|
|
Enron Mail |
Today's News....Thanks - Jean
Housten Chronicle, May 24, Stand up, Texas, against California's bullying ???By JONATHAN WILCOX, Commentary Sacramento Bee, May 24, Davis to push backup diesel, By Chris Bowman Contra Costa Times, May 24, 2001, Thursday, CC-ELECTRICITY, 874 words, ????California Official Cites Evidence of Electricity Price Manipulation, By ????Mike Taugher Los Angeles Times, May 24, 2001 Thursday, Home Edition, Page 26, 1042 words ????, THE NATION; A SENATOR'S DECISION; Shift May Empower California, RICHARD ????SIMON, ELIZABETH SHOGREN, TIMES STAFF WRITERS, WASHINGTON Los Angeles Times, May 24, 2001 Thursday, Home Edition, Page 16, 930 words, ????The Nation; ; Texas Firm's Chief Denies Driving Up Calif. Natural Gas ????Prices; Energy: At federal panel hearing, he says his company missed out on ????making more money from rapid hikes., RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, TIMES STAFF ????WRITER, WASHINGTON Los Angeles Times, May 24, 2001 Thursday, Home Edition, Page 1, 3167 words, ????CAMPAIGN 2001; A Rapid, Sometimes Bumpy, Rise; Assembly: People skills aided ????Villaraigosa, now running for mayor. But inexperience showed., RONE TEMPEST, ????TIMES STAFF WRITER, SACRAMENTO Los Angeles Times, May 24, 2001 Thursday, Home Edition, Page 8, 331 words, ????The State; THE ENERGY CRISIS; Bush, Davis to Meet on President's Visit to ????State, DAN MORAIN, EDWIN CHEN, TIMES STAFF WRITERS Los Angeles Times, May 24, 2001 Thursday, Home Edition, Page 8, 504 words, ????The State; THE ENERGY CRISIS; Reliant Offers to Slash Prices if Rules ????Waived; Pollution: The power firm tells officials that plants could produce ????more if not curtailed by air quality rules., NANCY VOGEL, TIMES STAFF WRITER ????, SACRAMENTO Los Angeles Times, May 24, 2001 Thursday, Home Edition, Page 1, 520 words, ????Use of Diesel Generators Proposed to Bolster Grid; Energy: State says small ????backup systems, which lack pollution controls, could avert blackouts. ????Activists and air quality officials protest., GARY POLAKOVIC, TIMES STAFF ????WRITER The San Francisco Chronicle, MAY 24, 2001, THURSDAY,, FINAL EDITION, NEWS;, ????Pg. A1, 888 words, Davis to order 1-hour notice of blackouts; ???Plan also ????in works to give law enforcement even earlier alerts, Lynda Gledhill, ????Sacramento The San Francisco Chronicle, MAY 24, 2001, THURSDAY,, FINAL EDITION, NEWS;, ????Pg. A17, 1085 words, Californians angry across the board in energy crisis; ????Poll rates Bush worse than Davis, John Wildermuth The Associated Press State & Local Wire, May 24, 2001, Thursday, BC cycle, ????3:07 AM Eastern Time, State and Regional, 431 words, Davis proposal for more ????diesel power draws environmental criticism, LOS ANGELES May 23, 2001, 6:18PM Stand up, Texas, against California's bullying By JONATHAN WILCOX LADIES and gentlemen: May I present to you the Hon. Bill Lockyer, attorney general of the state of California, from the May 22 Wall Street Journal: "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.' " When you stop gagging, join me in celebrating Lockyer's crude, lewd and unsubdued behavior. It has stripped away whatever veneer of respectability California officials had by virtue of the offices they hold and exposed them as braggarts and bullies of the first order. But they also wield enormous and destructive power -- and they intend to use it. The sooner Texans realize this the better. As citizens of the state that is home to much of the nation's energy production, the people of Texas are intimately familiar with the booms and busts of the oil and natural gas industries. Sometimes, prices are high, new supply is nigh and willing buyers can only sigh. Other times, gluts occur, demand fluctuates, competition grows ruthless and revenues seep out like the last remnants of black crude from a stripper well. These are the principles of American capitalism, free market forces and the give-and-take and push-pull that separate this nation's economic capacity from all others. It is a fundamentally fair system, it has served us remarkably well and every time we have tampered with it, it has been to our ultimate detriment. Witness California's partial "deregulation" of its electricity market. The Golden State, for all its vanity, pride and preening machismo, actually knows very little of tough times. Sure, we can handle the occasional spectacular episode, like an earthquake or wildfire. That's part of the thrill of living in California. But when it comes to our economic expectations and their interrelationship with our desired lifestyle, we only know the California way: more, more often and with no end in sight. And if we don't get what we want, when we want it, it's someone else's fault. In that light, it is no surprise that we are saddled with our current governor, Gray Davis, and our current law enforcement chief, the aforementioned Lockyer. Despite his frequent jittery appearances on national television, Davis is a politically shrewd man. He may not know which public policy choices are best for the state's future, but that's not his highest priority. Item No. 1 on Davis' "To Do" list is to get re-elected next year. But this has been complicated by the state's year of energy woes, Davis' ineffectual response and the fact that California is a largely one-party state. Of California's eight statewide elected offices, seven are held by Democrats, including Davis and Lockyer. You don't have to be a Delphic oracle to discern that if Davis gets tossed out, he will take more than a few of his political brethren with him. So, as California tiptoes toward its long, hot summer of rolling blackouts and unprecedented electricity shortages, Davis is busy digging his personal bomb shelter. He's preparing for the big one, calculating that while the damage will be great, and the fallout potentially lethal, he and the other cockroaches, like Lockyer, will survive. How will they do this? By finding some fall guys to take the rap. Call it the Texas two-step: First, Davis declares "war" on Texas energy producers. Next, Lockyer says he expects to file civil charges against suppliers, with, he hopes, criminal counts to follow. For a demonstration of how not to deal with Lockyer and other California aggressors, examine the rejoinder of Mark Palmer, Enron's vice president for corporate communications. Lockyer's comment about Lay, he said, "is so counterproductive that it doesn't merit a response." Wrong. Weak. Ineffective. Decency in the face of demagoguery may be dignified, but it's little more than an invitation to further abuse and, for Enron, public villainy. Enron had a chance to do something corporations under hostile government fire only dream about: Embarrass, disarm and neutralize a corrupt public official out to smear their good name. By challenging Lockyer to either reassess or renounce his remarks, Enron could have injected common sense and rare truth into a debate that has become twisted and warped by the tirades of California officials. Best of all, Enron could have extracted the kind of retraction that would have adorned Lockyer with the scarlet "A" of contrite politicians: apology. Lockyer and other state officials may not yet know the ceiling of scorn Enron will tolerate from them. But they surely know the floor: Joking with journalists of the pleasure they would take from the arranged assault of Kennth Lay in a California prison. