Today's IEP news ...

Los Angeles Times, May 27, 2001 Sunday, Home Edition, Page 7, 615 words,
????The State; ?Who Let the Hot Dogs Out? Rhapsodic Lawmakers; Legislature:
????Speaking frankly, officials have used the wiener as an easily digestible
????metaphor for the state's energy crisis., JULIE TAMAKI, MIGUEL BUSTILLO,
????TIMES STAFF WRITERS, SACRAMENTO (Quotes Smutny on behalf of IEP)

The San Francisco Chronicle, MAY 26, 2001, SATURDAY,, FINAL EDITION, NEWS;,
????Pg. A1, 835 words, Davis asks U.S. to limit firms' prices; ???RATE SWINGS:
????Governor argues 2 generators manipulated market, Lynda Gledhill, 
Sacramento (Quotes ???????
???Smutny on ?behalf of IEP)

The Wall Street Journal, Power Drain: The U.S. Energy Crisis, California 
Officials Say State Will ??
???Enter A Recession Without Energy Price Caps By JOHN R. EMSHWILLER , Staff 
Reporter of THE ??
???WALL STREET JOURNAL

AP Online, May 29, 2001; Tuesday, 9:11 AM, Eastern Time, Domestic,
????non-Washington, general news item, 770 words, AP Top News at 9:10 a.m. EDT
????Tuesday, May 29, 2001, JEROME MINERVA

The Dallas Morning News, May 29, 2001, Tuesday, DOMESTIC NEWS, K7523, 1046
????words, Bush begins visit in hostile California, By G. Robert Hillman

Los Angeles Times, May 29, 2001 Tuesday, Home Edition, Page 1, 1178 words,
????Governor to Stress Price Caps to Bush; Power: In a meeting today with the
????president, Davis will present a letter from economists backing cost 
controls
????and demand federal assistance., DAN MORAIN, JAMES GERSTENZANG, TIMES STAFF
????WRITERS

Los Angeles Times, May 29, 2001 Tuesday, Home Edition, Page 1, 1541 words,
????THE ENERGY CRISIS; ; Kern County Basks in Role as State's Blackout-Buster;
????Electricity: Six new plants will bolster its status as energy center.,
????MITCHELL LANDSBERG, TIMES STAFF WRITER, McKITTRICK, Calif.

The New York Times, May 29, 2001, Tuesday, Late Edition - Final, Section A;
????Page 12; Column 1; National Desk, 1078 words, For Crucial California Trip,
????Bush Calibrates How Best to Handle State's Energy Crisis, By DAVID E. 
SANGER
????, LOS ANGELES, May 28

The Orange County Register, May 29, 2001, Tuesday, DOMESTIC NEWS, K7500,
????825 words, California's power crisis generating lots of heat, By John 
Howard

The San Francisco Chronicle, MAY 29, 2001, TUESDAY,, FINAL EDITION, NEWS;,
????Pg. A1, 1291 words, Crisis no sweat to some offices; ???Many offices keep
????cool in crisis; ???Air conditioners blast in state's energy centers, Steve
????Rubenstein

The San Francisco Chronicle, MAY 29, 2001, TUESDAY,, FINAL EDITION, NEWS;,
????Pg. A1, 1238 words, Bush facing Davis' heat over energy; ???In first visit
????to state as president, he'll hear governor's plea for help, Carla 
Marinucci,
????Lynda Gledhill

USA TODAY, May 29, 2001, Tuesday,, FIRST EDITION, NEWS;, Pg. 3A, 426 words,
????Davis to urge Bush to back electricity price cap, Laurence McQuillan, LOS
????ANGELES

The Washington Post, May 29, 2001, Tuesday, Final Edition, A SECTION; Pg.
????A02, 639 words, Energy Chief Moves To Aid California; Transmission Plan
????Precedes Bush Visit, Mike Allen, Washington Post Staff Writer, LOS 
ANGELES,
????May 28

The Washington Post, May 29, 2001, Tuesday, Final Edition, A SECTION; Pg.
????A03, 1936 words, It's Still Dawn for Solar Power in L.A.; Despite City
????Subsidies, Homeowners Hesitate to Install Expensive Alternative Energy
????Source, William Booth, Washington Post Staff Writer, LOS ANGELES

The Washington Times, May 29, 2001, Tuesday, Final Edition, PART A; NATION;
????INSIDE POLITICS; Pg. A6, 1264 words, Greg Pierce; THE WASHINGTON TIMES

The Washington Times, May 29, 2001, Tuesday, Final Edition, PART A; NATION;
????Pg. A4, 809 words, Bush faces tough sell on visit to California; ?Davis
????likely to be rebuffed on price caps, Joseph Curl; THE WASHINGTON TIMES, 
LOS
????ANGELES

Chicago Tribune, May 29, 2001 Tuesday, NORTH SPORTS FINAL EDITION, News;
????Pg. 6; ZONE: N, 514 words, Bush backs WW II project, From Tribune news
????services., LOS ANGELES

The Associated Press, May 29, 2001, Tuesday, BC cycle, 7:55 AM Eastern Time
????, Domestic News, 604 words, Bush announcing low-income aid, but no price
????caps, By SCOTT LINDLAW, Associated Press Writer, LOS ANGELES

The Associated Press State & Local Wire, May 29, 2001, Tuesday, BC cycle,
????7:31 AM Eastern Time, State and Regional, 594 words, Stakes are high for
????Davis meeting with Bush, By GARY GENTILE, AP Business Writer, LOS ANGELES

ABC NEWS, WORLD NEWS NOW (2:00 AM ET), May 28, 2001, Monday, 447 words,
????PRESIDENT BUSH VISITS CALIFORNIA WHERE POLITICIANS ARE CRITICAL OF HIS 
LACK
????OF ACTION FOR THEIR ENERGY CRISIS, DEREK McGINTY, JOSH GERSTEIN

Los Angeles Times
May 27, 2001 Sunday ?Home Edition

SECTION: California; Part 2; Page 7; Metro Desk

LENGTH: 615 words

HEADLINE: The State;
;
Who Let the Hot Dogs Out? Rhapsodic Lawmakers;
Legislature: Speaking frankly, officials have used the wiener as an easily
digestible metaphor for the state's energy crisis.

BYLINE: JULIE TAMAKI, MIGUEL BUSTILLO, TIMES STAFF WRITERS

DATELINE: SACRAMENTO

BODY:

??Every crisis has its symbol.

??Watergate had Deep Throat. The S&L scandal had Charles Keating. O.J. did--or
didn't--have a bloody glove.

??Here in the Capitol, the hot dog has become an unlikely metaphor for the
state's energy crisis.

??In packed news conferences and heated Assembly floor debates, lawmakers from
both parties have evoked images of the ordinary dog to help explain an
extraordinary mess.

??The genesis of this statehouse trend is difficult to determine. Assemblyman
Fred Keeley appears to be the first to have tossed the hot dog into the
political fire.

??During a crucial Assembly discussion in January, the Boulder Creek Democrat
recited the lyrics to a familiar Oscar Mayer jingle as a way of admitting 
that a
controversial bill to have the state buy electricity to avoid blackouts was
unpalatable, but necessary.

??"It's the dog kids love to bite," said Keeley of the jingle. "Well, this is
the bill people love to hate."

??A bizarre, partisan hot dog duel ensued. Assemblyman John Campbell 
(R-Irvine)
responded by likening the unpredictable financial consequences of the Keeley
legislation to biting recklessly into mystery meat.

??"Before I bite into it I see what's on the outside, but I can't see the
inside," Campbell said. "If nobody can tell me what's on the inside, it may be
bitter, it may be bad, it may make me sick."

??Assemblywoman Carole Migden (D-San Francisco) angrily fired back, wanting to
know why Campbell, a professed hot dog eater, was suddenly so critical of its
unknown contents.

??"It's OK to eat a hot dog that's full of animal bones and hair," Migden 
said.
"That's a hot dog that's OK with you, but this kind of hot dog isn't."

??Yet it was Senate leader John Burton who made it the key ingredient in a
Capitol catch phrase.

??Burton described a plan to purchase the electrical power grid from the
state's private utilities as a fair swap, saying: "I give you a dollar, you 
give
me a hot dog."

??The sound-bite quickly took on a life of its own. With the cost of the 
energy
crisis growing faster than the price of ballpark franks, critics doubted the
public's appetite for a multibillion-dollar hot dog.

??"Do you really want a hot dog? That is the question," said Jan Smutny-Jones,
executive director of the Independent Energy Producers, a trade group for 
power
generators.

??Not content to let a dog lie in its bun, lawmakers such as Assemblyman Bill
Leonard (R-San Bernardino) kept the hot dog in public discourse.

??When Pacific Gas & Electric Co. filed for bankruptcy protection, Leonard was
one of a chorus of legislators who questioned the merits of purchasing the
remaining portion of the power lines, calling it "not even half a hot dog."

??Added Assemblyman Bill Campbell (R-Villa Park): "It's like paying Mercedes
prices for a broken down hot dog cart."

??In recent weeks, the hot dog rhetoric appeared to have gone cold. Then
Assemblyman Juan Vargas (D-San Diego) revived it.

??After enduring hours of testimony on details of the deal to purchase 
Edison's
power lines, Vargas said his opinion of the dollar-equals-hot-dog deal had
diminished.

??"They're trying to charge us for a hot dog," Vargas said of the utility, 
"but
it looks like we're only going to be getting a wienie."

??Reliant Vice President John Stout also recently weighed in with his own hot
dog analogy as he tried to explain why his company's income had jumped so much
during the crisis.

??"If you have a hot dog stand and you go out and buy five to six more hot dog
stands," Stout said, referring to his company's purchase of power plants, 
"then
naturally you would expect the operating income to go up."

??Alas, the dog days of summer have yet to begin.

LOAD-DATE: May 27, 2001

???????????????????????????????2 of 4 DOCUMENTS

?????????????????Copyright 2001 The Chronicle Publishing Co.

