Have you seen this, Mike?
Reuters Company News
FERC lawyers oppose speeding up Enron/Avista case
Monday October 7, 3:28 pm ET
WASHINGTON, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Lawyers with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said on Monday they oppose speeding up the case of whether Enron Corp. (Other OTC:ENRNQ.PK - News) used Avista Corp. (NYSE:AVA - News) to inflate electricity prices during the California power crisis.
FERC Judge Curtis Wagner recently indicated he would try to accelerate the case, in which Avista is accused of acting as a middleman between Enron's Power Marketing unit and its Portland General Electric utility to influence market prices.
The judge last month set a Nov. 26 deadline for FERC attorneys to detail specific allegations against Avista, and a series of other deadlines for both sides to collect evidence and expert testimony. At that time, Wagner said he could issue a ruling no sooner than August 2003.
Two FERC lawyers, Edith Gilmore and Michael Cotleur, told the judge in a filing made public on Monday they opposed any speedup in the case schedule, citing the complexity of the case and the huge number of trading transactions being investigated.
"The amount of data that needs to be reviewed and analyzed in order for relevant information to be proficiently extracted requires time and some training," the FERC lawyers said. "Once documents are produced in discovery -- of which potential objections are pending -- the staff will be examining energy traders' phone tapes for Avista, Portland and Enron in addition to the transcripts of Avista's energy traders."
Avista has denied any wrongdoing, and said the series of 17 transactions at issue netted profits of only $2,500 for Avista.
A similar case is pending against Enron and El Paso Electric Co. (AMEX:EE - News), which was accused of giving control of some of its power plants to Enron without FERC approval and failing to notify the agency of an arrangement in which Enron sold power on its behalf.
In a third case, two Enron trading affiliates and its Portland General Electric utility are suspected of improperly sharing market-sensitive information.
If eventually found guilty of wrongdoing, Avista, El Paso Electric and Portland General Electric could be stripped of licenses to trade wholesale electricity.
The Avista case is pending before FERC in docket EL02-115. |