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Wilcox is a former speechwriter for California Gov. Pete Wilson. He can be reached at jwilcox1967@earthlink.net. Davis to push backup diesel By Chris Bowman Bee Staff Writer (Published May 24, 2001) In a major reversal of environmental policy, Gov. Gray Davis will announce a plan to relieve California's overloaded electricity grid this summer by paying businesses to run their high-polluting backup generators in advance of anticipated blackouts, a top energy adviser to the governor said Wednesday. "The backup generators will help us get through the summer," said S. David Freeman, who recently resigned as general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to lead Davis' drive for energy conservation. Freeman said he would leave it to Davis to disclose details of the plan. "The governor will announce what he's going to do," he said Wednesday in a wide-ranging interview on energy issues with The Bee. Roger Salazar, the governor's deputy press secretary, would not confirm when or whether Davis would make such an announcement. "I don't know that the governor has signed off on anything like that," Salazar said. Under the plan, participating businesses would turn on backup generators and simultaneously disconnect from the electricity grid when power supplies are at Stage 3 -- nearly depleted. The state would pay the companies for the much-needed power that would be saved by converting to diesel generation. Deploying diesel-powered generators -- the dirtiest of internal combustion engines -- to forestall blackouts is another sign of the governor's struggle to get more megawatts flowing through California. Earlier this week Davis lowered his estimate of the amount of new power that will come on line this summer from 5,000 megawatts to 4,000 megawatts. A megawatt is enough power for 750 to 1,000 households. The diesel plan also marks a significant turnabout in the Davis administration's policy. The governor and his appointees at the state Air Resources Board uniformly have rejected such proposals from industries, utilities and the operator of the state's electricity grid, arguing that routine use of the backup diesels would endanger public health. San Diego Gas & Electric has one such proposal scheduled for a vote today by the Davis-appointed state Public Utilities Commission. Environmentalists who have been catching word of the Davis plan this week argue that it would shatter the governor's repeated promises to stand firm on air quality standards during the energy crisis. A letter signed Wednesday by several of the state's leading environmental organizations, including the American Lung Association of California, urged Davis to reconsider. "Given your awareness of the public health threats of diesel emissions, please stop and have these proposals considered in a more thoughtful and public manner," the letter states. Freeman argued, however, that the additional health threat from non-emergency use of diesel generators is "marginal" compared with the health and safety problems triggered by power outages. "This is a no-brainer," Freeman said. "You've got human lives at stake here. This is a scary situation." Freeman cited, for example, people on life-support systems that could go awry in blackouts. But Sandra Spelliscy, attorney for the environmentalist Planning and Conservation League, countered, "If the health impacts are so marginal, why has the governor's own air quality enforcement agency opposed this?" Industries ranging from hospitals to food processing plants and data management centers have diesel-powered generators -- some the size of locomotives -- that kick on when a storm or earthquake knocks out power. Unlike diesel-powered trucks and buses, most diesel standby generators run with little or no pollution controls because they are intended only for emergencies. Though the latest models run cleaner and more efficiently, most generators in use today produce about 500 times more emissions of smog-forming nitrogen oxides per megawatt-hour as a new natural gas-fired power plant, according to air board engineers. Further, the diesels spew high amounts of breathable soot particles that can cause cancer, the engineers say. Davis' plan would limit the use of the generators to days when the grid operator declares a Stage 3 alert, meaning the power supplies are running low and rolling blackouts may be ordered to keep the state's entire grid from collapsing, according to Freeman. Salazar, the governor's spokesman, said only, "Any backup generation involving diesel will have to be used as a last resort to prevent blackouts." Environmentalists who are trying to head off the plan said it would have the state paying participating businesses at least 35 cents per kilowatt-hour, roughly three times the rate consumers typically pay for electricity. Freeman would not confirm the pay rate. The Davis administration has offered generators willing to sell new power exclusively to the state 50 percent discounts on the air emission credits they would need to comply with smog rules. For operators of existing power plants, the governor has agreed to have taxpayers pay the entire cost of polluting above allowable limits in order to keep the lights on. The latest plan to pay companies to run the dirty diesels during energy alerts further loosens the environmental reins. The Bee's Chris Bowman can be reached at (916) 321-1069 or cbowman@sacbee.com . Copyright 2001 Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News Copyright 2001 Contra Costa Times Contra Costa Times May 24, 2001, Thursday KR-ACC-NO: CC-ELECTRICITY LENGTH: 874 words HEADLINE: California Official Cites Evidence of Electricity Price Manipulation BYLINE: By Mike Taugher BODY: ??An investigation into electricity prices has turned up evidence that generators are throttling their power plants up and down to drive up prices, according to California's top utility regulator. ??Loretta Lynch, president of the state Public Utilities Commission, said Wednesday that an investigation started last year to examine electricity prices, and which later turned to examine unprecedented numbers of power plant outages, has found instances where generating units were backed down until electricity emergencies were declared and then brought back up in such a way as to maximize profits. ??"What we saw was a pattern of individual behavior," Lynch said. ??Generators acknowledge that they vary the output from their power plants, but say they do so for legitimate business reasons. Included among those reasons is a little-known tactic to insure themselves against breakdowns that would be limited under a federal order that is to take effect next week. ??Although Lynch would not reveal more specifics, her comments, which echoed revelations she made before a state Senate committee last week in Southern California, come as accusations, legal threats and rhetoric are all swirling to a boil. ??Earlier this week, Attorney General Bill Lockyer, whose office is working with the PUC in one of several ongoing electricity market investigations, reportedly said that he wanted to escort Enron Corp. Chairman Kenneth Lay to a prison cell "that he could share with a tattooed dude who says, 'Hi, my name is Spike, honey."' ??The heated rhetoric and continuing legal threats have infuriated generators, who continue to trot out figures showing that they are running power plants harder than ever. ??"There's nothing that gets under our skins more than somebody -- some government official -- who is ill-informed making those judgments," said Tom Williams, a spokesman for Duke Energy, a North Carolina-based company that owns three major power plants in California and is building a fourth. ??Duke generated 50 percent more electricity from those plants last year than it did the previous year, Williams said. And the company is on track to generate even more this year, he added. ??But Lynch and other state leaders are becoming increasingly hostile in their remarks about the half- dozen out-of-state power companies that bought utility-owned power plants in 1998 and 1999 as the state moved to restructure the electricity industry. ??Lynch said state regulators are at least a month away from taking legal action, but she also said that in addition to looking at power plant outages, the investigation was looking at patterns in the way power plants are run, allegedly to influence prices and then capitalize on them. ??"There are several ways the generators game the system," she said. ??The companies acknowledge they might limit output because of environmental restrictions and in situations where the cost of running a plant is higher than the price they could get for electricity at a given point in time. ??But there is another