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Los Angeles Times, May 27, 2001 Sunday, Home Edition, Page 7, 615 words, ????The State; ?Who Let the Hot Dogs Out? Rhapsodic Lawmakers; Legislature: ????Speaking frankly, officials have used the wiener as an easily digestible ????metaphor for the state's energy crisis., JULIE TAMAKI, MIGUEL BUSTILLO, ????TIMES STAFF WRITERS, SACRAMENTO (Quotes Smutny on behalf of IEP) The San Francisco Chronicle, MAY 26, 2001, SATURDAY,, FINAL EDITION, NEWS;, ????Pg. A1, 835 words, Davis asks U.S. to limit firms' prices; ???RATE SWINGS: ????Governor argues 2 generators manipulated market, Lynda Gledhill, Sacramento (Quotes ??????? ???Smutny on ?behalf of IEP) The Wall Street Journal, Power Drain: The U.S. Energy Crisis, California Officials Say State Will ?? ???Enter A Recession Without Energy Price Caps By JOHN R. EMSHWILLER , Staff Reporter of THE ?? ???WALL STREET JOURNAL AP Online, May 29, 2001; Tuesday, 9:11 AM, Eastern Time, Domestic, ????non-Washington, general news item, 770 words, AP Top News at 9:10 a.m. EDT ????Tuesday, May 29, 2001, JEROME MINERVA The Dallas Morning News, May 29, 2001, Tuesday, DOMESTIC NEWS, K7523, 1046 ????words, Bush begins visit in hostile California, By G. Robert Hillman Los Angeles Times, May 29, 2001 Tuesday, Home Edition, Page 1, 1178 words, ????Governor to Stress Price Caps to Bush; Power: In a meeting today with the ????president, Davis will present a letter from economists backing cost controls ????and demand federal assistance., DAN MORAIN, JAMES GERSTENZANG, TIMES STAFF ????WRITERS Los Angeles Times, May 29, 2001 Tuesday, Home Edition, Page 1, 1541 words, ????THE ENERGY CRISIS; ; Kern County Basks in Role as State's Blackout-Buster; ????Electricity: Six new plants will bolster its status as energy center., ????MITCHELL LANDSBERG, TIMES STAFF WRITER, McKITTRICK, Calif. The New York Times, May 29, 2001, Tuesday, Late Edition - Final, Section A; ????Page 12; Column 1; National Desk, 1078 words, For Crucial California Trip, ????Bush Calibrates How Best to Handle State's Energy Crisis, By DAVID E. SANGER ????, LOS ANGELES, May 28 The Orange County Register, May 29, 2001, Tuesday, DOMESTIC NEWS, K7500, ????825 words, California's power crisis generating lots of heat, By John Howard The San Francisco Chronicle, MAY 29, 2001, TUESDAY,, FINAL EDITION, NEWS;, ????Pg. A1, 1291 words, Crisis no sweat to some offices; ???Many offices keep ????cool in crisis; ???Air conditioners blast in state's energy centers, Steve ????Rubenstein The San Francisco Chronicle, MAY 29, 2001, TUESDAY,, FINAL EDITION, NEWS;, ????Pg. A1, 1238 words, Bush facing Davis' heat over energy; ???In first visit ????to state as president, he'll hear governor's plea for help, Carla Marinucci, ????Lynda Gledhill USA TODAY, May 29, 2001, Tuesday,, FIRST EDITION, NEWS;, Pg. 3A, 426 words, ????Davis to urge Bush to back electricity price cap, Laurence McQuillan, LOS ????ANGELES The Washington Post, May 29, 2001, Tuesday, Final Edition, A SECTION; Pg. ????A02, 639 words, Energy Chief Moves To Aid California; Transmission Plan ????Precedes Bush Visit, Mike Allen, Washington Post Staff Writer, LOS ANGELES, ????May 28 The Washington Post, May 29, 2001, Tuesday, Final Edition, A SECTION; Pg. ????A03, 1936 words, It's Still Dawn for Solar Power in L.A.; Despite City ????Subsidies, Homeowners Hesitate to Install Expensive Alternative Energy ????Source, William Booth, Washington Post Staff Writer, LOS ANGELES The Washington Times, May 29, 2001, Tuesday, Final Edition, PART A; NATION; ????INSIDE POLITICS; Pg. A6, 1264 words, Greg Pierce; THE WASHINGTON TIMES The Washington Times, May 29, 2001, Tuesday, Final Edition, PART A; NATION; ????Pg. A4, 809 words, Bush faces tough sell on visit to California; ?Davis ????likely to be rebuffed on price caps, Joseph Curl; THE WASHINGTON TIMES, LOS ????ANGELES Chicago Tribune, May 29, 2001 Tuesday, NORTH SPORTS FINAL EDITION, News; ????Pg. 6; ZONE: N, 514 words, Bush backs WW II project, From Tribune news ????services., LOS ANGELES The Associated Press, May 29, 2001, Tuesday, BC cycle, 7:55 AM Eastern Time ????, Domestic News, 604 words, Bush announcing low-income aid, but no price ????caps, By SCOTT LINDLAW, Associated Press Writer, LOS ANGELES The Associated Press State & Local Wire, May 29, 2001, Tuesday, BC cycle, ????7:31 AM Eastern Time, State and Regional, 594 words, Stakes are high for ????Davis meeting with Bush, By GARY GENTILE, AP Business Writer, LOS ANGELES ABC NEWS, WORLD NEWS NOW (2:00 AM ET), May 28, 2001, Monday, 447 words, ????PRESIDENT BUSH VISITS CALIFORNIA WHERE POLITICIANS ARE CRITICAL OF HIS LACK ????OF ACTION FOR THEIR ENERGY CRISIS, DEREK McGINTY, JOSH GERSTEIN Los Angeles Times May 27, 2001 Sunday ?Home Edition SECTION: California; Part 2; Page 7; Metro Desk LENGTH: 615 words HEADLINE: The State; ; Who Let the Hot Dogs Out? Rhapsodic Lawmakers; Legislature: Speaking frankly, officials have used the wiener as an easily digestible metaphor for the state's energy crisis. BYLINE: JULIE TAMAKI, MIGUEL BUSTILLO, TIMES STAFF WRITERS DATELINE: SACRAMENTO BODY: ??Every crisis has its symbol. ??Watergate had Deep Throat. The S&L scandal had Charles Keating. O.J. did--or didn't--have a bloody glove. ??Here in the Capitol, the hot dog has become an unlikely metaphor for the state's energy crisis. ??In packed news conferences and heated Assembly floor debates, lawmakers from both parties have evoked images of the ordinary dog to help explain an extraordinary mess. ??The genesis of this statehouse trend is difficult to determine. Assemblyman Fred Keeley appears to be the first to have tossed the hot dog into the political fire. ??During a crucial Assembly discussion in January, the Boulder Creek Democrat recited the lyrics to a familiar Oscar Mayer jingle as a way of admitting that a controversial bill to have the state buy electricity to avoid blackouts was unpalatable, but necessary. ??"It's the dog kids love to bite," said Keeley of the jingle. "Well, this is the bill people love to hate." ??A bizarre, partisan hot dog duel ensued. Assemblyman John Campbell (R-Irvine) responded by likening the unpredictable financial consequences of the Keeley legislation to biting recklessly into mystery meat. ??"Before I bite into it I see what's on the outside, but I can't see the inside," Campbell said. "If nobody can tell me what's on the inside, it may be bitter, it may be bad, it may make me sick." ??Assemblywoman Carole Migden (D-San Francisco) angrily fired back, wanting to know why Campbell, a professed hot dog eater, was suddenly so critical of its unknown contents. ??"It's OK to eat a hot dog that's full of animal bones and hair," Migden said. "That's a hot dog that's OK with you, but this kind of hot dog isn't." ??Yet it was Senate leader John Burton who made it the key ingredient in a Capitol catch phrase. ??Burton described a plan to purchase the electrical power grid from the state's private utilities as a fair swap, saying: "I give you a dollar, you give me a hot dog." ??The sound-bite quickly took on a life of its own. With the cost of the energy crisis growing faster than the price of ballpark franks, critics doubted the public's appetite for a multibillion-dollar hot dog. ??"Do you really want a hot dog? That is the question," said Jan Smutny-Jones, executive director of the Independent Energy Producers, a trade group for power generators. ??Not content to let a dog lie in its bun, lawmakers such as Assemblyman Bill Leonard (R-San Bernardino) kept the hot dog in public discourse. ??When Pacific Gas & Electric Co. filed for bankruptcy protection, Leonard was one of a chorus of legislators who questioned the merits of purchasing the remaining portion of the power lines, calling it "not even half a hot dog." ??Added Assemblyman Bill Campbell (R-Villa Park): "It's like paying Mercedes prices for a broken down hot dog cart." ??In recent weeks, the hot dog rhetoric appeared to have gone cold. Then Assemblyman Juan Vargas (D-San Diego) revived it. ??After enduring hours of testimony on details of the deal to purchase Edison's power lines, Vargas said his opinion of the