Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California Berkeley Oral History Center University of California The Bancroft Library Berkeley, California Michael R. Peevey An Entrepreneur in Business, Energy, Labor, and Politics Interviews conducted by Roger Eardley-Pryor, Ph.D. in 2019 Copyright © 2019 by The Regents of the University of California Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California Berkeley ii Since 1954 the Oral History Center of The Bancroft Library, formerly the Regional Oral History Office, has been interviewing leading participants in or well-placed witnesses to major events in the development of Northern California, the West, and the nation. Oral History is a method of collecting historical information through tape-recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. The tape recording is transcribed, lightly edited for continuity and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewee. The corrected manuscript is bound with photographs and illustrative materials and placed in The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley, and in other research collections for scholarly use. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account, offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is reflective, partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ********************************* All uses of this manuscript are covered by a legal agreement between The Regents of the University of California and Michael R. Peevey dated March 1, 2019. The manuscript is thereby made available for research purposes. All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to The Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley. Excerpts up to 1,000 words from this interview may be quoted for publication without seeking permission as long as the use is non-commercial and properly cited. Requests for permission to quote for publication should be addressed to The Bancroft Library, Head of Public Services, Mail Code 6000, University of California, Berkeley, 94720-6000, and should follow instructions available online at http://ucblib.link/OHC-rights. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Michael R. Peevey, “Michael R. Peevey: An Entrepreneur in Business, Energy, Labor, and Politics” conducted by Roger Eardley-Pryor in 2019, Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 2019. Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California Berkeley iii Michael R. Peevey Courtesy of Michael R. Peevey Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California Berkeley iv Michael R. Peevey is an entrepreneur, executive leader, and longtime regulator of California’s energy industry. Peevey was born in New York City in 1938 and moved to San Francisco in 1944. He earned both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Labor Economics from the University of California, Berkeley in 1959 and 1961, respectively. Peevey worked in the US Department of Labor before becoming research director of the California Federation of Labor in 1963. In 1973, Peevey co-founded and became executive director of the California Council on Environment and Economic Balance (CCEEB), a political advocacy organization chaired by former California Governor Pat Brown. Peevey later helped establish other institutions including the California Foundation for Environment and Economy (CFEE), CALSTART, the Pacific Forest and Watershed Lands Stewardship Council, and the California Clean Energy Fund. He joined the Southern California Edison utility company in 1984, and rose to become president of both Edison International and Southern California Edison before departing in 1993. In 1995, amid deregulation of California’s energy economy, Peevey co-founded New Energy Ventures (now NewEnergy, Inc.), which he sold to AES in 1999. In 2001, Peevey volunteered in California Governor Grey Davis’s office to mitigate the California energy crisis. In 2002, Governor Davis appointed Peevey as president of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). Both California Governors Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jerry Brown reappointed Peevey as CPUC president before Peevey’s retirement in late 2014. Peevey is married to Carol J. Liu, who served several years in the California legislature. They have three children. In this oral history, Peevey discusses these events, as well as the following topics: his family background and upbringing; education at Berkeley; work in labor organizations; running for elected office; political advocacy on environmental issues; reflections on political and executive leadership; his career at Southern California Edison; market deregulation and entrepreneurship; the California energy crisis in the early 2000s; leadership of the California Public Utilities Commission; policies he championed to incentivize California’s green-energy economy. Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California Berkeley v Table of Contents — Michael R. Peevey Foreword by Mary D. Nichols xxi Interview 1: January 7, 2019 Hour 1 1 Born February 8, 1938 — Parents, Willard and Miriam Bliss, meeting, marriage, careers — Parents’ divorce and mother’s marriage to Robert Peevey — Family’s move to San Francisco in 1944 — Stepfather Robert Peevey’s work in the Merchant Marines during WWII — Early memories of San Francisco home — Strained relationship with stepfather — Mother’s work at the Mechanics’ Institute — Grade school at Dudley Stone Grammar School — Attending Lowell High School in the early 1950s — Stepfather’s death — Rebellious behavior in high school — Getting a 1950 Ford automobile — Traveling by plane in 1953 Hour 2 23 Meeting biological father Willard Bliss — Cross-country road trip — Summers in Santa Rosa with Barbara and Jim Somerville — Trips to Rio Nido — Friends during teen years — Experiences at the University of San Francisco — Transferring to UC Berkeley, major in labor economics — Job at Pauson’s clothing store — Memory of President Truman firing General MacArthur — Bay Area during the Korean War — Peevey’s Marine Corps service — First time watching TV — Right-to-work law during Pat Brown’s run for California governor in 1958 — Mother and stepfather’s burial at the Masters, Mates, and Pilots Union plot — Labor economics courses at Cal — Working with Professors Charles Gulick and Budd Cheit — Nominated by President Nixon to National Commission on State Workers’ Compensation Laws — Emphasis on institutional relations and policy in Berkeley economics coursework — The role of comparative economic policy — Peevey on his view of government control versus private innovation Interview 2: January 7, 2019 Hour 1 53 Helping establish Cal’s Economics Alumni Association — Recruitment to US Labor Department — Father, Willard Bliss, labeled a Communist before US Senate — Father’s move to LA for half-sister Dena’s acting ambitions — Social life at Cal — North Beach San Francisco nightlife in late 1950s — Master’s thesis on wage impacts from rival unionism — Marriage to Lauretta Wade in 1961 — Move to Washington DC, work in Labor Department from 1961 to 1963 — Birth of daughter Darcie in 1962 — President Kennedy’s assassination — Return to Bay Area in 1963 — President Kennedy’s funeral — Meeting best friend Don Vial — Working as research director for the California Labor Federation with Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California Berkeley vi Tommy Pitts, differing political views — Meeting Robert Kennedy in Visalia — Representing AFL-CIO during the United Farm Workers movement in mid-60s Hour 2 76 DiGiorgio Corporation employees’ unionization vote — Views on Cesar Chavez — Marching with Cesar Chavez, Walter Reuther, Paul Schrade, and Larry Itliong — Bobby Kennedy’s assassination in 1968 — Position papers for California Labor Federation — Differences with Tommy Pitts — Opposition to the Vietnam War — Birth of daughter Maria in 1967 — Friendship with Don Vial — Forming Marin Transportation Action Committee — Running for the California Senate in 1969 — Coordinator of Community Programs at UC Berkeley’s Institute for Industrial Relations, work with low-income communities — Racial integration and unions — First Earth Day in April 1970 — Returning in 1971 to California Labor Federation as Sacramento lobbyist and chief assistant to Jack Henning — Running for the Marin County Board of Supervisors in 1972 — Talk in 1973 with Jack Henning about future career — Decision to form and direct the California Council on Environment and Economic Balance (CCEEB) Interview 3: January 17, 2019 Hour 1 102 California Coastal Commission, Proposition 20 in 1972, business community reactions — Forming and becoming executive director of California Council on Environment and Economic Balance (CCEEB) in 1973 — Appointing Pat Brown as CCEEB chairman — 1973 Arab Oil Embargo — CCEEB focus on housing, land use, planning, development, and energy — Nuclear energy in California — Proposition 15 banning nuclear energy in California on June 1976 ballot — Debating Ralph Nader on National Public Radio — Nuclear power instead of oil — Impacts of political cartoons and bumper stickers — Support of scientists and engineers — Defeat of Proposition 15, CCEEB victory — California legislature’s Nuclear