New Enron Tapes Are Proof of Manipulation -Lawmaker

George Bush said at the time it was a "market problem", not manipulation. He was supposed to be an "energy expert" and a "businessman" president who understood what was causing the "CA energy crisis" better than any person who had ever been in the White House. Though called upon by every leader in the state from the governor to dog catchers he refused to have FERC investigate the extreme price rises. While grandmothers and children suffered in the withering heat "good Christian" Bush refused to have FERC put price caps in place so a closer examination of the problem could be completed. That sort of negligence is now revealed to be a failure of leadership that borders on criminal while showing a lack of any moral understanding.

We don't have a president in office who works for the people, we have a clueless shill for corporate interests. Only a new broom wrought by John Kerry can sweep this corruption from the White House in November.


New Enron Tapes Are Proof of Manipulation -Lawmaker


Mon Jun 14, 4:14 PM ET

By Chris Baltimore

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Employees at now-bankrupt Enron Corp. coached rookie traders on ways to overload California's power grid during the state's energy crisis and kept multiple sets of books to cover their tracks, according to evidence released on Monday.

Profanity-laced audio tapes where Enron traders chortle about boosting prices during the 2000-01 western power crisis at the expense of "poor grandmothers" have given Western states new ammunition in their quest for refunds at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

Sen. Maria Cantwell, Washington Democrat, on Monday submitted to FERC some 750 pages of financial data and new taped conversations from Enron traders.

The new information gathered in a Justice Department criminal investigation shows that Enron illegally reaped $1.1 billion in profits from questionable trading schemes with nicknames like "Death Star" and "Get Shorty," Cantwell said.

The data is "clear and compelling evidence" that FERC should allow Western utilities to cancel or renegotiate billions of dollars in long-term contracts with Enron, she said.

On one tape, an Enron trader coaches a new employee on ways to overload California's transmission grid, and then collect a fee for relieving the fake congestion.

"If the line's not congested, then I just look to congest it," said a trader identified as "Mallory" on the transcript. "If you can congest it, that's a money-maker no matter what, 'cause you're not losing any money to move it down the line."

An Enron spokeswoman declined to comment on the tapes and said the company continues to "cooperate fully with all investigations."

FERC staff will review the new evidence but will act "based on the facts and the law and not on politics," an agency spokesman said.

The new data -- distilled from internal spreadsheets Enron traders used to track their trades -- offer more details into the transactions. In some instances, Enron employees used five different sets of accounting books to disguise the schemes, Cantwell said.

For example, on May 22, 2000, a day when California's grid operator declared an energy shortage, Enron collected about $223,000 for shipping electricity out of California and back again to avoid federal price caps, the documents show.

So far, FERC has stripped Enron of its power-trading license and an agency judge has recommended that the firm repay $32.5 million in profits from the Western crisis. Washington and California lawmakers say FERC must also allow utilities to cancel or renegotiate long-term contracts signed at the height of the energy crisis.

"FERC has fallen down on the job by conducting an inadequate investigation of Enron's market manipulation," Cantwell said.

FERC has approved about $3.3 billion in refunds for overcharges in short-term Western power markets, but has rejected requests by California and other Pacific Northwest states to cancel long-term contracts.