DURING COB/PUB PRESS CONFERENCE: PUB CEO BRUCIAK ADDS INSULT TO INJURY; "YOU'LL PAY EXTRA IN YOUR BILL."

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

He led Brownsville down the wrong road in 2013 by pushing with former City of Brownsville Mayor Tony Martinez to force through the construction of a $500 million-plus gas-powered, electric generating plant with private energy giant Tenaska.

He recommended the city commission raise utility rates over a five year span by 36 percent to be used toward the construction of the plant. The rates remain high despite the fact that as far back as 2017, PUB and Tenaska knew it would never be built. 

In that first year, he and his two top executives got raises approved for themselves that eventually placed their salaries approximating $300,00 each. After the project was closed, he told the commission that all but $29 million of the approximately $130 million raised through the high rates was left and he wanted to use it to install LED lights on PUB poles.

Then, under his watch, the PUB sent a $1.3 million to a fictitious vendor by "mistake" and said everything was alright because the depositor bank that was instructed to pay the charges would charge the "mistake" to its insurance which would cover it. His CFO, agreed, and didn't have to answer to anyone about the apprentice-level "mistake."

Now, in the last three days of a frigid front that caused widespread electric outages he admitted in press conference that he had subjected the residents of the city to live without heat or lights because he had directed that 80 percent of the electricity PUB produced be sent to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid while subjecting the people of the city to blackouts.

And it wasn't until people started asking him why he had not ordered the Silas Ray plant 100 percent owned by the people of Brownsville capable of producing 170 MWs – enough to power the city and surrounding communities and prevent hardship to families here – activated Wednesday, subjecting residents to three days of misery and life-and-death situations for the PUB bottom dollar. 

This is John Bruciak, who has been at the helm of the PUB for the last two decades and lives in a condominium in South Padre Island. State investigators say that many utilities, including PUB, did not produce electricity using plants like Silas Ray because it would operate at a loss and hurt their profit margin.

Can you put a price on seeing your children and elderly relatives shivering from the cold when you've been paying artificially-high utility rates recommended by this failed energy guru? Can you put a price on the suffering of the old and sick who need electric medical devices (oxygen, ventilators, etc.) to stay alive? 

At today's joint PUB/City of Brownsville press conference, Bruciak said that he would fire up the plants and produce more energy for local consumption of the municipally-owned utility. But –  and there is always a but with this guy – the extra fuel charges will have to be passed off to the ratepayers' bills and their families who have been subjected to a cold hell for the last four days.

We have an idea. Why not combine the top salaries of these three top pendejos which will total more than $1 million and pay the fuel surcharges?

Or even better, local residents can reach out and touch the PUB board members who are supposed to be representing their interests and demand they dump this guy and his accomplices. These board members have allowed this situation to fester and the Big Freeze has cause the suppurating sore to burst. Give them a piece of your mind and tell them to get off their ass and do something for you instead of kissing Bruciak's butt.

Jude A. Benavides, Ph.D.

Chair, 1st Term

Sandra Saenz

Vice-Chair, 1st Term

Sandra Lopez-Langley

Secretary/Treasurer, 2nd Term

Anna Oquin

Member, 1st Term

Timothy Lopes

Member, 2nd Term

Patricio Sampayo

Member, 2nd Term

Mayor Trey Mendez

Ex-Officio Member, Elected