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Today's News....Thanks - Jean
Wall Street Journal [THIS IS A GREAT ARTICLE!!!!] Contra Costa Times, May 22, 2001, Tuesday, STATE AND REGIONAL NEWS, K4988, ????803 words, ISO will give advanced warning of power blackouts, By Mike ????Taugher and Andrew LaMar Copley News Service, May 22, 2001, Tuesday, State and regional, 1066 words, ????State sends $533.2 million to company, part of April bill, Ed Mendel, ????SACRAMENTO Copley News Service, May 22, 2001, Tuesday, State and regional, 308 words, ????Business customers criticize proposed 29 percent SDG&E rate hike, Craig D. ????Rose, SAN DIEGO Los Angeles Times, May 22, 2001 Tuesday, Home Edition, Page 12, 426 words, ????Davis' Hiring of Consultants Los Angeles Times, May 22, 2001 Tuesday, Home Edition, Page 8, 621 words, ????The State; ; GOP Criticizes Davis' Choice of PR Aides; Capitol: Legislative ????leaders call the pair political operatives who are too partisan to represent ????the state during energy crisis., DAN MORAIN, TIMES STAFF WRITER, SACRAMENTO Los Angeles Times, May 22, 2001 Tuesday, Home Edition, Page 8, 584 words, ????The State; ; Legislators Set to Sue Federal Energy Agency; Power: Lawmakers ????try a new idea: a lawsuit arguing that blackouts pose danger to people, law ????enforcement and even water supply., DAN MORAIN, TIMES STAFF WRITER, ????SACRAMENTO Los Angeles Times, May 22, 2001 Tuesday, Home Edition, Page 1, 892 words, ????State to Issue Warnings of Power Outages; Electricity: Cal-ISO says it will ????try to give residents and businesses 24-hour notice of probable blackouts., ????MIGUEL BUSTILLO, NANCY VOGEL, TIMES STAFF WRITERS, SACRAMENTO Los Angeles Times, May 22, 2001 Tuesday, Home Edition, Page 1, 1406 words, ????CAMPAIGN 2001; Gas Prices, Not Politics, Preoccupy Valley Voters, SUE FOX, ????TIMES STAFF WRITER Newsday (New York, NY), May 22, 2001 Tuesday, NASSAU AND SUFFOLK EDITION, ????Pg. A18, 374 words, And Now, Today's Blackout Forecast, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The San Francisco Chronicle, MAY 22, 2001, TUESDAY,, FINAL EDITION, NEWS;, ????Pg. A16;, 167 words, GILROY; ???Davis licenses 8th emergency power plant The San Francisco Chronicle, MAY 22, 2001, TUESDAY,, FINAL EDITION, NEWS;, ????Pg. A13, 669 words, Power plant 'ramping' to be probed; ???State senators ????also expected to file suit, charging federal regulators with failing to ????ensure fair rates, Christian Berthelsen The San Francisco Chronicle, MAY 22, 2001, TUESDAY,, FINAL EDITION, NEWS;, ????Pg. A1, 1527 words, Half-hour notice of blackouts planned; ???FAST ALERTS: ????Power grid operator may send voice, e-mail messages, Lynda Gledhill, ????Sacramento USA TODAY, May 22, 2001, Tuesday,, FIRST EDITION, NEWS;, Pg. 5A, 492 words, ????Americans anxious about gas prices and energy woes, skeptical of Bush, ????Richard Benedetto The Washington Times, May 22, 2001, Tuesday, Final Edition, PART A; NATION; ????INSIDE POLITICS; Pg. A6, 1242 words, Greg Pierce; THE WASHINGTON TIMES Chicago Tribune, May 22, 2001 Tuesday, NORTH SPORTS FINAL EDITION, News; ????Pg. 6; ZONE: N, 444 words, California to issue blackout forecasts, By ????Jennifer Coleman, Associated Press., SACRAMENTO The Associated Press State & Local Wire, May 22, 2001, Tuesday, BC cycle, ????5:39 AM Eastern Time, State and Regional, 506 words, One power plant is ????begun as another is finished, PHOENIX The Associated Press State & Local Wire, May 22, 2001, Tuesday, BC cycle, ????3:48 AM Eastern Time, State and Regional, 718 words, Developments in ????California's energy crisis, By The Associated Press The Associated Press State & Local Wire, May 22, 2001, Tuesday, BC cycle, ????3:05 AM Eastern Time, State and Regional, 576 words, California will ????forecast blackouts and warn the public, By JENNIFER COLEMAN, Associated ????Press Writer, SACRAMENTO, Calif. AP Online, May 21, 2001; Monday, Domestic, non-Washington, general news ????item, 793 words, AP Top News at 7 p.m. EDT Monday, May 21, 2001, ADAM JOYCE AP Online, May 21, 2001; Monday, International news, 678 words, Monday's ????Canada News Briefs, The Associated Press The Associated Press, May 21, 2001, Monday, BC cycle, Domestic News, 1473 ????words, Infrastructure strains tearing at West, By PAULINE ARRILLAGA, ????Associated Press Writer, LAS VEGAS The Associated Press, May 21, 2001, Monday, BC cycle, Domestic News; ????Business News, 648 words, California will forecast blackouts and warn the ????public, By JENNIFER COLEMAN, Associated Press Writer, SACRAMENTO, Calif. The Associated Press, May 21, 2001, Monday, BC cycle, Domestic News, 229 ????words, Survey: Gov. Davis' ratings, public confidence take dive, By ALEXA ????HAUSSLER, Associated Press Writer, SACRAMENTO, Calif. The Associated Press State & Local Wire, May 21, 2001, Monday, BC cycle, ????State and Regional, 720 words, Grid officials, others studying planned ????blackouts, By JENNIFER COLEMAN, Associated Press Writer, SACRAMENTO The Associated Press State & Local Wire, May 21, 2001, Monday, BC cycle, ????State and Regional, 901 words, 'Baseline' becoming key word for electric ????customers, By KAREN GAUDETTE, Associated Press Writer, SAN FRANCISCO The Associated Press State & Local Wire, May 21, 2001, Monday, BC cycle, ????State and Regional, 273 words, New poll suggests Californians haven't been ????this gloomy for years, SAN FRANCISCO The Associated Press State & Local Wire, May 21, 2001, Monday, BC cycle, ????State and Regional, 2497 words CNBC/Dow Jones - Business Video, CNBC/DOW JONES BUSINESS VIDEO, May 21, ????2001, Monday, Transcript # 052100cb.y50, Business, 807 words, PG&E Chairman ????& CEO - Interview, Robert Glynn, Mark Haines, Joe Battipaglia CNN, CNN INSIDE POLITICS 17:00, May 21, 2001; Monday, Transcript # ????01052100V15, News; Domestic, 7389 words, Bush Administration Endorses ????Mitchell Committee's Recommendations for Ending Mideast Violence, Mark ????Baldassare, Judy Woodruff, David Ensor, Major Garrett, William Schneider, ????Kelly Wallace, Jonathan Karl, Kate Snow, Rusty Dornin, Bruce Morton Power Drain: The U.S. Energy Crisis No Score in California Blame Game: Probes Find Little Proof Power Companies Colluded By JOHN R. EMSHWILLER Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL LOS ANGELES -- California may be struggling to keep its lights on, but one thing there is no shortage of is accusations over who is to blame for an electricity crisis that has sent power prices skyrocketing. In recent days, top California officials have stepped up their rhetoric against a handful of merchant power companies, many of them Texas-based, that supply the state with much of its juice. Gov. Gray Davis says companies such as Reliant Energy Inc., of Houston, have engaged in "unconscionable price-gouging." Loretta Lynch, president of the California Public Utilities Commission and a Davis appointee, proclaims that a "cartel" of electricity producers has created artificial shortages. Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante is backing a bill that would make energy price-fixing a felony, and as a private citizen he is suing several major power producers in Los Angeles state court. Investigations Under Way About half a dozen investigations are being conducted by entities ranging from state legislative committees to the California attorney general's office. So far, these probes -- some of which have been under way for months -- haven't yet yielded either civil or criminal charges. While the energy suppliers are generating "unconscionable profits," the question remains "whether they are illegal profits," says California Attorney General Bill Lockyer, who has offered rewards of as much as hundreds of millions of dollars for information about lawbreaking in the energy business. Mr. Lockyer says he believes his office will eventually file civil charges against suppliers. He would very much like to add criminal counts. "I would love to personally escort [Enron Corp. Chairman Kenneth] Lay to an 8 x 10 cell that he could share with a tattooed dude who says 'Hi my name is Spike, honey,' " adds Mr. Lockyer. Houston-based Enron is a major energy-trading company. Like other such firms, Enron has denied wrongdoing in the California market. Mark Palmer, Enron's vice president for corporate communications, said Mr. Lockyer's comment about Mr. Lay " is so counterproductive that it doesn't merit a response." Investigators and academics say there is abundant evidence that individual firms have been exercising "market power." This term is used to denote efforts to influence wholesale-electricity prices, such as by withholding supplies. The California Independent System Operator, or ISO, which manages the state's electric transmission grid, estimates that by exercising market power, suppliers may have added about $6.8 billion to the cost of electricity in the state since early last year. A single firm exercising such power isn't necessarily illegal, says Severin Borenstein, director of the University of California Energy Institute. If a company is a large supplier in the state and "you're not exercising market power, you are not doing your job" on behalf of shareholders, he says. Mr. Borenstein and others say that there are steps that should be taken against suppliers. They note that under federal power law, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission can order refunds for wholesale prices that are above "just and reasonable" levels. So far, FERC has tentatively ordered California suppliers to make tens of millions of dollars of such refunds, as part of that agency's ongoing inquiry into the California market. Critics of the suppliers and FERC say the refunds should be in the billions of dollars. The power industry, not surprisingly, says there is nothing to accusations of price manipulation or collusion. Executives point to a botched state-utility-deregulation plan that relies heavily on volatile spot-market purchases. Suppliers note that over the past decade, California didn't build enough new power plants to keep up with demand growth. The allegations of manipulation are "a lot of sound and fury and they won't produce anything," says Gary Ackerman, executive director of the Western Power Trading Forum, an industry trade group. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Investigations Aplenty In the year since California's energy deregulation plan began resulting in higher prices and even blackouts, a flurry of investigations has gotten under way. Here are the main ones: Agency ????Investigation Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ????Whether generators are charging more than "just and reasonable" rates as demanded by the Federal Power Act; whether El Paso Corp. used its position as a major natural-gas supplier to the state to illegally drive up the price of fuel used to generate electricity. California Public Utilities Commission and the State Attorney General ????Whether generators and power traders have acted illegally through collusion or other means to artificially inflate electricity prices. PUC and California Independent System Operator ????Whether generation plants were shut down for spurious reasons in order to create supply shortages and, thus, to raise electricity prices. California Electricity Oversight Board ????Whether patterns of bidding and pricing in California's electricity auction indicate collusive or otherwise illegal behavior. Sources: state and federal agencies ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Power generators also point to sharp increases in some of their costs, particularly natural gas, which is a major power-plant fuel. This rise in natural-gas prices also has set off a flurry of investigations over possible manipulation. One such case, involving El Paso Corp., Houston, is the subject of probes by federal and state officials. El Paso denies any wrongdoing. While power-industry officials say they have been cooperating with the investigations, law-enforcement officials say they have hit some roadblocks. For instance, Mr. Lockyer's office has gone to San Francisco state court to enforce subpoenas against Reliant, Houston-based Dynegy Inc. and Southern Co. and Mirant Corp., both of Atlanta, after the companies resisted turning over certain business documents they deemed confidential. Investigators have zeroed in on the increased frequency with which plants are going out of service for unscheduled outages. At times, several thousand fewer megawatts of capacity are available than a year ago. A thousand megawatts can power about one million homes. 'Forced Outage' Rate Rises Generators say that this increased "forced outage" rate shows that tight supplies over the past year have required them to run plants, some of them more than 40 years old, for long periods without routine maintenance. This combination has produced more breakdowns. "Plants have been running flat out," says Tom Williams, a spokesman for Duke Energy Co., Charlotte, N.C., which says that its California power plants produced 50% more electricity in 2000 than in 1999. At the same time, during periods of lower demand, the number of unplanned outages often seems to rise enough to keep supplies tight, says Frank Wolak, a Stanford University professor and chairman of the ISO's market surveillance committee. "Clearly, something is going on here." However, he and others say that it is almost impossible to tell why a particular pipe failed or whether such a failure was a legitimate reason to reduce output. Some of the most intriguing evidence to date about forced outages surfaced in a federal case. FERC officials said an investigation had raised questions about whether two major power companies had taken plants out of service in order to reap higher electricity prices. The charges against AES Corp., Arlington, Va., which owns the plants, and Williams Cos., Tulsa, Okla., which markets their output, asserted that those actions allowed the companies to reap an extra $10.8 million in revenue. In one instance, according to case filings, a Williams employee "indicated" to AES officials that his firm wouldn't financially penalize AES for extending an outage at one plant. This conversation, which was voluntarily divulged by Williams, could be an indication of collusion. Williams and AES settled the case without admitting any wrongdoing by paying back $8 million to the ISO and by taking certain other measures. A Williams spokeswoman says the employee who talked to AES was "counseled not to enter into any conversations of that nature" in the future. Another issue raised by the FERC case touched on maintenance procedures. According to the filings, AES stopped doing a certain procedure to keep its plant's cooling system from getting clogged. The clogging of the system was cited as a reason for one of the forced outages. Mark Woodruff, president of the AES unit that operates the plant in question, says the company substituted what it felt was an equally effective maintenance procedure. If someone was looking to keep supplies tight and prices high, changes in maintenance procedures would be an easy way to ensure that plants, particularly old ones, have frequent forced outages, says a senior utility-industry executive. By restricting maintenance resources, he says, an operator can simply allow a plant "to take itself out of service." Write to John R. Emshwiller at john.emshwiller@wsj.com Copyright 2001 Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service ???????????????????????Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service ??????????????????????????????Contra Costa Times ????????????????????????????May 22, 2001, Tuesday SECTION: STATE AND REGIONAL NEWS KR-ACC-NO: ?K4988 LENGTH: 803 words HEADLINE: ISO will give advanced warning of power blackouts BYLINE: By Mike Taugher and Andrew LaMar BODY: ??WALNUT CREEK, Calif. _ The East has its hurricane watches and hurricane warnings. Now California has power watches and power warnings to guide residents through days of summer blackouts. ??Beginning next week, forecasters who look at variables like electricity loads and transmission constraints instead of wind speeds and barometric pressure will lay the odds of blackouts being imposed the next day. If those odds appear to be 50-50 or greater, they will issue a power warning. ??In addition, the California Independent System Operator will issue 30-minute advisories to warn state residents that blackouts are probably imminent. ??The new warnings are in response to complaints that blackouts have taken people by surprise. ??"What we're hearing from the public is they wanted a little more heads-up when it comes to blackouts," said ISO spokeswoman Stephanie McCorkle. ??Meanwhile, Gov. Gray Davis was in Chicago Monday to hear firsthand from city officials about how an advance notification program can work. State lawmakers are exploring ways to provide Californians with greater notice of potential blackouts, including scheduling them in advance. ??In Chicago, where aging lines and structural limitations have produced a string of power outages over the past two summers, residents often receive 30 minutes warning a blackout is coming, and grid operators work with city agencies and police to ensure criminals don't take advantage of the opportunity. ??California's new warning system has considerable limits. ??The ISO, after all, does not determine where blackouts occur. They simply tell the three utilities in the system _ Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric _ when to shut off power and how much to turn off. ??It is up to the utilities to determine where the blackouts occur. ??PG&E's website posts which of 14 outage blocks is next to be hit, so anyone who knows their block number could use information from PG&E and the ISO websites to prepare for a blackout. ??PG&E spokesman John Nelson said the Northern California utility can make tens of thousands of phone calls to businesses and customers who need power for life-support systems and other medical necessities "in a very short period of time." ??"We think that anything that increases the amount of time that we're given by the ISO . . . is a good thing," Nelson said, adding that at the beginning of this year the utility was assuming that it would get about 30 minutes notice before blackouts were ordered. ??In another development on Monday, state Controller Kathleen Connell issued another warning about the financial toll California's energy crisis is taking on the state treasury. Connell said the state could run out of cash by Sept. 1 if $ 13.4 billion in revenue bonds aren't sold. ??The state plans to sell the bonds in late August to cover the cost of buying electricity needed by financially troubled Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and Southern California Edison to serve their customers. ??Even if the bonds go through without a hitch, Connell said the state will have to seek more bonds or borrow between $3 billion and $5 billion beginning February 2002 to continue buying power. She said electricity purchases are costing the state more than the governor anticipated and far less has been bought through long-term contracts than Davis planned. ??But the governor's top energy aides challenged Connell's analysis and said they believe long-term contracts now being put in place combined with conservation efforts will bring spending down. Joe Fichera, a Davis financial adviser, said the state spent $1.8 billion to buy power in April, only 1.4 percent higher than the $1.78 billion estimated. ??"I think reasonable people can differ in terms of the projections," Fichera said. "I don't know what's underlying all of her assumptions and such. We do have more complete information . . . ." ??To highlight the exorbitant costs of power, Connell pointed to an enlarged picture of a $533 million check the state sent the Mirant Corp. for April power purchases. ??Mirant defended its sales. Included in its April sales were $126 million worth of electricity that the company bought from companies unwilling to sell to California but which Mirant purchased and then sold to California at a 12 percent markup, according to figures released by the company. ??"If the intent was to somehow attack Mirant for its role in the California market in April, then I'd have to say that the state has apparently decided to bite a helping hand," said Randy Harrison, CEO of Mirant's western U.S. operations. ??KRT CALIFORNIA is a premium service of Knight Ridder/Tribune ??© 2001, Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, Calif.). ??Visit the Contra Costa Times on the Web at http://www.cctimes.com/ JOURNAL-CODE: CC LOAD-DATE: May 22, 2001 ??????????????????????????????5 of 85 DOCUMENTS ??????????????????????Copyright 2001 Copley News Service ?????????????????????????????Copley News Service ????????????????????????????May 22, 2001, Tuesday SECTION: State and regional LENGTH: 1066 words HEADLINE: State sends $533.2 million to company, part of April bill BYLINE: Ed Mendel DATELINE: SACRAMENTO BODY: ??One of the biggest single checks ever issued by the state of California, $533.2 million, went to an Atlanta-based firm Friday for power purchased for California utility customers during a single month, April. ??Mirant, formerly Southern Energy, says more than half of the power came from three plants in the San Francisco Bay Area that it purchased from Pacific Gas and Electric for $801 million under a failed deregulation plan. ??State Treasurer Kathleen Connell, who displayed a blown-up copy of the check at a news conference yesterday, said she thinks the state has failed to obtain enough cheap long-term power contracts and will have to borrow more than the $13.4 billion planned. ??Connell, an elected official who issues state checks, said the power bills she had paid by last Thursday, totaling $5.1 billion, provide no basis for assuming that the price of electricity ''is dropping and that it will continue to drop through the summer.'' ??But a consultant for Gov. Gray Davis said the state, which has more long-term contracts than Connell has seen, is on track to control power costs with the aid of conservation and that it plans to meet its goals without additional borrowing. ??''I think the public should have confidence that this is not a rosy scenario,'' said Joseph Fichera of Saber Partners, a Davis consultant. ''It's the expected scenario.'' ??The state plans to issue a bond of up to $13.4 billion in late August that will repay the general-fund taxpayer money used for power purchases, about $7 billion so far. The bond will be paid off over 15 years by utility customers. ??Davis has declined to reveal details of state spending for power, arguing that the information would be used by power suppliers to submit higher bids. A group of newspapers and Republican legislators have filed lawsuits to force disclosure. ??Connell said she has received 25 contracts from 17 power suppliers. She declined to release details of the contracts, saying they are complicated and have varying prices. ??Connell said the check for $533,181,235 issued to Mirant Friday is one of the largest she has written since taking office in 1995. ??''This purchase was made entirely at spot-market prices,'' Connell said, ''even though the Department of Water Resources (the state agency that purchases power) has an executed long-term contract with this company.'' ??Mirant said in a statement that, at the request of the state, its marketing arm gave the state a ''helping hand'' by buying power from suppliers not willing to sell to the state and then reselling the power to the state. ??''We've done the state a tremendous service in purchasing power on its behalf,'' said Randy Harrison, Mirant's Western chief executive officer, ''and it's wrong for the transactions to be misinterpreted and skewed in a negative light.'' ??Mirant said its subsidiaries generated 1.377 million megawatt-hours in April, while its marketing arm purchased enough additional electricity to boost the total sold to the state during the month to 2.077 million megawatt-hours. ??The firm said the power was sold for an average of $256.87 per megawatt-hour. That's below the $346 average that the state expects to pay on the expensive spot market during the second quarter of this year, from April through June. ??But it's well above the average