Important to educate yourself on Calif Energy Crisis before you try and deflect the truth:
Secrets and Lies: Bush, Cheney and the Great Rip-Off of California Ratepayers [CounterPunch, by JASON LEOPOLD, 11/21/02] How could FERC keep this smoking gun concealed for a year? "It's highly unlikely that Bush, Cheney and members of the energy task force were kept in the dark about the Williams scam, especially since the findings of the investigation by FERC took place around the same time the policy was being drafted."
THE ENERGY WARS [The Nation, By Matt Bivens,11/21/02] Energy PORK will be a major challenge in the next congress "The Senate killed some ugly legislation last week that would have handed billions of tax dollars to the oil, gas, coal and nuclear industries. But don't rejoice yet: Trent Lott and other Republican leaders say they'll offer a "new and improved" energy bill as early as January--this time in a Republican-controlled Congress."
A Big Victory by California in Energy Case [NYT, By DAVID BARBOZA, 11/13/02] A corrupt corporation is punished! "In the first major settlement to come out of the California energy deregulation debacle, the Williams Companies agreed yesterday to pay more than $400 million to settle accusations that it helped drive up prices and overcharged customers during the state's electric power crisis."
Senate committee faults FERC for waiting 2 years to start probe [SFGate, Zachary Coile, 11/13/02] "The fact that the commission is only now investigating allegations of market abuse by individual companies is deeply troubling..." "The nation's chief energy watchdogs were guilty of a "shocking absence of regulatory vigilance" in failing to police market abuses by Enron Corp., including allegations that the Houston firm manipulated prices during the California energy crisis, according to a Senate report." [Follow-up: FERC boss pledges greater vigilance, Lieberman scolds agency director]
Energy industry's dirty little details about to see light [SF Chronicle, by David Lazarus, 10/21/02] "Chutzpah? These people were rewriting the definition." "The betting in energy circles is that Enron's erstwhile big cheeses are in deep trouble now that the company's former top trader has pleaded guilty to manipulating the California power market. But that may not be the half of it. Sources close to the matter say Timothy Belden, who previously ran Enron's trading office in Portland, Ore., is prepared to implicate a number of other industry players in what could shape up to be one of the biggest conspiracies in U.S. corporate history."
In Broad Daylight [NYT, By PAUL KRUGMAN, 09/29/02] "And that's the real mystery of the California crisis: how could a $30 billion robbery take place in broad daylight?" "...why did energy companies think they could get away with it? One answer might be that the apparent malefactors are very big contributors to the Republican Party. Some analysts have suggested that energy companies felt free to manipulate markets because they believed they had bought protection from federal regulation — the conspiracy-minded point out that severe power shortages began just after the 2000 election, and ended when Democrats gained control of the Senate."
California Culprits Include El Paso Corp. [NYT, EDITORIAL, 09/26/02] "A complaint from California about El Paso's behavior had languished in the files for nearly a year until Mr. Wood came aboard and cranked up the commission's investigative apparatus." "...We have long known that clever trading strategies devised by companies like Enron helped jack up the price of power. Now comes a ruling from an administrative judge at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that the El Paso Corporation illegally inflated the price of natural gas. Because natural gas is used to produce much of California's power, inflating its price had the effect of driving up the cost of electricity."
Calif Regulators Seen Winding Up Power Plant Probe [The Power Report, By Leonard Anderson, 09/18/02] What will it be? Cover-up or Truth? "California energy officials are set to release soon the results from inspections at dozens of downed power plants that they suspect were shut to jack up prices during the state's 2000-2001 energy crisis."
Bush Regime Ignored Appraisers In Land Deal With Utah [WP, By Michael Grunwald and Juliet Eilperin, 08/19/02] "This is just another ripoff," MacDonald said. "What does it tell you when an agency suppresses its own professionals? The agency's got something to hide." "One of Utah's top officials bragged that the oil, gas, coal, tar sands and oil shale deposits his state would obtain through the deal "could bring in hundreds of millions of dollars."
"This is like Enron all over again," said Kent Wilkinson, a senior [Bureau of Land Management] appraiser in Utah who gave a host of documents and e-mail messages to The Washington Post. "They're cooking the books, and it's all to the detriment of the public.""