dollar-equals-hot-dog deal had diminished. ??"They're trying to charge us for a hot dog," Vargas said of the utility, "but it looks like we're only going to be getting a wienie." ??Reliant Vice President John Stout also recently weighed in with his own hot dog analogy as he tried to explain why his company's income had jumped so much during the crisis. ??"If you have a hot dog stand and you go out and buy five to six more hot dog stands," Stout said, referring to his company's purchase of power plants, "then naturally you would expect the operating income to go up." ??Alas, the dog days of summer have yet to begin. LOAD-DATE: May 27, 2001 ???????????????????????????????2 of 4 DOCUMENTS ?????????????????Copyright 2001 The Chronicle Publishing Co. ?????????????????????????The San Francisco Chronicle ????????????????????MAY 26, 2001, SATURDAY, FINAL EDITION SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A1 LENGTH: 835 words HEADLINE: Davis asks U.S. to limit firms' prices; RATE SWINGS: Governor argues 2 generators manipulated market SOURCE: Chronicle Sacramento Bureau BYLINE: Lynda Gledhill DATELINE: Sacramento BODY: Gov. Gray Davis pursued a new strategy yesterday to control wholesale electricity costs by demanding that federal regulators ban two generators from selling power in California at market rates, arguing that they have manipulated the market to their advantage. ???Meanwhile, the Davis administration lambasted a federal plan to implement temporary price controls, scheduled to go into effect Tuesday. State officials said the measures would do nothing to tame California's out-of-control costs for electricity. ???Davis, whose calls for broader price limits on wholesale electricity have been rejected repeatedly by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, is scheduled to meet with President Bush next week to ask Washington to do more to help California. ???"Federal regulators said that prices were 'unjust and unreasonable' nearly nine months ago, but they have been AWOL ever since," Davis said in a statement. ???The California Independent System Operator, managers of the state's electrical grid, asked energy regulators yesterday to revoke the authority they have given Williams Energy and AES Inc. to sell power at market-based rates. Instead, the Davis administration wants the companies to be forced to sell at cost-plus rates, which would ensure a reasonable but limited profit. ???"Market-based rate authority is not an entitlement," the ISO said in a filing with federal regulators. ???The ISO asked regulators to act by June 15, saying that any delay "places California consumers and the state's economy at extreme peril." ???Similar filings against other companies, such as Mirant, Duke and Reliant, are being considered, said Charles Robinson, general counsel for the ISO. ???Robinson said the ISO has a "well developed" record of price manipulation by the two companies. He said information previously given to federal regulators proved the prices charged to California were excessive. ???'GRANDSTANDING' ACCUSATION ???Aaron Thomas, a spokesman for Virginia-based AES, said the administration is grandstanding. ???"This is akin to the rhetoric the governor has used for the past several months," he said. "We are well below the index FERC uses to establish concerns about market power. ???"As to this rhetoric about these companies abusing the marketplace -- check the facts. We lost money last year," Thomas said. ???A spokeswoman for Williams said the company would not comment because it had not seen the filing. ???Earlier this month, Oklahoma-based Williams agreed to pay $8 million to settle charges with FERC that the company was purposely withholding electricity from California's power market. The company admitted no wrongdoing, and officials said a full hearing would have cleared the company. ???If the regulatory commission denies the state's requests, or doesn't "act in the time frame we believe is necessary to prevent harm," the state can appeal to a circuit court, Robinson said. ???BUSH VISIT POSTURING CHARGE ???Jan Smutny-Jones, head of the Independent Energy Producers Association, said the move is posturing by Davis ahead of Bush's visit. ???"This is an interesting welcome mat for President Bush," he said. "Do we want a dialogue or a diatribe?" ???In advance of Bush's visit, Vice President Dick Cheney said yesterday that nothing more can be done to help solve California's power problems this summer. ???He also rejected price controls, saying that previous efforts have contributed to a supply shortage. ???A spokesman for Davis rejected that notion and denied that the timing of yesterday's announcements were connected to the Bush-Davis meeting. ???Davis aides expressed hope that Bush's two new FERC commissioners, Pat Wood III, a close Bush ally expected to take over the chairmanship of the board, and Nora Mead Brownell, a state utility regulator in Pennsylvania, would hear California's pleas. The two new commissioners were confirmed yesterday by the U.S. Senate. ???Among the things Davis wants changed is the regulatory commission temporary price relief plan scheduled to take effect Tuesday. ???The regulators would limit wholesale prices during power alerts in California, when reserves drop below 7 percent of available capacity. ???Many state officials believe that doesn't go far enough. The state Assembly, in documents to be filed Tuesday, said price controls should cover all hours -- not just power emergencies. ???And there is a chance the controls will be in effect for just a few days. Under the regulatory commission plan, the state and the three investor-owned utilities must file a proposal to join a regional transmission organization by June 1. If they do not to do so, the price controls disappear. ???Davis administration officials expect to file another response dealing with the regional transmission organization by Friday, Robinson said. The Assembly filing rejects joining such an organization, which federal officials favor as a means to better manage and improve grid capacity in the West. E-mail Lynda Gledhill at lgledhill@sfchronicle.com. GRAPHIC: PHOTO, Vice President Dick Cheney said nothing more can be done to help solve California's power problems. / New York Times LOAD-DATE: May 26, 2001 May 29, 2001 Power Drain: The U.S. Energy Crisis California Officials Say State Will Enter A Recession Without Energy Price Caps By JOHN R. EMSHWILLER Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL On the eve of a meeting Tuesday between President George Bush and California Gov. Gray Davis, top advisers to the governor said the state could be pushed into recession unless the federal government imposes temporary price caps to contain soaring wholesale electricity costs. President Bush has consistently opposed price caps. The governor's team called a Memorial Day news conference to highlight what they saw as the dangers to the economy of the state, and possibly the nation, from the tens of billions of dollars being spent this year to purchase electricity. The governor's aides estimated that statewide, wholesale electricity purchases this year could hit $50 billion compared with about $7 billion in 1999. Some estimates for this year's power expenditures are even higher. If California were a separate nation, "an energy shock of that magnitude would be expected to cause a significant recession," said Alan Blinder, a former vice chairman of the Federal Reserve, at the conference. While being part of a broader national economy could somewhat mitigate the impact, the higher power costs are "a recipe for stagflation in California," added Mr. Blinder. "Stagflation" refers to stagnant economic conditions and inflation -- a condition that struck the nation when energy prices soared in the 1970s. Though the advisers painted perhaps the dreariest outlook yet to come from the governor's office, they said that the Davis plan for financing the state's electricity purchases remains intact. As reported, the state plans to sell about $12.5 billion in bonds later this year. The state has been purchasing electricity since January, when its failed