?????????????????????????The San Francisco Chronicle

????????????????????MAY 26, 2001, SATURDAY, FINAL EDITION

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A1

LENGTH: 835 words

HEADLINE: Davis asks U.S. to limit firms' prices;

RATE SWINGS: Governor argues 2 generators manipulated market

SOURCE: Chronicle Sacramento Bureau

BYLINE: Lynda Gledhill

DATELINE: Sacramento

BODY:
Gov. Gray Davis pursued a new strategy yesterday to control wholesale
electricity costs by demanding that federal regulators ban two generators from
selling power in California at market rates, arguing that they have 
manipulated
the market to their advantage.

???Meanwhile, the Davis administration lambasted a federal plan to implement
temporary price controls, scheduled to go into effect Tuesday. State officials
said the measures would do nothing to tame California's out-of-control costs 
for
electricity.

???Davis, whose calls for broader price limits on wholesale electricity have
been rejected repeatedly by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, is
scheduled to meet with President Bush next week to ask Washington to do more 
to
help California.

???"Federal regulators said that prices were 'unjust and unreasonable' nearly
nine months ago, but they have been AWOL ever since," Davis said in a 
statement.

???The California Independent System Operator, managers of the state's
electrical grid, asked energy regulators yesterday to revoke the authority 
they
have given Williams Energy and AES Inc. to sell power at market-based rates.
Instead, the Davis administration wants the companies to be forced to sell at
cost-plus rates, which would ensure a reasonable but limited profit.

???"Market-based rate authority is not an entitlement," the ISO said in a
filing with federal regulators.

???The ISO asked regulators to act by June 15, saying that any delay "places
California consumers and the state's economy at extreme peril."

???Similar filings against other companies, such as Mirant, Duke and Reliant,
are being considered, said Charles Robinson, general counsel for the ISO.

???Robinson said the ISO has a "well developed" record of price manipulation 
by
the two companies. He said information previously given to federal regulators
proved the prices charged to California were excessive.

???'GRANDSTANDING' ACCUSATION

???Aaron Thomas, a spokesman for Virginia-based AES, said the administration 
is
grandstanding.

???"This is akin to the rhetoric the governor has used for the past several
months," he said. "We are well below the index FERC uses to establish concerns
about market power.

???"As to this rhetoric about these companies abusing the marketplace -- check
the facts. We lost money last year," Thomas said.

???A spokeswoman for Williams said the company would not comment because it 
had
not seen the filing.

???Earlier this month, Oklahoma-based Williams agreed to pay $8 million to
settle charges with FERC that the company was purposely withholding 
electricity
from California's power market. The company admitted no wrongdoing, and
officials said a full hearing would have cleared the company.

???If the regulatory commission denies the state's requests, or doesn't "act 
in
the time frame we believe is necessary to prevent harm," the state can appeal 
to
a circuit court, Robinson said.

???BUSH VISIT POSTURING CHARGE

???Jan Smutny-Jones, head of the Independent Energy Producers Association, 
said
the move is posturing by Davis ahead of Bush's visit.

???"This is an interesting welcome mat for President Bush," he said. "Do we
want a dialogue or a diatribe?"

???In advance of Bush's visit, Vice President Dick Cheney said yesterday that
nothing more can be done to help solve California's power problems this 
summer.

???He also rejected price controls, saying that previous efforts have
contributed to a supply shortage.

???A spokesman for Davis rejected that notion and denied that the timing of
yesterday's announcements were connected to the Bush-Davis meeting.

???Davis aides expressed hope that Bush's two new FERC commissioners, Pat Wood
III, a close Bush ally expected to take over the chairmanship of the board, 
and
Nora Mead Brownell, a state utility regulator in Pennsylvania, would hear
California's pleas. The two new commissioners were confirmed yesterday by the
U.S. Senate.

???Among the things Davis wants changed is the regulatory commission temporary
price relief plan scheduled to take effect Tuesday.

???The regulators would limit wholesale prices during power alerts in
California, when reserves drop below 7 percent of available capacity.

???Many state officials believe that doesn't go far enough. The state 
Assembly,
in documents to be filed Tuesday, said price controls should cover all hours 
--
not just power emergencies.

???And there is a chance the controls will be in effect for just a few days.
Under the regulatory commission plan, the state and the three investor-owned
utilities must file a proposal to join a regional transmission organization by
June 1. If they do not to do so, the price controls disappear.

???Davis administration officials expect to file another response dealing with
the regional transmission organization by Friday, Robinson said. The Assembly
filing rejects joining such an organization, which federal officials favor as 
a
means to better manage and improve grid capacity in the West. E-mail Lynda
Gledhill at lgledhill@sfchronicle.com.

GRAPHIC: PHOTO, Vice President Dick Cheney said nothing more can be done to 
help
solve California's power problems. / New York Times

LOAD-DATE: May 26, 2001


May 29, 2001

Power Drain: The U.S. Energy Crisis

California Officials Say State Will Enter
A Recession Without Energy Price Caps

By JOHN R. EMSHWILLER 
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL


On the eve of a meeting Tuesday between President George Bush and California 
Gov. Gray Davis, top advisers to the governor said the state could be pushed 
into recession unless the federal government imposes temporary price caps to 
contain soaring wholesale electricity costs. President Bush has consistently 
opposed price caps.

The governor's team called a Memorial Day news conference to highlight what 
they saw as the dangers to the economy of the state, and possibly the nation, 
from the tens of billions of dollars being spent this year to purchase 
electricity. The governor's aides estimated that statewide, wholesale 
electricity purchases this year could hit $50 billion compared with about $7 
billion in 1999. Some estimates for this year's power expenditures are even 
higher. If California were a separate nation, "an energy shock of that 
magnitude would be expected to cause a significant recession," said Alan 
Blinder, a former vice chairman of the Federal Reserve, at the conference.

While being part of a broader national economy could somewhat mitigate the 
impact, the higher power costs are "a recipe for stagflation in California," 
added Mr. Blinder. "Stagflation" refers to stagnant economic conditions and 
inflation -- a condition that struck the nation when energy prices soared in 
the 1970s.

Though the advisers painted perhaps the dreariest outlook yet to come from 
the governor's office, they said that the Davis plan for financing the 
state's electricity purchases remains intact. As reported, the state plans to 
sell about $12.5 billion in bonds later this year. The state has been 
purchasing electricity since January, when its failed utility-deregulation 
plan left California's two biggest utilities financially unable to continue 
buying power.

If price caps were instituted, the state might have to borrow less money than 
anticipated or at least face a decreased danger of having to borrow more if 
the power situation gets worse, said Joseph Fichera, chief executive of New 
York-based Saber Partners LLC and an adviser to Mr. Davis.

The governor plans to press his case for price caps over the next six to 18 
months, as supplies are increased with new power plants due to come into 
operation, the advisers said. However, Mr. Bush and other federal officials 
have repeatedly said that they believe price caps would be counterproductive 
and discourage the building of new power plants.

Write to John R. Emshwiller at john.emshwiller@wsj.com1
------------------------------------------------------------------------


Copyright 2001 Associated Press
AP Online

?????????????????May 29, 2001; Tuesday 9:11 AM, Eastern Time

SECTION: Domestic, non-Washington, general news item

LENGTH: 770 words

HEADLINE: ?AP Top News at 9:10 a.m. EDT Tuesday, May 29, 2001

BYLINE: JEROME MINERVA

BODY:

??NATO Won't Back U.S. Missile Plan

??BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP)


??NATO's top policy-making body stopped short of endorsing the Bush
administration's plan for a national missile defense today, preparing to offer
only to ''continue substantive consultations'' with Washington. The North
Atlantic Council does not portray the possibility of missile attack as a 
common
threat faced by allies, as the Bush administration had hoped, it said in a
statement. Secretary of State Colin Powell had hoped to persuade skeptical 
NATO
allies to be more supportive of U.S. missile defense plans.



??Pakistan Accepts India Offer to Talk

??ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP)


??Pakistani military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf today accepted India's offer
to hold peace talks on the disputed Kashmir region and other issues. ''I 
accept
your invitation ... to visit India with great pleasure,'' Musharraf said in a
letter to Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. ''We wish to see a 
stable
prosperous India at peace with its neighbors.'' Musharraf's letter came four
days after Vajpayee broke a two-year lull in high-level talks between the two
rival nuclear powers by inviting the Pakistani leader to India.



??Consumers' Spending, Incomes Rise

??WASHINGTON (AP)


??Consumers spent on services in April, but cut back on cars and other
big-ticket items. Incomes also rose. The Commerce Department reported today 
that
consumer spending rose by 0.4 percent in April, following a 0.2 percent 
increase
the month before. April's rise marked the biggest increase since January.
Consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of all economic activity and has 
been
a main pillar propping up the country's fragile economy. Personal incomes rose
0.3 percent.



??Bush Won't Cap Electricity Prices

??LOS ANGELES (AP)


??President Bush says he won't force down soaring electricity prices that have
cost California nearly $8 billion since January. The Republican president and
embattled Democratic Gov. Gray Davis arranged a meeting today to talk about 
the
state's energy crisis, but there was no indication they would break their
stalemate. Bush opposes price limits on wholesale electricity that utilities
buy, arguing they do nothing to address supply-and-demand issues at the heart 
of
the crisis.



??Tornado Injures 18 in Colorado

??ELLICOTT, Colo. (AP)


??Dozens of residents of a sparsely populated town in southern Colorado spent
the night in a church after a tornado crushed trailer homes, sprayed hail and
injured 18 people. ''We just hit the floor in the living room and covered the
kids and the tornado hit,'' said Trish Davidson, whose mobile home was lifted
into the air and dropped 10 feet from its foundation. Davidson and about 30
other people spent last night in the basement of a church. Power was out to 
the
church and much of the surrounding area.



