Last summer, Pat Wood III was appointed chairman of FERC by President
George Bush. Wood was recommended to the position by Kenneth
Lay, chairman of Enron, until he resigned in January 2002. Lay
is accused of cashing in while his company sank into bankruptcy, favouring
George Bush with millions of dollars in contributions, of defrauding
pension holders of over a billion dollars. Enron is target of a
class-action suit by its own employees, whose pensions are now shit.
In December, Wood signed a FERC order "unexpectedly halted an agency
proceeding on California's demand for nearly $9 billion in refunds for alleged
wholesale electricity overcharges"
"Power suppliers involved in the case are Reliant Energy, Williams
Cos, Duke Energy Corp.,Calpine Inc,
Mirant Corp and Dynegy Inc. Also involved is Enron Corp, the
giant energy trader whose financial collapse ended in a bankruptcy filing this
week."
Four of the companies named in this case are connected with in BC Hydro's
natural gas energy strategy for Vancouver Island, two with equity
interests:
Calpine owns Island Cogeneration in Campbell River, and is
partner with BC Hydro in the second gas-fired generation project on Vancouver
Island - which may yet end up in Port Alberni, North Cowichan, or Nanaimo, but
has yet to find a home where the residents will accept it.(1)
Williams is partner with BC Hydro in the proposed GSX
Pipeline project. The GSX is required to provide gas to Calpine's
generation projects. Williams is the target of a class-action lawsuit that
it misrepresented facts about the Williams companies and manipulated its share
price.(2)
Duke Energy has acquired Westcoast Energy, which owns the
only natural gas supply pipeline to Sumas, which is where the GSX will obtain
its gas.
Mirant is a registered intervenor in the NEB review of the
proposed GSX Pipeline project.(3)
FERC is presently conducting a review of the US portion of the proposed GSX
Pipeline.
There was a crisis in power trading in the middle of the 2000-2001 winter
period. Electricity prices were out of this world.
07/06/01 – STATE POWER
PURCHASES: DWR reports ... $5.189 billion of which were spot market purchases at
average prices of $321/MWh in January, $308/MWh in February, $271/MWh in March,
$332/MWh in April, and $271/MWH in May. The report shows 42% of spot purchases
during the period were from two companies, Mirant with $1.2
billion in sales and BC Hydro’s Powerex marketing unit with $1
billion.