reason, too. It is a practice that has troubling implications because it sets up a situation where the higher prices go, the more incentive companies have to hold back power. ??Documents filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission show that some companies ease off their units' throttles in order to insure themselves against the possibility of a breakdown at another unit. Their logic is this: Energy companies typically sell electricity in advance, so they have an obligation to provide that electricity to their buyers. If they are running at 100 percent capacity and a unit breaks down, the company has to scramble to buy electricity at high, last-minute prices in order to meet its contractual obligations. ??Last summer, for example, a large, 750-megawatt unit at Duke's Moss Landing power plant broke down, and Duke found itself spending $ 1.2 million an hour to meet its contracts. ??By holding some of their power-generating capacity in reserve, the companies can insure themselves against a breakdown somewhere else. And the higher prices go, the more insurance they might want to keep. ??"That is a rationale they are using," said PUC energy division director Paul Clanon. ??Duke, Mirant Corp. and Pacific Gas & Electric were among the companies who objected to a draft order from federal regulators that would put an end to the practice of withholding power from the spot- market to cover the possibility of a breakdown. ??In papers that Mirant filed with FERC, the Atlanta-based generator said that if its ability to withhold power in that way was restricted, then regulators should allow the company to charge even more for its electricity. ??But FERC shot that argument down, saying that although it is reasonable for a company to not sell all of its electricity ahead of time, there is no reason to hold back power from the hour-to-hour spot market, as Mirant wanted to do. ??The federal commission said that, contrary to Mirant's claims, "the generator faces no financial risk" if it is forced to sell all its available power on the spot market. ??----- ??To see more of the Contra Costa Times, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.hotcoco.com/ JOURNAL-CODE: CC LOAD-DATE: May 24, 2001 ??????????????????????????????4 of 58 DOCUMENTS ??????????????????????Copyright 2001 / Los Angeles Times ??????????????????????????????Los Angeles Times ?????????????????????May 24, 2001 Thursday ?Home Edition SECTION: Part A; Part 1; Page 26; National Desk LENGTH: 1042 words HEADLINE: THE NATION; A SENATOR'S DECISION; Shift May Empower California BYLINE: RICHARD SIMON, ELIZABETH SHOGREN, TIMES STAFF WRITERS DATELINE: WASHINGTON BODY: ??James M. Jeffords has never mattered much to Californians. Until now. ??The Vermont senator's widely anticipated decision to abandon his fellow Republicans and put Democrats in control of the Senate could have big implications for California, particularly on energy and environmental policy, lawmakers and lobbyists said Wednesday. ??The change, which Jeffords is expected to announce today, could increase political pressure on the Bush administration to respond more aggressively to California's electricity crisis, these insiders said. ??And it might force the White House to compromise on key elements of the national energy policy it unveiled last week. In fact, the administration's proposed budget cuts for programs to promote renewable energy were said to be a factor in Jeffords' decision. ??At the very least, Senate observers said, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) is likely to get the floor vote she has sought on price controls for wholesale electricity. ??That doesn't necessarily mean that the administration's critics will be able to have everything their way. Even if the Senate approves electricity price caps, for example, the measure would face stiff opposition in the GOP-dominated House--and a likely veto if it made it to the president's desk. ??Still, a Democratic majority in the Senate would give Feinstein and other party members a platform to turn up the political heat on the administration and congressional Republicans on energy policy. ??"It kicks up the dust," groaned one energy industry lobbyist who requested anonymity. ??Observed Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.): "If President Bush's hard-edged conservative approach has in fact caused the balance to shift towards Democrats in the Senate, it will have profound implications not just for California, but for the environment and our nation's energy policy." ??Environmentalists seemed almost giddy as they contemplated the possible impact of Jeffords' decision on the policies they care about. ??All of a sudden, they said, it seems less likely that oil exploration will take place in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, that recreational snowmobiles will have free access to Yellowstone National Park, or that the administration's desire to promote nuclear power will be embraced by Congress. ??On the other hand, it seems more probable that Congress would approve a new plan for managing a vast swath of the Sierra Nevada to protect the region's oldest trees, consider legislation to restrict emissions of carbon dioxide from power plants and protect California from a resurgence of offshore oil drilling. ??"It's stunning how broad the repercussions are, particularly on the environment," said Gregory Wetstone of the Natural Resources Defense Council. "We're trying not to count our chickens before they hatch. But it will be easier for us in our battles at least to keep from moving backwards." ??For instance, Jeffords is a chief advocate of a bill that would regulate carbon dioxide from power plants. And if events play out as expected, he'll become the new chairman of the Senate committee with jurisdiction over the issue. ??Another issue under his purview would be the two-decade dispute over a proposed repository for the nation's spent nuclear fuel at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. ??"Yucca Mountain is a dead turkey," declared Michael Francis of the Wilderness Society. ??Environmentalists had been worried that a number of pro-development provisions would be packed into appropriation bills. But with Democratic senators in charge, that would become less of a threat, they said. ??"Every wacko idea Republicans have will get a higher level of scrutiny," Francis said. ??The biggest change would be the power of Senate Democrats to decide which bills will be considered in committees, and which ones will make it to the floor of the Senate for votes. ??As part of a new Democratic majority, Feinstein and fellow California Democrat Barbara Boxer are likely to gain leverage with the administration on a number of issues considered important to the state. ??"That translates into more federal assistance for California across the board," predicted Steve Maviglio, spokesman for Gov. Gray Davis. ??"I think it means more attention to our state, for sure," Boxer said. "Right now, the president doesn't seem to give a darn. They're all looking at California as a Democratic state. They're not interested." ??Feinstein, who has been unable to arrange a meeting with Bush to discuss the energy crisis, may get better treatment if winning Democratic support becomes more important to the administration. She has been regarded as a bridge-builder who worked effectively with Republicans in the past. ??"This has not been a warm and friendly administration," she complained Wednesday. "They've got people who know all the answers and don't want to listen." ??The White House disputed that. In fact, Bush agreed Wednesday to meet with Davis during the president's first visit to California next week. ??Under a Democratic majority, Feinstein would be in line to chair two subcommittees: the military construction panel of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and the technology, terrorism and government information subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee. ??Boxer would be in line to chair the subcommittee on Superfund, waste control and risk