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AP Online, May 30, 2001; Wednesday, 8:52 AM, Eastern Time, Financial pages,
????660 words, Power Company Stocks Fall, BRAD FOSS, NEW YORK Contra Costa Times, May 30, 2001, Wednesday, DOMESTIC NEWS, K7997, 1073 ????words, Davis vows to sue federal government to force caps on electricity ????prices, By Daniel Borenstein Contra Costa Times, May 30, 2001, Wednesday, STATE AND REGIONAL NEWS, K0024, 706 words, ???Gephardt, California Democrats call for greater federal involvement in power market, By Brian ?? ???Anderson Contra Costa Times, May 30, 2001, Wednesday, STATE AND REGIONAL NEWS, K7970, 434 words, Californians ??? ???can monitor supply, demand levels on new Web site, by Tony Hicks Los Angeles Times, May 30, 2001 Wednesday, Home Edition, Page 1, 1687 words ????, THE NATION; ; Bush, Davis Collide Over Energy Policy; Politics: At summit ????with governor, president continues to oppose electricity price caps., JAMES ????GERSTENZANG, DAN MORAIN, TIMES STAFF WRITERS Los Angeles Times, May 30, 2001 Wednesday, Home Edition, Page 13, 699 words ????, Commentary; ; Bush Isn't Budging, but He Needs to Turn FERC Around, MEDEA ????BENJAMIN, Medea Benjamin is the founding director of Global Exchange, a, ????corporate accountability organization in San Francisco The New York Times, May 30, 2001, Wednesday, Late Edition - Final, Section ????A; Page 22; Column 1; Editorial Desk, 401 words, Chilly Encounter in ????California The New York Times, May 30, 2001, Wednesday, Late Edition - Final, Section ????A; Page 1; Column 3; National Desk, 1252 words, SHARP DIFFERENCES AS BUSH ????AND DAVIS DISCUSS BLACKOUTS, By TODD S. PURDUM and DAVID E. SANGER, LOS ????ANGELES, May 29 The New York Times, May 30, 2001, Wednesday, Late Edition - Final, Section ????A; Page 2; Column 3; Metropolitan Desk, 1217 words, NEWS SUMMARY The Orange County Register, May 30, 2001, Wednesday, COMMENTARY, K7955, 584 ????words, Sparks sizzle as Bush, Davis meet San Jose Mercury News, May 30, 2001, Wednesday, SJ-GILLMOR-COL, 756 words, ????San Jose Mercury News, Calif., Dan Gillmor Column, By Dan Gillmor San Jose Mercury News, May 30, 2001, Wednesday, SJ-GOV-BUSH, 1127 words, ????Bush Scheduled to Make Crucial Trip to California, By Jim Puzzanghera The San Francisco Chronicle, MAY 30, 2001, WEDNESDAY,, FINAL EDITION, NEWS; ????, Pg. A1, 1220 words, Bush, Davis fail to settle dispute; ???President ????travels to state but won't budge on rate caps, Carla Marinucci, Los Angeles The San Francisco Chronicle, MAY 30, 2001, WEDNESDAY,, FINAL EDITION, NEWS; ????, Pg. A8, 626 words, Democrats sponsor energy talks; ???Bush still at odds ????with call for federal support of conservation, Rick DelVecchio, Oakland USA TODAY, May 30, 2001, Wednesday,, FIRST EDITION, NEWS;, Pg. 3A, 439 ????words, Bush rejects cap on electricity prices Davis pledges to go to court, ????Laurence McQuillan and Martin Kasindorf, LOS ANGELES The Washington Post, May 30, 2001, Wednesday, Final Edition, EDITORIAL; Pg. ????A18, 572 words, California's Power Clash The Washington Post, May 30, 2001, Wednesday, Final Edition, A SECTION; Pg. ????A02, 802 words, Bush Says No to Davis Bid For Energy Price Controls; ????California Governor Vows to Sue U.S. for Relief, Mike Allen, Washington Post ????Staff Writer, LOS ANGELES, May 29 The Washington Times, May 30, 2001, Wednesday, Final Edition, PART A; ????COMMENTARY; EDITORIALS; Pg. A14, 430 words, Gov. ?Gray's dim fairy tale The Washington Times, May 30, 2001, Wednesday, Final Edition, PART A; Pg. ????A8, 584 words, GOP: Davis' woes to help revive party, Ralph Z. ?Hallow; THE ????WASHINGTON TIMES Chicago Tribune, May 30, 2001 Wednesday, NORTH SPORTS FINAL EDITION, News; ????Pg. 1; ZONE: N, 1008 words, Bush, Gov. Davis sound like Texas, California on ????energy, By Vincent J. Schodolski and Karen Brandon, Tribune staff reporters. ????Tribune staff reporter V. Dion Haynes contributed to this report., LOS ????ANGELES U.S. Newswire, May 29, 2001, Tuesday, STATE DESK, 1008 words, Libertarians: ????While Bush and Davis Chat, California Burns -- Through $180,000, LOS ????ANGELES, May 29 Copyright 2001 Associated Press AP Online May 30, 2001; Wednesday 8:52 AM, Eastern Time SECTION: Financial pages LENGTH: 660 words HEADLINE: ?Power Company Stocks Fall BYLINE: BRAD FOSS DATELINE: NEW YORK BODY: ???Investors in power companies who were sipping champagne after President Bush unveiled his national energy strategy got a bad case of the hiccups when Democrats regained control of the Senate. ??Shares of companies that trade power climbed higher in the days following the release of the Bush plan. They've been sliding since Sen. James Jeffords of Vermont defected from the Republican Party, and Wall Street analysts say perceptions about the fate of the Bush plan are definitely a factor. ??''The energy bill was so favorable it almost seemed like (power companies) got everything they would have asked for,'' said Barry Abramson, utility analyst at UBS Warburg. ''Now it looks like everything is going to be more difficult to achieve, but not impossible.'' ??The Bush plan seeks to give oil and gas drillers easier access to public lands, to speed up the review process for refinery and power plant expansions and spur renewed interest in nuclear power. ??Shares of Calpine Corp., Dynegy Inc. and Mirant Corp., climbed steadily from May 16 to May 22 the time between the release of the Bush plan and reports of a Senate shake-up. ??These stocks began to descend on May 23, when Sen. Jeffords' plans were first reported, and have continued downward, with Calpine losing 10 percent, Dynegy slipping 12 percent and Mirant off nearly 13 percent by the end of the day Tuesday. ??Still, analysts say investors may be overreacting. ??''Despite the fanfare following the unveiling of President Bush's energy plan, we believed its chances of passage even with a Republican majority was slim at best,'' said Daniel Ford, head of Lehman Brothers' team of energy analysts. ''With Jeffords move, the effort may be even more remote, but the most likely outcome, inaction, has not changed.'' ??Ford acknowledged that talk of capping wholesale electricity prices for California has resurfaced in the Senate, though he dismissed the likelihood of this happening even with a Democratic majority because ''Bush still has veto power and, to date, has been steadfastly against caps.'' ??Democrats no doubt will emphasize conservation more than Republicans would have, but the momentum shift in the Senate will not be overly dramatic, according to Bill Breier, vice president of the Edison Electric Institute, a Washington-based group that represents utilities. ??There will still be fierce battles over efforts to relax power plant emissions a Bush proposal that would benefit coal burners _ and proposals to expand the nation's electricity and natural gas infrastructure. ??''There's going to have to be consensus and we've known that from the get-go,'' Breier said. ??Analysts emphasized that it would be wrong to assume that much of the Bush energy plan is now dead-on-arrival with Democrats in control of the Senate. ??For instance, attention has been given to the fact that Sen. Jeff Bingaman, a Democrat from New Mexico, will take over as chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, replacing Sen. Frank Murkowski of Alaska. ??But Bingaman supports legislation critical to the nuclear power industry, including the Price Anderson Act, a 1957 law set to expire in 2002 that limits corporate liability from a nuclear accident. ??Other energy strategies favored by Bush, such as the deregulation of electricity markets and the construction of some 1,300 new power plants over the next 20 years, will not be affected by the Senate overhaul simply because their implementation is heavily dependent on state government, not federal, said Ray Niles, who analyzes the power and natural gas industries for Salomon Smith Barney. ??''I don't think it makes a huge amount of difference,'' Niles said. ''Things like increasing drilling were going to be a hard ??aul for the country anyway.'' ?????(PROFILE ?????(CO:Calpine Corp; TS:CPN; IG:ELC;) ?????