Tapes Reveal Enron's Power Plant Rigging

[papau]

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-enron4feb04.story
Tapes Reveal Enron's Power Plant Rigging
Transcripts detail how electricity traders conspired to shut down smooth-running generating facilities during the energy crisis.
By Jonathan Peterson
Times Staff Writer

February 4, 2005

Enron Corp. traders conspired to shut down a healthy power plant as blackouts rolled across California in early 2001, according to documents released Thursday.

In the brash language that has become a familiar coda to the electricity crunch, Enron traders and others were captured discussing in e-mail messages and telephone conversations how they could profit from the state's problems.

<snip>
According to the newly released transcript, Enron traders on Jan. 16, 2001, hatched a plan to take an Enron-controlled power plant in Las Vegas off-line the following day. In a phone call, "Bill of Enron" informed "Rich," a Las Vegas power plant employee, that "we want you guys to get a little creative … and come up with a reason to go down."


<snip>
"The fact that Enron would jeopardize the health and safety of Western citizens to chase profits in the energy market is disgraceful," Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) said Thursday. "But it's not just disgraceful on a human level — it's also illegal."


<snip>
As part of its case against Enron, the Washington utility found a May 6, 1998, Enron memo referring to a "PHONY import," another tactic for taking advantage of the energy market. The memo noted that the independent system operator "will call and tell us we're out of balance, so tell them we intend to correct the imbalance in the 'hour-ahead' market. In fact, we really intend to do NOTHING…. "

In response to the disclosure, Cal-ISO officials said Thursday that such tactics would no longer be possible because of reforms that have been implemented since 2002. "There are many practices in place to prevent that type of phony import from happening today," McCorkle said.

Suggestions that Enron's plans to exploit the energy marketplace as much as three years before the 2000-01 energy crisis jarred some officials, who recalled how Enron executives were traveling the country about the same time making a case to deregulate the marketplace.<snip>

[Nite Owl]

1. I hardly ever even turn on

the news but last night I decided to see what the msm was up to and turned on the nightly news on CBS and they actually played these tapes. I was pleasantly surprised to say the least. But it was CBS, Rather.

[Guns Aximbo]

2. But I thought it was GREY DAVIS'S FAULT (sarcasm)

Why the hell does it take soooooooooooooo long for this to get out? We've known this for three years but it takes that long for the anyone to actually begin to accept it.

Another reason to begin to be sick of america. Land of the corrupt home of the cheats.