Powder River Showdown [NYT, EDITORIAL, 08/04/02] Bush Wants To Sacrifice Water For Methane, And Pollute The Land While Doing It "The administration's plans for the basin are breathtakingly ambitious. It aims to sink 51,000 coal bed methane wells in Wyoming over 10 years, and 26,000 more in Montana. The prize is roughly 25 trillion cubic feet of methane gas, a form of natural gas - slightly more than the nation consumes in one year.... As fossil fuels go, it is relatively clean burning. But there's nothing clean about extracting it."
White House told to produce papers [CBS MarketWatch, By JAMES DAO, 08/02/02] Will this corrupt administration obey the law? "A federal judge on Friday told the White House it must release records regarding Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force by [September 3rd]."
Bush Administration Opposes Renewables Requirement [Environment News Service, 07/30/02] Forest Bush and Oil-slick Dick want all the money to go to their non-renewable oil, gas and coal buddies "The Bush administration and several utilities are opposing a provision of the Senate energy bill that would require utilities to produce 10 percent of their energy from renewable sources by 2020."
Study Faults U.S. Regulators in Aftermath of Power Crisis [NYT, By DAVID STOUT, 06/18/02] You surprised people out there all raise your hand "More than a year after California endured power shortages and soaring energy prices, the nation's energy regulators are still not up to the task of protecting consumers and ensuring that electricity is sold at reasonable rates, a Congressional study to be made public on Tuesday has concluded.
The study by the General Accounting Office, an investigative arm of Congress, says the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is hobbled by antiquated procedures, legislation and perhaps a mind-set more suited to the old days when energy producers were regulated monopolies."
Report Alleges US Role in Angola Arms-for-Oil Scandal [CorporayteWatch, By Wayne Madsen, 06/11/02] ANGOLAGATE "As the US Congress continues its investigation of the Enron affair, human rights advocates are calling for a probe of the Bush administration's possible role in another energy and influence-peddling scandal. According to a recent report by the British-based non-governmental organization Global Witness, Bush and US oil interests have ties to some of the key figures in the arms-for-oil scandal which has devastated Angola."
Subpoena Urged on Enron Records [WP, By Mike Allen, 05/18/02] Lieberman Threatens to Develop a Backbone "The White House and Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.) declared an impasse yesterday over Enron Corp. documents, and his committee headed toward issuing the first congressional subpoena of the Bush administration."
America Is Getting 'Enroned' by Bush's Buddies in the Gasoline Cartel [Senator Carl Levin, Chairman Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Hearing on Gas Prices, 05/02/02] Was the shortage of refineries and storage intentionally 'planned' so as to allow more and longer-lasting "price spikes"? "Due to a series of refinery closures and mergers within the oil industry, the wholesale supply market is now more concentrated than ever... In areas of high concentration where a few refiners control most of the retail sales by keeping supplies tight, refiners can raise the price of gasoline without great fear of competition. One way to maintain a tight supply is keeping only a minimal amount of gasoline in inventory. One effect of doing that is that any supply disruption will cause a shortage of gasoline because there is no reserve capacity to bring to market. This invariably leads to price increases, and, because gasoline is such an essential commodity in our lives today, most Americans have no choice but to pay more and more when prices rise."
Big Questions For Big Oil [CBSNews, 04/30/02] JAWBONING TO TEMPER GREED IS OBVIOUSLY NOT ENOUGH! "Oil industry executives are answering questions Tuesday from a Senate panel about evidence that some refineries held back supplies to force up gasoline prices during tight gasoline markets in recent years."
U.S. Can't Produce The Oil It Will Need [NewsDay/WP, By William R. Freudenburg, 04/28/02] Conservation and alternative energy are the only possible solutions "IT'S TIME for a reality check on energy policy. Politicians are fond of claiming that increased domestic oil production can restore energy "independence," but anyone who actually believes those claims is living in a world of self-delusion....There are two reasons. One is that the United States simply uses too much oil, too wastefully. The other is that we've already burned up almost all the petroleum we have."
