A coalition of 12 news outlets, including the Times News, on Friday asked the state Supreme Court to reverse a lower-court ruling that allows the state Public Utilities Commission to keep secret details of why PPL diverted crews from a high-priority area to a low-priority area during an October 2011 snowstorm that cut power to 1,400 people in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Harrisburg attorney Craig J. Staudenmaier filed the appeal.A Pennsylvania Commonwealth appeals court judge on Dec. 3 ruled that PPL does not have to release information about an October 2011 snowstorm power outage that left the people in the dark for days.In her ruling, Judge Bonnie Brigance Leadbetter overturned a decision by the state Office of Open Records, ruling that the PUC is entitled to withhold information under the Public Utility Code and the Right-to-Know law.The coalition had filed a Right-to-Know request to force the PUC and PPL to release details of why the crews were diverted, delaying restoration of power to the PPL customers. The details include the locations of both areas, where the crews were sent, who sent them, and who benefited.The PUC found PPL in the wrong for the diversion, revealed by an anonymous letter, and fined the utility. PPL settled with the PUC for $60,000.As part of the civil settlement agreement with the PUC over the diversion, PPL would not disclose details of where the crew was sent.Leadbetter wrote in her ruling that because the diversion was revealed in an anonymous letter of Nov. 8, 2011, and the documents it generated, weren't the focus of the settlement, the PUC didn't have to make them public.Further, she wrote, releasing the tipster's name "could lead to public utilities and employees being less likely to cooperate and provide relevant information out of fear of retaliation or public embarrassment, frustrating the purpose of PUC's investigations and lessening the effectiveness of the PUC in monitoring the utilities' compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements."PPL spokesman Paul Wirth told the Times News on Feb. 4 the diversion was the "result of a misunderstanding that led a lower-level supervisor to make a wrong assignment for one repair crew."In addition to the Times News, the coalition asking for the appeal includes the Times Leader of Wilkes-Barre, which initated the Right-to-Know request with The Morning Call, Allentown; PA Media Group: PennLive/The Patriot-News; Philadelphia Media Network; The Associated Press; the Pocono Record; Lancaster Newspapers; Calkins Media; and the Reading Eagle.