price of $69 per megawatt-hour said to have been obtained in the first round of long-term contracts negotiated by the state. ??Mirant purchased three power plants from PG&E capable of producing 3,000 megawatts during a controversial part of deregulation. The state Public Utilities Commission ordered utilities to sell off at least half of their fossil-fuel power plants without requiring the purchasers to provide low-cost power to California. ??The utilities sold nearly two dozen major power plants capable of producing more than 20,000 megawatts. The largest group of plants, 4,700 megawatts, went to AES Corp. of Virginia. Three Texas firms purchased plants producing 7,000 megawatts. ??The power supply situation in California remained sound enough yesterday to ward off blackouts, although temperatures are on the rise throughout the state. More heat means more air conditioning, and a greater strain on the system. ??But starting next month, the state's electricity grid managers plan to provide businesses and consumers with better forecasts of potential rolling blackouts. ??The California Independent System Operator will post on its Web site ''power warnings'' when there is at least a 50 percent chance that rolling blackouts might be required during the next 24 hours. The ISO will issue a ''power watch'' when less-critical shortages are anticipated in advance of high demand days. ??The agency also plans to give a 30-minute warning before it orders utilities to cut power to customers, posting information about probable interruptions on its Web site. Its Web site address is www.caiso.com. ??''There have been a number of requests from businesses and consumers alike that would like more advance notice and to be able to plan better. That's what we are trying to do,'' ISO spokeswoman Lorie O'Donley said. ??O'Donley said many details about how notifications will occur still have to be worked out, including whether e-mails or pagers might be used. ??In other developments in the electricity crisis: ???About 1.5 million compact fluorescent light bulbs will be distributed to 375,000 households as part of the ''Power Walk'' program that began during the weekend. Members of the California Conservation Corps are going door-to-door in parts of some cities to distribute the bulbs as part of a $20 million conservation program. ???Republican legislative leaders sent Davis a letter criticizing the governor for using taxpayer funds to hire two aides to former Vice President Al Gore as communication consultants for $30,000 a month. The Republicans said Mark Fabiani and Chris Lehane operate ''a partisan, cut-throat political communications firm.'' ???The state auditor general said in a report on energy deregulation that the state is not meeting some of its goals for conservation and for building new power plants. The auditor also said the PUC does not have a process for quickly approving new transmission lines. The state has been importing about 20 percent of its power. Staff writer Karen Kucher contributed to this report. LOAD-DATE: May 22, 2001 ??????????????????????????????6 of 85 DOCUMENTS ??????????????????????Copyright 2001 Copley News Service ?????????????????????????????Copley News Service ????????????????????????????May 22, 2001, Tuesday SECTION: State and regional LENGTH: 308 words HEADLINE: Business customers criticize proposed 29 percent SDG&E rate hike BYLINE: Craig D. Rose DATELINE: SAN DIEGO BODY: ??San Dieg Gas and Electric's commercial customers are attacking the prospect of paying an average of 29 percent more to cover the state's soaring cost of buying electricity. ??At a California Public Utilities Commission hearing in San Diego yesterday, some business customers also noted the irony that only in February did they win the same rate freeze as residential customers. ??''We need rates we can depend on,'' said John Roberts, who owns an irrigation products business in San Marcos. ??SDG&E customers were the first to bear the brunt of deregulation, and the utility's residential ratepayers were the first to win a reprieve when the state passed a 6.5-cent per kilowatt hour cap. ??The SDG&E cap is expected to end for all customers in the coming weeks as the commission moves to increase SDG&E's rates to levels now paid by customers of PG&E and Edison, which are about 3 cents per kilowatt hour higher. ??Yesterday's hearing, however, was for commercial rates. ??Roberts said his San Marcos-based irrigation products company has withstood a tripling of power costs over the past year, while having to cut the cost of its products because of competition, he said. ??Roberts added that socking businesses with high costs in order to spare residential electricity customers from expected rate hikes could be counterproductive. ??''If businesses leave the state, they'll be without jobs, and a $30 savings on their power bills won't mean much,'' Roberts said. ??The hearing at the County Administration Building was attended by about 30 people. An additional hearing is scheduled at 7 p.m. today in the Community Rooms at the Oceanside Civic Center, 330 N. Coast Highway. ??Larger crowds are expected for hearings on residential rate increases. Dates for those hearings have not been set. ???WAGNER-CNS-SD-05-21-01 2238PST LOAD-DATE: May 22, 2001 ??????????????????????????????9 of 85 DOCUMENTS ??????????????????????Copyright 2001 / Los Angeles Times ??????????????????????????????Los Angeles Times ??????????????????????May 22, 2001 Tuesday ?Home Edition SECTION: California; Part 2; Page 12; Metro Desk LENGTH: 426 words HEADLINE: Davis' Hiring of Consultants BODY: ??Re "Davis Sharpens Attack on Bush Energy Plan," May 19: It is very clear that Gov. Gray Davis has one major political goal: running for president of the United States. His recent hiring of two--not one--political aides, to be paid for by the taxpayers at a monthly rate more than double the salary of the governor, means that Davis has decided that the California taxpayer will pay through the nose to support this goal. ??These consultants are not experts in the energy area, which is the biggest problem facing California today, but are experienced spin doctors brought in to try to improve the diving image of Davis. I have no problem with the governor bringing in these men at his own expense, but for the taxpayer to foot the bill is bordering on criminal. ??Jack Bendar ???o7 Pacific Palisades ???f7 * ??Is anyone as outraged as I am over Davis hiring, at California taxpayers' expense, damage-control experts to cover his lack of energy policy leadership? The fee of $30,000 per month is outrageous and is an insult to citizens. If Davis feels that he needs consultants to save his image, they should be paid from his campaign treasure chest and not by California taxpayers. ??David Anderson ???o7 Mission Viejo ???f7 * ??Davis is obeying Rule No.1 for all politicians: When things are going badly, first find a scapegoat. Davis has the power generating companies. But, as Pogo said, "We have met the enemy, and he is us." If Davis and his cronies in the Legislature had the courage to allow retail electricity prices to rise, businesses and individuals would have a financial incentive to conserve. ??If Davis and his cronies had had the wisdom to foresee the huge capacity shortfall looming, perhaps California wouldn't have wasted the last decade without bringing even one new power plant online. And now, the best he can come up with is to beg Washington for help? ??Mark Wallace ???o7 Los Angeles ???f7 * ??Re "California Left Twisting in the Political Wind," Opinion, May 20: As a native Californian who escaped in 1994, I would recommend coming to South Dakota, where there's plenty of inexpensive power, great schools, fresh air, open spaces, a low cost of living and normal people, but most of you are just too damned stupid and self-centered to figure out that neither the state government nor federal government will tell you to wear a heavy coat in the winter and stay inside during a blizzard. You'd have to figure that out for yourselves. Too bad. No; actually, it's good. ??Ken Russell ???o7 Arlington, S.D. ???f7 