(CO:Dynegy Inc; TS:DYN; IG:ELC;) ?????(CO:Mirant Corp; TS:MIR; IG:ELC;) ?????) LOAD-DATE: May 30, 2001 ?????????????????????????????29 of 224 DOCUMENTS ??????????????Copyright 2001 Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service ???????????????????????Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service ??????????????????????????????Contra Costa Times ???????????????????????????May 30, 2001, Wednesday SECTION: DOMESTIC NEWS KR-ACC-NO: ?K7997 LENGTH: 1073 words HEADLINE: Davis vows to sue federal government to force caps on electricity prices BYLINE: By Daniel Borenstein BODY: ??LOS ANGELES _ After a 35-minute meeting Tuesday with President George Bush that produced little movement, Gov. Gray Davis said he would sue the federal government to force caps on wholesale electricity prices. ??Both sides described the meeting as cordial. But when it was over, there was no change in Bush's position that price caps would make the state's crisis worse and Davis' insistence that they are key to staving of skyrocketing prices this summer. ??Davis praised the president for supporting quick federal help on permits for new power plants and for a federal investigation of why Texas natural gas costs three times as much in New York as in California. ??"On the big enchilada, the thing that really matters above all else, temporary price relief, I am disappointed that we do have a fundamental disagreement," Davis said. "We have an agreement to disagree, but it's a big disagreement." ??After the meeting, Karl Rove, the president's political strategist, said Bush continues to believe that "the better way to assure a strong California economy and to keep people working" is by emphasizing conservation, technology, alternative sources, new supplies and to fix the problems with transmission. ??The meeting between the two leaders followed a lunchtime speech in which Bush promised to support continuation of a ban on offshore oil drilling on the California coast and a crackdown on illegal price gouging by electricity suppliers. ??But the speech and the meeting left clear that California would be on its own this summer when it comes to controlling expected price spikes. Since the president won't help, Davis said, he has no choice but to sue. ??He said the law is clear: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission must take action after its finding in the fall that prices are not just and reasonable. " This is not a question of whether you like price caps or you don't like price caps," Davis said. "We all have to enforce laws whether we like them or not." ??Coincidentally on Tuesday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals tossed out a lawsuit brought by California lawmakers seeking a federal judicial order to lower prices. ??The three-judge panel, in a brief statement, said last week's appeal by state Senate President John Burton and state Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg does not warrant "intervention of this court." ??One legal expert said the significance of the decision is unclear. In the lawsuit, the Legislature sought an emergency ruling, but such decisions are tough to win, said Sean Gallagher, staff counsel for the Public Utilities Commission. ??The Federal Power Act establishes a process for legal challenges that directs petitioners to first ask the FERC to reconsider a decision before going to federal court. That is something the Legislature did not do until Tuesday. ??"The fact the 9th Circuit has turned them down is by no means the end of the ballgame," Gallagher said. ??Davis said he would not make the same mistake. He said he has already filed a complaint with the FERC and expects to give them about 30 days to act before he files his lawsuit. ??In the meantime, the Davis administration is considering cutting off state electricity purchases if the price goes too high this summer. Joseph Fichera, a gubernatorial adviser, said Monday that the idea is seriously under consideration. ??But Gerald Parsky, the president's California campaign chairman, seemed to warn against such a plan when he said Tuesday that businesses are more concerned about blackouts than about prices. When asked, he refused to say whether there should be a limit on the amount the state should pay for electricity. ??The president's day began at Camp Pendleton, where he offered small measures of federal help to California. ??The initiatives include: ??_$150 million to help low-income Americans pay energy bills this summer. He will ask Congress to approve the additional spending for this fiscal year, which ends in October. ??_His announcement that military facilities in California have exceeded their goal of trimming usage by 10 percent during peak hours. ??_A Department of Energy project to stimulate the building of more electrical lines running north and south through the state. ??About 100 protesters waved signs and shouted in support of rate caps at the gate of the Marine base. ??Protesters from the state Democratic Party, the Green Party and environmental, consumer and socialist organizations, called on Bush to support capping energy prices. ??"We've got to stop the gouging and work towards a cleaner, more sane energy policy," said June Brashares of Global Exchange, an environmental and labor organization. ??While Bush was calling for political calm at Camp Pendleton, Davis was in Los Angeles trying to publicly build his case for caps. ??Before Bush and Davis met, the stage had been set for the failure of their talk. In his lunchtime speech to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council, Bush insisted he would not back down on his opposition to price caps. ??"We will not take any action that makes California's problems worse," he said. "And that is why I oppose price caps. Price caps do nothing to reduce demand and they do nothing to increase supply." ??The president promised to help by reducing electricity use at federal facilities enough to save 76 megawatts of demand at peak hours. That's roughly 1.5 percent of peak summer demand. ??And he promised to pursue complaints of illegal price gouging by electricity wholesalers. "I want to assure Californians that the federal government takes very seriously our responsibility to make sure that companies are not illegally gouging consumers," he said. ??"I publicly call on federal agencies to investigate all complaints of illegal gouging and if those complaints are justified to take strong and appropriate action." ??While Davis appreciated the crackdown on illegal price gouging, he said that alone would not fix the "dysfunctional market" _ that it would not stop the exercise of market power that generators have used to drive up prices. ??(staff writer Andrew LaMar contributed to this article.) ??PHOTOS. ??GRAPHIC: ??20010529 BUSH ENERGY, a poll on Bush's handling of energy issue, what percent polled think there is an energy crisis and what is the most effective thing to do about it (47 percent say conservation). ??© 2001, Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, Calif.). ??Visit the Contra Costa Times on the Web at http://www.cctimes.com/ JOURNAL-CODE: CC LOAD-DATE: May 30, 2001 ?????????????????????????????30 of 224 DOCUMENTS ??????????????Copyright 2001 Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service ???????????????????????Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service ??????????????????????????????Contra Costa Times ???????????????????????????May 30, 2001, Wednesday SECTION: STATE AND REGIONAL NEWS KR-ACC-NO: ?K0024 LENGTH: 706 words HEADLINE: Gephardt, California Democrats call for greater federal involvement in power market BYLINE: By Brian Anderson BODY: ??OAKLAND, Calif. _ As President Bush unplugged Gov. Gray Davis' plea for caps on erupting energy prices, House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt and a handful of local Democrats called Tuesday for greater federal involvement in reining in an uncontrolled power market. ??At a Tuesday hearing in Oakland, Gephardt, D-Mo., charged the Bush administration with taking a "do-nothing approach" toward solving the state's energy crisis and said ordering price caps on mountainous power costs was "the right thing to do." ??"We would hope the President would move away from the single-minded devotion to drilling and take sensible, short-term action that may be different from what the power suppliers and energy producers want," Gephardt said. "This is a do-nothing approach from the Administration and it's an unacceptable response from our highest elected officials." ??His comments came during a meeting of business and school leaders from Pleasanton, Danville and other Bay Area cities who told the region's House delegation that escalating energy costs threaten to plunge the state's economy and education system into a black hole. ??Money that could have been used to buy new books for school libraries or upgrade equipment and improve training at area businesses is now earmarked for sky-high fuel bills, invited speakers told Gephardt and Reps. Ellen Tauscher, D-Alamo; Barbara Lee, D-Oakland; Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco; and Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma, among others. ??"Over the last three years, we have been forced to double our energy budget," said Pleasanton schools Superintendent Mary Frances Callan. "So, indeed, if we are not going to leave children behind, we do need to be aware that this energy crisis is eating at the very resources we need to educate our youngsters." ??Callan said her district budgeted $155 per student solely to cover energy bills next year. That translates to a new part-time librarian for each school, part-time counselors for all secondary schools, 9,000 textbooks or 23,000 library books for the 13,283-student district, she said. ??Gary DeAtley, president of California Sun Dry Foods in Danville, said the energy crunch could force businesses to look outside the state for new homes where power is not a problem. While he acknowledged that moving was not the ideal solution, he said it was an option if a fix is not quickly implemented. ??"I think we've all heard today that no matter what our situation, we all have a need in California, the Bay Area and nationwide for constant electricity, reliable electricity and for electricity we all can afford," DeAtley said. ??Others told the House Democrats that the poor, old and disabled should not be forgotten. Often on fixed incomes, they are more quickly affected when the power goes out and energy bills rise, speakers said. ??"Higher electricity and gas bills for senior citizens on meager incomes cause them to cut back on food, medications ...," said Harold Taylor, an East Bay representative from American Association of Retired Persons. "They, the power companies, are ripping us off." ??Hearing organizers said the gathering allowed elected officials to listen to the people themselves about energy problems that have plagued California. But it also allowed a smattering of local politicians to don white hats with consumers in a good vs. evil battle that on Tuesday seemingly exploded in all directions. ??In addition to the President's denial of price caps, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco refused to issue an order requiring federal regulators to restrict wholesale energy costs. State Assembly leaders along with the city of Oakland had asked in a lawsuit filed last week that power prices be capped. ??Hoping to force Bush to change his mind, or at least face the ire of consumers, Gephardt pledged Tuesday to pull the Electricity Emergency Relief Act onto the floor of the House from the Energy and Commerce Committee. The legislation calls for managing demands on power sources, among other provisions. ??KRT CALIFORNIA is a premium service of Knight Ridder/Tribune ??© 2001, Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, Calif.). ??Visit the Contra Costa Times on the Web at http://www.cctimes.com/ JOURNAL-CODE: CC LOAD-DATE: May 30, 2001 ?????????????????????????????31 of 224 DOCUMENTS ??????????????Copyright 2001 Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service ???????????????????????Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service ??????????????????????????????Contra Costa Times ???????????????????????????May 30, 2001, Wednesday SECTION: STATE AND REGIONAL NEWS KR-ACC-NO: ?K7970 LENGTH: 434 words HEADLINE: Californians can monitor supply, demand levels on new Web site BYLINE: By Tony Hicks BODY: ??BERKELEY, Calif. _ Californians can now get their own information about whether the lights will stay on without waiting for the Independent System Operator to issue blackout warnings. ??Residents can see supply and demand levels rise and fall before their eyes on a new Web site put together by Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory scientists. ??Data from the California Independent System Operator runs through a graph showing lines representing current supply and demand. The closer the lines get, the closer the state gets to blackouts. Data will be available almost quickly as it comes to the ISO. ??"It's the first site _ at least that we know of _ that shows in real time the electricity supply and demand in California," said lab spokesman Allan Chen. "The ISO Web site only shows demand. We thought it would be useful to let people see the supply as well. It's a tool to let people see how close we're getting to rolling blackouts." ??The site, found at http://energycrisis.lbl.gov also shows statewide power imports and exports and the capacity that's out of service on any given day. ??"It's an estimate," said Katie Coughlin, one of three scientists who worked on the project the past couple months. "It's difficult to decide exactly how much electricity is available." ??Users can use the site as a daily management tool, by ramping up conservation efforts when demand is threatening to overwhelm the supply, Coughlin said. But don't expect it to prevent blackouts. ??"If millions of people decide they're going to switch off their lights and air-conditioning, then it could make a significant difference," Coughlin said. "But of course it's unlikely that millions of people will look at the site all at once. But it does give people an idea of where we're at." ??The California Energy Commission also provides information on the site. In coming weeks, researchers will add archives with past days consumption and supply levels and links to other sites. Chen said the lab will also "pretty it up some." ??"The motive for us was to figure out some way to be of assistance to the residents of California," he said. ??Unveiled publicly Monday, the site is the second energy-related site the lab recently made available. Last week, the lab debuted the site http://savepower.lbl.gov. That site aims to help state residents reduce energy use by 20 percent to qualify for a rebate under Gov. Gray Davis' 20/20 rebate program. ??KRT CALIFORNIA is a premium service of Knight Ridder/Tribune ??© 2001, Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, Calif.). ??Visit the Contra Costa Times on the Web at http://www.cctimes.com/ JOURNAL-CODE: CC LOAD-DATE: May 30, 2001 ?????????????????????????????41 of 224 DOCUMENTS ??????????????????????Copyright 2001 / Los Angeles Times ??????????????????????????????Los Angeles Times ?????????????????????May 30, 2001 Wednesday ?Home Edition SECTION: Part A; Part 1; Page 1; National Desk LENGTH: 1687 words HEADLINE: THE NATION; ; Bush, Davis Collide Over Energy Policy; Politics: At summit with governor, president continues to oppose electricity price caps. BYLINE: JAMES GERSTENZANG, DAN MORAIN, TIMES STAFF WRITERS BODY: ??President Bush, venturing into California for the first time as president, stood firm Tuesday in his opposition to reining in wholesale electricity prices, prompting Gov. Gray Davis to announce that he likely will sue federal energy regulators within a month. ??In their much-anticipated private summit, Bush met with Davis for nearly 40 minutes in what was characterized afterward as a cordial, businesslike session. Davis said Bush offered little to help with California's energy crisis, while Bush's aides said Davis' prescription would worsen the state's woes. ??"He just listened and said he is against price caps," Davis said. ??For his part, the president said in a midday speech to the World Affairs