??Israeli Motorist Killed

??JERUSALEM (AP)


??An Israeli motorist was killed in a West Bank drive-by shooting today as
Israeli and Palestinian officials, after two rounds of U.S. mediation, spoke 
of
resuming security talks aimed at reducing the violence. The motorist died of
head wounds shortly after he was shot on by Palestinian gunmen from a passing
car near the West Bank city of Nablus, the army said. Two Israeli settlers 
were
shot and injured one seriously in another West Bank ambush last night.



??Record-Breaking DJ Still on Air

??JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP)


??Now you can't get disc jockey Glenn Jones off the air. As of 6:30 a.m. EDT
today, the DJ had been talking for about 93 hours, easily shattering the 
record
for the longest continuous radio broadcast. And he was still talking. ''It's
been a test of wills, a test of determination,'' Jones said. ''The first day 
was
the hardest, but we're still going strong.'' Jones said he wanted to remain on
the air until he hit the 100-hour mark, which would be about 1 p.m. EDT, and
would then decide whether to continue.



??Nikkei Adds 36 Points

??TOKYO (AP)


??Tokyo stocks rose moderately today in light trading following holidays in 
the
United States and Britain. The Nikkei Stock Average gained 36.12 points to 
close
at 13,773.89.



??Agassi, Capriati Open With Wins

??PARIS (AP)


??Andre Agassi and Jennifer Capriati began their bids for a second consecutive
Grand Slam title, winning in straight sets today on the second day of the 
French
Open. Agassi, who won the French Open in 1999, beat Sweden's Thomas Johansson
6-2, 6-3, 7-6 (5). Capriati, seeded fourth, overcame seven double faults in
defeating France's Emilie Loit 6-2, 7-5. Both Agassi and Capriati won 
Australian
Open titles earlier this year.



LOAD-DATE: May 29, 2001

??????????????????????????????26 of 98 DOCUMENTS

??????????????Copyright 2001 Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
???????????????????????Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service

???????????????????????????The Dallas Morning News

????????????????????????????May 29, 2001, Tuesday

SECTION: DOMESTIC NEWS

KR-ACC-NO: ?K7523

LENGTH: 1046 words

HEADLINE: Bush begins visit in hostile California

BYLINE: By G. Robert Hillman

BODY:

??LOS ANGELES _ President Bush landed in hostile territory Monday night,
beginning his first presidential visit to California amid a pressing energy
crisis that he says he cannot ease in the short term.

??"We welcome him to California," said California Gov. Gray Davis, a Democrat
who has waged a long-distance war with the Republican president over the high
cost and short supply of electricity in the nation's most populous state.

??"I hope he has an opportunity to talk firsthand to some of the people who 
are
adversely impacted by the very high rates we're paying for electricity."

??But the president's carefully scrubbed schedule for the next two days
provides little time for such an opportunity, although he will confer 
privately
with business leaders to discuss high-tech solutions to the state's energy
problems.

??Arriving on a cross-country flight that touched down in Arizona for a
Memorial Day tribute, Bush headed off to prepare for an early-morning stop
Tuesday to promote energy conservation at the Marine Corps' Camp Pendleton 
and a
luncheon address to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council.

??On Wednesday, he'll visit Sequoia National Park near Fresno, Calif., to
launch a new drive to clean up and fix up national parks.

??He'll also meet privately Tuesday afternoon with Davis in what the Los
Angeles Times characterized as a "peace summit." But no major shifts in policy
are expected. White House aides suggest that the meeting will be a success if
the governor even temporarily tempers his sometimes-harsh words for the
administration.

??"The president's focus is going to be on solving problems. He's not
interested in finger-pointing," White House press secretary Ari Fleischer 
said.

??"Whether people agree, or disagree, with the specifics of his energy plan, I
think most Americans and most Californians are very pleased to see a president
who is leading and taking action in addressing the issue head on."

??However, recent public opinion polls show the president and the governor
taking hits for the energy crisis in California.

??The Field Poll, finished a week ago, found that 54 percent of those surveyed
believed Bush had handled the energy problems poorly, with Davis faring 
somewhat
better at 38 percent. The margin of error for the 1,015 California interviews
was 3.2 percentage points.

??An earlier survey by the Public Policy Institute of California found Davis'
job approval rating plummeting, from 63 percent in January to 46 percent in 
May,
as the state's energy troubles escalated. Bush's overall approval rating was
higher at 57 percent, but still just as many of those surveyed gave him low
marks for his handling of energy issues. That margin of error, for 2001
interviews, was 2 percentage points.

??In short, political analyst Sherry Bebitch Jeffe said, Bush's visit to the
state _ in his 19th week as president, after already visiting more than half 
the
other states _ is long overdue.

??"His not responding, or not being perceived to respond, to the short-term
needs of California has allowed Davis' arguments to resonate _ that the 
federal
government is uncaring, is insensitive," Jeffe said.

??In his national energy policy unveiled nearly two weeks ago, Bush offered a
series of mostly long-term recommendations to conserve energy, find more of it
and substantially upgrade and expand the nation's oil refineries and
transmission systems for natural gas and electricity.

??Davis, complaining that Texas energy companies in particular are gouging
Californians, has urged Bush to embrace price controls for wholesale
electricity, but the president has steadfastly refused. Vice President Dick
Cheney, who oversaw development of the White House energy policy, emphasized 
as
recently as Friday that there's no quick fix on the way for California.

??"Long term, the answer is to build more power plants, and that's exactly 
what
they're doing," Cheney told the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "But they're not 
going
to have enough new capacity online this summer to avoid blackouts."

??So the energy woes continue to fester in California. It's not just
electricity and rolling blackouts. Gasoline prices of $2-and-more-a-gallon 
have
become commonplace as well.

??"The gas bothers me more than the electric," said Tait Kmentt, who runs a
legal process serving business in Irvine, Calif. "Gas prices are killing me."

??At $2.25-a-gallon for premium gasoline, he says, it costs him more than $40
to fill up his new Mercedes _ with no relief in sight.

??A newcomer to the state, Kmentt voted for Bush last fall and said he's glad
the president is finally visiting California. But Kmentt cautioned, "This will
be a big test to see how concerned he is."

??Kmentt said he understands the state's energy troubles are a "huge problem
that can't be fixed overnight," and right now he's blaming the power companies
for the high price of electricity.

??"I just think the public is being lied to," he said.

??Still, this is not good news for Bush, who has been increasingly portrayed 
by
Democrats as a Texas oilman still beholden to the industry. California, which 
he
lost last fall to Al Gore by 12 percentage points, has become increasingly a
political headache.

??Where his predecessor, Bill Clinton, seemed politically and personally
comfortable, Bush is not, suggests Jeffe, a senior scholar in the School of
Policy, Planning and Development at the University of Southern California.

??"An ego cannot be buoyed by losing the state by 12 points," she said. "We 
are
the state that was responsible for giving Al Gore his popular vote victory."

??With the Senate now headed for Democratic control, Jeffe said, Bush's visit
to California _ and others that will surely follow _ are essential to help
Republicans hold their base in the House.

??If the energy crisis persists in California, further punishing its economy,
the ripple effects will certainly spread, she said.

??"George Bush remembers the influence of the economy on the career of an
incumbent president," Jeffe said, pointing to Bush's father, who was defeated 
by
Clinton during an economic slump in 1992.

??"It took a while," she said, "but people are beginning to get angry."

??(c) 2001, The Dallas Morning News.

??Visit The Dallas Morning News on the World Wide Web at
http://www.dallasnews.com/

JOURNAL-CODE: DA

LOAD-DATE: May 29, 2001

??????????????????????????????29 of 98 DOCUMENTS

??????????????????????Copyright 2001 / Los Angeles Times

??????????????????????????????Los Angeles Times

??????????????????????May 29, 2001 Tuesday ?Home Edition

SECTION: California; Part 2; Page 1; Metro Desk

LENGTH: 1178 words

HEADLINE: Governor to Stress Price Caps to Bush;
Power: In a meeting today with the president, Davis will present a letter from
economists backing cost controls and demand federal assistance.

BYLINE: DAN MORAIN, JAMES GERSTENZANG, TIMES STAFF WRITERS

BODY:

??Gov. Gray Davis will present a letter to President Bush today from top
economists advocating wholesale electricity price controls, warning Monday 
that
a failure by Bush to help California solve its energy crisis could signal to
other regions that he may ignore their pleas.

??Bush, making his first trip to California, has set aside 20 minutes this
afternoon to meet with Davis in Century City. In an interview with The Times,
the Democratic governor vowed to repeat his request that the federal 
government
move to cap wholesale power prices. Failure to act swiftly threatens the state
and national economy, Davis said.

??"I want him to understand," Davis said, "that if California has to pay 700
times more for electricity in 2001 than it did just two years ago, it could 
well
drag our economy into a recession and could conceivably trigger a national
recession. That is not good for anyone."

??In the letter, 10 economists, including Cornell professor emeritus Alfred
Kahn, a major proponent of airline deregulation, told of their "deep concern"
about the failure of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to stabilize
wholesale electricity prices in California. The economists faxed the letter to
the White House on Friday afternoon, and provided the governor with a copy to
present to Bush today.

??"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 economists, led by Frank Wolak of
Stanford University, wrote. "Moreover, this negative experience with 
electricity
restructuring could delay or reverse current efforts to introduce competition
into other formerly regulated industries."

??Davis called the letter "very significant validation of what we've been
saying: The marketplace is not working and FERC has an obligation to act."

??"We're not pleading for relief; we're entitled to it," Davis said.

??Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney repeatedly have said such controls never
work. In California, caps might worsen the situation by limiting supply, they
have argued, resulting in more blackouts this summer when demand for 
electricity
is highest.