utility-deregulation plan left California's two biggest utilities financially unable to continue buying power. If price caps were instituted, the state might have to borrow less money than anticipated or at least face a decreased danger of having to borrow more if the power situation gets worse, said Joseph Fichera, chief executive of New York-based Saber Partners LLC and an adviser to Mr. Davis. The governor plans to press his case for price caps over the next six to 18 months, as supplies are increased with new power plants due to come into operation, the advisers said. However, Mr. Bush and other federal officials have repeatedly said that they believe price caps would be counterproductive and discourage the building of new power plants. Write to John R. Emshwiller at john.emshwiller@wsj.com1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Copyright 2001 Associated Press AP Online ?????????????????May 29, 2001; Tuesday 9:11 AM, Eastern Time SECTION: Domestic, non-Washington, general news item LENGTH: 770 words HEADLINE: ?AP Top News at 9:10 a.m. EDT Tuesday, May 29, 2001 BYLINE: JEROME MINERVA BODY: ??NATO Won't Back U.S. Missile Plan ??BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) ??NATO's top policy-making body stopped short of endorsing the Bush administration's plan for a national missile defense today, preparing to offer only to ''continue substantive consultations'' with Washington. The North Atlantic Council does not portray the possibility of missile attack as a common threat faced by allies, as the Bush administration had hoped, it said in a statement. Secretary of State Colin Powell had hoped to persuade skeptical NATO allies to be more supportive of U.S. missile defense plans. ??Pakistan Accepts India Offer to Talk ??ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) ??Pakistani military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf today accepted India's offer to hold peace talks on the disputed Kashmir region and other issues. ''I accept your invitation ... to visit India with great pleasure,'' Musharraf said in a letter to Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. ''We wish to see a stable prosperous India at peace with its neighbors.'' Musharraf's letter came four days after Vajpayee broke a two-year lull in high-level talks between the two rival nuclear powers by inviting the Pakistani leader to India. ??Consumers' Spending, Incomes Rise ??WASHINGTON (AP) ??Consumers spent on services in April, but cut back on cars and other big-ticket items. Incomes also rose. The Commerce Department reported today that consumer spending rose by 0.4 percent in April, following a 0.2 percent increase the month before. April's rise marked the biggest increase since January. Consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of all economic activity and has been a main pillar propping up the country's fragile economy. Personal incomes rose 0.3 percent. ??Bush Won't Cap Electricity Prices ??LOS ANGELES (AP) ??President Bush says he won't force down soaring electricity prices that have cost California nearly $8 billion since January. The Republican president and embattled Democratic Gov. Gray Davis arranged a meeting today to talk about the state's energy crisis, but there was no indication they would break their stalemate. Bush opposes price limits on wholesale electricity that utilities buy, arguing they do nothing to address supply-and-demand issues at the heart of the crisis. ??Tornado Injures 18 in Colorado ??ELLICOTT, Colo. (AP) ??Dozens of residents of a sparsely populated town in southern Colorado spent the night in a church after a tornado crushed trailer homes, sprayed hail and injured 18 people. ''We just hit the floor in the living room and covered the kids and the tornado hit,'' said Trish Davidson, whose mobile home was lifted into the air and dropped 10 feet from its foundation. Davidson and about 30 other people spent last night in the basement of a church. Power was out to the church and much of the surrounding area. ??Israeli Motorist Killed ??JERUSALEM (AP) ??An Israeli motorist was killed in a West Bank drive-by shooting today as Israeli and Palestinian officials, after two rounds of U.S. mediation, spoke of resuming security talks aimed at reducing the violence. The motorist died of head wounds shortly after he was shot on by Palestinian gunmen from a passing car near the West Bank city of Nablus, the army said. Two Israeli settlers were shot and injured one seriously in another West Bank ambush last night. ??Record-Breaking DJ Still on Air ??JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) ??Now you can't get disc jockey Glenn Jones off the air. As of 6:30 a.m. EDT today, the DJ had been talking for about 93 hours, easily shattering the record for the longest continuous radio broadcast. And he was still talking. ''It's been a test of wills, a test of determination,'' Jones said. ''The first day was the hardest, but we're still going strong.'' Jones said he wanted to remain on the air until he hit the 100-hour mark, which would be about 1 p.m. EDT, and would then decide whether to continue. ??Nikkei Adds 36 Points ??TOKYO (AP) ??Tokyo stocks rose moderately today in light trading following holidays in the United States and Britain. The Nikkei Stock Average gained 36.12 points to close at 13,773.89. ??Agassi, Capriati Open With Wins ??PARIS (AP) ??Andre Agassi and Jennifer Capriati began their bids for a second consecutive Grand Slam title, winning in straight sets today on the second day of the French Open. Agassi, who won the French Open in 1999, beat Sweden's Thomas Johansson 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 (5). Capriati, seeded fourth, overcame seven double faults in defeating France's Emilie Loit 6-2, 7-5. Both Agassi and Capriati won Australian Open titles earlier this year. LOAD-DATE: May 29, 2001 ??????????????????????????????26 of 98 DOCUMENTS ??????????????Copyright 2001 Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service ???????????????????????Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service ???????????????????????????The Dallas Morning News ????????????????????????????May 29, 2001, Tuesday SECTION: DOMESTIC NEWS KR-ACC-NO: ?K7523 LENGTH: 1046 words HEADLINE: Bush begins visit in hostile California BYLINE: By G. Robert Hillman BODY: ??LOS ANGELES _ President Bush landed in hostile territory Monday night, beginning his first presidential visit to California amid a pressing energy crisis that he says he cannot ease in the short term. ??"We welcome him to California," said California Gov. Gray Davis, a Democrat who has waged a long-distance war with the Republican president over the high cost and short supply of electricity in the nation's most populous state. ??"I hope he has an opportunity to talk firsthand to some of the people who are adversely impacted by the very high rates we're paying for electricity." ??But the president's carefully scrubbed schedule for the next two days provides little time for such an opportunity, although he will confer privately with business leaders to discuss high-tech solutions to the state's energy problems. ??Arriving on a cross-country flight that touched down in Arizona for a Memorial Day tribute, Bush headed off to prepare for an early-morning stop Tuesday to promote energy conservation at the Marine Corps' Camp Pendleton and a luncheon address to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council. ??On Wednesday, he'll visit Sequoia National Park near Fresno, Calif., to launch a new drive to clean up and fix up national parks. ??He'll also meet privately Tuesday afternoon with Davis in what the Los Angeles Times characterized as a "peace summit." But no major shifts in policy are expected. White House aides suggest that the meeting will be a success if the governor even temporarily tempers his sometimes-harsh words for the administration. ??"The president's focus is going to be on solving problems. He's not interested in finger-pointing," White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said. ??"Whether people agree, or disagree, with the specifics of his energy