Battle Over Oil Drilling Turns to 2nd Alaska Site [LAT, by KIM MURPHY, 04/21/02] The Bush Regime is ever alert to how they can help Oil companies, but it says NOTHING about reducing per capita energy consumption "While the Bush administration appears to have lost its bid to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration, the Interior Department is preparing to allow oil leasing on an even larger tract of pristine coastal land on the other side of Alaska's North Slope."
New Study Finds Cause of Midwest Gasoline Price Spikes; Midwest Oil Refiners' Manipulation Of Inventories & Exports To Blame [Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, 04/04/02] But how can this be? They're still talking about Clinton on the major networks... "The report shows that oil refiners' manipulation of supply and inventories is to blame for the price spikes in Midwest gasoline prices during the Spring/Summer of 2000. ( Click here to download the full report )"
Fighting for America's Energy Independence [Without any help from the Bush Regime] [The Nation, by Matt Bivens, 04/04/02] WHAT THE ENERGY PLAN SHOULD HAVE BEEN ABOUT "The so-called wind production tax credit (PTC) [U.S. Senator Byron] Dorgan was championing is tiny as subsidies go--over a decade it has cost roughly $55 million--and remarkably effective. Wind is the fastest-growing energy industry in the world, and last year was the US wind-power industry's best ever, with power capacity equivalent to that of roughly six coal-fired power plants coming online--minus coal's pollution. "The exciting thing is, [wind-power growth] is happening all over the country--it's not just California," says Christine Real de Azua, a spokeswoman for the American Wind Energy Association."
Oregon Senator Wyden Rips Open Supply-Rigging Practices by Big Oil with Secret Memos [AP Timeless] If one Senator can find so much, imagine what an honest justice department might find “When the Powerine Oil Co. refinery, closed in 1995 to permit new equipment installation, tried to restart in 1996, they were pressured by Exxon to stay closed to keep gas prices jacked up. "Needless to say, we would all like to see Powerine stay down. Full court press is warranted in this case," states an Exxon memo uncovered by Ron Wyden (D-Ore). Wyden has found several other "highly confidential memos" that reveal collusion among oil companies to put the squeeze on consumers. Exxon's response is of course, denial - the same response they offer every time they're caught red-handed.”
Bush Tapped Solar Energy Funds to Print Energy Plan [Reuters, by TOM DOGGETT, 03/30/02] They probably giggled at their cleverness like Beavis & Butthead "While environmentalists have slammed the White House national energy plan for not doing enough to promote renewable energy, the Bush administration found those government research programs useful in paying the bill for printing copies of the 170-page plan. The administration took money from the Energy Department's solar and renewable energy and energy conservation budgets to pay for the cost of printing its national energy plan."
THE ELEPHANT IN THE LIVING ROOM <> PART I: Grand Juries in New York and Washington Expose Major Conflicts of Interest [copvcia, 03/29/02] Another aspect is that Ashcroft should have recused himself, but instead has involved himself more deeply
THE ALLEGATIONS: "The two grand juries have been investigating allegations that ExxonMobil, the world's largest corporation, and BP Amoco paid cash bribes to the president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, and his oil minister, Nurlan Balgymbayev, and that Mobil engaged in an illegal oil swap of Kazakh oil through Iran in 1997. Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force -- now the center of a constitutional battle over the release of its records -- was meeting representatives of both companies after the grand juries had been empanelled as a result of information received from a Middle Eastern source in 1997 and inquiries from Swiss banks in 1999. The fact that these known targets of criminal investigations had access to the vice president's energy task force would be comparable to having allowed Manuel Noriega, while under indictment for drug smuggling, to consult in the war on drugs...."
A Better Energy Bill [WP Editorial, 03/11/02] Why does this administration always support the dumber choice on every issue? Bribes and eventual kickbacks? (Just a lucky guess.) "The bill on the Senate floor is not comprehensive energy legislation, said the Office of Management and Budget, because it doesn't do enough to increase domestic oil production, failing in particular to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling. The administration opposes the higher automobile fuel efficiency standards that are in the bill, and it objects to a provision that would require facilities that emit large quantities of greenhouse gases to register those emissions. The administration is right that the House and Senate are heading in different directions, but it's wrong on the relative merits. The pro-conservation tilt of the Senate bill makes it the better measure."