??The Bush-Davis meeting has had all the buildup of the political equivalent 
of
a title fight: On one side, the Democratic governor of the nation's most
populous state, which Bush lost by more than 1 million votes in November. On 
the
other, the new president, coming off a roller coaster week of political defeat
(the shift in control of the Senate) and victory (passage of his tax-cut 
plan),
whose work in the Texas oil industry gives him a special history in the topic 
at
hand.

??From afar, Davis has battled the Bush administration's energy policy. But,
said Dan Bartlett, one of the president's chief communications advisors, "The
president has some interesting views on this topic as well, with some 
experience
himself."

??Bush's Energy secretary, Spencer Abraham, took steps Monday to increase
electricity transmission capacity in California. He ordered the Western Area
Power Administration, a division of the Energy Department that is responsible
for marketing electricity from federal water projects in 15 Western states, to
finish its planning for extra transmission capacity.

??At issue is so-called Path 15, an 84-mile stretch of power lines with
insufficient capacity to carry the necessary load between Southern California
and the northern part of the state, especially during peak hours. The central
question is whether financing is available for a new transmission line.

??Davis lauded the action but said the president needs to do more.

??"If I have any advice to him of a political nature, it is take a chapter out
of President Clinton's book.

??" [Clinton] was very attentive to California, and as a result did better in
1996 than he did in '92. People felt he was here for us when we needed help. 
We
need help."

??Davis said that on a recent trip to Chicago, officials there worried that if
Bush "won't offer California some relief, he may not offer us relief," in a
catastrophe.

??Among the facts and figures Davis intends to show the president is a chart
showing that California paid $1.2 billion for electricity in the first quarter
of 1999, $1.8 billion for the same period last year, and as much as $10.3
billion for electricity in the first three months of this year--at a time when
conservation efforts had been taking hold and demand was down.

??"I hope the president will be as stunned as I am," said Davis, who is
watching as the state spends more than $55 million a day to buy electricity 
that
private utilities can no longer afford.

??Davis said that though he is trying to speed construction of power plants,
encourage conservation, and return the private utilities to financial 
stability,
the federal government has control over wholesale power prices.

??"Therein lies the final piece of this puzzle," Davis said. "If it falls into
place, we're on the way to putting this issue behind us. If it doesn't fall 
into
place, it could create real economic havoc here and across the country."

??Davis said that if Bush refuses to impose price controls, he should "find
some way to help us, consistent with his own belief."

??"Turning a deaf ear not only won't be well received here," Davis said. "It
likely won't be received well elsewhere."

??The state's energy crisis has posed a ticklish dilemma for Bush's busy 
travel
schedulers: Had he visited earlier, it would have been awkward not to focus on
energy issues. But until 11 days ago when a task force led by Cheney produced
energy proposals, there would have been little Bush could say.

??Karen Hughes, the president's counselor, made it clear that regardless of 
the
pressure, Bush will not yield on price caps.

??"We want to help. The president is very concerned about the energy situation
and blackouts," she said. But limiting the wholesale price of energy would 
only
discourage its production," Hughes said.

??California is the 30th state Bush has visited since taking office Jan. 20.
His staff said the delay had to do not with energy issues but with politics 
and
geography.

??With the administration focused in its first months on winning approval of
the tax cut, the president's travels were largely dictated by that effort, his
aides said.

??Besides, the president confided recently, even with Air Force One at the
ready, it just takes too long to fly from Washington to California.

??Still, Hughes said, the president is not ignoring California. Condoleezza
Rice, the president's national security advisor and a former Californian, sits
next to Hughes every morning at the daily meeting of the White House senior
staff, she said.

??What's more, the president "has many friends in California," Hughes said,
adding: "Ernie has a home in California these days." Ernie is the Bush family
cat that is living with a friend in Brentwood while the First Family lives in
the White House.

??*

??Times Staff Writer Massie Ritsch contributed to this story.

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??????????????????????Copyright 2001 / Los Angeles Times

??????????????????????????????Los Angeles Times

??????????????????????May 29, 2001 Tuesday ?Home Edition

SECTION: Part A; Part 1; Page 1; Metro Desk

LENGTH: 1541 words

HEADLINE: THE ENERGY CRISIS;
;
Kern County Basks in Role as State's Blackout-Buster;
Electricity: Six new plants will bolster its status as energy center.

BYLINE: MITCHELL LANDSBERG, TIMES STAFF WRITER

DATELINE: McKITTRICK, Calif.

BODY:

??You could think of this as California's own little slice of west Texas.

??Here in the scruffy brown hills of western Kern County, oil rigs grow more
easily than trees, pickups are more common than cars, and chicken fried steak 
is
the most popular dish at Mike and Annie's McKittrick Hotel.

??The hotel--which no longer offers lodging, just food and drink, and plenty 
of
it--is bustling these days with the roustabout energy of a Lone Star
construction camp. Just down the road, a mammoth electrical power plant is
rising out of the sagebrush, its generators housed in four boxy buildings the
size of airplane hangars.

??It is one of six new major gas-fired power plants expected to be built in
Kern County over the next several years, an electrical construction boom
unmatched anywhere in California. Kern, which already has a large surplus of
electricity, is cementing its place as California's energy capital, assuming 
far
more than its share of the burden in recharging the state's drained power
supplies.

??Over the next several years, the county will add nearly 5,000 megawatts of
power to the statewide grid. That is more than California now imports, on
average, from out-of-state suppliers. It's enough to supply about five 
counties
the size of Kern, which fills the dusty southern rim of the San Joaquin Valley
and has a population of 662,000.

??In some parts of the state, a proposal to build a new power plant is a call
to throw up the barricades. In recent months, intense community opposition has
forced developers to pull back proposals to build major plants in South Gate 
and
San Jose, although Gov. Gray Davis has tried to revive plans for the San Jose
plant.

??You don't hear a lot of not-in-my-backyard talk in Kern County.

??"There should be power plants in everybody's backyard," said Paul Gipe,
chairman of the Kern chapter of the Sierra Club, which did not oppose any of 
the
new plants. "If people are concerned about having too many power plants, they
should think twice when they flip on the light switch."

??New, natural gas-fired power plants, Gipe reasoned, are relatively clean and
will not add significantly to the county's serious air pollution problems.
Ideally, he said, they will allow the state to close some older, dirtier 
plants
that cause considerably more environmental damage.

??If environmentalists don't oppose the plants, it's not too much of a leap to
guess that some people might be positively thrilled about them.

??Just try, for instance, asking somebody in Taft, an oil center south of
McKittrick. "It's more money coming into Kern County--that's the way I look at
it," said Pamela Dunlap, who runs a downtown thrift shop.

??An Economy Rooted in the Oil Industry

??She stood in the twilight outside her shop, on a street that embodies many 
of
the most attractive attributes of small town Americana--with one small
difference. Where some towns might have statues of their founders or war 
heroes
in prominent public places, Taft has erected small oil rigs and other pieces 
of
drilling machinery, a reminder of its economic roots.

??That Kern County has stepped up as California's blackout-buster is, perhaps,
not surprising.

??To begin with, there's geography. Kern stands astride California's major
north-south electrical transmission lines at precisely the spot at which they
divide between the service areas of Pacific Gas & Electric, which serves
Northern California, and Southern California Edison. That spot can be 
pinpointed
as the Midway substation, a vast jungle of humming wires, transformers and
circuit breakers that lies a short distance west of Interstate 5 in the town 
of
Buttonwillow.

??Already, massive new circuit-breakers--they look like Frankenstein helmets
sprouting 5-foot-long sparkplugs--are being erected at Midway to handle the
power from two major plants that will be revving up in the coming months: PG&E
National Energy's La Paloma plant, the one near McKittrick; and Edison Mission
Energy's Sunrise plant, just south of Taft.

??The county is served by two major natural gas pipelines, which will be 
tapped
to run the plants. In fact, Kern contains the state's largest known reservoirs
of natural gas.

??Another of Kern's geographic advantages?

??"You look around, and you'll see there aren't a lot of people living around
here," observed Stephen Whaley, who is overseeing construction of the Sunrise
plant. In the surrounding hills, an orchard of oil rigs bobbed in the morning
haze. Dirt roads cut crudely across the landscape, bisecting a crisscross of
steam pipes, fuel lines and electrical wires.

??"This area is all about oil," Whaley said. Casting a glance at the modular
560-megawatt plant rising behind him, he added with a wry smile, "You know, I
guess you could look at this from the road, and you could make the argument 
that
it improves the looks."

??The Sunrise plant, a relatively simple single-cycle plant, is expected to
fire up 320 megawatts of its total output by Aug. 1, a scant nine months after
construction began. The other plants--more complex and efficient dual-cycle
operations--will be opening over the next several years, assuming all receive
final approval.

??The lack of major opposition to the plants is, of course, another reason
developers see Kern County as a good place to build. The county has long had a
more intimate relationship with energy--oil, gas, electricity--than most 
places.
To people here, the link between a natural gas well and a lightbulb, or an oil
derrick and a gas pedal, is neither theoretical nor especially threatening.
They're comfortable with energy.

??Kern produces more crude oil than any other county in the United States
outside Alaska. Property taxes from oil companies have helped build handsome 
new
schools in Bakersfield, the county seat and largest city. The companies' big
payrolls have helped populate elegant subdivisions with names that sound 
vaguely
Houstonian: Seven Oaks, River Oaks, Landmark Estates.

??Which brings us to the Texas connection.

??It's hard to overlook it, in a county that runs on oil and cotton and boasts
a country music scene to rival Austin's. Conversations in the finer 
Bakersfield
restaurants are filled with references to trips to Texas, of colleagues in
Midland and Odessa. A Bakersfield radio station was running a contest 
recently:
The winners would be flown to a bull riding championship in Houston.

??Until December 1999, American Airlines offered direct jet service between
Bakersfield and Dallas. It stopped after Occidental Petroleum moved its
headquarters from Bakersfield to Houston.

??This is a county where President Bush received more support in the November
election than he did in Texas, his home state. But then, Bush already had a
Bakersfield connection: He lived there briefly as a child when his father,
former President George Bush, worked in the Kern oil fields.