plan, I think most Americans and most Californians are very pleased to see a president who is leading and taking action in addressing the issue head on." ??However, recent public opinion polls show the president and the governor taking hits for the energy crisis in California. ??The Field Poll, finished a week ago, found that 54 percent of those surveyed believed Bush had handled the energy problems poorly, with Davis faring somewhat better at 38 percent. The margin of error for the 1,015 California interviews was 3.2 percentage points. ??An earlier survey by the Public Policy Institute of California found Davis' job approval rating plummeting, from 63 percent in January to 46 percent in May, as the state's energy troubles escalated. Bush's overall approval rating was higher at 57 percent, but still just as many of those surveyed gave him low marks for his handling of energy issues. That margin of error, for 2001 interviews, was 2 percentage points. ??In short, political analyst Sherry Bebitch Jeffe said, Bush's visit to the state _ in his 19th week as president, after already visiting more than half the other states _ is long overdue. ??"His not responding, or not being perceived to respond, to the short-term needs of California has allowed Davis' arguments to resonate _ that the federal government is uncaring, is insensitive," Jeffe said. ??In his national energy policy unveiled nearly two weeks ago, Bush offered a series of mostly long-term recommendations to conserve energy, find more of it and substantially upgrade and expand the nation's oil refineries and transmission systems for natural gas and electricity. ??Davis, complaining that Texas energy companies in particular are gouging Californians, has urged Bush to embrace price controls for wholesale electricity, but the president has steadfastly refused. Vice President Dick Cheney, who oversaw development of the White House energy policy, emphasized as recently as Friday that there's no quick fix on the way for California. ??"Long term, the answer is to build more power plants, and that's exactly what they're doing," Cheney told the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "But they're not going to have enough new capacity online this summer to avoid blackouts." ??So the energy woes continue to fester in California. It's not just electricity and rolling blackouts. Gasoline prices of $2-and-more-a-gallon have become commonplace as well. ??"The gas bothers me more than the electric," said Tait Kmentt, who runs a legal process serving business in Irvine, Calif. "Gas prices are killing me." ??At $2.25-a-gallon for premium gasoline, he says, it costs him more than $40 to fill up his new Mercedes _ with no relief in sight. ??A newcomer to the state, Kmentt voted for Bush last fall and said he's glad the president is finally visiting California. But Kmentt cautioned, "This will be a big test to see how concerned he is." ??Kmentt said he understands the state's energy troubles are a "huge problem that can't be fixed overnight," and right now he's blaming the power companies for the high price of electricity. ??"I just think the public is being lied to," he said. ??Still, this is not good news for Bush, who has been increasingly portrayed by Democrats as a Texas oilman still beholden to the industry. California, which he lost last fall to Al Gore by 12 percentage points, has become increasingly a political headache. ??Where his predecessor, Bill Clinton, seemed politically and personally comfortable, Bush is not, suggests Jeffe, a senior scholar in the School of Policy, Planning and Development at the University of Southern California. ??"An ego cannot be buoyed by losing the state by 12 points," she said. "We are the state that was responsible for giving Al Gore his popular vote victory." ??With the Senate now headed for Democratic control, Jeffe said, Bush's visit to California _ and others that will surely follow _ are essential to help Republicans hold their base in the House. ??If the energy crisis persists in California, further punishing its economy, the ripple effects will certainly spread, she said. ??"George Bush remembers the influence of the economy on the career of an incumbent president," Jeffe said, pointing to Bush's father, who was defeated by Clinton during an economic slump in 1992. ??"It took a while," she said, "but people are beginning to get angry." ??© 2001, The Dallas Morning News. ??Visit The Dallas Morning News on the World Wide Web at http://www.dallasnews.com/ JOURNAL-CODE: DA LOAD-DATE: May 29, 2001 ??????????????????????????????29 of 98 DOCUMENTS ??????????????????????Copyright 2001 / Los Angeles Times ??????????????????????????????Los Angeles Times ??????????????????????May 29, 2001 Tuesday ?Home Edition SECTION: California; Part 2; Page 1; Metro Desk LENGTH: 1178 words HEADLINE: Governor to Stress Price Caps to Bush; Power: In a meeting today with the president, Davis will present a letter from economists backing cost controls and demand federal assistance. BYLINE: DAN MORAIN, JAMES GERSTENZANG, TIMES STAFF WRITERS BODY: ??Gov. Gray Davis will present a letter to President Bush today from top economists advocating wholesale electricity price controls, warning Monday that a failure by Bush to help California solve its energy crisis could signal to other regions that he may ignore their pleas. ??Bush, making his first trip to California, has set aside 20 minutes this afternoon to meet with Davis in Century City. In an interview with The Times, the Democratic governor vowed to repeat his request that the federal government move to cap wholesale power prices. Failure to act swiftly threatens the state and national economy, Davis said. ??"I want him to understand," Davis said, "that if California has to pay 700 times more for electricity in 2001 than it did just two years ago, it could well drag our economy into a recession and could conceivably trigger a national recession. That is not good for anyone." ??In the letter, 10 economists, including Cornell professor emeritus Alfred Kahn, a major proponent of airline deregulation, told of their "deep concern" about the failure of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to stabilize wholesale electricity prices in California. The economists faxed the letter to the White House on Friday afternoon, and provided the governor with a copy to present to Bush today. ??"FERC's failure to act now will have dire consequences for the state of California and will set back, potentially fatally, the diffusion of competitive electricity markets across the country," the economists, led by Frank Wolak of Stanford University, wrote. "Moreover, this negative experience with electricity restructuring could delay or reverse current efforts to introduce competition into other formerly regulated industries." ??Davis called the letter "very significant validation of what we've been saying: The marketplace is not working and FERC has an obligation to act." ??"We're not pleading for relief; we're entitled to it," Davis said. ??Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney repeatedly have said such controls never work. In California, caps might worsen the situation by limiting supply, they have argued, resulting in more blackouts this summer when demand for electricity is highest. ??The Bush-Davis meeting has had all the buildup of the political equivalent of a title fight: On one side, the Democratic governor of the nation's most populous state, which Bush lost by more than 1 million votes in November. On the other, the new president, coming off a roller coaster week of political defeat (the shift in control of the Senate) and victory (passage of his tax-cut plan), whose work in the Texas oil industry gives him a special history in the topic at hand. ??From afar, Davis has battled the Bush administration's energy policy. But, said Dan Bartlett, one of the president's chief communications advisors, "The president has some interesting views on this topic as well, with some experience himself." ??Bush's Energy secretary, Spencer Abraham, took steps Monday to increase electricity transmission capacity in California. He ordered the Western Area Power Administration, a division of the Energy Department that is responsible for marketing electricity from federal water projects in 15 Western states, to finish its planning for extra transmission capacity. ??At issue is so-called Path 15, an 84-mile stretch of power lines with insufficient capacity to carry the necessary load between Southern California and the northern part of the state, especially during peak hours. The central question is whether financing is available for a new transmission line. ??Davis lauded the action but said the president needs to do more. ??"If I have any advice to him of a political nature, it is take a chapter out of President Clinton's book. ??" [Clinton] was very attentive to California, and as a result did better in 1996 than he did in '92. People felt he was here for us when we needed help. We need help." ??Davis said that on a recent trip to Chicago, officials there worried that if Bush "won't offer California some relief, he may not offer us relief," in a catastrophe. ??Among the facts and figures Davis intends to show the president is a chart showing that California paid $1.2 billion for electricity in the first quarter of 1999, $1.8 billion for the same period last year, and as much as $10.3 billion for electricity in the first three months of this year--at a time when conservation efforts had been taking hold and demand was down. ??"I hope the president will be as stunned as I am," said Davis, who is watching as the state spends more than $55 million a day to buy electricity that private utilities can no longer afford. ??Davis said that though he is trying to speed construction of power plants, encourage conservation, and return the private utilities to financial stability, the federal government has control over wholesale power prices. ??"Therein lies the final piece of this puzzle," Davis said. "If it falls into place, we're on the way to putting this issue behind us. If it doesn't fall into place, it could create real economic havoc here and across the country." ??Davis said that if Bush refuses to impose price controls, he should "find some way to help us, consistent with his own belief." ??"Turning a deaf ear not only won't be well received here," Davis said. "It likely won't be received well elsewhere." ??The state's energy crisis has posed a ticklish dilemma for Bush's busy travel schedulers: Had he visited earlier, it would have been awkward not to focus on energy issues. But until 11 days ago when a task force led by Cheney produced energy proposals, there would have been little Bush could say. ??Karen Hughes, the president's counselor, made it clear that regardless of the pressure, Bush will not yield on price caps. ??"We want to help. The president is very concerned about the energy situation and blackouts," she said. But limiting the wholesale price of energy would only discourage its production," Hughes said. ??California is the 30th state Bush has visited since taking office Jan. 20. His staff said the delay had to do not with energy issues but with politics and geography. ??With the administration focused in its first months on winning approval of the tax cut, the president's travels were largely dictated by that effort, his aides said. ??Besides, the president confided recently, even with Air Force One at the ready, it just takes too long to fly from Washington to California. ??Still, Hughes said, the president is not ignoring California. Condoleezza Rice, the president's national security advisor and a former Californian, sits next to Hughes every morning at the daily meeting of the White House senior staff, she said. ??What's more, the president "has many friends in California," Hughes said, adding: "Ernie has a home in California these days." Ernie is the Bush family cat that is living with a friend in Brentwood while the First Family lives in the White House. ??* ??Times Staff Writer Massie Ritsch contributed to this story. LOAD-DATE: May 29, 2001 ??????????????????????????????30 of 98 DOCUMENTS ??????????????????????Copyright 2001 / Los Angeles Times ??????????????????????????????Los Angeles Times ??????????????????????May 29, 2001 Tuesday ?Home Edition SECTION: Part A; Part 1; Page 1; Metro Desk LENGTH: 1541 words HEADLINE: THE ENERGY CRISIS; ; Kern County Basks in Role as State's Blackout-Buster; Electricity: Six new plants will bolster its status as energy center. BYLINE: MITCHELL LANDSBERG, TIMES STAFF WRITER DATELINE: McKITTRICK, Calif. BODY: ??You could think of this as California's own little slice of west Texas. ??Here in the scruffy brown hills of western Kern County, oil rigs grow more easily than trees, pickups are more common than cars, and chicken fried steak is the most popular dish at Mike and Annie's McKittrick Hotel. ??The hotel--which no longer offers lodging, just food and drink, and plenty of it--is bustling these days with the roustabout energy of a Lone Star construction camp. Just down the road, a mammoth electrical power plant is rising out of the sagebrush, its generators housed in four boxy buildings the size of airplane hangars. ??It is one of six new major gas-fired power plants expected to be built in Kern County over the next several years, an electrical construction boom unmatched anywhere in California. Kern, which already has a large surplus of electricity, is cementing its place as California's energy capital, assuming far more than its share of the burden in recharging the state's drained power supplies. ??Over the next several years, the county will add nearly 5,000 megawatts of power to the statewide grid. That is more than California now imports, on average, from out-of-state suppliers. It's enough to supply about five counties the size of Kern, which fills the dusty southern rim of the San Joaquin Valley and has a population of 662,000. ??In some parts of the state, a proposal to build a new power plant is a call to throw up the barricades. In recent months, intense community opposition has forced developers to pull back proposals to build major plants in South Gate and San Jose, although Gov. Gray Davis has tried to revive plans for the San Jose plant. ??You don't hear a lot of not-in-my-backyard talk in Kern County. ??"There should be power plants in everybody's backyard," said Paul Gipe, chairman of the Kern chapter of the Sierra Club, which did not oppose any of the new plants. "If people are concerned about having too many power plants, they should think twice when they flip on the light switch." ??New, natural gas-fired power plants, Gipe reasoned, are relatively clean and will not add significantly to the county's serious air pollution problems. Ideally, he said, they will allow the state to close some older, dirtier plants that cause considerably more environmental damage. ??If environmentalists don't oppose the plants, it's not too much of a leap to guess that some people might be positively thrilled about them. ??Just try, for instance, asking somebody in Taft, an oil center south of McKittrick. "It's more money coming into Kern County--that's the way I look at it," said Pamela Dunlap, who runs a downtown thrift shop. ??An Economy Rooted in the Oil Industry ??She stood in the twilight outside her shop, on a street that embodies many of the most attractive attributes of small town Americana--with one small difference. Where some towns might have statues of their founders or war heroes in prominent public places, Taft has erected small oil rigs and other pieces of drilling machinery, a reminder of its economic roots. ??That Kern County has stepped up as California's blackout-buster is, perhaps, not surprising. ??To begin with, there's geography. Kern stands astride California's major north-south electrical transmission lines at precisely the spot at which they divide between the service areas of Pacific Gas & Electric, which serves Northern California, and Southern California Edison. That spot can be pinpointed as the Midway substation, a vast jungle of humming wires, transformers and circuit breakers that lies a short distance west of Interstate 5 in the town of Buttonwillow. ??Already, massive