Deadline to challenge PSC fiber-to-home rules Oct. 17

The clock is running again; the official Public Service Commission (PSC) rules governing LUS’ telecom utility were signed Tuesday. The Advertiser notes the moment:

Public Service Commission rules governing Lafayette Utilities System’s fiber-to-the-home project were signed Tuesday, giving concerned parties 10 business days to file a challenge, said [PSC Executive] Secretary Lawrence “Tubby” St. Blanc.

I had heard that Cox had asked the PSC to reconsider the rules voted on in the last meeting. But this story makes is sound as if they haven’t so far done so. But the still have a little time:

The deadline to appeal the rules is 4:30 p.m. Oct. 17.

If an appeal is filed, it would be considered at the commission’s Oct. 19 meeting.

And yet another chance to obstruct the official promulgation of the rules:

“After that, if we reconfirm the rules, they can bring it to the 19th Judicial and challenge it,” St. Blanc said.

Not that the incumbents wouldn’t continue to try to bend the PSC enforcement actions to their will even after a court loss. Influencing enforcement is what BellSouth has, over the years, learned to do in respect to its own business. They will no doubt attempt to dabble in LUS’ business as well.

And, of course, we discovered at the last PSC meeting that Lafayette has an enemy in legislative auditor Steve Theriot. (Theriot wanted to try and force, via tantrum and holding the floor long after it became obvious the commissioners wanted to go ahead and vote him down, the PSC to impose new, unauthorized–indeed unconstitutional– taxes on LUS. He was enough out of touch to even mutter about it being only fair to remit some of that money to Federals. This was right after Katrina. The man’s out of touch with reality.) It remains to be seen how much damage he can do. But Steve Theriot bears watching.