??"You look at the topography around Bakersfield, and the county's morals and
ethics--that predominantly conservative attitude that we have around here--and
you look at the oil, and you could be in Midland," said John Allen, the 
general
manager of Occidental of Elk Hills, which is developing a power plant in 
tandem
with Sempra Energy of San Diego.

??A lot of people in Kern County will tell you they don't mind being an energy
farm for the state. It's a living, after all.

??"It's good to be working at home," said Joe Ryan, a Bakersfield pipe welder
who has spent years on the road seeking the heavy construction work that 
seemed
to have vanished in his hometown. Now he's working at the La Paloma plant, a
1,048-megawatt behemoth that will come online in phases beginning in December.

??About 800 people are at work on the plant, and several hundred more will be
employed in the coming months. And after that plant is done, there will be
others to build.

??"This is a good job here, I tell you what," said Ryan, 47, who has been
banking his overtime on six 10-hour days a week--sometimes more.

??County Sees Itself as 'Part of the Solution'

??But there are some signs of simmering resentment, especially among county
leadership. After all, if every other county produced just half the 
electricity
that Kern generates, California wouldn't have an energy crisis. And people in
Kern County are getting hit with the same spring-loaded electricity bills, the
same rolling blackouts as everybody else.

??"I think the people of California are either going to be part of the 
solution
or part of the problem," said Assemblyman Roy Ashburn (R-Bakersfield). "And in
Kern County, we have a long history of being part of the solution, especially
when it comes to energy issues."

??Elsewhere in the state, Ashburn sees "a lot of arrogance--people who enjoy
the benefits of a very high quality of life, enjoy the benefits of electric
power for jobs and for their personal life, but with an exclusivity that it's
someone else's problem to create that for them. We don't have that attitude in
Kern County."



??Power Buildup in Kern County

??Six new major gas-fired power plants are expected to be built in Kern County
over the next several years, making the county the power capital of the state.

??*

??RELATED STORY

??Letter to Bush: Gov. Davis will ask for wholesale energy price caps. B1

GRAPHIC: PHOTO: Tom Romesberg, general manager of La Paloma plant being built 
in
Kern County, stands next to the unit's cooling tower. PHOTOGRAPHER: AL SEIB /
Los Angeles Times PHOTO: From rigs and pipelines like these near Taft, Kern
pumps more crude oil than any other county in the U.S. outside Alaska. With
several gas-fired power plants coming online in the next several years, the
county will solidify its place as California's energy capital. PHOTOGRAPHER: 
AL
SEIB / Los Angeles Times GRAPHIC: Power Buildup in Kern County, Los Angeles
Times

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??????????????????Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company

??????????????????????????????The New York Times

?????????????????May 29, 2001, Tuesday, Late Edition - Final

SECTION: Section A; Page 12; Column 1; National Desk

LENGTH: 1078 words

HEADLINE: For Crucial California Trip, Bush Calibrates How Best to Handle
State's Energy Crisis

BYLINE: ?By DAVID E. SANGER

DATELINE: LOS ANGELES, May 28

BODY:

??Days after he suffered the biggest political setback of his four-month-old
presidency and then won the tax cut that he staked his campaign upon, 
President
Bush traveled tonight to California, carefully calibrating how to deal with 
the
state's energy crisis.

??After Memorial Day celebrations in Washington and Mesa, Ariz., Mr. Bush 
began
his first visit as president to the most populous state, which he lost by
roughly 12 percentage points in November's election. The visit seems likely to
showcase the clash between two very different energy strategies and political
strategies.

???Mr. Bush will meet briefly on Tuesday with Gov. Gray Davis, who will 
insist,
as he did again today, that the federal government impose price caps on
wholesale electric power.

??The White House says Mr. Bush will refuse, again. He will argue that such
caps would only discourage increased production of electric power. "We think
that's a mistake," Vice President Dick Cheney said on Friday, talking about 
why
he rejected those options when he prepared the energy policy the 
administration
made public 10 days ago.

??But Mr. Bush knows that how he handles the California energy crisis could
prove critical to his political fortunes, especially now that his party's loss
of control in the Senate seems bound to slow or derail passage of major 
elements
of his energy plan.

??Moreover, the president can no longer argue that the best cure for high
energy prices is a tax cut, because that is now legislative history. As one of
his aides said this weekend, after Congress approved the $1.35 trillion tax 
cut
that will be phased in over the next 10 years, "we will have to turn now to 
the
other arguments."

??Most of those arguments involve urging the rest of the country not to follow
California in a partial deregulation of the market, with disastrous results.

??Repeatedly Mr. Bush has chastised California's politicians, and by
implication Mr. Davis himself, for ignoring politically unpalatable choices to
avert the state's power-generating crisis. Ten days ago, standing in front of 
a
hydroelectric plant in Pennsylvania, Mr. Bush used the state as Exhibit A for
his argument about what happens when population rises, when over-regulation
freezes the construction of new power plants and the stringing of new
transmission lines, and when politicians fail to plan for the long term.

??"The problems in California shows that you cannot conserve your way to 
energy
independence," Mr. Bush said then.

??At the same time, his aides were pointing to polls showing Mr. Davis's
approval ratings plunging. They did not mention that Mr. Bush's ratings in the
state were hardly any better. A series of recent polls show that roughly
two-thirds of Californians believe Mr. Bush should be doing far more to help 
the
state, though it is unclear exactly what kind of help they have in mind.

??So Mr. Bush's aides have been struggling for days to choreograph the two-day
visit here, trying to find ways to differ with Mr. Davis without seeming 
callous
about the problem or in conflict with the state.

??The betting is that Mr. Bush will focus on long-term solutions, in contrast
to Mr. Davis's call for the quicker fix of price caps.

??The effort started today. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham issued an order 
of
chiefly symbolic importance, saying his department would move quickly to
determine whether investors were interested in financing and co-owning a new
transmission line that could bring more power to the state.

??"The level of interest will be a factor in the decision to build the line
later this year," the Energy Department said. It said that it would proceed 
with
studies of how the land could be acquired, by eminent domain if necessary, and
that it would speed ahead with environmental reviews.

??But Mr. Abraham left wide open the question of whether Washington would go
ahead with the project even if no private financing was available.

??"The Bush administration is taking a leadership role in addressing a
long-neglected problem in California's electricity transmission system," Mr.
Abraham said. "California's electricity problems developed over a period of
years and cannot be solved overnight. However, we can move now on actions that
will help avert the same types of problems from recurring year after year."

??The statement was clearly intended as a prelude to the meeting with Mr.
Davis, which will be closed to the press. So will a meeting with energy
entrepreneurs. (Mr. Bush passed on Mr. Davis's suggestion of a forum with
small-business owners and residents who have seen the lights go out.)

??Few expect Mr. Bush or Mr. Davis to change his mind about energy caps after
their meeting.

??But for Mr. Bush it will not all be tough love. On Tuesday morning Mr. Bush
is scheduled to travel to Camp Pendleton to repeat his call for the military 
and
other federal users of power in California to flip off their switches whenever
possible. But given his own comments, and Mr. Cheney's, about the limited
utility of conservation, that order could strike some Californians as a little
hollow.

??Later he will give a trade speech in Los Angeles, underscoring the message
that if California hopes to remain the world's greatest exporter of high
technology -- if it were a nation, California would be the world's 
sixth-largest
economy -- it must find new ways to produce and deliver electricity.

??Already, leading Silicon Valley companies are threatening to build their
next-generation chip fabrication plants elsewhere, probably in Texas, which 
has
a surplus of generating capacity, a move that would further undermine Mr.
Davis's stewardship.

??In fact, Mr. Bush's Texas roots will never be far from the political
battlefield here. Mr. Davis has accused Texas energy companies of profiteering
at California's expense. To press the case, he has hired two political
operatives from the Clinton White House, Marc D. Fabiani and Chris Lehane, who
are being paid tens of thousands of dollars a month to make the case for price
caps.

??California's attorney general, Bill Lockyer, also a Democrat, suggested to
The Wall Street Journal last week that some time in jail would be the best way
to deal with one of Mr. Bush's biggest supporters -- Kenneth Lay, who heads 
the
Enron Corporation and has sought to influence the selection of members of the
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

??The comments may have been partly facetious, but they were not interpreted
that way here.

??http://www.nytimes.com

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??????????????Copyright 2001 Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
???????????????????????Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service

??????????????????????????The Orange County Register

????????????????????????????May 29, 2001, Tuesday

SECTION: DOMESTIC NEWS

KR-ACC-NO: ?K7500

LENGTH: 825 words

HEADLINE: California's power crisis generating lots of heat

BYLINE: By John Howard

BODY:

??SACRAMENTO, Calif. _ Detectives would seem to be tripping over each other to
discover who did what to whom, and why, in California's energy crisis.

??While electricity may be scarce, investigations are plentiful. A dozen major
probes are afoot, many overlap, and more loom. The atmosphere is heated, the
rhetoric strong. State, federal and local investigators, along with court
officers, financial experts and special investigators, are poring over 
thousands
of pages of documents from government agencies and private companies.

??At the top of the swarming heap is the $10 million investigation mounted by
the state Attorney General's Office to answer the core question: Did a handful
of power sellers fix prices to bilk Californians of billions of dollars?

??But it's not just the government that is busy. The companies themselves _
which have categorically denied any wrongdoing _ are overwhelmed by the
scrutiny.

??"We are supplying reams and reams of documents. ... It is a distraction from
our day-to-day work, there's no question," said Tom Williams of North
Carolina-based Duke Energy, which operates several power plants in California.
"It affects our employees and their families, this barrage of innuendo. I 
don't
know what more we can do."

??Accompanying the investigations are at least a half-dozen lawsuits against
the companies by individuals. Like the probes, the suits contend the companies
improperly manipulated the market. Legislative leaders, meanwhile, have sued 
the
federal government, contending it has failed to protect consumers from
price-gouging.

