Feds: Enron made more than $1.6 billion on Western energy crisis

[rainbow4321]

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D87VBU2O0.html


Enron Corp. made more than $1.6 billion from Western states during the energy crisis, money the bankrupt energy company may be required to return, federal energy officials said Monday.

It was the first federal accounting of Western energy crisis profits by Enron, whose traders are accused by California officials of gaming the state's power market and scheming to rip off consumers.

The total was revealed in testimony Monday by a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission financial analyst in a case before a FERC administrative law judge. FERC ordered the judge last summer to determine the total amount Enron should have to give back from power profits in 11 Western states from Jan. 16, 1997, to June 25, 2003.

The sum calculated by FERC financial analyst Randolph A. Barlow was less than California's estimate of about $2.9 billion in profits for Enron during the same period.

[Parche]

1. enron

And i felt it 5years ago, when then owned PGE (Portland Oregon)
electric, raised their rates as much as 30%
And they were a bunch of snoots when you called them about it.

[EVDebs]

2. They ALWAYS sell the politicians on how it's going to be cheaper in the

long run with privatization and deregulation. Frankly, I haven't seen a sucessful example of this yet. California is still being FERCed over by the feds. And KennyBoys' trial..I hope he sings all the way to jail about Bush and Cheney's plans that got hidden...pre-war and post-war.

[Rose Siding]

3. CA estimated 2.9 billion

Such a savings :grr:

[cthrumatrix]

6. so when are they going to get the money back.... the traders laughed at

people in calif. not being able to pay thier bills.

What about the Ken Lay & Arnold meeting..?

[Career Prole]

14. Bingo...amazing how fast that story was buried.

Ah-nuld's cut of the deal was the governorship.
I still can't believe that story died a quick death...I just can't believe it!

[HysteryDiagnosis]

19. Such a savings

Don't worry... Ahnold will get all the retirees money back so they can afford food and medications.... yeah right, in his dreams... another puppet, dancing on the strings of corporate influence... and GOP accessory.

[TaleWgnDg]

4. Okay. Now think about it . . .

.
Okay. Now think about it . . . if you are an Enron stockholder or an Enron ex-employee or if your municipality held your pension funds in Enron stocks . . . where does that leave you? Sans the funds in bankruptcy court. Ahhhh, these (Enron white collar) bastards should be made to pay to the nth degree w/i law! Criminal law, that is!

---

[indepat]

5. Gee wonder if any other power-providers played similar games?

[LiberallyInclined]

17. Yes-

People's Energy in Illinois made a deal with Enron at the time that ripped-off midwest customers for over $400 million.

[w4rma]

7. And KennyBoy & friends have been spending that money for 4 years now.

Partying like there's no tomorrow. As if there will even be millions left to get back after Republicans allowing them to stonewall for so long on this.

[mom cat]

13. Martha is in jail and Kenny Boy is free.

[OzarkDem]

8. RNC scheme

Rip off California when Gray is governor, let him take the blame.

Let Enron hide the profits, sit on the money and earn interest

Refund some of the money to Cali after the Gropenfuhrer is elected - make him a hero.

Lay walks away scot-free.

[Nomad559]

9. Have you seen

this video?

http://www.putfile.com/media.php?n=Enron_Traders

:mad:

[Kolesar]

10. I thought the Enron execs took that money away executing stock options

So it is no longer in that bankrupt corporation.

[President Jesus]

11. Kan Lay's campaign contributions (listed in detail since 1979)

never let anyone forget the facts:
http://www.newsmeat.com/ceo_political_donations/Ken_Lay.php

[GarySeven]

12. Is that the same energy crisis that Gray Davis blamed on Enron ...

that all the Republicans derided and dismissed, then used his belief in "conspiracies" as an argument for his removal from office?

[pinto]

15. It started w/Gov. Wilson (R-San Diego) "market forces & deregulation will

save CA energy dollars and spur competition"....that was the mantra of our last Republican Governor.

All deregulation did was allow "market forces" to literally rob millions of CA's via their electricity/natural gas pricing scams..

thanks for the post.

(on edit: the vultures came home to roost in the Davis administration)

[NashVegas]

16. Ain't It Great How a Texas Company Can Force a Recall in Another State?

Cool, huh?

