?
b 2 A The decision would have been made under the 3
general supervision of the executive vice 4 president and chief engineering' officer, 5 Borchelt.
6 'O Ordinarily would there be studies made, inter-p company studies supporting the increased take?
8 A I do not know.
9 0 I will ask Mr,. Carney on the record, are 10 you all willing to furnish any copies of 11 written memorandum or other communications 12 relating to the reasons supporting the deci-13 sion to increase the purse from Texas Utilities 14 of interruptible off peak' power since July of 15 1979?
_ 16 MR. CARNEY: To the extent that 17 we find such memorandum tha t do not inure 18 to the area of the settlement negotiations 19 or attorney client privilege we'll indeed l
l 20 make them available.
t 21 Q Mr. Price, were you contacted by Mr. Stall, 22 counsel for Central and Southwest and Cen-23 tral Power and Light Company concerning l
24 certain documents which counsel for the '
'# Public utiliti,es Board, Mr. Mark R. Perrier, 25 l
, Attachment B, Price Depositica j
112 l l
1 of the TU operacing companies?
f i 2 A To the best of my knowledge, we were not.
3 You said TU companies?
4 Q Any of the Texas Utilities operating companies?
. 5 A All right.
6 MR. JOHNSON: Mr. Price, I have 7 no other questions.
8 9 CROSS EXAMINATION 10 QUESTIONS BY MR. DOPSOVIC:
11 Q Mr. Price, is CP&L and Brownsville still 12 connected with the radial tie line?
13 A Yes, we're interconnected with the two systems..
14 Q What voltage?
15 A 69,000 volts.
16 Q And CP&L have any plans for constructing a 1
17 loop or another line in the future?
- 18 A Yes, sir.
i 19 Q Could you explain what you' re contemplating?
20 A Yes, sir. In a general way, we expect to l
21 extend the 138.KV surplus to the Lavaca 22 Power Plant.
23 MR. CARNEY: I'm going to have 24 to instruct the witness not to answer this
{s 25 -
question. It again touches upon the s.ettlement
. 113 1 discussions with Brownsville.
0 Okay. Do you know how much of the generation
{} 2 3
f Brownsville is from natural gas?
4 A I know approximately the capacity of their' 5 equipment which I understand to be natural 6 gas fired.
7 Q In other words, the total generation is gas 8 fired? Is that what you're saying?
9 A I believe it is. It may have oil burning 10 capabilities. I'm not sure.
11 Q Was Brownsville offered participation in the 12 South Texas Project? Outside of the negotia-13 tions, I'm sorry. -
__ 14 MR. CARNEY: I believe the Vitness n
has~ stated that he is aware of no discussions 15 16 with Brownsville. He has answered that 17 question already.
18 Q Was Brownsville or any other utility system 19 which was offered this, I suppose you would 20 say it was a general offer, was transmission j -
21' services or transmission access to the South 1
- 1 .
22 Texas Project ever offered outside of the 1 - 23 negotiations?
l 24 MR. CARNEY: Could I hear the
/ question again?
25
'114 1 Q Was Brownsville or any of the other utility f 2 systems which you have stated was given an 3 offer ever offered by CP&L or any of the 4 TIS members transmission services from the 5 south Texas Project?
6 A Outside of the sattlement agreement kind of 7 things and I refer now back to when I a 'ini-8 tially participation was offered to neighbor-
- 9 ing systems, I do not know what company's 10 position was relative to transmission services.
11 Q What was CP&L's position on wheeling 'for 12 Brownsville from the South Texas Project 13 outside of the settlement negotiations?
14 A That would be one of the neighboring systems 15 that I referred to many years ago.
16 Q What is CP&L's general position on wheeling 17 for Brownsville from sources other than CP&L?
18 A I would have to say, sir, outside of the 19 settlement negotiations that touch on that 20 question, I have no t been involved in any 21' other discussions with Brownsvi.lle.
22 Q Do you know who has. been involved with such 23 discussions?
l 24 A I don' t know that such discussions occurred.
(- 25 Q o,'to the best of your knowledge, you are
115 1 saying that you have no. knowledge of other I 2 discussions prior to the settlement discussions?
3 A Well, some years ago there probably were, but 4 not to my personal knowledge -- only by he'aring 5 about it and really net definitively hearing 6 about it.
7 Q Clarifying question: Were those discussions 8 that you heard about in the context of the 9 South Texas Project and/or in the context of 10 the contract with Brownsville for general-11 wholesale power? '
12 A Well,' essentially all of the discussions that 13 I have had with B'rownsville are now included 14 in what has been identified as the settlement
. 15 discussions.
16 Q Assuming there would be an interstate inter-17 connection, apart from any order by the NRC 13 or FERC concerning an interconnection, would 19 CP&L be willing to wheel power to Brownsville 20 from some other source?
21' A The answer has to be yes. .
22 MR. CARNEY: Let's hear that.
23 Q I thought I said interstate source of 1
l 24 power. Do you want me to rephrase the ,
( .
25 whole question?
l
Atxrent C, T:crcnelt Npositica 35 l
1
~' ' O NM WW1 WO 2
ask a representative of central and southwest 3 and 2 abdect to any further questions de=HM 4 with wtunt c-*M and southwest might require 5
and what the responsibilitsee between castral ;
8 y set of airosastances. So, . . . l s Q @y air. Davidson) Well, leaving L 1,# he*f ~ 1 eircom-
, stances -
in 31a. STAm.: And I may also avtand it to 1
antaal circumstances. .
11 l
12 O (sy str. Davidson) All right. In the review and/or 13
- PPEeval of M @ for agw tranassia=ien to the 14 Public 12tilities soazd in arounaville?
15 asa. ArnHL: I endect to the form of that 16 17
- * ** * " Y l 3, of Central and N,- but h that is geestion is also a matter that's being wedated 20 right acw between CPL and Bw.illar and it 21 has no h to the issues 6 the m -
3 ,.e: M 45 g 18R, ynnwus could I have that read back?
22 referred to
- negotiation."
24 .
. - . . . . , , . y .,
s,. MR. DAVIDSCEr I'll tell you off the record. ,
@(ihfihrn3 r;nra n o n- , - :l CHATHAM & AS S j l count mEpomTEms - 'i