??"This all permeates our business in so many ways," said Gary Ackerman of the
Western States Power Forum, a group that represents power sellers and buyers 
in
the West. "It even affects my ability to talk to the newspapers, because we're
afraid statements may turn up later and be used as evidence. We're not sure 
what
we're dealing with, whether a suit or even a grand jury if the (attorney
general) decides to take criminal action, as he said he might."

??The state's top prosecutor said that, indeed, criminal charges are a
possibility.

??"There is an investigation under way that involves potential criminal
conduct," said Sandra Michioku, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Bill 
Lockyer.
It could be at least eight weeks before that probe is completed, she said.

??Other investigating agencies include the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission, the California Public Utilities Commission, the city attorneys'
offices in Long Beach, Los Angeles and San Francisco; California's grid 
manager,
the Independent System Operator; the obscure Electricity Oversight Board, 
which
oversees the ISO; and the state Senate and Assembly.

??The state has even considered asking two more federal agencies, the
Department of Energy and the Federal Trade Commission, to get into the act. 
Some
offices are conducting multiple investigations. In the case of at least two
agencies, the PUC and the Attorney General's Office, the investigations are
being at least partly coordinated. Some agencies are examining the same 
issues.
The PUC, the attorney general and ISO, for example, all are looking at whether
power plants were shut down to drive up demand and prices.

??"There is a lot of overlap and there probably are problems of coordination,"
said Nettie Hoge of The Utility Reform Network of San Francisco, a grass-roots
watchdog group.

??With so many agencies trying to extract information, Hoge said, even those
who have done no wrong are concerned about talking freely because of the 
greater
likelihood that proprietary information will leak to competitors.

??Others feel the overlap is beneficial.

??"When you're up against an industry as wealthy and powerful as the energy
industry, it's probably better to double-team them," said Doug Heller of the
Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights.

??Hoge believes that if any investigation is going to produce results, it will
be Lockyer's, "because the governor has thrown all the resources that way."

??Investigators have requested mountains of paperwork. Transaction and
maintenance documents, market reports, financial records, even e-mails _ all
have been sought.

??Martin Wilson, a spokesman for Texas-based Reliant, contends the intensity 
of
the probes could have negative long-term effect on California's business
climate.

??"There is a climate of instability and uncertainty that makes companies
rethink their decisions about investments (in California)," he said.

??But for consumer groups, the goal of all these investigations is
straightforward.

??"Certainly, we're really hopeful that these investigations will lead to
refunds for customers," said TURN's Mindy Spatz. "There is a widespread belief
among people who follow these issues that widespread gaming and manipulation 
has
occurred in the market."

??(c) 2001, The Orange County Register (Santa Ana, Calif.).

??Visit the Register on the World Wide Web at http://www.ocregister.com/

JOURNAL-CODE: OC

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?????????????????Copyright 2001 The Chronicle Publishing Co.

?????????????????????????The San Francisco Chronicle

?????????????????????MAY 29, 2001, TUESDAY, FINAL EDITION

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A1

LENGTH: 1291 words

HEADLINE: Crisis no sweat to some offices;

Many offices keep cool in crisis;

Air conditioners blast in state's energy centers

SOURCE: Chronicle Staff Writer

BYLINE: Steve Rubenstein

BODY:
Some very cool places to be during the dog days of spring and summer turn out 
to
be the places with their fingers on California's air conditioning switch.

???If only the entire state could cram itself into the cavernous control room
in Folsom of the Independent Systems Operator, where the air is a comfortable 
69
degrees and receptionists wear sweaters at high noon -- when it's upwards of 
90
degrees outside.

???Or the Pacific Gas and Electric Co. lobby in downtown San Francisco, where
the air is an even chillier 65 degrees, which admittedly isn't much of a 
bounty,
considering it's usually that cool outside anyway.

???Other cool places to be are the state Capitol, where legislators who
promulgate energy edicts hang out, and the headquarters of the state Public
Utilities Commission, where bureaucrats who promulgate energy edicts hang out.

???Armed with a high-tech digital thermometer, The Chronicle made the rounds 
of
the energy crisis poohbahs, to make sure they are practicing what they are
preaching.

???Some were, some weren't. Those that weren't blamed it all on that most
familiar of modern scapegoats, the computer.

???Computers must be kept cool -- in the 60s for big mainframes and a bit more
for the smaller units most folks use, though some can go into the 80s without
hiccuping. So generally, people who work alongside the computers get to keep
cool, by association, although it's the computer that counts.

???The ISO headquarters, located in an industrial park 20 miles east of
Sacramento, is a delightfully cool and comfortable place when the outside
temperature soars into the 90s and 100s.

???The reception area, the only room accessible to the outraged public, is a
fairly stiff 76 degrees -- only two degrees cooler than the 78 degrees
recommended by President Bush and the federal energy crisis czars and 
czarinas.

???But take a step past the lobby security doors and the temperature plummets.
In the main hallway, the temperature is 73 degrees. And in the control room,
where two dozen engineers and technicians sit at consoles and monitor the flow
of California electricity on a giant diagram of state power lines so they can
order blackouts for everyone else -- the temperature is 69 degrees.

???NO SWEATING AT ISO

???Some managers do not take off their sports coats and jackets.

???"We want these people to be comfortable," explained Tony Capasso, 
facilities
manager for the ISO complex. "We don't want these people sweating bullets in 
the
middle of a crisis."

???Inside the state Capitol, where legislators and the governor preach
compliance with federal guidelines calling for 78-degree thermostats, the
temperature dips into the high 60s. The coolest spots are the press briefing
room and the treasurer's old office.

???GOVERNOR'S OFFICE

???The governor's suite is in the mid-70s, apparently because folks are often
coming by with thermometers and it wouldn't do not to set an example. Press
secretary Steve Maviglio said Governor Gray Davis is a 
practice-what-he-preaches
kind of guy who keeps corridors dark, shades drawn, air conditioners idle. His
personal secretary works in short sleeves, with a cheap plastic fan humming
nearby.

???"It's so dark in the hall that we're always bumping into things," said one
aide.

???Even so, the temperature in the governor's suite of offices is three 
degrees
cooler than the 78 degrees recommended by President Bush -- not the first time
the two men have failed to agree.

???THE LEGISLATURE

???The Assembly chamber is 71 degrees while the Senate chamber -- with 40 
fewer
legislators spewing forth -- is 73 degrees. But the Senate chamber has a
southern exposure, one Capitol guide explained.

???"Hot air from the people sitting inside has nothing to do with it," he 
said.

???In San Francisco, the temperature inside cavernous City Hall dips in spots
to the mid-60s. College student Jasmine Westbrook, who dropped by with her art
class on a project to sketch the interior of the building, was doing her
sketching while wearing a windbreaker to keep warm.

???"I want to stay comfortable," she said. "It think it's supposed to be 
hotter
in here, isn't it?"

???The mayor's office, at 73 degrees, was eight degrees warmer than another
office down the hall, even without the mayor sitting in it.

???63 AT THE PUC

???At the headquarters of the state Public Utilities Commission, which is
supposed to be keeping an eye on the self-declared bankruptcy of the utility
that mails out the bills, the lobby temperature is 63 degrees.

???Chief engineer David Omosheyin, eyeing The Chronicle's thermometer
nervously, insisted the 63-degree reading was caused by the lobby's proximity 
to
the front door, where the outside temperature at the moment was in the low 
60s.
He invited the thermometer to visit the upper floors, where the temperature 
was
70.

???As for San Francisco's federal buildings: Bush would probably not frown.

???His orders appeared to be followed during The Chronicle's visits, so much 
so
that it was actually hotter inside than out. Though that wouldn't be hard,
considering it was in the low 60s outside. And the places measured happened to
be courtrooms and tax offices, where the body heat from anxiety alone could
probably melt the paint some days.

???San Franciscans, Omosheyin said, are losing their perspective when it comes
to things like electricity, energy alerts and rolling blackouts. In his native
country of Nigeria, he said, the electricity runs sporadically, if at all.

???"There the power can go off for a week," he said. "The world goes on. Here,
people take a lot of things for granted, and electricity is one of them."

???As for the offices of the places that report on such matters, they fared
about the same.

???The Walnut Creek bureau of The Chronicle, where the sun sizzles into the 
90s
with regularity in the summer, is kept at 67 degrees because of all the
computers. The main newsroom of The Chronicle is kept at 71 degrees, because 
of
all the computers. But the reception room was 71 degrees, too, and there 
aren't
any computers there, not a one.


------------------------------------------------------------------------CHART:
???Some offices keeping their cool
Place ?????????????????????????????????Inside ????Outside
????????????????????????????????????temperature ?temperature
Control Room, California Independent
Systems Operator (Folsom) ?????????????????69 ??????90
Governor's office, Capitol (Sacramento) ???75 ??????94
Press briefing room, Capitol (Sacramento) ?68 ??????94
Caltrans headquarters (Sacramento) ????????70 ??????94
Chronicle bureau newsroom (Walnut Creek) ??67 ??????90
Mayor's Office, San Francisco City Hall ???73 ??????63
Calif. Public Utilities Commission lobby
(San Francisco) ???????????????????????????63 ??????63
State Building (San Francisco) ????????????69 ??????63
Courtroom, 19th floor, Federal Building
(San Francisco) ???????????????????????????70 ??????63

Lobby, Pacific Gas and Electric
headquarters (San Francisco) ??????????????65 ??????65
IRS office, Federal Building

(San Francisco) ???????????????????????????69 ??????63
Main newsroom,
San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco) ???71 ??????64


???E-mail Steve Rubenstein at srubenstein@sfchronicle.com.