new circuit-breakers--they look like Frankenstein helmets sprouting 5-foot-long sparkplugs--are being erected at Midway to handle the power from two major plants that will be revving up in the coming months: PG&E National Energy's La Paloma plant, the one near McKittrick; and Edison Mission Energy's Sunrise plant, just south of Taft. ??The county is served by two major natural gas pipelines, which will be tapped to run the plants. In fact, Kern contains the state's largest known reservoirs of natural gas. ??Another of Kern's geographic advantages? ??"You look around, and you'll see there aren't a lot of people living around here," observed Stephen Whaley, who is overseeing construction of the Sunrise plant. In the surrounding hills, an orchard of oil rigs bobbed in the morning haze. Dirt roads cut crudely across the landscape, bisecting a crisscross of steam pipes, fuel lines and electrical wires. ??"This area is all about oil," Whaley said. Casting a glance at the modular 560-megawatt plant rising behind him, he added with a wry smile, "You know, I guess you could look at this from the road, and you could make the argument that it improves the looks." ??The Sunrise plant, a relatively simple single-cycle plant, is expected to fire up 320 megawatts of its total output by Aug. 1, a scant nine months after construction began. The other plants--more complex and efficient dual-cycle operations--will be opening over the next several years, assuming all receive final approval. ??The lack of major opposition to the plants is, of course, another reason developers see Kern County as a good place to build. The county has long had a more intimate relationship with energy--oil, gas, electricity--than most places. To people here, the link between a natural gas well and a lightbulb, or an oil derrick and a gas pedal, is neither theoretical nor especially threatening. They're comfortable with energy. ??Kern produces more crude oil than any other county in the United States outside Alaska. Property taxes from oil companies have helped build handsome new schools in Bakersfield, the county seat and largest city. The companies' big payrolls have helped populate elegant subdivisions with names that sound vaguely Houstonian: Seven Oaks, River Oaks, Landmark Estates. ??Which brings us to the Texas connection. ??It's hard to overlook it, in a county that runs on oil and cotton and boasts a country music scene to rival Austin's. Conversations in the finer Bakersfield restaurants are filled with references to trips to Texas, of colleagues in Midland and Odessa. A Bakersfield radio station was running a contest recently: The winners would be flown to a bull riding championship in Houston. ??Until December 1999, American Airlines offered direct jet service between Bakersfield and Dallas. It stopped after Occidental Petroleum moved its headquarters from Bakersfield to Houston. ??This is a county where President Bush received more support in the November election than he did in Texas, his home state. But then, Bush already had a Bakersfield connection: He lived there briefly as a child when his father, former President George Bush, worked in the Kern oil fields. ??"You look at the topography around Bakersfield, and the county's morals and ethics--that predominantly conservative attitude that we have around here--and you look at the oil, and you could be in Midland," said John Allen, the general manager of Occidental of Elk Hills, which is developing a power plant in tandem with Sempra Energy of San Diego. ??A lot of people in Kern County will tell you they don't mind being an energy farm for the state. It's a living, after all. ??"It's good to be working at home," said Joe Ryan, a Bakersfield pipe welder who has spent years on the road seeking the heavy construction work that seemed to have vanished in his hometown. Now he's working at the La Paloma plant, a 1,048-megawatt behemoth that will come online in phases beginning in December. ??About 800 people are at work on the plant, and several hundred more will be employed in the coming months. And after that plant is done, there will be others to build. ??"This is a good job here, I tell you what," said Ryan, 47, who has been banking his overtime on six 10-hour days a week--sometimes more. ??County Sees Itself as 'Part of the Solution' ??But there are some signs of simmering resentment, especially among county leadership. After all, if every other county produced just half the electricity that Kern generates, California wouldn't have an energy crisis. And people in Kern County are getting hit with the same spring-loaded electricity bills, the same rolling blackouts as everybody else. ??"I think the people of California are either going to be part of the solution or part of the problem," said Assemblyman Roy Ashburn (R-Bakersfield). "And in Kern County, we have a long history of being part of the solution, especially when it comes to energy issues." ??Elsewhere in the state, Ashburn sees "a lot of arrogance--people who enjoy the benefits of a very high quality of life, enjoy the benefits of electric power for jobs and for their personal life, but with an exclusivity that it's someone else's problem to create that for them. We don't have that attitude in Kern County." ??Power Buildup in Kern County ??Six new major gas-fired power plants are expected to be built in Kern County over the next several years, making the county the power capital of the state. ??* ??RELATED STORY ??Letter to Bush: Gov. Davis will ask for wholesale energy price caps. B1 GRAPHIC: PHOTO: Tom Romesberg, general manager of La Paloma plant being built in Kern County, stands next to the unit's cooling tower. PHOTOGRAPHER: AL SEIB / Los Angeles Times PHOTO: From rigs and pipelines like these near Taft, Kern pumps more crude oil than any other county in the U.S. outside Alaska. With several gas-fired power plants coming online in the next several years, the county will solidify its place as California's energy capital. PHOTOGRAPHER: AL SEIB / Los Angeles Times GRAPHIC: Power Buildup in Kern County, Los Angeles Times LOAD-DATE: May 29, 2001 ??????????????????????????????31 of 98 DOCUMENTS ??????????????????Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company ??????????????????????????????The New York Times ?????????????????May 29, 2001, Tuesday, Late Edition - Final SECTION: Section A; Page 12; Column 1; National Desk LENGTH: 1078 words HEADLINE: For Crucial California Trip, Bush Calibrates How Best to Handle State's Energy Crisis BYLINE: ?By DAVID E. SANGER DATELINE: LOS ANGELES, May 28 BODY: ??Days after he suffered the biggest political setback of his four-month-old presidency and then won the tax cut that he staked his campaign upon, President Bush traveled tonight to California, carefully calibrating how to deal with the state's energy crisis. ??After Memorial Day celebrations in Washington and Mesa, Ariz., Mr. Bush began his first visit as president to the most populous state, which he lost by roughly 12 percentage points in November's election. The visit seems likely to showcase the clash between two very different energy strategies and political strategies. ???Mr. Bush will meet briefly on Tuesday with Gov. Gray Davis, who will insist, as he did again today, that the federal government impose price caps on wholesale electric power. ??The White House says Mr. Bush will refuse, again. He will argue that such caps would only discourage increased production of electric power. "We think that's a mistake," Vice President Dick Cheney said on Friday, talking about why he rejected those options when he prepared the energy policy the administration made public 10 days ago. ??But Mr. Bush knows that how he handles the California energy crisis could prove critical to his political fortunes, especially now that his party's loss of control in the Senate seems bound to slow or derail passage of major elements of his energy plan. ??Moreover, the president can no longer argue that the best cure for high energy prices is a tax cut, because that is now legislative history. As one of his aides said this weekend, after Congress approved the $1.35 trillion tax