LOAD-DATE: May 22, 2001 ??????????????????????????????10 of 85 DOCUMENTS ??????????????????????Copyright 2001 / Los Angeles Times ??????????????????????????????Los Angeles Times ??????????????????????May 22, 2001 Tuesday ?Home Edition SECTION: California; Part 2; Page 8; Metro Desk LENGTH: 621 words HEADLINE: The State; ; GOP Criticizes Davis' Choice of PR Aides; Capitol: Legislative leaders call the pair political operatives who are too partisan to represent the state during energy crisis. BYLINE: DAN MORAIN, TIMES STAFF WRITER DATELINE: SACRAMENTO BODY: ??Republican legislative leaders Monday blasted Gov. Gray Davis' decision to spend $30,000 a month in taxpayer money to retain communications consultants known for their highly partisan work. ??Labeling consultants Mark Fabiani and Chris Lehane as "cut-throat," Senate GOP leader Jim Brulte of Rancho Cucamonga and Assembly Republican leader Dave Cox of Fair Oaks said in a letter to Davis that the hiring "undermines the assertions you have made both publicly and privately throughout this crisis." ??Davis announced Friday that he retained the duo and that the state will pay them a combined $30,000 a month for at least the next six months. ??"We're not going to support the hiring of political hacks on government payroll," Brulte said in an interview. "Lehane and Fabiani are very talented. The issue is which payroll is appropriate. . . . These are political opposition research attack dogs. If the governor wants them, he ought to pay for them with his $30-million political war chest." ??Some consumer advocates also criticized the move, citing the consultants' work on behalf of Southern California Edison. In their private consulting business, Fabiani and Lehane are working to win over public and political support for Davis' $3.5-billion plan to rescue Edison from its financial difficulties. Legislation embodying aspects of the deal is pending in Sacramento. ??On Monday, Brulte and Cox also complained about the consultants' dual role. ??"California taxpayers should not be asked to finance political consultants or individuals who have a vested business interest with the state," the letter said. ??Fabiani and Lehane had worked in the Clinton administration, and in Vice President Al Gore's presidential campaign, where they gained a reputation as attack-oriented operatives. Lehane on Monday defended the governor's decision to use tax money to pay their fees, saying government often hires outside experts and that he and Fabiani will "serve as communications advisors to help the governor fight against these generators." ??"The Republicans," Lehane added, "ought to be spending time writing letters to George W. Bush to get him to stop the Texas generators from gouging California. . . . That is the real issue here." ??Davis, meanwhile, returned to California on Monday after a weekend of fund-raisers. He was in Texas on Saturday for a Dallas event that had been scheduled for April 11. It was postponed when Pacific Gas & Electric filed for bankruptcy protection. ??"There is a very large fund-raising base for Democrats in Texas," Davis' campaign strategist, Garry South, said of the state that is home to some of the generators that Davis has criticized. ??Davis traveled to Chicago for another fund-raiser Sunday, then met Monday with city officials to discuss how Chicago deals with electrical blackouts. ??After blackouts crippled downtown Chicago in the summer of 1999, Mayor Richard M. Daley demanded that the city's electricity provider, Commonwealth Edison, give advance notice of power cuts. Customers now sometimes receive warnings two or three days in advance. ??Davis emerged from the meeting saying "the utilities have got to tell us in advance when they're going to have a planned blackout." ??It was not, however, readily apparent how Chicago's solutions would translate to California, because its electrical problems are vastly different. Rather than suffering a shortage of electricity throughout the grid like California, Chicago has the more microcosmic ills of an aging system--an obsolete transformer going down, for example, leaving several city blocks in the dark until workers can fix it. ??* ??Times staff writer Eric Slater contributed to this story. GRAPHIC: PHOTO: Protester Barbara King shakes a light bulb outside Sacramento office of a lobbyist for energy producer Enron near the Capitol. PHOTOGRAPHER: ROBERT DURELL / Los Angeles Times LOAD-DATE: May 22, 2001 ??????????????????????????????11 of 85 DOCUMENTS ??????????????????????Copyright 2001 / Los Angeles Times ??????????????????????????????Los Angeles Times ??????????????????????May 22, 2001 Tuesday ?Home Edition SECTION: California; Part 2; Page 8; Metro Desk LENGTH: 584 words HEADLINE: The State; ; Legislators Set to Sue Federal Energy Agency; Power: Lawmakers try a new idea: a lawsuit arguing that blackouts pose danger to people, law enforcement and even water supply. BYLINE: DAN MORAIN, TIMES STAFF WRITER DATELINE: SACRAMENTO BODY: ??Legislative Democrats today will sue federal energy regulators, charging that their inaction threatens elderly people in nursing homes, children in day care centers, law enforcement and its ability to fight crime, and the state's drinking water supplies. ??Rather than focus on record wholesale energy costs, the lawsuit takes a new tack, homing in on the threat to health and safety posed by California's energy crisis and the blackouts likely this summer. ??A draft of the suit seeks to force the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to set "just and reasonable" wholesale power rates as a way of ending the crisis before blackouts occur. The action is being filed by veteran trial attorney Joe Cotchett on behalf of Senate President Pro Tem John Burton (D-San Francisco), Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg (D-Sherman Oaks), and the city of Oakland. ??"A crisis of unprecedented dimensions is already taking shape in California," the draft says. "The public health, safety and welfare of the state's 34 million residents is in jeopardy due to the tragic consequences of rolling blackouts and punitive prices." ??Suit Says Blackouts Pose Threats ??Until now, most California officials, including Gov. Gray Davis, have been urging that the regulatory commission cap wholesale power prices as a way of limiting costs to the state, which has spent more than $6 billion buying electricity since January. ??In the lawsuit, Cotchett will be arguing that while higher bills will stretch the budgets of people on fixed incomes, frail elderly people "are left to wonder if their oxygen tanks, drip IVs, dialysis machines and electricity-powered therapeutic beds will respond when they are needed." ??"Rolling blackouts represent more than just an annoyance for the men, women and children with disabilities," the suit says. "They represent an imminent threat to life, health and independence." ??Cotchett said the suit will be filed in the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, bypassing the federal trial court. Cotchett said the circuit court has direct jurisdiction over FERC. ??Joining Cotchett will be Clark Kelso, a professor at McGeorge Law School in Sacramento who briefly was insurance commissioner last year after Chuck Quackenbush resigned. Kelso said he initially was skeptical that lawmakers had legal standing to sue. But after Cotchett spoke with him, Kelso said he became convinced the suit had merit. ??"Let's face it," said Kelso, a Republican, "this is the single most important issue that the state faces for the next six months." ??Watching the Water Supply ??The suit cites warnings from governmental agencies about the implications of blackouts, including one the state Department of Health Services issued earlier this month to public water agencies statewide. The warning contains a sample notice that local water authorities should give to consumers. ??"If the water looks cloudy or dirty," the warning says, "you should not drink it." The warning suggests that if people are concerned about water quality, they can boil it or add "eight drops of household bleach to one