assessment, and the Foreign Relations subcommittee on international operations and terrorism. ??Maviglio predicted that the effects of Jeffords' expected party defection would be felt immediately. ??The chairmanship of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee would be taken away from Frank H. Murkowski (R-Alaska), who has been "openly hostile to California's plight," and handed to Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), who supports Davis' request for electricity price controls, according to Maviglio. ??Democrats have assailed Bush's energy plan for tilting heavily toward the supply side. With Democrats in charge of the Senate, the administration would be more likely to compromise, perhaps beefing up funding for Democrat-supported causes such as increased energy assistance to low-income households and more aggressive promotion of conservation and renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power. LOAD-DATE: May 24, 2001 ??????????????????????????????5 of 58 DOCUMENTS ??????????????????????Copyright 2001 / Los Angeles Times ??????????????????????????????Los Angeles Times ?????????????????????May 24, 2001 Thursday ?Home Edition SECTION: Part A; Part 1; Page 16; National Desk LENGTH: 930 words HEADLINE: The Nation; ; Texas Firm's Chief Denies Driving Up Calif. Natural Gas Prices; Energy: At federal panel hearing, he says his company missed out on making more money from rapid hikes. BYLINE: RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, TIMES STAFF WRITER DATELINE: WASHINGTON BODY: ??The head of a Houston energy company denied driving California natural gas prices to unprecedented levels and testified Wednesday that his firm actually passed up an opportunity to make nearly $700 million in additional profits. ??But the company still earned a net profit of $184 million on an initial investment of $38.5 million, according to testimony by El Paso Merchant Group President Ralph Eads in a trial-like hearing before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. ??The El Paso case is significant because it represents the closest thing yet to a full-blown trial of allegations that the actions of unscrupulous energy companies have been a chief cause of California's energy crisis. ??The California Public Utilities Commission and Southern California Edison have charged that El Paso Merchant, which sells natural gas, withheld space on a pipeline owned by an affiliated company last year to create an artificial shortage that sent prices zooming. ??Edison's experts estimate that the alleged scheme has added $3.7 billion to California's total energy costs, since most of the state's power plants are fueled by natural gas. ??Executive Testifies About 'Hedge' Deals ??But Eads, under oath, denied that Merchant was after predatory profits. ??The strongest evidence of that, he testified, is that the company entered into long-term, fixed-price deals called "hedges" for much of the shipping rights it bought from pipeline owner El Paso Natural Gas Co. in February 2000. ??When California prices spiked last November, Eads said Merchant was locked into its hedge contracts and was unable to reap the full potential profit. ??Merchant made $105 million in profits from the pipeline deal last year after subtracting losses of $262 million on hedged contracts, Eads testified. ??In the first three months of this year, Eads said, Merchant made an additional $79 million in profits on the deal after subtracting losses of $429 million on hedges. ??Hedge contracts function like insurance against sudden swings in market prices. ??In this case, Eads said Merchant entered into the deals to protect itself from a potential price drop. But he said the company lost out on a huge windfall when the market moved in the opposite direction. ??"If we had thought that we could drive up prices, we certainly wouldn't have hedged," said Eads, 41, who holds an economics degree from Duke University and has been in the energy business for 17 years. "The hedge cost us hundreds of millions. So it's certainly not rational to hedge if you think you can drive prices up." ??Merchant's expert witnesses have testified that high demand for electricity, low storage levels of natural gas in California and a lack of pipeline capacity within the state are to blame for the high prices. ??Eads testified that Merchant has made a profit of 76 cents per million British thermal units on gas shipped to California. ??That is good by industry standards but a far cry from markups of $8 or more per million BTUs being charged at the California border. ??Administrative Law Judge Curtis L. Wagner Jr. listened intently to the testimony, at times questioning Eads himself. ??Hearing Is Taking Longer Than Expected ??The hearing--originally scheduled to last for five days--entered its eighth day Wednesday. ??Eads was the first witness with in-depth personal knowledge of the controversial transactions between El Paso Merchant Group and El Paso Natural Gas Co., both subsidiaries of El Paso Corp. ??Wagner must render an initial decision to the federal commission's governing board on whether Merchant acquired monopolistic power in California's natural gas market and used it to harm consumers. The board can order the company to return any ill-gotten gains. ??Eads also provided new details of how his company came to acquire the right to ship 1.2 billion cubic feet a day of natural gas through El Paso Natural Gas Co.'s pipeline. ??Eads testified that his subordinates first proposed to bid for the publicly advertised shipping rights and settled on a price of $38.5 million. Eads said he approved the deal. ??The commission has already ruled that the contract between Merchant and El Paso Natural Gas was proper. ??However, questions have been raised about a briefing prepared by Merchant for a Feb. 14, 2000, meeting with William A. Wise, the chief executive of the El Paso parent company. ??The presentation remains under court seal, but the New York Times has reported that the presentation discussed how the pipeline deal would give El Paso more control of the California market. ??Eads testified that Wise had no role in approving the bid. Such a role would have violated commission rules. ??Merchant's attorneys, while opposing public release of the Feb. 14 presentation, say it has been taken out of context. ??PUC attorney Harvey Morris, cross-examining Eads, suggested that the executive was not giving a complete picture of how El Paso Corp. might have profited from the actions of Merchant and the pipeline subsidiary. The company has other energy interests, including power generators that stood to benefit from high prices for power in California. ??Senate Panel Approves 2 Board Nominations ??In a related development, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee unanimously approved President Bush's nomination of state regulators Patrick Wood and Nora Brownell to fill out the energy commission's five-member board. The nominations now go to the full Senate for consideration. ??Cross-examination of Eads resumes today. LOAD-DATE: May 24, 2001 ??????????????????????????????6 of 58 DOCUMENTS ??????????????????????Copyright 2001 / Los Angeles Times ??????????????????????????????Los Angeles Times ?????????????????????May 24, 2001 Thursday ?Home Edition SECTION: Part A; Part 1; Page 1; Metro Desk LENGTH: 3167 words SERIES: CAMPAIGN 2001 HEADLINE: CAMPAIGN 2001; A Rapid, Sometimes Bumpy, Rise; Assembly: People skills aided Villaraigosa, now running for mayor. But inexperience showed. BYLINE: RONE TEMPEST, TIMES STAFF WRITER DATELINE: SACRAMENTO BODY: ??Even on the extremely fast track paved by term limits, Antonio Villaraigosa's race to power in Sacramento was lightning quick. ??Only three years after arriving here as a rookie legislator, in his first elective office, Villaraigosa gathered enough support in the Assembly to push his popular colleague, Cruz Bustamante, out of the speakership months before he wanted to go. ??Building allies in the Assembly as party whip and later as majority leader, and tirelessly campaigning for fellow Democrats