GRAPHIC: PHOTO (2):CHART: SEE END OF TEXT, (1) It's too warm for jackets in 
the
chief clerk's office in the state Capitol building in Sacramento., (2) Jane
Malison of Millbrae needed a fan while touring a warm section of the state
Capitol, but other parts of the building are kept below 70 degrees. / Photos 
by
Kat Wade/The Chronicle

LOAD-DATE: May 29, 2001

??????????????????????????????36 of 98 DOCUMENTS

?????????????????Copyright 2001 The Chronicle Publishing Co.

?????????????????????????The San Francisco Chronicle

?????????????????????MAY 29, 2001, TUESDAY, FINAL EDITION

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A1

LENGTH: 1238 words

HEADLINE: Bush facing Davis' heat over energy;

In first visit to state as president, he'll hear governor's plea for help

SOURCE: Chronicle Political Writers

BYLINE: Carla Marinucci, Lynda Gledhill

BODY:
President Bush wasn't on California soil for more than five minutes yesterday
when he was drawn into his first debate on the state's power crunch.

???Rep. Brad Sherman, a Democrat from Thousand Oaks who met Air Force One on
the tarmac at Los Angeles International Airport along with a group of high
school students, wasted no time button-holing the president for what appeared 
to
be an animated conversation.

???"I brought up . . . the idea that after his meeting with our governor, I
hoped he would be in favor of wholesale regulation (of energy prices)," 
Sherman
said later. "He disagreed with me."

???Sherman -- who two weeks ago suggested that the headline to the president's
national energy policy should be "Bush to California: Drop Dead" -- didn't 
seem
optimistic yesterday about Bush's 48-hour visit to the state. "I think that 
the
president's policies show either a lack of understanding of what's really 
going
on in California, or a lack of concern," he said.

???That vignette underscored some of the challenges facing Bush, who arrived 
in
California as protesters geared up and Democratic Gov. Gray Davis prepared to
press him for federal action on the state's power troubles.

???Besides Sherman, Bush was greeted by a crowd of cheering Republicans,
including Secretary of State Bill Jones and Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan,
the former a declared GOP candidate for governor in 2002, the latter a rumored
one.

???But today, Bush will sit down with the present governor, who lately has 
been
blistering in his criticism of the president.

???"The last time I looked, California was still part of the United States of
America," Davis told reporters this weekend. "We have contributed
disproportionately to the economic growth of this country. There's no reason 
why
a president should not respond to a legitimate request from the chief 
executive
of the largest state in the union."

???In his first visit to California since just before the election, Bush plans
to emphasize the energy crisis -- but will focus on it through the lens of his
own energy plan.

???ENERGY SECRETARY ACTS

???Just hours before the president landed, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham
ordered a speedup in planning to relieve a notoriously overloaded electricity 
transmission line in California.

???Abraham's holiday action was timed to provide a bit of positive news for
Bush to announce in California. He ordered the Western Area Power
Administration, a 15-state marketing arm of the Energy Department, to complete
planning and seek outside financing to reduce the transmission bottleneck on
California's Path 15, which connects the northern and southern parts of the
state.

???This morning, Bush will visit the Marine Corps base at Camp Pendleton, near
San Diego, to underscore his conservation order for a 10 percent cut in energy
usage in federal buildings and military facilities.

???In Los Angeles, he will deliver a wide-ranging talk before the World 
Affairs
Council and lead a discussion among business leaders about technological
advances in energy conservation.

???Then, he will head to Fresno and Sequoia National Park to press his
initiative to improve national parks. Along the way, protesters have vowed to
provide a vocal commentary on Bush's energy and environmental policies.

???But the real drama of the trip will no doubt be the sit-down between Bush
and Davis today. The governor pushed for a lengthy, open meeting with Bush 
that
would include testimony from officials and consumers affected by the energy
crisis. Bush's camp announced Friday the meeting would be 20 to 30 minutes -- 
in
private.

???Davis plans to outline steps the state has taken to alleviate the energy
crisis, and what it wants the federal government to do -- including 
implementing
price caps on the wholesale cost of energy, cost-based pricing, and the
possibility of ordering refunds.

???DAVIS THREATENING SUIT

???The governor has said he will consider suing the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission -- the agency charged with overseeing energy prices -- if it does 
not
impose temporary price caps.

???And the state Legislature has already filed a suit, saying the commission
has failed to stop what it has determined are "unjust and unreasonable 
prices."

???With California's energy woes worsening and a summer of rolling blackouts
predicted, the Bush-Davis session holds potentially deep political pitfalls 
for
both leaders, both of whom are suffering in state polls as a result of their
handling of the energy crisis.

???Bush needs to demonstrate his concern for California, a state that gave a
12-point margin of victory to Al Gore in the presidential election.

???But even as Bush adviser Karen Hughes told state reporters this week that
the president had arrived to show he cares, Vice President Dick Cheney again
chastised state officials for delaying their response to the energy crisis
"because all of the action was potentially unpleasant."

???And Cheney signaled that the administration would resist long-term price
caps, saying, "We think that's a mistake."

???Such talk drew fire from Davis' senior political adviser, Garry South, who
charged that Cheney's words demonstrated insensitivity to California's 
troubles
and only underscored the perception of an "all-oil, all-the-time ticket."

???Davis, whose campaign for re-election next year will depend on his handling
of the crisis, has stepped up his criticism of Bush and profit-hungry energy
firms, particularly those from Texas, in recent weeks.

???And yesterday, signaling no letup, Davis' supporters made an unusual 
holiday
conference call to again press his case for federal action. They argued that
without immediate intervention from the Bush administration, the economy of
California -- and potentially the entire nation -- was at risk.

???'THIS ENORMOUS SHOCK'

???"We have this enormous shock in prices that needs to be addressed and not
ignored," said Joseph Fichero, head of Sabre Partners and a consultant to 
Davis.

???Alan Blinder, a Princeton economist and former vice chairman of the Federal
Reserve, warned that energy woes in California alone would "take almost a 
half a
percent of the gross domestic product off of the national economy."

???Blinder and others argue that short-term relief -- for about 6 to 12 months
-- is necessary while new power plants are being built.

???"Most times and most places, I agree price caps are not the long-run
solution, but they can be part of a short-term solution," Blinder said. "There
really is a case for temporary price caps to shield consumers and the 
California
and national economy from the full force of the energy shock."

???Limited new price caps approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
on the sale of wholesale electricity begin today in California. But the
temporary caps, which go into effect when the electricity reserves dip below 
7.5
percent, have been lambasted by Davis as ineffective and inadequate.

???Political analysts say Bush's resistence on the issue could cost him in
California -- and elsewhere.

???"(California) is probably an area where he is criticized more than any 
other
region in the country," said Mark DiCamillo, director of the statewide Field
Poll. "Californians are looking to Bush for some relief -- and to the extent
they don't get it, Bush may be in some jeopardy here."Chronicle news services
contributed to this report. / E-mail the writers at cmarinucci@sfchronicle.com
and lgledhill@sfchronicle.com.

GRAPHIC: PHOTO (2), (1) Rep. Brad Sherman (left), D-Thousand Oaks, buttonholed
President Bush as he arrived at Los Angeles International Airport to discuss 
the
state's energy crisis., (2) President Bush signed autographs for students from
El Camino High School at Los Angeles airport. Bush is to meet with Gov. Davis 
today. / Photos by Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The Chronicle

LOAD-DATE: May 29, 2001

??????????????????????????????37 of 98 DOCUMENTS

?????????????????????Copyright 2001 Gannett Company, Inc.

??????????????????????????????????USA TODAY

?????????????????????May 29, 2001, Tuesday, FIRST EDITION

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 3A

LENGTH: 426 words

HEADLINE: Davis to urge Bush to back electricity price cap

BYLINE: Laurence McQuillan

DATELINE: LOS ANGELES

BODY:
LOS ANGELES -- California Gov. Gray Davis will urge President Bush today to 
back
a 2-year cap on electricity costs as the best way to keep his power-starved
state -- and possibly the U.S. economy -- from sinking into recession.

???The Democratic governor and Republican president, who have been sparring
from afar over energy policy, will meet here to discuss their differences. The
White House has said repeatedly that it opposes price caps as a way to deal 
with
energy shortages in California.

??In an interview with USA TODAY, Davis said a limit on wholesale electricity
costs is needed while the state attempts to build 15 new power plants. He said
that would still allow a 30% profit margin.

??"While the president didn't create this problem, he is uniquely situated to
solve it," Davis said. "I'll make clear that he has an opportunity to relieve
the pain and give California the breathing space to put more plants online."

???Bush, making his first visit to California as president, unveiled a
long-term energy policy this month that calls for increased production and, 
to a
lesser extent, conservation. The president will promote conservation steps 
being
taken by the federal government during a visit today to the Marine Corps base 
at
Camp Pendleton.

??"The president believes that imposing price caps will only make the problem
worse," White House spokesman Dan Bartlett said.

??Davis, whose popularity has plummeted as Californians cope with blackouts to
offset electricity shortages, said his state's problems could hurt all 
Americans
if they are not dealt with quickly. "I'm asking for some form of relief that
reduces the outrageous prices we're currently bearing," he said. "Without that
relief, lots of people will lose their businesses, and California could well 
be
dragged into a recession. Since we're about one-eighth of the national 
economy,
that doesn't bode well for America."

???The California Public Utilities Commission has announced rate increases of
up to 50% for businesses and 37% for homes.

??Bush has sidestepped California after losing the state by 12 percentage
points to Democrat Al Gore last year in the presidential election. But with
Democrats targeting several GOP House members in next year's elections,
Republicans must go on the offensive or risk losing control of the closely
divided House of Representatives.