gallon of water, and let it sit for 30 minutes." ??Most water agencies have back-up generators. But the suit says that "if an agency's water treatment facilities are hit by a power outage, a two-hour blackout can result in two-day interruptions in providing safe drinking water because of time needed to bring equipment back online and flush potentially contaminated water from the system." LOAD-DATE: May 22, 2001 ??????????????????????????????12 of 85 DOCUMENTS ??????????????????????Copyright 2001 / Los Angeles Times ??????????????????????????????Los Angeles Times ??????????????????????May 22, 2001 Tuesday ?Home Edition SECTION: California; Part 2; Page 1; Metro Desk LENGTH: 892 words HEADLINE: State to Issue Warnings of Power Outages; Electricity: Cal-ISO says it will try to give residents and businesses 24-hour notice of probable blackouts. BYLINE: MIGUEL BUSTILLO, NANCY VOGEL, TIMES STAFF WRITERS DATELINE: SACRAMENTO BODY: ??Californians will hear an expanded forecast on their morning commutes this summer, courtesy of the energy crisis: "The 405 Freeway is jammed, there's a slim chance of showers, and oh, by the way, there's a 50% likelihood of blackouts." ??By the end of this month, the California Independent System Operator, the agency that manages the state's power grid, expects to issue 24-hour forecasts generally detailing when and where blackouts can be expected. ??It is also piecing together a high-tech system to give businesses, government officials and the public at least a half-hour notice of a probable blackout in their area. ??Just how those notices will be issued remains somewhat up in the air, but Cal-ISO is talking with private companies capable of notifying more than 10,000 customers a minute via fax and phone, and millions a minute via wireless communications such as pagers. ??Cal-ISO assembled the plan after complaints from businesses, particularly those in the Silicon Valley, that last-minute blackouts were costing California millions. The plan also responds to growing political pressure for the public to be kept informed of the barrage of outages that is expected to darken the state this summer because of insufficient supplies of electricity. ??If Californians' electricity use pattern is similar to last year's, Cal-ISO has projected, the state could suffer 34 days of blackouts, making increased notification crucial. ??With a shortage of hydroelectric power imports from the drought-stricken Pacific Northwest, and no new power plants coming online until July, the agency calculates that there will be a supply-demand gap in June of 3,700 megawatts--enough power to supply 2.8 million homes. A national utility industry group painted a more dire scenario last week when it predicted that California will experience up to 260 hours of blackouts this summer. ??"The weather report and traffic report are good analogies; people know they are not 100% accurate, but if [a blackout] really means a lot to them, they will check in," said Mike Florio of the Utility Reform Network, who serves on the Cal-ISO board. ??Details remain sketchy, and the programs may be altered when the board meets Thursday. But a Web page called "Today's Outlook" on the agency's Internet site, http://www.caiso.com, will be created to illustrate, hour by hour, how much electricity is available during a 24-hour period and whether there is a predicted surplus or shortfall. ??Media outreach will be expanded to provide news bulletins on electricity conditions a day in advance. They will not only include demand projections and the effects of weather, but they also will define the level of emergency that is expected. ??A "power watch" will be sounded during stage 1 and stage 2 shortages, and a more serious "power warning" if there is a 50-50 chance of a stage 3, which often results in blackouts. (Stage 1 emergencies occur when power reserves drop below 7%, stage 2 5% and stage 3 1.5%.) ??Most important, Cal-ISO is pledging to provide 30-minute notice of probable blackouts to people in the areas served by Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric, among others. In addition to giving the warnings on the Internet and through the mass media, Cal-ISO will sound alarms to select e-mail addresses and pager numbers on "blast lists," or massive computer databases that it will assemble. ??"The technology is there. This is a war California is in, and we should be deploying high-tech solutions," said Carl Guardino of the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group, the Cal-ISO board member who had been pushing hardest for better notification. "Every time California goes black, the economy sees red." ??Guardino said that businesses and public agencies are now receiving just two- to six-minute warnings before blackouts, not nearly enough to react. ??"A two-minute warning may be sufficient in a football game, but it is insufficient to protect California businesses and the public," he said. ??Though businesses and government agencies are expected to make the most of the warnings, Florio said residents also will benefit. ??"It will be more of a challenge to get the information to individual homeowners, but if someone works at home, and sets it up to get an e-mail notice, they can take advantage," he said. ??In other energy news Monday, the woman in charge of paying California's power bills warned that a $13.4-billion bond issue to cover electricity purchases will be insufficient and that the state will have to borrow $4 billion more before it runs out of cash in February. ??Calling a news conference in the capital, state Controller Kathleen Connell questioned the key assumptions underpinning Gov. Gray Davis' financial plan for overcoming the energy crisis. The plan assumes the $13.4 billion in bond sales will repay state coffers for electricity purchases and cover future power buys for the next two years. ??Connell's opinion is notable because, as the state's chief check writer, the independently elected Democrat is privy to information about the prices the state is paying for electricity bought on the spot market and through long-term contracts--data that Davis has largely kept secret. ??Davis' advisors and Department of Finance officials dispute Connell's warnings. LOAD-DATE: May 22, 2001 ??????????????????????????????13 of 85 DOCUMENTS ??????????????????????Copyright 2001 / Los Angeles Times ??????????????????????????????Los Angeles Times ??????????????????????May 22, 2001 Tuesday ?Home Edition SECTION: California; Part 2; Page 1; Metro Desk LENGTH: 1406 words SERIES: First of four articles HEADLINE: CAMPAIGN 2001; Gas Prices, Not Politics, Preoccupy Valley Voters BYLINE: SUE FOX, TIMES STAFF WRITER BODY: ??On the sidelines of a boisterous cricket game in Woodley Avenue Park, where men knock back beer from red plastic cups, nobody is talking about compressed work schedules for police officers. ??The scheduling debate--a recent flash point in the Los Angeles mayoral race--isn't much of a conversation item among joggers circling Balboa Lake, either. ??What matters to people here tends to be far more personal, far more connected to the workaday struggles of weary drivers slogging their way through rush-hour traffic than the political battles engulfing City Hall. ??Gasoline prices. Long commutes. Mediocre schools. Housing costs. At the Sepulveda Dam Recreation Area, the Valley's answer to Central Park, such ordinary concerns about money, time and resources stretched too thin for comfort tumbled out again and again during interviews with some two dozen people visiting this green oasis. ??Sprawling northwest from the tangled junction of the San Diego and Ventura freeways, the recreation area is a pastoral patchwork of three golf courses bracketed by Woodley Avenue Park to the east and Lake Balboa to the west. It hardly looks like a battleground, but the 2,000-acre park straddles something of a political fault line in the mayoral contest. ??Both candidates in the June 5 runoff, former state legislator Antonio Villaraigosa and City Atty. James K. Hahn, have staked out the Valley as prime campaign turf, packed with thousands of up-for-grabs