across the state in the 1996 elections, Villaraigosa quickly captured the speaker's job. ??In the back-slapping, favor-trading environment of the Capitol, he turned his considerable skills as a bipartisan schmoozer into a record of constructive compromise--including marshaling a massive, $9.2-billion school bond issue in 1998 and a $2.1-billion parks bond issue in 1999. ??Although he served only two years and three months as speaker, he benefited hugely from a booming economy, which buttressed him as he shepherded bills through to expand health care for poor families, establish peer review of teachers and impose bans on assault weapons, among others. The accomplishments form the bulwark of his campaign for mayor of Los Angeles against City Atty. James K. Hahn, which ends in the June 5 runoff. ??Yet Villaraigosa's inexperience also showed: A lackluster detail man by his own admission, he was forced by his weaknesses in the mechanics of policy to lean heavily on a strong staff as well as on intellectually gifted colleagues who didn't always agree with him. ??Some fellow Democrats accuse him of padding his resume by claiming credit for bills on which others had done most of the hard work. He suffered a bitter break with his longtime friend and successor as speaker, Bob Hertzberg (D-Sherman Oaks), that colored the last year of his term. Hertzberg is conspicuously absent from Villaraigosa's list of endorsers. ??In his relatively brief tenure at the top, Villaraigosa was blessed with good timing. There were none of the fiscal or natural disasters that circumscribed the actions of past state figures. Nor was he there long enough to be saddled with a continuing crisis. ??Yet his tenure did change him. The liberal who arrived here in 1994 after being elected from Los Angeles' ethnically mixed 45th Assembly District--fresh from tenures as a teachers union leader and president of the local ACLU chapter--emerged six years later with bouquets from conservative Republicans. ??"In this environment," said Capitol veteran Bill Leonard, a Republican assemblyman from San Bernardino, "anyone who can rise to leadership knows how to work a fast track--gaining allies, answering critics. The hit on Antonio, of course, was that he was this radical legislator from Los Angeles. He had to answer that because, in the Legislature, anything of substance is bipartisan. . . . Every possible coalition has to be in on the decision." ??Indeed, Republicans expected a firebrand and ended up with Mr. Congeniality. In a tribute given as term limits forced Villaraigosa from the Assembly last year, conservative Republican Roy Ashburn of Bakersfield talked about defending him at Rotary and Kiwanis club meetings. ??"You can imagine my dilemma," Ashburn said. "A guy from Bakersfield asked about the speaker and I would say, 'Well, he's a former ACLU [leader] from Los Angeles, but he's a good guy.' I had a lot of explaining to do." ??That was almost impossible to predict when Villaraigosa came to the Assembly in 1994. The lower house had been placed in the hands of the Republicans for the first time in more than two decades. ??During the 1995-96 session, Villaraigosa had only modest success with the three dozen bills he wrote, mostly involving education, labor and health care issues. His attempt at a bill requiring trigger locks on firearms went down in flames. So did a bill to commute prison sentences for terminally ill prisoners. ??His most notable success, achieved on a second attempt with the support of Orange County Republican leader Scott Baugh, was a bill permitting women to breast-feed their children in public. ??Perhaps Villaraigosa's biggest vote came when he joined in the now-infamous unanimous approval of the 1996 bill that helped deregulate electricity in California. (The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power was not required to deregulate.) ??"Look," said Villaraigosa, "every member of the state Legislature voted for deregulation. In hindsight, it was not a good vote. I had some concerns about the bill, but I knew that Los Angeles was protected because of its municipal utility, and that was a big factor in my mind.' ??Democratic Landslide Helped ??Borne by good relations with colleagues, Villaraigosa became speaker in January 1998. His security in the job was greatly enhanced in the 1998 general election, when a Democratic landslide added a record five seats to the party's membership in the Assembly, giving it a powerful majority of 48 in the 80-member house. ??Villaraigosa says he never gets enough credit for helping expand his party's majority. Instead, he says, reporters focused on the loss of a "safe" Democratic seat in Oakland to Green Party candidate Audie Bock in a 1999 special election. ??The new speaker also had an ally in the governor's office. Even though Villaraigosa initially supported millionaire Al Checchi over Gray Davis in the 1998 governor's race, he quickly forged a strong bond with Davis during the campaign. ??"I'm hitching my wagon to his horse," Villaraigosa told reporters. Davis has endorsed Villaraigosa for mayor. ??Any speaker, particularly a Democrat, is inevitably compared to the legendary Willie Brown, who held the post for 14 years before term limits booted him to the San Francisco mayor's office. By that yardstick, Villaraigosa had a mixed record. ??Patsy Kurakawa, Villaraigosa's policy director, said he was almost as successful at working over Assembly members as her old boss Brown. "The bottom line was that he was really good at getting votes," Kurakawa recalled. ??Brown, an early endorser of Villaraigosa for mayor, said: ??"In the time period Antonio ran the place as speaker, the budget process moved smoothly, the membership responded appropriately and the output was what it was supposed to be. Fortunately for him, he didn't have the energy crisis." ??But if Villaraigosa approached Brown's hold on the membership, he lacked the former speaker's sense of detail and instant grasp of policy. Part of the difference was experience--Brown's three decades in the Assembly to Villaraigosa's six years. ??The experience gap showed, to Villaraigosa's disadvantage, in the first of the 1998 Big Five budget meetings he attended. At the table were Gov. Pete Wilson (32 years in elected office), Senate President John Burton (28 years) and minority leaders Ross Johnson and Bill Leonard (20 years each)--a century's experience in Sacramento, Washington and local office. ??"I'd come in with this big, thick binder because I knew I had to be extra-prepared," Villaraigosa recalled. "These guys had forgotten more than I had learned." ??In the early meetings, he remembered, Burton referred to him in front of the others as "the kid." Villaraigosa never won the full respect of the irascible Burton, who remains skeptical about his qualifications for mayor. But Wilson and the other Republicans eventually warmed to him. ??"The first meeting was awkward when he was the new kid in the room," said Leonard, who then led the GOP senators. "Burton and Wilson were from the same generation and were singing old television commercials--a trivia kind of thing. By the next meeting [Villaraigosa] had some old TV commercial of his own to offer. He was a quick learner." ??Still, some members contend that the inexperience exacted a price. ??"The Assembly didn't do all that well that year in the Big Five meeting," recalled one Democrat. "Given the experiential mismatch, he did OK. But the Senate and the governor mostly set the agenda on the budget while Antonio was there." ??Villaraigosa Always on the Move ??Complicating Villaraigosa's learning curve was a frenetic style, which often made it hard to get his attention on complicated issues. One former staffer jokingly described it as the "ADD [Attention Deficit Disorder] Antonio." Another said she learned to keep contact with the speaker by holding onto his sleeve. ??"You could brief Willie in the hallway on his way to the floor," recalled one staff member who worked for both men. As for Villaraigosa, the staffer said, "I can't tell you how many times I would turn