Council in Century City: "My administration will continue to work to help California through the difficult months ahead." ??The president's first full day in California consisted largely of appearances before friendly audiences. The only discord came at the World Affairs Council luncheon, where three hecklers disrupted his otherwise well-received speech on energy and the economy, and a few dozen protesters gathered outside the Century City hotel. ??Davis toned down his harsh rhetoric of recent days, praising Bush for speeding up the process by which the federal government grants permits to new power plants. ??The governor said Bush agreed to begin looking into natural gas prices--a step that Davis praised. Natural gas, which fuels virtually all new power plants being built in California and many of the old ones, costs roughly three times more in California than in New York. ??The big disagreement remains over the wholesale cost of electricity. The state spent $7 billion on electricity in 1999. The cost could skyrocket to $50 billion this year. ??"We have an agreement to disagree, but it is a big disagreement," Davis said. ??The Davis administration has appealed to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to impose some type of price controls on electricity. Davis said he expects to sue within a month, if the federal commission turns down the state's latest petition, which was filed Friday. Also Tuesday, a federal appeals court rejected a lawsuit by state legislative leaders to force Washington energy regulators to cap electricity prices in California. ??"I'm going to pursue every recourse possible to me," Davis said, adding that he also will press his case on behalf of California and other Western states with the newly Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate. ??The Bush-Davis meeting was almost twice as long as the 20 minutes allotted on the president's public schedule. On his first visit to the nation's most populous state since taking office four months ago, Bush came face to face throughout the day with the reality of the energy crisis and its potential for dragging down the economy of California and the nation. ??'Price Caps Now,' Heckler Tells Bush ??Bush was thrust into the controversy that the crisis has engendered: At the luncheon speech, one woman stood up and shouted, "Price caps now!" and "Stop the greedy generators!" As she was slowly led out, two other women echoed her cries, including one who stated primly, "Excuse me, Mr. Bush, we need price caps." ??Medea Benjamin, a California Green Party candidate for the U.S. Senate last year, was one of the three women ushered out. ??Benjamin and 79-year-old Ceil Sorensen were unfurling a banner inside the hotel when they were ushered out, said Donna J. Warren, a Green Party candidate for the 32nd Congressional District seat. The women were released within 30 minutes, Warren said. The president continued his speech, making no reference to the interruptions. ??Meanwhile, a group of economists--among them aides to former President Reagan and to Bush's father--sent Bush a letter opposing price caps, countering another letter from economists delivered by Davis supporting temporary steps to stabilize California's electricity market. ??The president, sounding defensive after coming under attack in a state in which he faces wide skepticism about his policies and his poll numbers are drooping, said in an apparent slap at Davis: ??"For too long, too often, too many have wasted energy, pointing fingers and laying blame. Energy is a problem that requires action, not politics, not excuses but action. Blame shifting is not action, it's a distraction." ??Bush's day began at dawn in Los Angeles. He flew to Camp Pendleton, where Marines demonstrated their energy conservation efforts. Speaking to an assembly of Marines in front of the 1st Marine Division headquarters, Bush was cheered and greeted with several throaty chants of "hoo-aah" from the approving leathernecks. ??After the speech in Los Angeles, he took part in a meeting on energy efficiency and then met with the governor. At the end of the day, he flew to Fresno, for a visit today to Sequoia National Park. ??Andrew H. Card Jr., Bush's chief of staff, said after the meeting with Davis: "It was a very, very friendly and constructive conversation." Davis described the session as cordial and businesslike. ??Card said that the two found areas in which they agreed to disagree, but that there were more areas of agreement. ??Card also said Bush told Davis that he had asked Pat Wood, a power utility official in Texas whom he has named to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, to visit with the governor to explore the state's energy problems. ??The day had the feel of two intersecting political campaigns. ??Bush tried to show that he cared about California's woes; Davis surrounded himself with "real Californians," including three young children. The group was handpicked by the governor's aides to illustrate the effect of rising electricity bills. ??"I had hoped [Bush] might have been able to hear the stories directly," Davis said before his private meeting with the president. He sat on a couch on the 19th floor of the Century Plaza, with three young children, and listened to their parents and others discuss their worries about rising bills and fears about blackouts. ??Linking a thriving economy to a reliable, affordable energy supply, Bush said all his work on energy would be guided by this test: "Will any action increase supply at fair and reasonable prices? Will it decrease demand in equitable ways? Anything that meets that test will alleviate the shortage, and we will move swiftly to adopt it. ??"Price caps do nothing to reduce demand, and they do nothing to increase supply," he said, adding that the Clinton administration also opposed such restrictions. ??He said they may sound appealing "at first blush for those struggling to pay high energy" bills, but they would bring "more serious shortages." Critics of price caps argue that they would make production of energy uneconomical and thus discourage exploration for new sources of oil and gas. ??In a nod to concerns that energy companies are taking advantage of the shortages, Bush said the federal government "takes very seriously our responsibility to make sure that companies are not illegally gouging consumers." ??Energy Problems Detailed to Media ??To the surprise of no one in the Davis administration, Bush did not adjust his schedule to listen to Davis' Californians with energy problems. ??So Davis held a news conference where they could tell their stories, then appeared with them in interviews with reporters from national television networks. ??"I'm surprised [Bush] wouldn't meet with this group, and I'm surprised he's only giving the governor 20 minutes," said Gladys Cannon, 75, who has emphysema. "What can you do in 20 minutes, other than say, 'No.' " ??Cannon and her husband, Frank, told the governor that they are "on the edge," living on fixed incomes, and said they fear the effects of blackouts on her respirator. The West Covina woman said she has long been a Davis campaign volunteer. ??Gabriel and Christine Rodriguez, owners of Chiquita's Mexican Restaurant in San Diego, came with their three children, ages 4, 6 and 9, and said they can't make charitable donations or fill job openings because they are struggling to pay utility bills that have nearly tripled. Christine Rodriguez works for San Diego City Councilman Scott Peters. ??Meanwhile, in San Francisco, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Court of Appeals dismissed an urgent suit by Senate leader John Burton and Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg, declining to intervene in the growing Washington- California tussle over the energy crisis. ??The suit alleged that Californians were suffering "irreparable harm" due to the failure of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to fulfill its duty and establish "just and reasonable" wholesale electricity rates. As a result, the suit alleged, the health and safety of Californians were being threatened by frequent power outages. ??In rejecting the suit, the judges said the petitioners--Burton (D-San Francisco), Hertzberg (D-Sherman Oaks) and the city of Oakland--"have not demonstrated that this case warrants the intervention of this court." ??Burton and Hertzberg are conferring with their attorneys and have not decided whether to appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. ??Although the Democratic officeholders failed to persuade the court to force the hand of the federal regulators, a parallel effort to accomplish the same goal is still moving forward. ??The California Assembly has directly petitioned the regulatory commission to reconsider an April 26 order that called for limited price controls in the West during power emergencies this summer. ??Davis and other state leaders have blasted the order, saying it is full of loopholes and will do little to stop what they consider blatant price gouging by electricity traders. ??"California still needs real relief, not the smoke screen federal regulators have offered so far," Hertzberg said. "The bottom line is that the commission has failed to do its job, which is to protect Californians from runaway wholesale electricity prices." ??