voters whose affections might well tip the race. ??And the Sepulveda Dam Recreation Area is wedged between an electoral no man's land--a southern ribbon of the Valley where about 60% of voters shunned both men in the election's first round--and a central Valley region where Villaraigosa took first place in April, beating Hahn by roughly a 2-to-1 margin. ??Between them, the candidates are expected to spend more than $10 million by election day to get their messages out. But it's not clear whether these impassioned appeals are reaching their intended targets. ??Less than a month before the election, many people here are preoccupied with concerns that have little to do with City Hall. And when they do voice interest in local matters, some seem unable to connect these issues to a candidate. ??For instance, several Valley voters interviewed in the park in early May said that knotted traffic on the San Diego Freeway was a major problem. But no one mentioned a plan Villaraigosa unveiled in March to buy hundreds of new buses and slash fares in a sweeping bid to cut vehicle traffic, or a proposal from Hahn to add more carpool lanes on freeways. ??Which raises a fundamental challenge for would-be mayors: Sometimes, there's just too much going on in everyday life to tune in to city politics. "I know I ought to," many people confess sheepishly, "but I just haven't gotten around to it yet." ??Take Randye Sandel, 58, a blond and bespectacled oil painter from Valley Village. Sandel said she plans to vote for Hahn, "a known quantity" in City Hall, but a moment later admits that she might change her mind. The thing is, Sandel adds, she's been really busy setting up an art exhibition at a Santa Monica gallery and has yet to research her mayoral options. "I've been totally immersed in my own life," she said. ??Same goes for Harold Seay, a muscular golfer heading back to his car after playing 18 holes. The 44-year-old music teacher from Encino said he's had his hands full for weeks rehearsing graduation recitals for a Brentwood private school. "The news is the last thing I'm paying attention to," he said. ??But both voters can easily rattle off their most pressing concerns. Sandel, who used to teach art at Valley College, said she is particularly worried about education. ??"The last few semesters I taught, I was horrified by the academic preparedness of the students. They were practically illiterate," she said. "They couldn't take notes from my lecture because they didn't understand the vocabulary. That bothers me a lot. Who's going to inherit this country?" ??Seay, who recently moved to Los Angeles from Miami, said he is troubled by the air pollution and racial tension he has encountered here. Seay is African American and his wife is Italian, he said, and their 9-year-old daughter is "stuck half-and-half," caught in what Seay regards as a troubling black-white divide. "That black-white thing really turns me off," he said. "I care about people getting along." ??As the mayoral race hurtles into its final weeks, some of Hahn and Villaraigosa's most spirited skirmishes have erupted over crime and law enforcement issues. Each man is trying to burnish his own crime-fighting credentials while accusing his rival of neglecting public safety. ??The candidates have squabbled especially fiercely over compressed work schedules for police officers--the notion of squashing the police workweek into three 12-hour days, or possibly four 10-hour days. The Police Protective League endorsed Hahn, who supports the so-called 3-12 schedule favored by the union. Villaraigosa, whom Hahn has often characterized as soft on crime, seized upon the scheduling issue to retaliate, arguing that the three-day week would jeopardize public safety. ??But interviews with people visiting the Valley's biggest park revealed that crime--which has declined significantly since Mayor Richard Riordan took office eight years ago--was not the main issue weighing on these voters' minds. That distinction belongs to something that has walloped wallets far and wide across this car-addled city: the soaring price of gasoline. ??As he cooled down after a six-mile run near Balboa Lake, Ray Verdugo summed up the problem facing many gas-guzzlers as prices approached $2 a gallon: "I made a big mistake and bought a big SUV," lamented the retired Rocketdyne engineer from Winnetka. "I'm on a fixed income, and [gasoline prices] keep going up all the time." ??Big-city mayors, to be sure, wield minimal influence over gasoline pumps. Gas prices are swayed by market forces, including the international cost of crude oil, rising demand and limited refinery capacity. Nonetheless, about a third of voters interviewed as they ambled around the Sepulveda Basin named gas prices as a top concern. Half as many said they were worried about crime. ??Some voters said they were troubled by California's electricity woes, although Los Angeles residents have been spared shortages and blackouts because the city's municipal utility avoided deregulation. ??"I think building more power plants would help," said Julie Erickson, 27, a figure-skating instructor from Reseda. ??And then there are the things that people aren't talking about. Nobody (at least nobody in an admittedly unscientific sample of voters culled over two days in the Sepulveda Basin) mentioned the Rampart police scandal or the recruiting problems crippling the Los Angeles Police Department. ??No one uttered so much as a peep about neighborhood councils, that much-ballyhooed innovation of the new city charter. Even the Valley secession movement--which Villaraigosa has pointed to as "the biggest challenge facing Los Angeles"--hardly earned an honorable mention from this cross-section of Valleyites. Only one voter referred to secession at all, saying that she favored it. ??Instead, many people voiced personal gripes, the kind of woes unlikely to vault to the center of the mayoral radar screen--but issues that nonetheless embody the high quality of life both candidates envision for Los Angeles. ??One man, a sunburned golfer who lives in Van Nuys, said he's dismayed that the city hasn't finished building a new golf clubhouse and restaurant at the Woodley Lakes Golf Course. Another frequent park visitor, a retired housekeeper from Sherman Oaks, complained about the windblown litter she sees as she walks her dog around Balboa Lake. ??But some problems vexing these voters seem frankly beyond the grasp of even the most poll-tested candidate. ??Sandel, the oil painter, got downright metaphysical after a good 15 minutes spent mulling the troubles facing Los Angeles, and indeed the world. Technology, she concluded, was advancing so rapidly that it was crowding out humanity's intuitive, spiritual side. ??"I think there's an extraordinary sense of collective despair and psychological uncertainty smoldering just below the surface," she said. "I don't know what City Hall can do about that." GRAPHIC: PHOTO: Ray Verdugo, a retired Rocketdyne engineer, says, "I'm on a fixed income, and [gas prices] keep going up all the time." PHOTOGRAPHER: BORIS YARO / Los Angeles Times GRAPHIC-MAP: (no caption), Los Angeles Times LOAD-DATE: May 22, 2001 ??????????????????????????????14 of 85 DOCUMENTS ?????????????????????????Copyright 2001 Newsday, Inc. ????????????????????????????Newsday (New York, NY) ???????????????May 22, 2001 Tuesday NASSAU AND SUFFOLK EDITION SECTION: NEWS, Pg. A18 LENGTH: 374 words HEADLINE: And Now, Today's Blackout Forecast BYLINE: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BODY: ??Sacramento, Calif.