By Hudson Sangree

The California Public Utilities Commission on Thursday asked for more information on Pacific Gas and Electric’s new corporate directors, with some commissioners expressing doubts about their safety expertise and ability to fully focus on their jobs.

The latest effort — in which the CPUC adopted an administrative law judge’s proposed decision — is part of the commission’s ongoing investigation into the safety culture at PG&E, a company blamed for catastrophic wildfires and a deadly pipeline explosion in 2010. (See CPUC Expands Probe into PG&E Practices After Deadly Fire.)

During the CPUC’s meeting in Sacramento, President Michael Picker said he’d met with Jeffrey Bleich, the new chair of utility PG&E, and intended to meet soon with Nora Mead Brownell, chair of parent company PG&E Corp. Bleich, an attorney, is a former ambassador to Australia, and Brownell is a former FERC commissioner.

“While both of these individuals have very impressive resumes, it’s not immediately clear from their record that they have the appropriate qualifications for the task at hand,” Picker said. “In addition, they may not have enough time in the day, given their other commitments, to dive into the full governance of PG&E.

“The corporate governance of PG&E really demands the whole attention of qualified people and not just the splintered attention of otherwise well-meaning people,” he said.

Brownell serves on at least one other board and co-founded an energy consulting business, according to the utility’s web site. Bleich serves on two other corporate boards and chairs the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, it says.

Neither could immediately be reached for comment.

PG&E said in a statement that its new board members, named in April, “possess the important qualifications — including and especially safety expertise — to lead PG&E going forward.”

The “PG&E Corp. board’s Nominating and Governance Committee explicitly added safety expertise to the variety of experience and skills we require for our directors,” it said. “The directors include industry leaders who have dedicated their careers to safe and reliable utility service — including as federal and state regulators, and as board members and executive officers of other energy companies.”

Picker, backed by three of his fellow commissioners (one was absent), said the CPUC needs to “dig deeper” into the board to “find out who’s making decisions, how qualified they are and whether we have the right leadership at PG&E.”