Judge Criticizes Energy Department [NYT/AP, 02/28/02] Even without the juicier Whitehouse papers, the Energy Dept's. papers may expose that the Energy Plan's function was a payback to polluters in exchange for campaign bribes – "Giv 'em some Quid, and they'll give you good Quo" "Almost a year after getting the request, the Energy Department will release thousands of records on Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force on orders from a judge who criticized the agency for moving too slowly....The ruling could undercut the Bush administration's effort to keep secret the names of industry executives and lobbyists who met with the White House as it formulated its energy policy last spring.
The Energy Department and other federal agencies are subject to the Freedom of Information Act, while the White House is not."
White House Girds For Protracted Fight Against GAO Lawsuit Seeking Energy Information [WP, By Dana Milbank, 02/22/02] BUSH-CHENEY ARE DESPERATE FOR SECRECY! WHY? "A senior White House official said the top lawyers were selected to remove "any question about how seriously we take this principle." The administration objects to the GAO's demand for a list of those who met with the administration task force that drafted President Bush's energy policy, arguing it would inhibit the executive branch's ability to solicit confidential advice.
In addition, the White House indicated that if it failed in its defense against the GAO lawsuit, it would seek to have the statute empowering the GAO declared unconstitutional -- an action that, if successful, would sharply curtail the legislative branch's oversight of the executive branch."
Enron Secretly Funded Ed Gillespie's Lobbying Campaign for Bush's Energy Plan [MSNBC, By Michael Isikoff, 02/20/02] Try anything for short-term profits, the death of the earth is someone else's problem During the Clinton years, Republicans went ballistic over a scheme by the Teamsters to funnel money secretly through a liberal fundraising company - and some of the middlemen actually went to jail. Now Newsweek has revealed that Enron secretly funneled $50,000 through corporate whore Grover Norquist's "Americans for Tax Reform," in order to promote Bush's pro-Enron energy plan.
Tricky Dick II [The Nation, by Nate Blakeslee, 02/09/02] Or how about "Oil-slick Dick"? "...is it Enron's dealings with the task force Cheney is trying to hide, or Halliburton's? The huge Dallas-based oilfield services conglomerate, for which Cheney served as CEO from 1995 to July 2000, may yet become Cheney's own poison pretzel. "
World's Largest Offshore Wind Farm Approved for Irish Sea [Environment News Service, 01/22/02] Other countries obviously have better leaders "There are currently only 20 offshore developments worldwide, all in northern Europe. When completed, the Arklow Banks project will have three times the combined capacity of all offshore wind farms currently in production in the world."
SIGN PETITION FOR RELEASE OF ENERGY TASK FORCE PAPERS! [bushwhackerbrigade.com 01/20/02] Force Bush-Cheney to expose records--and likely records destruction--to hide corporate influence scandal
Once-Mighty Enron Strains Under Scrutiny [NYT 10/29/01] Like the Savings & Loan debacle, we are all left wondering where all the $billions went “At the beginning of this year, the Enron Corporation, the world's dominant energy trader, appeared unstoppable. The company's decade-long effort to persuade lawmakers to deregulate electricity markets had succeeded from California to New York. Its ties to the Bush administration assured that its views would be heard in Washington. Its sales, profits and stock were soaring.”
[Update, The Times, 11/1: Bush's SEC is investigating Enron (honestly?)]
Enlightenment on Energy [NYT 10/26/01] Let's replace Bush administration with a random group of 3rd Graders “The road to reduced dependence leads in a different direction - toward conservation (meaning increased efficiency) and development of non-oil energy sources. Increasing fuel-efficiency standards for automobiles to 40 miles per gallon - a reasonable expectation, even with existing technology - would save about 2.5 million barrels a day by 2020. That is considerably more than the refuge can be expected to yield in the same time frame. As it happens, 2.5 million barrels is just about what we are now importing every day from the Persian Gulf. In addition to making conventional cars and trucks more efficient, there is much more we can do to reduce our dependence on imports - including a serious national effort to develop hybrid cars or cars powered by fuel cells.”