-Californians will soon be waking up to the weather, the traffic-and a blackout forecast. ??The operator of the state's electricity grid said yesterday it will start issuing forecasts 24 hours ahead of expected rolling blackouts. The agency also promised to give 30 minutes' warning before it orders utility companies to pull the plug on homes and businesses, a move that could prevent traffic accidents, stuck elevators and costly shutdowns at factories. ??Up to now, the agency has refused to give more than a few minutes' warning, saying it did not want to alarm people when there was still a chance that a last-minute purchase of power could stave off blackouts. The utility companies also have resisted giving warnings, saying they did not want to tip off burglars and other criminals. ??"People are asking for additional notice, so we're doing our best to make that a reality," said Lorie O'Donley, a spokeswoman for the California Independent System Operator. ??The state's power system, crippled by a botched effort at deregulation, has been unable to produce or buy enough electricity to power air conditioners on hot days. The rolling blackouts move from neighborhood to neighborhood in a sequence that is determined by the utility companies and is difficult for the public to predict. The outages last 60 to 90 minutes and then skip to another neighborhood. ??Because of the lack of notice, the six days of rolling blackouts so far this year have led to pileups at intersections suddenly left without stoplights, people trapped in elevators, and losses caused by stopped production lines. People with home medical equipment fret that they will be cut off without warning. ??The new plan borrows from the language of weather forecasters: Beginning May 30 the ISO will issue a "power watch" or "power warning" that will give notice the grid could be headed toward blackouts. It will issue a 30-minute warning to the media and others before any blackouts begin but will not say what neighborhoods will be hit. ??"Any time is better than none," said Bill Dombrowski, president of the California Retailers Association. "Obviously, we'd like more, but we're realistic about what they can do." LOAD-DATE: May 22, 2001 ??????????????????????????????16 of 85 DOCUMENTS ?????????????????Copyright 2001 The Chronicle Publishing Co. ?????????????????????????The San Francisco Chronicle ?????????????????????MAY 22, 2001, TUESDAY, FINAL EDITION SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A16; BAY AREA REPORT LENGTH: 167 words HEADLINE: GILROY; Davis licenses 8th emergency power plant BODY: Gov. Gray Davis announced yesterday the licensing of the eighth power plant -- a 135-megawatt site designed to meet summer demand -- under a 21-day emergency review he ordered three months ago. ???Calpine Corp. plans to build the plant -- consisting of three 45-megawatt gas-fired turbines -- next to the firm's existing cogeneration power plant in Gilroy. ?The plant should be producing electricity no later than Sept. 30. ???Calpine has guaranteed the annual sale of 2,000 hours of generation from the "peaker" project under contract to the California Department of Water Resources. ???To swiftly beef up the state's power production during the peak summer demand, Davis signed the February order directing the California Energy Commission to expedite review of the peaker plants -- small, temporary, simple-cycle generators that can be quickly put into operation. The eight plants licensed so far will add a total of 636 megawatts to the grid this summer.Compiled from Chronicle staff reports LOAD-DATE: May 22, 2001 ??????????????????????????????17 of 85 DOCUMENTS ?????????????????Copyright 2001 The Chronicle Publishing Co. ?????????????????????????The San Francisco Chronicle ?????????????????????MAY 22, 2001, TUESDAY, FINAL EDITION SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A13 LENGTH: 669 words HEADLINE: Power plant 'ramping' to be probed; State senators also expected to file suit, charging federal regulators with failing to ensure fair rates SOURCE: Chronicle Staff Writer BYLINE: Christian Berthelsen BODY: State legislators said yesterday that they will investigate charges power companies manipulated electricity prices by repeatedly ramping the output of their plants up and down and creating artificial shortages. ???Sen. Joe Dunn, D-Santa Ana (Orange County), who heads a special committee reviewing energy prices, called the "ramping" allegations, first disclosed in The Chronicle on Sunday, "outrageous acts of manipulation." ???Dunn said that even if the practices did not violate current law, legislation could be drafted to make such acts illegal in the future. ???"We're looking at it, yes, from the point of view of civil or criminal statutes that may exist but also whether legislation should be introduced to render it a violation for future such acts." ???Dunn's committee already has been investigating charges that power generators "gamed" the wholesale energy market to boost their profits. ???The Chronicle reported Sunday that power companies used a complex tactic to alter the output of their plants, sometimes several times within an hour. ???Sources who work in the plants said the ploy enabled the companies to drive up the prices they receive for electricity. The firms avoided detection by still meeting the terms of their contracts, which required them to supply a certain amount of power each hour. The sources said the tactic greatly contributed to deteriorating physical conditions at the plants, leading to the record level of outages now plaguing California plants. ???The senate committee, which convened in March after The Chronicle reported that power companies had overstated the growth in demand for electricity in California, has obtained confidential bidding and generation data for power-generating companies. Dunn said the data will be analyzed to determine which plants employed the ramping tactic. He added that the issue would be examined in a public hearing in the coming weeks. ???Meanwhile, pressure continued to mount on generating companies that drove electricity supplies through the roof during the past year. ???Sources said the California Public Utilities Commission, which is investigating allegedly unnecessary plant shutdowns, has narrowed its focus. It is targeting several plants that had no apparent defects yet went offline during periods when prices were rising because of limited electricity supplies. ???Commissioner Jeff Brown said the names of these plants are under court seal. However, Dow Jones reported yesterday that one of them was a San Diego-area plant co-owned by Dynegy Inc. of Houston and NRG Inc. of Minneapolis. Another was a Pittsburg plant owned by Mirant Corp. of Atlanta. The companies denied the allegations. ???On another front, Sen. John Burton, D-San Francisco, and Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg, D-Sherman Oaks (Los Angeles County), were expected to file a lawsuit this morning against the Federal Energy Regulatory Committee for failing to carry out its stated duty of ensuring "just and reasonable" electricity rates. ???"Their central failing is that they don't follow the law," Burton said in an interview. "Either they're letting their friends within the industry or their ideology get in the way of their public responsibility." ???The California attorney general's office also is pressing forward with an investigation into the practices of wholesale power companies. ??----------------------------------------------------------- CHART: Offline firms ???Reliant Energy had more outages during a 39-day period examined by The Chronicle than any other power provider. Outage numbers were calculated by multiplying the number of a company's generators that were either fully or partially offline by the number of days they were out. ??Firm ????Megawatts ???Reliant ???319 ???Southern ??310 ???AES ???????278 ???Duke ??????261 ???PG&E ??????249 ???E-mail Christian Berthelsen at cberthelsen@sfchronicle.com. GRAPHIC: CHART: SEE END OF TEXT LOAD-DATE: May 22, 2001 ??????????????????????????????18 of 85 DOCUMENTS ?????????????????Copyright 2001 The Chronicle Publishing Co. ?????????????????????????The San Francisco Chronicle ?????????????????????MAY 22, 2001, TUESDAY, FINAL EDITION SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A1 LENGTH: 1527 words HEADLINE: Half-hour notice of blackouts planned; FAST ALERTS: Power grid operator may send voice, e-mail messages SOURCE: Chronicle Sacramento Bureau BYLINE: Lynda Gledhill DATELINE: Sacramento BODY: Californians will receive 30 minutes' warning that blackouts may
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