[svlug] OFF TOPIC [B4BorG] Phony Energy Crisis in Calif. exposed

[Charles Peterman]

I saw this on the "Billionaires for Bush or Gore" list.  Yes, I am one of
those political people.  Being from SoCal and having a sense of history, I
remember a little thing called the "Owens Valley Water Scandal".  One
of the critical point in the formation of LA, it involved the creation of
a false scarcity of water in order to empower a very small group of
people. 

While I know we've gone round and round about future engery sources, I
note that no one has been discussing whether or not this power shortage is 
due to actual consumption or supply-side manipulation in the post
regulation era.

The following email raises some of those points and refers to an LA Times
article on the subject.  I thought it would be useful to put it on your
collective radar.

Apologies in advance for those offended by the lack of penguin like
material in this message.  I'd rather plead for forgiveness than beg for
permission.

-Charles

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2001 02:17:14 -0800
From: Joan Norman <defender at firstworld.net>
Reply-To: billionairesforbushorgore at topica.com
To: defender at firstworld.net, Leila <leila at globalexchange.org>,
     "Donahue, Paul/Terry" <meenviro at nemaine.com>,
     "Ed, Herald" <HeraldEd at herald.com>
Subject: [B4BorG]  Phony Energy Crisis in Calif. exposed


 Phony "energy crisis" exposed

The bad effects of the AES power plant, and the upcoming push to
eliminate environmental controls on power plants, cars and refineries
are only part of the bad effects of the so-called "energy crisis".

http://www.latimes.com/news/state/20010211/t000012614.html

LA Times story on the connections of Bush and the head of Enron. We
already know that the Oil Lobby was the biggest contributor to Bush-2k,
and they contributed many of their supporters to the Bush administration
-- such as Evans.

".... particular concern to some Californians, Bush repeatedly has
refused to intervene more aggressively in the state's electricity
crisis--even as Enron and its subsidiaries have profited handsomely from
soaring energy prices..."

But you look at that "crisis", and some might say it is merely an
attempt to "payback" California for overwhelmingly voting for Gore.  The
only thing that has changed since last year is that a business block --
a sort of "Trust" -- has managed to buy up all the electric generating
plant -- and not just in California.  Who ever heard of Dynergy,
Reliant, Calpine, Enron, Southern Co., AES, prior to their gaining
control of the means of electric production?  And T. Boone Pickens, who
bought up all the Natural Gas leases via "Mesa Petroleum", might have
some hand in this too.

Over the last decade, California's energy usage has grown at 11%,
roughly half the national average.  That's because we've been losing
factories and foundries, aerospace and other plants to other states. 
Those are the big, big users of electricity.

So why should the "crisis" strike just as the election is giving control
of the Government to Bush and the Oilies?  Logically, any "crisis"
should hit in the Summer, when demand exceeds 40,000 megawatts, a
quarter more than now.

The bogus excuse is "all those computers...".  Well, look at them. The
highest rating is 500 watts, and they draw about 150.  If every person
in California had a computer, and left it on ALL the time, that would be
only 375 watts for each of the 12m households-- less than 4 light bulbs,
less than refrigerators by far, less probably than we use on hair
dryers.  Each traffic intersection has, on average, 17 signals -- one of
those lights is on at all times. Not to mention street lighting.  So
really, computers are small, non-critical users of electricity.  Think
Air Conditioners, those are the heavy users, and that does not happen
until summer.

But why should everyone suddenly parrot this ridiculous notion, that
"computers" or "silicon valley" are suddenly maxing us out? The answer,
of course, is that the newspapers print it, and no one examines it. 
Somewhere, some high-tone PR firm belted out a press release, and all
the media bought it.

No, the "crisis" seems engineered in Houston, TX, where most of these
weird-named companies are headquartered.

Think about how the Republicans hounded Clinton for 8 years on the
amorphous "whitewater" investigation, which wound up looking at Bill's
dirty underwear.  No criminal charges or activity were ever proved, yet
the persecution, including jailing the unfortunate Susan McDougal for 18
months in LEG IRONS, with no reading material, on Taxpayer money.

Where is the Special Prosecutor who will investigate Bush's ties to the
Oilies, and the multi-billion dollar rip-off of California's surplus?

That is a real, substantial issue, not the bogus bushit they tried to
get on Clinton.

Who will investigate this bombshell story?

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