-Caveat Lector-
Original Message
Subject: Public ownership is the solution to the energy crisis
Date: Thu, 1 Mar 2001 21:51:42 -0600 (CST)
From: Michael Eisenscher [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Organization: ?
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Public ownership is the solution to the energy crisis
* Opinion column from the Sacramento Bee
* Call for Take-over of Energy Companies -- Citizens Denounce
Financial Ties Between Elected Officials and Utility Companies
* AFL-CIO Executive Council Statement on Energy Crisis -
California's Electricity Deregulation Crisis - A National Warning
[which doesn't call for public ownership of the energy utilities -
Moderator]
Public ownership is the solution to the energy crisis
By James McClatchy
[Sacramento Bee column of Feb. 18, 2001. James B. McClatchy is
publisher of The McClatchy Co., which owns The Sacramento Bee and
other newspapers, and is a lifelong California journalist.]
The possibility of the state of California buying power
transmission lines has now emerged as a major part of proposed
solutions to California's electricity crisis. The next step would
be for the state to buy the associated generating facilities. It
will be hard for anyone involved in this unbelievable and painful
crisis to think very far ahead, but deciding on a permanent
solution as quickly as possible will shorten our period of living
in a bad- dream emergency. Any final solution would have to include
public ownership of the generating plants that PGE and Southern
California Edison sold to speculators, as well as facilities they
still own.
The state of California invested enormous amounts of bond money in
building one of the world's biggest water delivery systems -- the
Feather River Project. This project delivers large amounts of water
to farms in the San Joaquin Valley and for general public use in
Southern California. It is a publicly owned utility.
Why can't the state buy the generating facilities and distribution
systems of Southern California Edison and PGE with bond money, and
deliver the electricity to existing locally owned and managed
utility districts, or to newly organized ones? If some areas decline
that option, the state could create an agency to take over that job.
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is locally owned by
citizens. So is the Sacramento Municipal Utility District -- and so
are dozens of other taxpayer-owned systems including Roseville,
Redding, Palo Alto and Truckee. In such arrangements, the public
controls its electrical destiny.
The formerly private facilities would require upgrades and badly
needed modernization. Also, to meet population growth, it would be
necessary to find or build new generating plants. All that will
cost many millions of dollars, no matter who owns the electrical
systems. But who can doubt that if private utilities own them,
customers will pay more than if tax-paying consumers own them? If
anyone -- particularly legislators and Gov. Gray Davis -- needs a
reminder of what the investors who own parts of California's
electrical supply system have their eyes fixed on, they should
reflect on what the Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs did this past
week.
A subsidiary of Goldman Sachs, J. Aron Co., has supplied a
significant portion of the natural gas PGE used to make
electricity. To protect its investment and reduce its risk of losing
money, the J. Aron firm has pulled the plug on PGE, refusing to
deliver any more gas.
Why not? Goldman Sachs is a giant financial house with fingers in
businesses all over the world. Why should it subject its managing
partners and stockholders to potentially more losses out here in
California? Does it care about consumers here? While harsh comments
can be directed at some participants in this staggeringly expensive,
world-class comedy of errors, it must be clearly recognized that
many energy providers are extending their own financial resources to
protect electricity consumers.
Without this mostly voluntary help, the whole state would be heading
more certainly for an economic and social crisis of unpredictable
size. When this is all over, proper recognition and appreciation
should be given to those officials and companies who put public
service above dollar values.
With public ownership of these systems would come increased public
transparency on all aspects of the operations -- where there is
little now -- and thus less opportunity for sweetheart deals with
friendly financiers or brokers.
Separate from the current emergency, rising prices in general for
electricity and gas are generating enormous financial problems for
homeowners and businesses. It is absolutely indefensible that
citizens should be made to pay for the bad business decisions of the
utilities, the Legislature and elected officials, not to mention the
rapaciousness of speculators and selfish political partisanship.