cut that will be phased in over the next 10 years, "we will have to turn now to the other arguments." ??Most of those arguments involve urging the rest of the country not to follow California in a partial deregulation of the market, with disastrous results. ??Repeatedly Mr. Bush has chastised California's politicians, and by implication Mr. Davis himself, for ignoring politically unpalatable choices to avert the state's power-generating crisis. Ten days ago, standing in front of a hydroelectric plant in Pennsylvania, Mr. Bush used the state as Exhibit A for his argument about what happens when population rises, when over-regulation freezes the construction of new power plants and the stringing of new transmission lines, and when politicians fail to plan for the long term. ??"The problems in California shows that you cannot conserve your way to energy independence," Mr. Bush said then. ??At the same time, his aides were pointing to polls showing Mr. Davis's approval ratings plunging. They did not mention that Mr. Bush's ratings in the state were hardly any better. A series of recent polls show that roughly two-thirds of Californians believe Mr. Bush should be doing far more to help the state, though it is unclear exactly what kind of help they have in mind. ??So Mr. Bush's aides have been struggling for days to choreograph the two-day visit here, trying to find ways to differ with Mr. Davis without seeming callous about the problem or in conflict with the state. ??The betting is that Mr. Bush will focus on long-term solutions, in contrast to Mr. Davis's call for the quicker fix of price caps. ??The effort started today. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham issued an order of chiefly symbolic importance, saying his department would move quickly to determine whether investors were interested in financing and co-owning a new transmission line that could bring more power to the state. ??"The level of interest will be a factor in the decision to build the line later this year," the Energy Department said. It said that it would proceed with studies of how the land could be acquired, by eminent domain if necessary, and that it would speed ahead with environmental reviews. ??But Mr. Abraham left wide open the question of whether Washington would go ahead with the project even if no private financing was available. ??"The Bush administration is taking a leadership role in addressing a long-neglected problem in California's electricity transmission system," Mr. Abraham said. "California's electricity problems developed over a period of years and cannot be solved overnight. However, we can move now on actions that will help avert the same types of problems from recurring year after year." ??The statement was clearly intended as a prelude to the meeting with Mr. Davis, which will be closed to the press. So will a meeting with energy entrepreneurs. (Mr. Bush passed on Mr. Davis's suggestion of a forum with small-business owners and residents who have seen the lights go out.) ??Few expect Mr. Bush or Mr. Davis to change his mind about energy caps after their meeting. ??But for Mr. Bush it will not all be tough love. On Tuesday morning Mr. Bush is scheduled to travel to Camp Pendleton to repeat his call for the military and other federal users of power in California to flip off their switches whenever possible. But given his own comments, and Mr. Cheney's, about the limited utility of conservation, that order could strike some Californians as a little hollow. ??Later he will give a trade speech in Los Angeles, underscoring the message that if California hopes to remain the world's greatest exporter of high technology -- if it were a nation, California would be the world's sixth-largest economy -- it must find new ways to produce and deliver electricity. ??Already, leading Silicon Valley companies are threatening to build their next-generation chip fabrication plants elsewhere, probably in Texas, which has a surplus of generating capacity, a move that would further undermine Mr. Davis's stewardship. ??In fact, Mr. Bush's Texas roots will never be far from the political battlefield here. Mr. Davis has accused Texas energy companies of profiteering at California's expense. To press the case, he has hired two political operatives from the Clinton White House, Marc D. Fabiani and Chris Lehane, who are being paid tens of thousands of dollars a month to make the case for price caps. ??California's attorney general, Bill Lockyer, also a Democrat, suggested to The Wall Street Journal last week that some time in jail would be the best way to deal with one of Mr. Bush's biggest supporters -- Kenneth Lay, who heads the Enron Corporation and has sought to influence the selection of members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. ??The comments may have been partly facetious, but they were not interpreted that way here. ??http://www.nytimes.com LOAD-DATE: May 29, 2001 ??????????????????????????????32 of 98 DOCUMENTS ??????????????Copyright 2001 Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service ???????????????????????Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service ??????????????????????????The Orange County Register ????????????????????????????May 29, 2001, Tuesday SECTION: DOMESTIC NEWS KR-ACC-NO: ?K7500 LENGTH: 825 words HEADLINE: California's power crisis generating lots of heat BYLINE: By John Howard BODY: ??SACRAMENTO, Calif. _ Detectives would seem to be tripping over each other to discover who did what to whom, and why, in California's energy crisis. ??While electricity may be scarce, investigations are plentiful. A dozen major probes are afoot, many overlap, and more loom. The atmosphere is heated, the rhetoric strong. State, federal and local investigators, along with court officers, financial experts and special investigators, are poring over thousands of pages of documents from government agencies and private companies. ??At the top of the swarming heap is the $10 million investigation mounted by the state Attorney General's Office to answer the core question: Did a handful of power sellers fix prices to bilk Californians of billions of dollars? ??But it's not just the government that is busy. The companies themselves _ which have categorically denied any wrongdoing _ are overwhelmed by the scrutiny. ??"We are supplying reams and reams of documents. ... It is a distraction from our day-to-day work, there's no question," said Tom Williams of North Carolina-based Duke Energy, which operates several power plants in California. "It affects our employees and their families, this barrage of innuendo. I don't know what more we can do." ??Accompanying the investigations are at least a half-dozen lawsuits against the companies by individuals. Like the probes, the suits contend the companies improperly manipulated the market. Legislative leaders, meanwhile, have sued the federal government, contending it has failed to protect consumers from price-gouging. ??"This all permeates our business in so many ways," said Gary Ackerman of the Western States Power Forum, a group that represents power sellers and buyers in the West. "It even affects my ability to talk to the newspapers, because we're afraid statements may turn up later and be used as evidence. We're not sure what we're dealing with, whether a suit or even a grand jury if the (attorney general) decides to take criminal action, as he said he might." ??The state's top prosecutor said that, indeed, criminal charges are a possibility. ??"There is an investigation under way that involves potential criminal conduct," said Sandra Michioku, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Bill Lockyer. It could be at least eight weeks before that probe is completed, she said. ??Other investigating agencies include the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the California Public Utilities Commission, the city attorneys' offices in Long Beach, Los Angeles and San Francisco; California's grid manager, the Independent System Operator; the obscure Electricity Oversight Board, which oversees the ISO; and the state Senate and Assembly. ??The state has even