Wilson says Davis ignored warnings about energy

Wilson says Davis ignored warnings about energy
Former governor defends himself
Carla Marinucci, Chronicle Political Writer
Friday, July 20, 2001
,2001 San Francisco Chronicle
URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2001/07/20/MN187903.DTL
Former Gov. Pete Wilson, who signed the controversial 1996 energy
deregulation bill into law, blasted his successor Gray Davis yesterday for
failing to aggressively use the governor's most forceful tool -- emergency
powers -- to contain the state's energy crisis.
"There are people who have ignored the supply and tried to blame the crisis
on everyone else," the Republican former governor told nearly 100 academics
and reporters at the Public Policy Institute in San Francisco yesterday.
Arguing that Davis ignored early warnings about brewing problems and "put in
jeopardy parks, schools and other capital needs," Wilson said the Democratic
governor has skillfully engaged in finger-pointing and public relations to
blur perception of the current energy troubles.
"They've sought to blame me, and have done so with some success. . . . And
they've found a much more profitable and exciting target, President Bush,"
said Wilson, who wryly pronounced Bush's recent trip to California as "a
triumph -- for Davis."
But Davis' strategy, he said, "doesn't create one watt of new power."
Wilson's speech -- his toughest public remarks to date on the energy crisis
-- came the day the Public Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank,
released polls showing Californians now believe energy ranks far and away as
the state's most pressing problem. Many of those voters blame Wilson, not
Davis, for the power shortages and rolling blackouts, the poll shows.
The former governor's sharp words were rejected by Davis' senior political
adviser, Garry South, who said Wilson is trying to "revise history."
"If there is one shred of evidence that Pete Wilson said one thing or raised
one red flag about energy supply, let him produce it," South said yesterday.
"Pete Wilson accusing Gov. Davis of being responsible (for energy) is like
Herbert Hoover blaming FDR for the Depression. We're trying to clean up his
mess."
The GOP former two-term governor spoke on the issue of California energy as
members of the Bush administration fanned out across the nation, including a
California trip by Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, to push the White
House's energy policy.
But even the president appeared to point the finger at Wilson for some of
California's problems. "They hadn't built a power plant in 12 years" in
California, Bush told reporters Wednesday. "And guess what? When you grow
your state the way they have . . . it creates problems."
Such words chafe Wilson, who produced California Energy Commission figures
that, he said, showed that small plants were built during his administration.
In fact, he argued, the 1996 deregulation bill encouraged energy producers to
seek state approval for new plants.
While acknowledging the 1996 bill he signed was "flawed," Wilson said, "I
thought the flaws would be addressed."
"We knew it was not a perfect free market mechanism," said Wilson, adding
that he had strong reservations about the utility rate caps included in the
legislation. "(That) was a gamble, but it was one that paid off for while."
But, he insisted, the bill -- which critics say kicked off California's
energy woes -- had benefits for the state.
Wilson said it was believed deregulation would spur private industry to build
new plants that would fuel industry and "lots of jobs for Californians."
Deregulation was also seen as a means to balance power companies' concerns
about a lengthy, "nightmarish" process -- which he said dated to the early
1970s -- to build large power plants.
Davis "is now posing in front of those plants" opening because of decisions
made before he took office, Wilson noted. "I hope that he's pleased with our
handiwork."
Wilson, also lambasted Davis for failing to heed 1998 warnings from the
California Energy Commission about coming blackouts.
And, Wilson said, as the state faced rolling blackouts, job losses, and
skyrocketing energy costs, Davis failed to use one of his greatest tools in a
crisis: emergency powers.
Wilson noted that after the 1994 Northridge earthquake, estimates suggested
it would take 2 1/2 years to rebuild downed freeways and overpasses. He used
his emergency powers to offer incentives to contractors that rebuilt the
bridges within 65 days.
South, noting that Davis has used his emergency powers to deal with the
energy crisis, said there is no comparison between an earthquake and a full-
blown statewide energy crisis.
E-mail Carla Marinucci at cmarinucci@sfchronicle.com.
,2001 San Francisco Chronicle ? Page?A - 19