my head and, when I looked back, he would be gone--poof!" ??Villaraigosa admits that he is not keen on details, but says he makes up for it by hiring the best staff and identifying the best minds available. ??"Anyone who says that I don't have an attention to detail," he said, "fails to take into account that I hired staff with that attention and I delegated to fill the gap. My job as speaker was the big picture." ??He cites as an example his "top accomplishment" as speaker--the 1998 school bond issue. He gives much of the credit to then-deputies Hertzberg and Tom Torlakson, a former Antioch schoolteacher. ??The creative breakthrough in the bill came when Hertzberg and Torlakson linked school improvements to a cap on the "developer fees" that school districts charge home builders. ??Villaraigosa quickly saw the potential and sold the compromise to Democrats. When it came time to negotiate with Republicans, Leonard recalled, Villaraigosa was there to close the deal. ??Another example occurred in 1999 when the state's largest utility, Pacific Gas & Electric, mounted a full-court press for a bill that would allow it to sell hydroelectric power plants that provide the state with a critical 10,000 megawatts. ??The power crisis was not yet evident, but Villaraigosa said he sensed that PG&E was moving too fast. "It was toward the end of the legislative session," he recalled. "I said it would be irresponsible to act now." ??He effectively killed the PG&E push by assigning top lieutenant Fred Keeley (D-Boulder Creek) to the conference committee considering the measure. Assemblyman Keeley, who fiercely opposed the PG&E effort, had sponsored an alternative bill calling for public ownership of the hydroelectric facilities. ??Had the PG&E push been successful, Keeley estimates now, the results would have been devastating and cost the state millions of dollars more when it began buying power for the crippled utilities earlier this year. ??Overall, Villaraigosa got high marks for his selection of deputies. Besides Keeley, his other pro-tem was well-regarded Assemblywoman Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica). His key committee appointments included Hertzberg, in Rules, and Carole Migden of San Francisco in Appropriations. ??"He had the confidence to surround himself with smart people who were not going to shy away from a fight. None of these people were sycophants," recalled former Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar), who was majority leader when Villaraigosa served as whip. ??State Sen. Don Perata (D-Alameda) said Villaraigosa would need an equally strong team to succeed at City Hall. A "very strong chief of staff" would free Villaraigosa to deal with the City Council, said Perata, who served with the candidate in the Assembly. ??For all his efforts to translate personal charisma into political advantage, Villaraigosa has come under some virulent criticism, largely from Democrats in the highly fractious Latino Caucus who are loyal to state Sen. Richard Polanco of Los Angeles. Villaraigosa defeated Polanco's candidate to reach the Assembly. ??Polanco ally Martha Escutia, now a state senator from Whittier, accuses Villaraigosa of hijacking her 1997 bill to create the Healthy Families program, which provides medical coverage for children in low-income households. ??Villaraigosa lists the Healthy Families legislation as one of his four key accomplishments in Sacramento, along with the school and parks bond measures and his participation in a 1999 assault weapons ban. ??According to the legislative record, Escutia was the first in the 1997-98 session to offer a comprehensive bill on low-income health coverage for children. Moreover, the final bill that emerged, with Villaraigosa listed as a principal author, contained much of the same language as the Escutia bill but does not carry her name. ??"All I know," she said, "is that I was the first one to introduce the Healthy Families bill, but by the time [the final measure was drafted in committee] I was not a member, nor was I listed as an author. The lesson I learned is to be more vigilant about my work product." ??Added Polanco: "It's like someone taking a test and putting your name on it. You don't take someone's work and put your name on it." ??Villaraigosa dismissed those claims, saying he had introduced similar "universal coverage for children" bills in previous sessions. One such bill in 1996 never made it out of the health committee but did have a line stating that all children under 18 "should be entitled to child health care." ??Amy Dominguez-Arms, vice president of Children Now, an Oakland-based children's advocacy group that was a principal sponsor of the bill that finally passed, said Villaraigosa legitimately deserves most of the credit. ??"We had already been talking to [Villaraigosa's] staff when the Escutia bill was introduced," she said. "We found him to be a very receptive author, and he certainly championed the bill throughout the legislative session." ??Villaraigosa also takes credit for successfully pushing the assault weapons ban. As Hahn has attacked him as being too soft on crime, the measure has become an important part of Villaraigosa's public safety record. ??"My role in the assault weapons ban was to get it out of the Assembly," he said. "You guys wrote that it was going down. That was a time I pulled people into my office one at a time. They came to Jesus about how this was an important Democratic initiative that we had to get behind. We needed 41 votes and we got them." ??But the bill's author Perata--while recognizing Villaraigosa's help--said the legislation would have passed without the speaker's intervention. Villaraigosa "jockeyed the bill in the Assembly, but jockeying should not be confused with passing it or writing it," he said. ??The highest-profile rift with Villaraigosa featured the unlikeliest of prospects, his longtime political ally and Sacramento roommate Hertzberg. Hertzberg, a hyperkinetic former bond attorney, replaced Villaraigosa as speaker in April 2000. ??Part of the problem between the two friends was predictable: a transition in the abbreviated atmosphere of term limits. Hertzberg, who organized Villaraigosa's 1994 campaign for Assembly before joining him there two years later, helped Villaraigosa nudge Bustamante from the speakership in 1998. But by the spring of 1999, Hertzberg was already gathering signatures and making his own move against Villaraigosa. ??Villaraigosa wanted to remain as speaker through last summer's Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, which he figured would give him a high-profile platform for the mayor's race. ??Articles already identifying Hertzberg as speaker-in-waiting had angered Villaraigosa, and there was a confrontation between Hertzberg and a Villaraigosa aide in March 1999 during the annual legislative leaders' trip to Washington. ??For several months after that, the two men rarely spoke, although they continued to live together in the home they shared in Sacramento. ??The question of campaign money also fed the feud. Villaraigosa was a potent fund-raiser for the Democratic caucus, and as part of the transition returned $ 1.5 million to the Democratic leadership when he left power. But Villaraigosa also kept $1.3 million for his own campaign chest, putting it in an account to run for state Senate in 2002 should his mayoral campaign fail. ??Bustamante had done the same thing, taking more than $1 million he had raised as speaker to finance his successful 1998 campaign for lieutenant governor. Villaraigosa had loudly criticized the Bustamante move, so most of his colleagues in the Democratic caucus expected him to leave the money behind. Villaraigosa defends the money transfer by saying, accurately, that he had already given more money back to Democrats than any previous speaker. ??As for Hertzberg's lack of endorsement, the speaker said: "I am working 24 hours, seven days a week on the energy crisis and other issues facing the state. So it is hard for me to get involved in the mayor's race." ??Villaraigosa said he