considered asking two more federal agencies, the Department of Energy and the Federal Trade Commission, to get into the act. Some offices are conducting multiple investigations. In the case of at least two agencies, the PUC and the Attorney General's Office, the investigations are being at least partly coordinated. Some agencies are examining the same issues. The PUC, the attorney general and ISO, for example, all are looking at whether power plants were shut down to drive up demand and prices. ??"There is a lot of overlap and there probably are problems of coordination," said Nettie Hoge of The Utility Reform Network of San Francisco, a grass-roots watchdog group. ??With so many agencies trying to extract information, Hoge said, even those who have done no wrong are concerned about talking freely because of the greater likelihood that proprietary information will leak to competitors. ??Others feel the overlap is beneficial. ??"When you're up against an industry as wealthy and powerful as the energy industry, it's probably better to double-team them," said Doug Heller of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights. ??Hoge believes that if any investigation is going to produce results, it will be Lockyer's, "because the governor has thrown all the resources that way." ??Investigators have requested mountains of paperwork. Transaction and maintenance documents, market reports, financial records, even e-mails _ all have been sought. ??Martin Wilson, a spokesman for Texas-based Reliant, contends the intensity of the probes could have negative long-term effect on California's business climate. ??"There is a climate of instability and uncertainty that makes companies rethink their decisions about investments (in California)," he said. ??But for consumer groups, the goal of all these investigations is straightforward. ??"Certainly, we're really hopeful that these investigations will lead to refunds for customers," said TURN's Mindy Spatz. "There is a widespread belief among people who follow these issues that widespread gaming and manipulation has occurred in the market." ??© 2001, The Orange County Register (Santa Ana, Calif.). ??Visit the Register on the World Wide Web at http://www.ocregister.com/ JOURNAL-CODE: OC LOAD-DATE: May 29, 2001 ??????????????????????????????35 of 98 DOCUMENTS ?????????????????Copyright 2001 The Chronicle Publishing Co. ?????????????????????????The San Francisco Chronicle ?????????????????????MAY 29, 2001, TUESDAY, FINAL EDITION SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A1 LENGTH: 1291 words HEADLINE: Crisis no sweat to some offices; Many offices keep cool in crisis; Air conditioners blast in state's energy centers SOURCE: Chronicle Staff Writer BYLINE: Steve Rubenstein BODY: Some very cool places to be during the dog days of spring and summer turn out to be the places with their fingers on California's air conditioning switch. ???If only the entire state could cram itself into the cavernous control room in Folsom of the Independent Systems Operator, where the air is a comfortable 69 degrees and receptionists wear sweaters at high noon -- when it's upwards of 90 degrees outside. ???Or the Pacific Gas and Electric Co. lobby in downtown San Francisco, where the air is an even chillier 65 degrees, which admittedly isn't much of a bounty, considering it's usually that cool outside anyway. ???Other cool places to be are the state Capitol, where legislators who promulgate energy edicts hang out, and the headquarters of the state Public Utilities Commission, where bureaucrats who promulgate energy edicts hang out. ???Armed with a high-tech digital thermometer, The Chronicle made the rounds of the energy crisis poohbahs, to make sure they are practicing what they are preaching. ???Some were, some weren't. Those that weren't blamed it all on that most familiar of modern scapegoats, the computer. ???Computers must be kept cool -- in the 60s for big mainframes and a bit more for the smaller units most folks use, though some can go into the 80s without hiccuping. So generally, people who work alongside the computers get to keep cool, by association, although it's the computer that counts. ???The ISO headquarters, located in an industrial park 20 miles east of Sacramento, is a delightfully cool and comfortable place when the outside temperature soars into the 90s and 100s. ???The reception area, the only room accessible to the outraged public, is a fairly stiff 76 degrees -- only two degrees cooler than the 78 degrees recommended by President Bush and the federal energy crisis czars and czarinas. ???But take a step past the lobby security doors and the temperature plummets. In the main hallway, the temperature is 73 degrees. And in the control room, where two dozen engineers and technicians sit at consoles and monitor the flow of California electricity on a giant diagram of state power lines so they can order blackouts for everyone else -- the temperature is 69 degrees. ???NO SWEATING AT ISO ???Some managers do not take off their sports coats and jackets. ???"We want these people to be comfortable," explained Tony Capasso, facilities manager for the ISO complex. "We don't want these people sweating bullets in the middle of a crisis." ???Inside the state Capitol, where legislators and the governor preach compliance with federal guidelines calling for 78-degree thermostats, the temperature dips into the high 60s. The coolest spots are the press briefing room and the treasurer's old office. ???GOVERNOR'S OFFICE ???The governor's suite is in the mid-70s, apparently because folks are often coming by with thermometers and it wouldn't do not to set an example. Press secretary Steve Maviglio said Governor Gray Davis is a practice-what-he-preaches kind of guy who keeps corridors dark, shades drawn, air conditioners idle. His personal secretary works in short sleeves, with a cheap plastic fan humming nearby. ???"It's so dark in the hall that we're always bumping into things," said one aide. ???Even so, the temperature in the governor's suite of offices is three degrees cooler than the 78 degrees recommended by President Bush -- not the first time the two men have failed to agree. ???THE LEGISLATURE ???The Assembly chamber is 71 degrees while the Senate chamber -- with 40 fewer legislators spewing forth -- is 73 degrees. But the Senate chamber has a southern exposure, one Capitol guide explained. ???"Hot air from the people sitting inside has nothing to do with it," he said. ???In San Francisco, the temperature inside cavernous City Hall dips in spots to the mid-60s. College student Jasmine Westbrook, who dropped by with her art class on a project to sketch the interior of the building, was doing her sketching while wearing a windbreaker to keep warm. ???"I want to stay comfortable," she said. "It think it's supposed to be hotter in here, isn't it?" ???The mayor's office, at 73 degrees, was eight degrees warmer than another office down the hall, even without the mayor sitting in it. ???63 AT THE PUC ???At the headquarters of the state Public Utilities Commission, which is supposed to be keeping an eye on the self-declared bankruptcy of the utility that mails out the bills, the lobby temperature is 63 degrees. ???Chief engineer David Omosheyin, eyeing The Chronicle's thermometer nervously, insisted the 63-degree reading was caused by the lobby's proximity to the front door, where the outside temperature at the moment was in the low 60s. He invited the thermometer to visit the upper floors, where the temperature was 70. ???As for San Francisco's federal buildings: Bush would probably not frown. ???His orders appeared to be followed during The Chronicle's visits, so much so that it was actually hotter inside than out. Though that wouldn't be hard, considering it was in the low 60s outside. And the places measured happened to be courtrooms and tax offices, where the body heat from anxiety alone could probably melt the paint some days. ???San Franciscans, Omosheyin said, are losing their perspective when it comes to things like electricity, energy alerts and rolling
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