Who needs ANWR and MidEast Oil When We Have Vast Offshore Wind Energy? [A. Prospect 10/23/01] Offshore wind farms may prevent an energy crisis “In Europe, offshore wind power is the Next Big Thing in energy production. This summer, Germany announced it would phase out nuclear power and replace it with offshore wind. Nearly simultaneously, the [UK] announced that it would aggressively push offshore wind development, adding that, if all potential sites were developed, offshore wind would produce 300 percent of that island's current electricity needs. Offshore wind energy in the United States has a potential so large that, in combination with serious national conservation measures, it could - just possibly - replace the 6 million barrels of oil imported into the United States every day... Entrepreneurs are pushing for two U.S. offshore wind proposals now" - off Cape Cod (420 megawatts, about 1/2 of a nuke), and Long Island. Wind energy production costs for onshore systems are down to $.04/Kwh and dropping, making it competitive with fossil fuels and nukes.”
More Price Gouging Alledged, this time from a Regulated Public Utility [LAT 9/10/01] Criminal Capitalism is practiced by some good Republicans “During the peak of California's power crisis, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power earned far greater profits selling electricity to the rest of the state than agency officials have previously acknowledged, according to a newly completed independent audit.”
California Judge Rules Enron Must Turn Over Documents In Probe Of Alleged Price Gouging [Reuters 9/7/01] Bush people disdain input from the public. Show them they're right in the next election! “Enron Corp. must turn over sensitive financial documents to a state Senate committee probing charges of price gouging during the state's energy crisis, a California judge ruled on Thursday....But Sacramento Superior Court Judge Charles Kobayashi also ruled lawmakers must provide Enron with a confidentiality agreement...”
Cheney faces deadline to list names [MSNBC 9/6/01] Will we ever learn which lobbyists actually wrote "The Energy Plan?" “Vice President Dick Cheney is showing no signs of meeting an investigative agency’s Thursday deadline to release details of who his energy task force met with as it crafted President Bush’s energy blueprint. A General Accounting Office spokesman told MSNBC.com it had received no word from the vice president’s office nearly 20 days after the written request was made.”
Big Oil Is Really Driving Bush Foreign Policy [ITT 08/10/01] Where are Bush Administration fiduciary responsibilies? With the citizens? With Business? With the Mafia? “Much has been written and said about the influence of Big Oil over the policies of Bush and Cheney on global warming, drilling in the Alaskan wilderness, and their opposition to capping energy prices in California. Yet such is the power of the industry over the Bush administration, that Big Oil may influence, if not actually determine, how international borders are drawn, which leaders remain as heads of state and government, and what countries sit as members of the United Nations. Apparently, that's what $26 million in political contributions (the amount Big Oil gave to Republicans during the last election) can buy.”
Evidence of Energy Company Price Gouging Mounts [CBS 8/8/01] Good Republicans all, Old El Paso got too piggy “At the height of California's energy crisis, the price of natural gas jumped 700 percent as it crossed the state line on an El Paso Corporation pipeline.”
FERC has evidence of Electric Power Price Gouging but is keeping it SECRET [Timeless] Utilities that cheat and steal from the public should be punished harshly! “The government refused requests to release any of the documents and has yet to decide about the tapes — which sources tell CBS News are "politically explosive, smoking gun evidence."”
Cheney Refuses GAO's Records Request [Timeless] Cheney-Bush believe fiduciary responsibility is to (oil, coal) benefactors and not to the citizens! “"Preservation of the ability of the executive branch to function efficiently requires respecting the confidentiality of communication among a president, a vice president, the president's other senior advisers and others," Cheney wrote.
The documents at issue involve a decision by the administration to reconsider regulations on the amount of arsenic allowed in drinking water, toxic chemical pollution by mining companies and a requirement barring development of nearly 60 million acres of federal forests.
Democrats in the House and Senate have questioned whether Bush was influenced by the heads of several major energy companies - many of whom he met with just before announcing decisions on the environment.” [Update 8/8: Letters exchanged between Cheney and the GAO.] |