* ??Times political writer Mark Z. Barabak and staff writer Miguel Bustillo contributed to this story. GRAPHIC: PHOTO: President Bush greets Gov. Gray Davis. "We have an agreement to disagree, but it is a big disagreement," Davis said of Bush. PHOTOGRAPHER: CAROLYN COLE / Los Angeles Times PHOTO: Displaying their energy gripes at hotel where President Bush spoke are, from left, Brian Bope, Christine Yi and Kristin Armstrong. PHOTOGRAPHER: AL SEIB / Los Angeles Times PHOTO: (Orange County Edition, A1) President Bush addresses California's energy crunch in a Tuesday speech in Century City while Gov. Gray Davis listens. The visit is Bush's first to the Golden State as president. PHOTOGRAPHER: BRIAN WALSKI / Los Angeles Times LOAD-DATE: May 30, 2001 ?????????????????????????????42 of 224 DOCUMENTS ??????????????????????Copyright 2001 / Los Angeles Times ??????????????????????????????Los Angeles Times ?????????????????????May 30, 2001 Wednesday ?Home Edition SECTION: California; Part 2; Page 13; Opinion Desk LENGTH: 699 words HEADLINE: Commentary; ; Bush Isn't Budging, but He Needs to Turn FERC Around BYLINE: MEDEA BENJAMIN, Medea Benjamin is the founding director of Global Exchange, a, corporate accountability organization in San Francisco BODY: ??George W. Bush has been greeted at every stop on his California trip by angry protesters who believe he has refused to take any meaningful steps to stop the energy crisis engulfing our state. He has come at a time when consumers have been socked with the heftiest electricity rate increases in state history, rolling blackouts have become routine, our largest utility is bankrupt, and the state's budget is being drained by $70 million a day as California buys wholesale energy at outrageous prices. ??There is a very simple measure Bush could take that would alleviate the crisis overnight. He could tell the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC, to do its job. FERC's legal mandate is to ensure that wholesale electricity prices are "just and reasonable." But wholesale prices are not just and reasonable, and they are completely divorced from costs. ??FERC has been ideologically fixated on the free market while ignoring the reality that a handful of energy suppliers--most of them from Texas--are manipulating the market to make obscene profits at our expense. During the last several months, a flood of media exposes has revealed how the generators are turning power plants on and off as much as several times an hour to take advantage of price fluctuation, taking plants offline for "unscheduled maintenance" and simply refusing to sell power to California. State and federal investigators say these companies have deliberately price-gouged consumers by billions of dollars. ??The result is a massive transfer of wealth from California households to a handful of energy companies. In the first three months of 2001, Houston-based Dynegy Inc. posted revenues of $14.2 billion, nearly triple the $5.3 billion reported in the same period a year ago. Revenues at Enron Corp. nearly quadrupled from January through March to $50.1 billion, compared to $13 billion in the first three months of 2000. ??The profits of such energy companies went up more than 500% between 1999 and 2000, according to state Senate figures. Compare this to the California Public Utilities Commission's definition of fair rates when it was regulatingutilities: cost plus 10%-12% profit. ??Does Bush have the power to influence FERC? Of course. Curtis L. Hebert Jr., who heads the commission, was appointed by Bill Clinton but was elevated to chairman by Bush. FERC is also under the Department of Energy, headed by Spencer Abraham, a Bush appointee. If Bush wanted FERC to place controls on wholesale prices through a system of cost-plus pricing, it would happen overnight. ??Bush's long-term energy policy promotes a continued reliance on polluting fossil fuels and a resurgence of unsafe nuclear energy, while paying only lip service to smart, sustainable solutions like renewable energy and efficiency. Under the president's plan, technologies proven to be dirty, dangerous and expensive will get the lion's share of taxpayer subsidies, while the 2002 budget slashes funding for solar research by more than 50%, with major cuts for biomass, geothermal, hydrogen technology and fuel-cell research. If the Bush administration were to make sustainable energy sources a priority, existing technologies--wind, solar and some types of biomass--could solve our long-term energy needs. While such a policy is anathema to oil, coal and utility industry leaders who supported Bush's presidential campaign, it is central to any forward-looking energy strategy. ??The sensible responses to the energy crises are clear--price controls in the immediate future and reliance on renewables in the years to come. If Bush continues his current course of action, we can only conclude that he is more sympathetic to a handful of electricity and gas suppliers than to millions of Californians. ??Unless residents of the country's largest state take the effort to make their voices heard, it's likely that Bush will continue to follow the hands that feed him, and that doesn't make for a healthy diet. It is up to us Californians to let the president know he can't afford to kowtow to special interests. Hopefully, he'll respond to the demands of the angry Californians he is hearing this week. LOAD-DATE: May 30, 2001 ?????????????????????????????43 of 224 DOCUMENTS ??????????????????Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company ??????????????????????????????The New York Times ????????????????May 30, 2001, Wednesday, Late Edition - Final SECTION: Section A; Page 22; Column 1; Editorial Desk LENGTH: 401 words HEADLINE: Chilly Encounter in California BODY: ??President Bush and Gov. Gray Davis, who are deeply at odds on California's energy problems, have one thing in common -- plunging approval ratings among California's aggrieved voters. Yesterday's meeting between the two did little to bridge the gap on energy and may have done even less to improve their political fortunes. ??As expected, Mr. Davis asked Mr. Bush for federal price caps on the soaring cost of wholesale electricity, and threatened to sue the federal government if the caps were not forthcoming. According to state estimates, California paid $7 billion for electricity in 1999, and may pay 10 times that amount this year. But Mr. Bush refused, repeating his view that caps will make California's problems worse in the long run by discouraging new investments in power plants. ???For Mr. Davis, the issue is partly political. He is up for re-election next year and still has designs on the Democratic presidential nomination. But he hurt himself by moving too slowly to raise rates on consumers and businesses, a move rightly urged by the administration to encourage conservation, and he was unlucky enough to be governor at a time when the state began suffering the effects of a grievously flawed deregulation plan. Mr. Bush, for