hopes Hertzberg will relent. "It's been painful, more personally than politically," Villaraigosa said. ??This personal fallout aside, Villaraigosa's legacy as speaker remains his ability to get along with most of Sacramento's influential figures, building political bridges as he went. ??Helping Hands in the Legislature From his six years in the California Assembly, including two years as speaker, Antonio Villaraigosa lists four bills as his greatest accomplishments. In each case, however, Democratic colleagues contend that at least some of the the heavy lifting was done by other lawmakers. ??HEALTHY FAMILIES (AB 1126): This 1997 bill, passed when Villaraigosa was majority leader, brought 250,000 California children from working poor families into a health insurance program. But Whittier state Sen. Martha Escutia contends that Villaraigosa took her bill, filed earlier, and morphed it into his own. ??SCHOOL BONDS (SB 50): Villaraigosa calls this 1998 Senate bill the "crown jewel" of his term as speaker. But it is named the Leroy F. Greene School Facilities Act after another education-minded former Democratic legislator from Sacramento. After two embarrassing earlier failures, Villaraigosa finally succeeded in getting the $9.2-billion bond bill out of the Assembly, largely because of a compromise brokered by fellow lawmakers in a marathon weekend of negotiations. ??GUN CONTROL (SB 23): This landmark 1999 legislation banning the manufacture, import and sale of assault weapons tops Villaraigosa's list in the crime and public safety category. Villaraigosa carried the bill on the Assembly floor, but it was mainly the result of a lifetime effort in in gun legislation by Alameda Democratic Sen. Don Perata. "It would have passed with or without Antonio," Perata says. ??PARKS BONDS (AB 18): This 1999 bill, the largest successful parks bond in U.S. history, was mainly the product of a long legislative effort by Boulder City Democratic Assemblyman Fred Keeley to improve state parks. But Villaraigosa added the urban element with funding for city parks and forcefully powered it through the Assembly. Now part of the statute requires that signs at park construction sites identify it as "Paid for by the Villaraigosa-Keeley Act." GRAPHIC: PHOTO: Antonio Villaraigosa admits he's not a detail person, but says he hires aides who are. PHOTOGRAPHER: LAWRENCE K. HO / Los Angeles Times PHOTO: State Sen. Kevin Murray hugs Assemblyman Antonio Villaraigosa after the Assembly passed a racial-profiling bill in August. In the Capitol, Villaraigosa took advantage of his formidable schmoozing skills. PHOTOGRAPHER: Associated Press PHOTO: (Orange County Edition, B6) Antonio Villaraigosa, with state Sen. Kevin Murray, turned his skills as a bipartisan schmoozer into a record of constructive compromise. PHOTOGRAPHER: RICH PEDRONCELLI / Los Angeles Times LOAD-DATE: May 24, 2001 ??????????????????????????????8 of 58 DOCUMENTS ??????????????????????Copyright 2001 / Los Angeles Times ??????????????????????????????Los Angeles Times ?????????????????????May 24, 2001 Thursday ?Home Edition SECTION: California; Part 2; Page 8; Metro Desk LENGTH: 331 words HEADLINE: The State; THE ENERGY CRISIS; Bush, Davis to Meet on President's Visit to State BYLINE: DAN MORAIN, EDWIN CHEN, TIMES STAFF WRITERS BODY: ??President Bush agreed Wednesday to take time on his first trip to California as chief executive to meet with Gov. Gray Davis, even as tensions grow between the two administrations. ??The agreement to meet came after a weekend during which Vice President Dick Cheney called one of the Democratic governor's ideas "goofy" and labeled as a "harebrained scheme" Davis' decision to buy electricity, and Davis blasted the Bush-Cheney energy plan for failing to address California's needs. ??White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said Bush will meet with Davis next week, probably Tuesday. ??"The president has invited Gov. Davis to meet with him, to get together to talk about issues important to California, including, of course, energy. And the president looks forward to meeting with Gov. Davis," Fleischer said. ??Davis had called the White House on Tuesday, though he didn't reach Bush. He followed up with a letter dated Wednesday in which he requested a meeting "to discuss the most difficult issue facing the consumers and businesses of California: energy." ??In his letter, Davis warned that California's energy crisis "is a national economic issue." ??"I agree with you," Davis' letter said, "that long-term solutions are necessary to our nation's energy challenge. However, Californians can't afford to wait four or five years for a permanent solution. We need relief today." ??Davis has been demanding that the Bush administration cap wholesale electricity prices charged by independent energy companies, something the president opposes. ??Fleischer said Bush and Davis were expected to discuss their differences over the federal response to California's electricity shortages and price spikes, but other issues probably would be addressed as well. ??"It wouldn't surprise me if the president wanted to talk about education, maybe taxes. There'll be a series of issues they want to talk about," Fleischer said.. "But energy will, of course, be at the top of the list." LOAD-DATE: May 24, 2001 ??????????????????????????????9 of 58 DOCUMENTS ??????????????????????Copyright 2001 / Los Angeles Times ??????????????????????????????Los Angeles Times ?????????????????????May 24, 2001 Thursday ?Home Edition SECTION: California; Part 2; Page 8; Metro Desk LENGTH: 504 words HEADLINE: The State; THE ENERGY CRISIS; Reliant Offers to Slash Prices if Rules Waived; Pollution: The power firm tells officials that plants could produce more if not curtailed by air quality rules. BYLINE: NANCY VOGEL, TIMES STAFF WRITER DATELINE: SACRAMENTO BODY: ??A Houston-based energy wholesaler singled out by Gov. Gray Davis for charging sky-high amounts offered on Wednesday to slash prices 80% if air pollution regulators waive certain rules. ??Reliant Energy, owner of five Southern California power plants, told top state energy and environmental officials that a boost in the number of hours its power plants can run would allow the company to drop its bids from between $ 1,500 and $1,900 per megawatt-hour to $150 to $250 per megawatt-hour. ??Three of the company's power plants can run only a limited number of hours each year under air pollution rules designed to reduce smog. ??In a letter to Davis' energy advisors, company Vice President John Stout proposed that the state not subtract from Reliant's allotted hours whenever its plants are ordered to run by state grid operators, who buy power on an emergency basis to prevent uncontrolled blackouts. ??"Right now when we are called upon by the state to run these units, it's eating away the hours of run time that we were counting on," said Stout. ??"That's what causes us to bid in the high prices," he said, "because we ultimately think we're going to have to go out and buy replacement power in the spot market later this summer to make up for the hours that get eaten up in the spring or early summer by these emergency dispatches by the state." ??Earlier this month, the state power buyers paid Reliant $1,900 per megawatt-hour, several times recent market prices, to avoid blackouts on a hot afternoon. Davis complained publicly, naming the price and the seller--information that grid operators are supposed to keep confidential under federal rules. ??Davis spokesman Roger Salazar said the governor will evaluate Reliant's latest offer carefully. ??But Southern California air pollution regulators said they already have relaxed Reliant's regulations or offered to do so months ago. ??"We're not sure of the logic behind Reliant's proposal," said Doug Allard, top regulator at the Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District. "The implication seems to be that air quality mitigation is contributing substantially to the cost of power. We find that impossible to believe." ??Allard said his staff has been ready since last August to