[TaleWgnDg]

22. Hey, now cut THAT out! After all, it's "states rights!!" n/t

[HockeyTown4Ever]

18. My Good Friend

Living here in Washington DC, it is amazing what you can find out from your friends and neighbors in government. For instance, one of my good friends can prove that much of the Bush economic downturn was related to the energy shenanigans in the West. Email J. Kramer at: [e-mail] so he/she can send you all of the details.

HockeyTwon4Ever
http://ht4e.blogspot.com

[leesa]

20. And Ahhhnode the Gropinator helped him rip California off. 9 billion

dollars and the first thing Ahnode did was settle for nothing.

[struggle4progress]

21. I bet they're on the phone day and night screaming for tort reform.

<edit: typo>

[stevedeshazer]

23. "$1.6 billion from Western states during the energy crisis,

money the bankrupt energy company may be required to return, federal energy officials said Monday."

THE MONEY IS GONE.

Linda Lay had to sell everything at the big garage sale.

There's no there there. It's already been stolen, and NO ONE will be held accountable.

[cosmicdot]

24. so, is the FERC 'figure' a $1.3 Billion savings for the enron crooks...

for starters??

mysantonio.com could've, at least, put the word 'crisis' in quotation marks, "crisis" ... in retro, Bush-Cheney appointedstration in 2001 was not starting off too well ... they needed a trifecta ...


is FERC still headed up by Ken Lay's recommendation? my guess is that the crime is still in process ... (yes - Pat Wood - http://www.ferc.gov/about/com-mem.asp)

~snip~

"The wannabe governor has yet to deny that on May 17, 2001, at the Peninsula Hotel in Los Angeles, he had consensual political intercourse with Enron chieftain Kenneth Lay. Also frolicking with Arnold and Ken was convicted stock swindler Mike Milken." ~snip~
http://www.sonoran-sunsets.com/california.html


Arnold met with Lay one month to the day Cheney met with Lay.



What did Cheney know?
Enron: What Dick Cheney Knew
by John Nichols

In the spring of 2001 the severity of the California energy emergency had inspired demands for government action, and Enron had a problem. Officials in California were arguing that federal price caps on wholesale energy sales would prevent profiteering and stabilize wildly fluctuating energy markets, and even some Republicans were saying that caps made sense. But the caps would cost Enron--which had come to dominate energy markets by taking advantage of deregulation--a fortune.

Enron CEO Kenneth Lay knew he needed high-level help. So he arranged to meet with a man who had headed a corporation with extensive business ties to Enron and who had been a prime recipient of Enron's political largesse. Vice President Dick Cheney cleared his calendar for an April 17 private meeting with Lay regarding what aides described as "energy policy matters" and "the energy crisis in California." At the meeting Lay handed Cheney a memo that read in part: "The administration should reject any attempt to re-regulate wholesale power markets by adopting price caps...."

The day after he met with Lay, Cheney gave a rare phone interview to the Los Angeles Times that had one recurrent theme: Price caps were out of the question." ~snip~
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml%3Fi=20020415&s=nichols


Our Fake Energy Crisis:
What Really Happened in California
by Harvey Wasserman

Hiding behind the rhetoric of free enterprise, major campaign donors to George W. Bush have reaped billions of dollars from the president's refusal to cap wholesale electricity prices during California's deregulation crisis. They stand to make billions more at the expense of consumers and the environment if the crisis is used as a pretext to pass upcoming federal legislation promoting fossil and nuclear fuels. ~snip~
http://www.local.org/wasserman.html


"In a letter supporting the appointment of FERC Chairman Pat Wood and Commissioner Nora Brownell, Lay wrote, 'any candidate should be a strong supporter of the need for FERC to continue its role in deregulating the electric industry.' Lay endorsed Wood, then Chairman of the Texas Public Utility Commission, because he 'supports free markets' and implemented the Texas deregulation plan. Lay supported Brownell because she 'supports free markets and was the swing vote enabling Pennsylvania to open its electric markets to competition.'"
http://cantwell.senate.gov/news/releases/2004_07_08_kenlay.html