his part, may be able to get along without California, but it is not clear that his party can. Only one statewide elected official is a Republican, and California Democrats have targeted several Republican members of Congress whose defeat in 2002 could weaken if not end Republican control over the House of Representatives. ??The Bush forces say they have done plenty for California, including expediting federal permits for new plants and ordering conservation measures at federal facilities. But nothing would help more than a temporary cap on wholesale electricity prices like the one envisaged in a bill sponsored by Senators Dianne Feinstein of California and Gordon Smith of Oregon. It would ease the drain on California's treasury, release electricity that is currently being withheld in expectation of higher prices and address the administration's fears about investment by guaranteeing producers a reasonable profit. ??Mr. Bush stubbornly clings to his position that this is essentially California's problem, not Washington's. But if the problem ripples beyond California's borders, that stubbornness could cost him support in the nation at large. ??http://www.nytimes.com LOAD-DATE: May 30, 2001 ?????????????????????????????44 of 224 DOCUMENTS ??????????????????Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company ??????????????????????????????The New York Times ????????????????May 30, 2001, Wednesday, Late Edition - Final SECTION: Section A; Page 1; Column 3; National Desk LENGTH: 1252 words HEADLINE: SHARP DIFFERENCES AS BUSH AND DAVIS DISCUSS BLACKOUTS BYLINE: ?By TODD S. PURDUM and DAVID E. SANGER DATELINE: LOS ANGELES, May 29 BODY: ??On his first visit to California since his election and the state's rolling blackouts, President Bush clashed sharply today with Gov. Gray Davis over the wisdom of capping the price of electricity. ??After a 35-minute meeting with Mr. Bush, Mr. Davis said he intended to file a federal lawsuit and pursue other efforts to compel regulators to limit prices charged by energy suppliers. ???It was a day of sharp policy differences and high political theater involving the Republican president and the Democratic governor. Mr. Bush campaigned often here last year yet lost the state by 12 percentage points, or roughly 1 million votes, to Al Gore. Mr. Davis's own presumed presidential ambitions for 2004 have steadily decreased as his handling of the power crisis has lowered his approval ratings. ??Mr. Davis emerged from the meeting to declare, "I'm going to pursue every recourse available to me" to force the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to order rebates to consumers or a lowering of prices. ??But he expressed gratitude that Mr. Bush had agreed to look into the question of why Texas natural gas suppliers were charging for gas transported to California about three times what they were charging for gas transported to New York, and to review whether to re-impose tariffs, suspended two years ago, on such transmissions. ??In comments that seemed to avoid brushing off California's problems, Mr. Bush promised slightly more federal money to help poor families pay their energy bills, and he again pledged to speed federal reviews of plans to build generating plants. ??At the Camp Pendleton Marine base and then at a luncheon of the World Affairs Council here, he said that this was a moment for solutions, not "blame-shifting" or politics. ??"We will not take any action that makes California's problems worse, and that's why I oppose price caps," Mr. Bush told a largely sympathetic audience at the luncheon at the Century Plaza Hotel, delivering his most emphatic version of his longstanding position. ??As the audience applauded, Mr. Davis sat impassively on the dais. ??"Price caps do nothing to reduce demand and they do nothing to increase supply," Mr. Bush said. "This is not only my administration's position, this was the position of the prior administration." ??Partly because Mr. Bush had waited so long to visit the most populous state in the face of its severe energy problems, his talk with Mr. Davis took on the ballyhooed air of a superpower summit meeting, with seconds for each man hovering in hotel ballrooms and hallways like rival campaign troops, each side spinning for its man. Mr. Davis's aides did not expect to win much short-term help but hoped at least to make the case that the governor was pursuing every avenue. ??Mr. Bush instead emphasized longer-term solutions, including conservation, new energy technologies and speeded efforts to approve and build power plants. ??During his speech, three women, including Medea Benjamin, the California Green Party's candidate for United States Senate last year, were led away by police officers and the Secret Service after chanting slogans like "Price caps now" and "Stop the greedy generators." ??At issue between Mr. Davis and Mr. Bush was the question of who should pay for the soaring energy prices here and the botched deregulation of the electricity market. ?Should it fall to the state's consumers, the generators or the utilities? ??To bolster his case and answer Mr. Bush's economic critique, Mr. Davis released a letter today in which 10 leading economists urge Mr. Bush to find a middle ground between fixed price caps and a truly free electricity market. ??"We are mindful of the potential dangers of applying a simple price cap," wrote the economists, led by Alfred Kahn, the architect of the deregulation of the country's airlines during the Carter administration. ??"But California's electricity markets are not characterized by effective competition," they continued, urging that the regulatory commission establish "cost of service prices" that would create a "just and reasonable rate standard." ??Assuming that a reasonable profit margin was established, this form of flexible price controls would, they contended, assure that companies still had an incentive to sell power into the California market. ??"FERC's failure to act now will have dire consequences for the state of California and will set back, potentially fatally, the diffusion of competitive electricity markets across the country," the letter said. ??Some of the high-technology executives who met privately with Mr. ?Bush and Mr. Davis today also said they were interested in long-term solutions and did not rank price caps among them. Craig Barrett, chief executive of Intel Corporation, one of the state's largest employers and the maker of the chip that drives tens of millions of computers, said that in the meeting with the president, "I didn't hear the word price caps mentioned." He said they were "kind of an artificial cap that is not going to solve the problem." ??But Mr. Barrett underscored the problem facing the state if it did not convince investors, both foreign and domestic, that enough power would soon flow. Intel has already suspended further expansion of its chip-fabrication plants in California. Today Mr. Barrett said that "if California doesn't have reliable power in five years, it would not be on any possible expansion list" for new plants. ??Even some California Republicans have begun to fret quietly in recent weeks that Mr. Bush was being perceived as inattentive to the needs of such a big state, one whose Republican Party is desperately trying to rebuild from a series of electoral disasters that have left it with just a single statewide officeholder, Secretary of State Bill Jones. ??Mr. Jones has said he will challenge Mr. Davis next year, but Mr. Bush has implored the Republican mayor of Los Angeles, Richard J. Riordan, who is retiring next month and introduced Mr. Bush at the lunch, to seek the governorship. ??Mr. Davis and senior Bush aides characterized the meeting, which was requested by Mr. Davis and went 15 minutes longer than scheduled, as cordial and businesslike. ??Karl Rove, the president's chief political adviser, told reporters afterward that Mr. Bush was committed to stopping any illegal price-gouging by energy suppliers and bringing "price relief" by means other than price caps. ??But Mr. Davis, in remarks to reporters, called some form of price controls "the thing that really matters above all else," and