Note highlighted sentence....perhaps DeFazio is right( for the wrong reasons granted).....I know the RTO efforts can't be "marked" today, but you might want to hug ( but not, of course,  in a budgetary sense) your favorite regulatory person today.



Pacific NW Lawmakers Gear Up To Oppose FERC RTO Mandate
By Bryan Lee

10/04/2001
Dow Jones Energy Service
(Copyright (c) 2001, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)

OF DOW JONES NEWSWIRES 

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Members of the Pacific Northwest congressional delegation are gearing up in opposition to the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's mandate for consolidation of power-grid assets in the region.
The House Northwest Energy Caucus held an informal hearing late Wednesday to air concerns of utilities and industrial consumers in the region about FERC's effort to establish a regional transmission organization, or RTO. 
The lawmakers plan to follow up the hearing with a letter to FERC voicing the concerns, which largely revolve around skepticism that the RTO will result in cost savings for the region's consumers. 
FERC shouldn't force an RTO on the region without first conducting a cost-benefit analysis, said Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., who is spearheading the effort. 
Speaking with reporters prior to Wednesday's hearing, DeFazio complained that "a bunch of bureaucrats" at FERC are embracing the national power-grid agenda of Enron Corp. (ENE) without assessing the costs and regardless of "what it does for local reliability." 
DeFazio's complaints were echoed in the testimony presented at Wednesday's hearing.