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Enron Mail |
Edison bailout -- In a battle that pitted the yellow armbands against the dark suits, an Assembly committee yesterday approved a plan it hopes will keep Southern California Edison out of bankruptcy. Consumer advocates -- who wore yellow armbands to make sure they stood out in a room filled with well-dressed lobbyists -- said the plan would be a disaster matching California's original 1996 electricity deregulation law. They vowed to launch an initiative campaign to overturn the plan if it is approved by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Gray Davis. Lynda Gledhill in the San Francisco Chronicle <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2001/08/30/MN217797.DTL< Jim Sanders in the Sacramento Bee <http://www.capitolalert.com/news/capalert02_20010830.html< Vic Pollard in the Bakersfield Californian <http://www.bakersfield.com/local/story/672138p-714574c.html< Michael Marois at bloomberg.com Edison Bill Leonard -- Vowing for months that California Assembly Republicans wouldn't support legislation to rescue utility Southern California Edison from the brink of bankruptcy, one of the GOP's members crossed party lines to help push through a bill during a key committee hearing Wednesday that puts the utility one step closer to solvency. State Assemblyman Bill Leonard, R-Rancho Cucamonga, was one of two members of the Assembly Energy Costs and Availability Committee who changed his vote in order to advance the rescue bill out of the committee. Leonard was the only Republican who voted in favor of the legislation. He left from the committee hearing after voting for the bill and was unavailable for comment. Jason Leopold, Dow Jones Newswires <http://quicken.excite.com/investments/news/story/djbn/?story=/news/stories/ dj/20010830/BT20010830001113.htm&symbol=EIX< -- 8/30/01 Shaver land out of utility measure -- An Assembly committee agreed to allow Southern California Edison Co. to hang on to thousands of acres of Sierra Nevada land around Shaver Lake in its vote to keep alive a hotly contested $2.9 billion rescue plan for the beleaguered utility. Lesli A. Maxwell in the Fresno Bee <http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/725724p-786679c.html< -- 8/30/01 Surplus power and MWD desalination plans -- It is a dramatic example of how California's electricity forecast has morphed from shortage to surplus: The giant Metropolitan Water District has restarted plans to strip salt from seawater as a new source for Southern California's taps. For decades, desalination has been talked of as a solution to the Southland's water needs. And for decades, it has been dismissed as too energy-intensive to be affordable. Nancy Vogel in the Los Angeles Times <http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-000070196aug30.story?coll =la%2Dheadlines%2Dfrontpage< -- 8/30/01 Direct access -- Electricity marketers said Wednesday that they may sue state utility regulators over their latest plan to end customers' ability to shop around for power. The marketers, which compete with the traditional utilities to sell power to business and residential customers, said they were stunned by a draft decision by the California Public Utilities Commission to suspend "direct access" retroactively to July 1. The marketers have been rushing to sign up new customers in recent weeks, assuming that the PUC decision would not take effect before Sept. 1. Nancy Rivera Brooks in the Los Angeles Times <http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-000070055aug30.story?coll=l a%2Dheadlines%2Dpe%2Dbusiness< -- 8/30/01 PG&E asks lawmakers to block shift of power costs -- PG&E Corp. unit Pacific Gas & Electric Co. Wednesday
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