said he and Mr. Bush remained far apart. He said the regulatory commission had already established that California's wholesale electricity market was dysfunctional. ??Mr. Davis also said he would file a lawsuit in federal court if the commission did not soon grant his request for a review of its earlier order to limit prices only during power emergencies, and to revoke the authority of some generators to charge market-based rates. ??Mr. Davis said he told the president, "You understand I have to do everything in my power," and that Mr. Bush had agreed he would have a similar duty if he were governor. ??The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco, declined today to order the regulatory commission to limit wholesale prices, as California's Democratic legislative leaders asked in a lawsuit last week, saying in a brief statement that the case did not warrant "intervention of this court." Mr. Davis had declined to join that lawsuit. ??http://www.nytimes.com GRAPHIC: Photo: President Bush with Gov. Gray Davis of California yesterday after a Los Angeles World Affairs Council meeting. They met privately later. ( Associated Press)(pg. A18) LOAD-DATE: May 30, 2001 ?????????????????????????????45 of 224 DOCUMENTS ??????????????????Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company ??????????????????????????????The New York Times ????????????????May 30, 2001, Wednesday, Late Edition - Final SECTION: Section A; Page 2; Column 3; Metropolitan Desk LENGTH: 1217 words HEADLINE: NEWS SUMMARY BODY: ??INTERNATIONAL ??A3-14 Powell Fails to Persuade NATO on Antimissile Plan Secretary of State Colin L. Powell encountered a hard wall of opposition to President Bush's plan for a missile defense plan when he appeared at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers. He could not even convince them that their countries faced the threat of missile attack. ??A14 Senator Joseph R. Biden, Democrat of Delaware, said he would broaden debate over the Bush plan after he becomes Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman next week. ??A10 ??China Trade Extension President Bush said he would ask Congress to extend China's normal trade status with the United States for a year, a stopgap measure made necessary because Beijing, having won approval from Congress last year to enter the World Trade Organization, is delaying its application. ??A4 Ukraine Confirms Premier Anatoly Kinakh, a National Democratic Party member, lobbyist and ally of President Leonid Kuchma, was confirmed as prime minister by Parliament, quieting for now a political crisis that has sapped Mr. Kuchma's popularity and power. ??A7 Some Progress in Macedonia Feuding political leaders promised to resume talks, averting a collapse of the unity government, but fighting between the national forces and ethnic Albanian rebels continued. ??A14 No Headway in Israel Talks Three Israeli settlers and three Palestinians were killed in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and an American-brokered security meeting between Israeli and Palestinian officers ended with no sign of agreement on steps to stem the bloodshed. ??A6 Pakistan-India Summit Is On Pakistan's military ruler, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, formally accepted the invitation of India's prime minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, to hold summit talks. Genera Musharraf said he expected the main topic to be the disputed territory of Kashmir. ??A5 New Fighting in Indonesia Violence erupted in President Abdurrahman Wahid's home province and elsewhere on the eve of a legislative session that could result in his removal from office. ??A4 World Briefing ??A NATIONAL ??A16-21 Bush-Davis Meeting Yields No Deal on Energy Prices President Bush, in California, clashed with Gov. Gray Davis over the capping of electricity prices, a move favored by Mr. Davis, who is struggling to manage an energy crisis. Mr. Davis, a Democrat, said he would file a lawsuit and pursue other efforts to try to force regulators to limit prices charged by energy suppliers. Mr. Bush promised more federal money to help poor families pay energy bills, and again pledged to speed federal reviews of plans to build more generating plants. ??A1 Senate Power Shift Begins Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, who will become chairman of a Senate panel on investigations when the Democrats take over the Senate next week, said he would begin an inquiry into the recent rise in gasoline prices. ??A17 Ruling on Legal Fees The Supreme Court dealt a setback to civil rights and environmental plaintiffs, ruling, 5 to 4, that litigation that only serves as a "catalyst" for a change in policy without producing a legal ruling does not qualify for reimbursement of legal fees. ??A20 Trial for Holocaust Suspect John Demjanjuk, an 81-year-old retired autoworker born in Ukraine, went on trial in Cleveland with his American citizenship once again at stake over federal accusations that he was a Nazi death camp guard. ??A16 McVeigh Edges Toward Appeal Timothy J. McVeigh told his lawyers to draft papers seeking a stay of his execution on June 11 but was waiting until later this week to decide whether to file them, his lawyer said. ??A17 Survivor Arrested as Smuggler The Border Patrol arrested one of the survivors of a botched smuggling effort that left 14 migrants dead in the Arizona desert last week, accusing him of being an organizer. ??A18 Suit Weighed in Dancer's Death A Pennsylvania pathologist said the death of the flamenco dancer Jose Greco, 82, last December resulted from an infection he developed after breaking his toe in a scuffle with Amtrak police officers, and Mr. Greco's family is considering a lawsuit. ??A17 NEW YORK/REGION ??B1-9 4 Found Guilty in Bombing Of U.S. Embassies in Africa A federal jury convicted four men of conspiring with Osama bin Laden in a terror plot that resulted in the embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, claiming 224 lives. Two defendants found guilty of murder, Mohamed Rashed Daoud al-'Owhali, 24, and Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, 27, could receive the death penalty. Mr. bin Laden is a fugitive. ??A1 Deal on Aid to Uninsured The Bush and Pataki administrations reached an agreement allowing New York to begin providing medical coverage to about 600,000 uninsured New Yorkers using a combination of federal Medicaid money and state and local money. ??A1 A Night in Jail for Protesters The Police Department has quietly changed its policy on arrests at street protests, ordering officers to jail people, instead of issuing them summonses, for minor offenses at demonstrations of more than 20 people. ??B1 Nurse Arrested in 2 Slayings A registered nurse from Staten Island, Richard W. Rogers Jr., 50, was charged with killing and dismembering two men in the early 1990's, and officials said he might be a suspect in other killings in the New York region that ignited fear among gay men and in the bars they frequent. ??B1 New York Digest ??C17 EDUCATION ??B9 Limiting Teenage Pregnancy The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy said a program created at the Children's Aid Society that features traditional sex education along with tutoring, SAT preparation, job skills and other services had been shown to be effective. ??A16 SPORTS ??D1-8 Court Lets Golfer Ride The Supreme Court ruled, 7 to 2, that the disabled golfer Casey Martin can use a golf cart on the PGA Tour. ??A1 Devils Pull Even The Devils beat the Colorado Avalanche, 2-1, on the Denver ice to even the Stanley Cup finals at 1-1. ??D1 BUSINESS DAY ??C1-16 Phone Merger Talks Collapse Alcatel and Lucent, which had been close to a $22.8 billion deal to merge, terminated negotiations in disagreement over who would actually control the combined companies. ??C1 Profit Warning From Sun Sun Microsystems, citing slower than expected European sales, lowered earnings forecasts for the current quarter and gave updated projections as low as one-third of what industry analysts had expected. ??C1 Deal for Music Start-Up The Germany-based media giant Bertelsmann was said to have agreed to acquire the two-year-old Internet music service Myplay, based in California, for about $30 million. ??C1 Business Digest ??C1 World Business ??W1 OBITUARIES ??C17-18 ARTS ??E1-8 DINING ??F1-12 EDITORIAL ??A22-23 Editorials: The embassy bombings verdict; chilly encounter in California; a gain, and a loss, on civil rights; opening a crack in Albany's door. Columns: Paul Krugman, Maureen Dowd. Crossword ??E6 TV Listings ??E7 Public Lives ??B2 Weather ??C18 ??http://www.nytimes.com GRAPHIC: Photo LOAD-DATE: May 30, 2001 ?????????????????????????????47 of 224 DOCUMENTS ??????????????Copyright 2001 Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service ???????????????????????Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service ??????????????????????????The Orange County Register ???????????????????????????May 30, 2001, Wednesday SECTION: COMMENTARY KR-ACC-NO: ?K7955 LENGTH: 584 words HEADLINE: Sparks sizzle as Bush, Davis meet BODY: ??The following editorial appeared in The Orange County Register Wednesday, May 30, 2001. ??Give President Bush credit for the strength of his constitution. How many presidents would not only read the incessant and overheated criticisms from a state governor, but fly all the way from Washington to Los Angeles to endure them face to face? ??Not many, we suspect. Yet President Bush met with California Gov. Gray Davis Tuesday, where he heard the predictable complaints about his energy policy. The governor wants federal price caps on wholesale energy costs beyond the limited caps now in place, and the president understands, and numerous historical examples show, that caps lead to further shortages. ??That's an honest difference of opinion, but Davis is trying to portray the Bush administration's position in the worst possible light. The governor keeps talking about Evil Texas Power Generators, which have become the locus of blame for a governor who has remained frozen in the face of his first gubernatorial crisis. ??The ambush nature of the visit _ anti-Bush protesters, Democratic press conferences highlighting the "victims" of price gouging _ is the handiwork of the two taxpayer-funded Gore campaign operatives hired by Davis, according to a Washington Times account. ??Like we said, Bush must have a strong constitution to walk into this sort of hostile situation. ??Still, Bush has the facts on his side when he argues against the "quick-fix" of price caps. Caps reduce the incentive for producing electricity, which depresses, rather than increases, supply. ??A key reason for the current electricity imbalance is because of government-imposed caps on the retail price utilities can charge users. Further distorting the market will only exacerbate the problem. ??Vice President Dick Cheney, speaking on a national TV news show on Tuesday, called the Davis rhetoric "goofy." The genesis of the electricity problem in California is too little supply, caused largely by California's resistance to build new power plants, and a flawed restructuring plan that distorted the market. Cheney noted _ correctly _ that at key points during the crisis the governor refused to act. ??Even some Democrats concede that the governor could have kept the energy problem from becoming a crisis had he allowed slight rate increases and long-term contracts back when utility executives began warning him of the looming power troubles. ??There was even a time not so long ago that Davis could have slowed his angry blame-game rhetoric and gotten to work on the problem. He could have engaged the new administration rather than heating up the rhetoric. He could have looked for ways to increase power generation, rather than threaten power generators. ??On Tuesday a Davis spokesman deflected attention from the governor's falling poll numbers by pointing to Bush's flagging numbers in the state. Both men aren't doing well in California, but the issue should be a bigger concern to the governor of the state, rather than to a president who won office without California support. ??Polls aren't what matter now. In Los Angeles, Bush said: "Energy debates sometimes throw off some sparks, but this is not time for harsh rhetoric. It's certainly no time for name-calling. It's time for leadership." ??Was Davis listening? ??KRT CALIFORNIA is a premium service of Knight Ridder/Tribune ??© 2001, The Orange County Register (Santa Ana, Calif.). ??Visit the Register on the World Wide Web at http://www.ocregister.com/ JOURNAL-CODE: OC LOAD-DATE: May 30, 2001 ?????????????????????????????52 of 224 DOCUMENTS ??????????????Copyright 2001 Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News ??????????????????????Copyright 2001 San Jose Mercury News ????????????????????????????San Jose Mercury News ???????????????????????????May 30, 2001, Wednesday KR-ACC-NO: SJ-GILLMOR-COL LENGTH: 756 words HEADLINE: San Jose Mercury News, Calif., Dan Gillmor Column BYLINE: By Dan Gillmor BODY: ??California Gov. Gray Davis got another stiff-arm from President Bush on Tuesday, this time in person. Once again, the president refused to intervene in any near-term plan to deal with the soaring price and decreasing reliability of energy here, a double whammy that will help tilt the state into a recession later this year. ??Davis is undoubtedly right when he charges energy producers with an old-fashioned practice called price-gouging. Another way to say this is "charging what the market will bear" -- but that's not the way to stir up a public that seems to consider cheap, plentiful power a fundamental human right. ??Bush is right that this problem needs a long-term solution, on the principle that the wrong kind of short-term fix would only make things worse later on. But that's just cover for his administration's misguided, drill-and-burn energy policy. ??Neither of these political pros is telling the whole truth, needless to say. And, barring intervention from a power higher than political expediency, don't hold your breath waiting for that kind of honesty. ??If Bush wanted to tell the truth, he might admit that his policy is tilted toward his political and financial supporters, many of whom come from his home state of Texas. He'd acknowledge that California's propensity for voting for Democrats in statewide elections doesn't make him all that excited about bailing us out at the expense of the people who backed him. ??Bush may be correct to say that we can produce our way out of the current mess. But a man who talks about the long term can't hide the fact that you can't produce affordable non-renewable resources forever. ??So an honest federal plan would emphasize conservation, not brush it aside as the vice president and other administration officials have cavalierly done. An honest plan would not pay mere lip service to renewable energy sources. ??But Davis is no slouch when it comes to denying reality, either. Oh, he admits that California's government -- albeit with the help and support of the energy companies -- enacted the bogus electricity deregulation plan. But he would win more points if he also noted that the current system all but invites the producers to use what economists quaintly call "market power" to jack up prices so high. ??He forgets that California and the nation lived in a fantasyland of unsustainably low energy prices during much of the 1990s. We persistently fail to learn anything from history, namely that commodity prices, even ones that are subject to rigging, tend to fluctuate in extreme ways. And when you're depending on non-renewable energy sources, the trend line will be up. ??Davis turns his administration's power purchases, on behalf of the utilities, into state secrets and insists that we trust him. Well, we don't. He hasn't earned it. ??One of the most depressing moments in the recent battle over federal income tax rates came when Bush told Congress that the best way to help California's hard-hit energy users was to cut taxes. Maybe we should just send those refund checks to Texas, where they apparently belong. ??If Davis had even an ounce of risk-taking in his soul, he'd find a better way to deal with this situation than launching lawsuits, making threats and stirring up resentmen
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