Bush to Back Delay of Plan On Power Grid

[Khephra]

Proposal Could Weaken Role of States
By Peter Behr and James V. Grimaldi
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, August 17, 2003; Page A17


The Bush administration will side with a Senate Republican attempt to freeze a controversial regulatory proposal meant to strengthen the nation's aging power transmission system, which was blamed in last week's massive blackout, a senior administration official said yesterday.

The proposal by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission would create regional transmission organizations to control the flow of power over state lines and oversee the upgrade of the transmission system. It would also, though, shift authority away from state regulators and major electric utilities, something that is anathema to opponents of the plan, who are centered in southeast and northwest states. They say the creation of larger, more closely interconnected transmission grids would create a greater risk of cascading outages.

In backing a three-year freeze of the regulatory plan, Bush is going against his handpicked FERC chairman, Pat Wood III, the former chief energy regulator in Texas. But political opposition to the FERC plan has grown so strong that a comprehensive energy bill could fail to pass unless the plan is frozen, said the administration official, who is involved in energy issues but would not agree to be identified.

"Nobody wants to knee-cap Pat Wood," the administration official said. But "FERC has run into a lot of opposition," jeopardizing the broader energy legislation. Bush's aides say that even if FERC is blocked, other parts of the energy bills in Congress would boost investment in the power grid by loosening regulation to encourage non-utilities and foreign firms to own transmission lines. The president urged Congress last week to upgrade the nation's power transmission network, and FERC supporters had assumed the administration would back its regulators.

more.....................

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4455-2003Aug16.html

[Beetwasher]

1. Here we go MORE DEREGULATION

Right on schedule...Fuckers...

[Rose Siding]

4. Yep. "loosening regulation..."

There it is. :grr:

[Cush]

2. look at the page

A17. Should be on the front page.

[NYC]

3. Especially in light of the blackout, it should be on page one.

I know. "in light of the blackout"

[Rose Siding]

5. Look at this!

Not only are we suffering unimaginable defitits....

"Last year, less money was spent on the grid, after allowing for inflation, than in any year since the Great Depression, says the Electric Power Research Institute."

Republicans just can not handle money.

[MiltonLeBerle]

8. Oh...they can handle it just fine.

parting with it is another story.

[Mel]

6. I knew it

:nuke:damit like anyone here is surprised.:nuke:

[Mel]

7. look at this

J. Bennett Johnston, the senator who sponsored the 1992 energy-deregulation legislation, and now a lobbyist for companies that back the new FERC rules, said that blackouts have been predicted for some time. "Whatever happens, we'll probably have some more -- I hope not this big," Johnston said. "Even if we pass the best legislation possible, it takes a long time to implement the building of transmission lines." </snip>

This is insane we got a bunch of damn gangsters running this country they serve as Senators (suppose to be Public Servants) then they turn around and work on screwing us over?!

Public funded campaigns it's either that or we're toast it's obvious it's criminal and it's going to continue on until we stop them! They are not going to stop theirselves they don't care.
I hate it for them because when all this blows up in their faces they aren't going to have gates high enough to keep the angry masses out. Their ill gotten gains won't mean doodlie.

Bennett Johnston= A Corporatist, Traitor, and Un-American

[Eloriel]

9. That's exactly what Enron wanted --

they wanted to make the states (regions) carry their power, and basically obliterate any authority they had over the matter.

Eloriel

[Boreas]

10. Bush, "Blackout is wake-up call"

Guess it didn't wake him up. Is he asleep at the switch, or doesn't he give a grain fed Texas rat's ass?