amend a permit that allows Reliant's small power plant near Goleta to run 200 hours a year. He said the district offered to add 500 hours of operation time each year with no strings attached. ??That is possible, Allard said, because a 1991 test of the plant's pollution concluded that it released only one-third as much nitrogen oxide--a precursor to smog--as regulators believed when they wrote the permit years ago. ??Ventura County air pollution control officer Dick Baldwin, who regulates two plants owned by Reliant, said the company seems to want to be able to produce more electricity to sell on the spot market--where prices can soar--in exchange for giving the state a break on the electricity it is ordered to sell during emergencies. LOAD-DATE: May 24, 2001 ??????????????????????????????10 of 58 DOCUMENTS ??????????????????????Copyright 2001 / Los Angeles Times ??????????????????????????????Los Angeles Times ?????????????????????May 24, 2001 Thursday ?Home Edition SECTION: California; Part 2; Page 1; Metro Desk LENGTH: 520 words HEADLINE: Use of Diesel Generators Proposed to Bolster Grid; Energy: State says small backup systems, which lack pollution controls, could avert blackouts. Activists and air quality officials protest. BYLINE: GARY POLAKOVIC, TIMES STAFF WRITER BODY: ??Gov. Gray Davis' administration is considering pressing into service thousands of diesel-powered generators, a move that would eke out a little more electricity but pump massive quantities of pollutants into the air. ??The proposal, part of an emerging strategy to avert blackouts this summer, is one of several options being advanced by Richard Sklar, whom Gov. Davis appointed last month to bring more electricity online with less red tape. ??"If backup generators were to be used, it would only be as a last resort to avoid blackouts," said Davis spokesman Roger Salazar. "Unfortunately, we are in an emergency situation. Everything is on the table." ??But environmentalists and air quality officials are outraged, calling the plan a recipe for unhealthy air during the smoggiest months in the nation's most polluted state. The legions of small backup generators typically burn diesel fuel and have no pollution controls. ??"They could have a huge negative effect on air quality," said Ellen Garvey, executive officer for the Bay Area Air Quality Management Agency. "It's one thing to run these generators during blackouts and emergency conditions, but using them for other purposes could be devastating." ??The plan is one of several options being developed by the governor. One approach would pay operators to run the generators when supplies are stretched to alleviate demand on the state's power grid. ??California has about 17,200 backup generators, most in hospitals, office buildings, sewage treatment plants and university labs, although some are portable rentals. ??Each generator spews 500 times more nitrogen dioxide for each megawatt of electricity than a natural-gas fired power plant, according to the state Air Resources Board. The generators also release soot. ??Under a worst-case scenario prepared by the California Air Pollution Control Officers Assn., generators could produce nearly 17,000 tons of pollutants if they all ran 40 days during blackouts and Stage 3 emergencies. Half of the pollution would be concentrated in the air quality region that includes Los Angeles, Orange and parts of Riverside and San Bernardino counties. That is the smog equivalent to the nitrogen dioxide all the cars in California produce in 13 days, according to the Air Resources Board. Nitrogen dioxide contributes to ozone and microscopic airborne particles, two abundant air pollutants. ??Backup generators are so small that collectively they do not produce much power. Only about 550 megawatts could be generated each day, officials say, in a state that requires nearly 100 times as much to function. ??Nevertheless, business groups are lobbying for the change, including the League of Food Processors, the California Manufacturers and Technology Assn. and San Diego Gas & Electric Co. ??"These generators could go a long way to taking some demand off the electric grid and putting some supply back into the power system," said Gino DiCaro, spokesman for the manufacturers association. ??* ??MORE INSIDE ??Official visit: President Bush agrees to meet with Gov. Gray Davis during his California trip. B8 LOAD-DATE: May 24, 2001 ??????????????????????????????11 of 58 DOCUMENTS ?????????????????Copyright 2001 The Chronicle Publishing Co. ?????????????????????????The San Francisco Chronicle ????????????????????MAY 24, 2001, THURSDAY, FINAL EDITION SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A1 LENGTH: 888 words HEADLINE: Davis to order 1-hour notice of blackouts; Plan also in works to give law enforcement even earlier alerts SOURCE: Chronicle Sacramento Bureau BYLINE: Lynda Gledhill DATELINE: Sacramento BODY: Gov. Gray Davis will issue an executive order today requiring that Californians be given at least one hour's notice before blackouts hit, according to a top administration official. ???The one-hour notice is double what the California Independent System Operator, managers of the state's electrical grid, proposed earlier this week. The ISO board is scheduled to discuss its plan at a meeting today. ???Details of Davis' plan were still being worked out, said the administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. But any plan would have to order the ISO to give more notice of potential blackouts. ???Davis also hopes to give 48-hour and then 24-hour notices of probable blackout scenarios. Administration officials said the two-day notice would go to law enforcement, while everyone would get a 24-hour warning. ???Business groups welcomed the executive order. ???"We need to plan, we need to make adjustments in business schedules," said Jeanne Cain, vice president for government relations for the California Chamber of Commerce. "There are concerns about employee safety issues. The more notice we have, the better we can accommodate the blackout." ???Carl Guardino, an ISO board member and president of the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group, has been pushing for an advanced notification plan and working with the governor. ???"Sixty minutes is twice as good" as 30 minutes, he said. ???With little doubt that blackouts will hit this summer, lawmakers have been searching for a way to make them easier on residents and businesses. ???"As much notice as possible would be helpful. It's helpful to have some advance notice for planning purposes, but small businesses will still be hurt by the blackouts," said Shirley Knight, assistant state director of the National Federation of Independent Business. ???"Most small businesses are in the service sector so they're open during the day, which means small-business owners aren't going to be able to recoup those blackout costs like a manufacturer might be able to," Knight said. ???But one consumer group said Davis should be doing more to stop the blackouts from happening in the first place. ???"It's like saying you're going to know a half hour earlier that an earthquake is coming," said Doug Heller of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights. "We should be stopping blackouts by standing up to the energy generators, rather than giving us an extra 30 minutes." ???'POWER WATCH' ???The Independent System Operator's proposed plan for forecasting potential blackouts envisions a system that would provide a 24-hour notice of high-demand days. A "Power Watch" would be declared whenever a Stage 1 or Stage 2 alert is likely, while a "Power Warning" would be issued whenever there is at least a 50 percent chance of a Stage 3 alert, when electricity reserves drop below 1.5 percent. ???Until now, the agency has refused to give more than a few minutes' warning of blackouts, 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. ???Pacific Gas and Electric Co. said it would welcome the advance notice to be able to notify customers who rely on electricity for life-critical equipment and large
|