??Davis, a possible presidential candidate in 2004, said he wants to avoid
rancor with Bush: "I'm saying, 'Look, we got into this in a bipartisan way. We
should get out of it in a bipartisan way.' "


LOAD-DATE: May 29, 2001

??????????????????????????????39 of 98 DOCUMENTS

??????????????????????Copyright 2001 The Washington Post

?????????????????????????????The Washington Post

?????????????????????May 29, 2001, Tuesday, Final Edition

SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A02

LENGTH: 639 words

HEADLINE: Energy Chief Moves To Aid California; Transmission Plan Precedes 
Bush
Visit

BYLINE: Mike Allen, Washington Post Staff Writer

DATELINE: LOS ANGELES, May 28

BODY:


???President Bush landed at ground zero of the nation's energy worries 
tonight,
hours after Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham speeded up planning to relieve a
notoriously overloaded electricity transmission line through California. 

???Abraham's holiday action was timed to provide a bit of news for Bush to
announce during his first presidential trip to California, where he is to 
hold a
politically charged private meeting with Gov. Gray Davis (D) on Tuesday. 
Bush's
aides said he will pledge to cooperate with California but will stick to his
position that no action by the federal government can prevent the rolling
blackouts expected this summer.

???Abraham ordered the Western Area Power Administration, a 15-state marketing
arm of his department, to complete planning and seek outside financing for an
increase in transmission capacity that he said would be "a big step in the 
right
direction, and a big step forward for Californians."

???"California's electricity problems developed over a period of years and
cannot be solved overnight," Abraham said in a news release. "However, we can
move now on actions that will help avert the same types of problems from
recurring year after year." Today's action is designed to reduce the 
bottleneck
on California's Path 15, which connects the northern and southern parts of the
state.

???Davis, who is seeking reelection next year, has seen his poll ratings
plummet as electricity prices soared, utilities hit dire financial straits, 
and
homes and businesses were surprised with blackouts.

???Bush has taken several steps to try to encourage additional power 
generation
in the state but has maintained since before he took office that California's 
problems were created here -- through a troubled effort at electricity 
deregulation and public opposition to construction of additional power plants 
--
and would have to be solved here.

???Davis plans to use the meeting to lobby Bush once again to endorse a cap by
the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on the wholesale price of 
electricity.
Again and again, the administration has said it will not take that step.

???"This administration does not, and will not, support energy price 
controls,"
Bush told a business audience in March. "Price controls do not increase 
supply,
and they do not encourage conservation. Price controls contributed to the gas
lines of the 1970s. And the United States will not repeat the mistake again."

???Davis energy advisers told reporters on a conference call today that 
without
the cap, California energy costs could be $ 50 billion higher this year than 
two
years ago. Alan S. Blinder, the Princeton University economist and former
Federal Reserve Bank vice chairman, said on the call that California's energy
crisis "should be enough to get the attention of policymakers in Washington."

???The visit by Bush, who flew here after making a Memorial Day speech at a
fighter aircraft museum in Mesa, Ariz., is being carefully managed to avoid
contact with the general public. After speaking to military families at Camp
Pendleton on Tuesday morning, he plans to address a luncheon meeting of the 
Los
Angeles World Affairs Council, which has sold out of tickets at $ 75 for 
members
or $ 85 for guests.

???Afterward, Bush will hold a closed-door session with business people and
then meet with Davis for 20 minutes. As Bush departs, Davis plans to make an
immediate statement for cameras.

???Although Bush says he has taken more than a dozen steps to help California,
Davis says price caps are essential, and has said he may sue the federal
government in an effort to get them if Bush does not go along.

???"He has been helpful on a number of small matters, and I appreciate his
assistance," Davis said during a telephone interview on Friday. "But the big
enchilada is the price of electricity."



LOAD-DATE: May 29, 2001

??????????????????????????????40 of 98 DOCUMENTS

??????????????????????Copyright 2001 The Washington Post

?????????????????????????????The Washington Post

?????????????????????May 29, 2001, Tuesday, Final Edition

SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A03

LENGTH: 1936 words

HEADLINE: It's Still Dawn for Solar Power in L.A.; Despite City Subsidies,
Homeowners Hesitate to Install Expensive Alternative Energy Source

BYLINE: William Booth, Washington Post Staff Writer

DATELINE: LOS ANGELES

BODY:


???One year ago this city announced its intent to become "the Solar Capital of
the World," with 100,000 roofs covered with solar electric panels by the end 
of
the decade, an audacious goal to transform the homes of this smoggy but sunny
metropolis into miniature power plants.

???To fulfill what is perhaps the nation's most ambitious solar campaign, the
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power began offering substantial "buy 
down"
subsidies that would reimburse rate payers for half the price of each new 
solar
energy system. For the average home, a photovoltaic package costs between $
10,000 and $ 20,000, parts and labor included, before the rebate.

???How many have been installed?

???At last count, about 40.

???That leaves only 99,960 rooftops to go.

???The Bush administration, and especially Vice President Cheney, architect of
its energy plan, have been criticized for skepticism regarding alternative
energy sources. But a close examination of the Los Angeles solar experiment 
and
a review of similar programs suggest the former oilmen in the White House 
have a
point: Solar, at least, has not proven ready for prime time.

???For all of Los Angeles's good intentions, and for all of solar's many
positive attributes, the problems of harnessing its power remain. Some of 
those
challenges are economic and some technological; others are more mundane, but
often ignored, such as finding a qualified contractor a homeowner can trust to
drill dozens of holes in the roofs to mount the things.

???In a reprise of the 1980s, solar again is hot. The price of photovoltaics 
is
dropping and interest is growing. Other states such as New York, Arizona,
Florida and Washington are moving to join California in major efforts to wire
homes to draw power from the sun.

???But as many Americans are beginning to understand, the delivery of energy 
is
like a complex, interconnected assembly line, and the devil lurks in the
details.

???The Los Angeles experiment tells the story shared by other locales. In 
L.A.,
for example, the city's lone solar panel manufacturer has not been able to
supply enough systems to meet demand.

???The systems, too, are often oversold by solar proponents. In the real 
world,
most do not pay for themselves in a few years, as some advocates claim, but 
take
20 years or more to return their initial cost in the form of reduced utility
bills.

???Nor are the systems maintenance-free: At a minimum, the rooftop panels must
be routinely cleaned of pollution, dust and leaves.

???They cannot be installed efficiently on homes without shade-free,
south-facing roofs; the shadow from a neighbor's palm tree can frustrate the
system's photovoltaic cells.

???Nor will the most common systems allow buyers to live "off the grid," 
unless
they want to purchase a large bank of batteries. Even with the batteries,
homeowners probably would not be able to run their washing machines and air
conditioners at the same time.

???"It is not an economic proposition at this point," conceded Terry Peterson,
a solar expert at Electric Power Research Institute in Palo Alto, Calif. But 
one
day, Peterson predicts, 100 years from now, solar energy will provide a
substantial percentage of the world's energy needs. In a decade or two, the 
cost
of solar will likely be competitive with other energy sources such as natural
gas, nuclear or coal.

???But now? It is still a luxury item. "Like buying a swimming pool," Peterson
said.

???"I really like the idea of running my house with solar power," said Andrew
Chin, a potential customer in Los Angeles who has been researching a purchase.
"But they're still pretty expensive, even with the rebates, and so I gotta ask
myself, what am I doing this for," his conscience or his wallet. "I'm 
thinking I
might wait until they work the kinks out."





???The most knowledgeable and experienced solar contractor in Los Angeles is
probably Graham Owen, the founder, owner and single full-time employee of Go
Solar Co.

???His installation of a one-kilowatt solar electric system on a home in the
San Fernando Valley was the first to be awarded a rebate by the Los Angeles
power department in March.

???How many systems has he installed as part of the rebate program? Three.

???But Owen is a true believer, and over the next year, he plans to cover
hundreds of roofs with solar panels. On his shelf, Owen still has an 
unreturned
library book, "The Coming Age of Solar Energy," published in 1963, and checked
out from his high school in Lennox Hills, Ill., in 1979. "I guess we're still
stuck in the coming age of solar energy," he said, smiling. He recalled that 
the
buzz about solar water heaters in the 1980s led to disappointment with shoddy
workmanship and less than spectacular energy savings.

???Until recently, there has been little widespread interest in solar electric
power. Since 1998, the California Energy Commission has been pushing its own
program to encourage homeowners to erect photovoltaic panels on their roofs,
offering to subsidize about one-third of the cost.

???Across a state with a population of about 35 million, only 450 solar energy
systems have been installed on homes.

???Then the California energy crisis struck, with its power interruptions and
steep rate increases, and the phone calls began to overwhelm Owen's voice 
mail.

???"On days with rolling blackouts? I get a hundred calls, maybe more," Owen
says. His Web site, www.solarexpert.com, is now receiving 3,000 hits a day.
Customers are begging him to do jobs.

???The Los Angeles power department reports a similar surge in interest since
the energy crisis began six months ago. "Customer demand has shot through the
roof," says Angelina Galiteva, executive director for strategic planning at 
the
Department of Water and Power. She estimates that her department receives 
1,000
calls on some days about its solar subsidy program.





???Yet while the reliability and cost of solar electric technologies continue
to improve, solar power today accounts for only a sliver of the national pie
chart of energy production -- less than 1 percent. The country produces about
300 megawatts of electricity with solar -- about the same amount produced by a
single mid-sized traditional power plant.

???The current trend for photovoltaics is not to erect large centralized solar
farms in the desert, an experiment that withered in the 1980s, but to pursue
"distributed generation" or individual units on scattered rooftops.

???The problem has consistently been the cost of the solar panels, which has
been too steep to justify them, except for customers who are committed
environmentalists or techies who like the elegance of the systems.

???Los Angeles began its solar experiment after Sacramento legislators 
mandated
that utilities spend about 3 percent of their revenue on efficiency,
conservation and renewable energy. For solar, the power department committed $
75 million over the next five years -- enough to subsidize panels on 7,500
homes.

???The power department will pay $ 5 for each watt of solar installed on a
residence or business. Homeowners typically purchase a one-kilowatt or two-
kilowatt (1,000 or 2,000 watts, respectively) solar electric system, meaning
that the municipal utility would pay between $ 5,000 and $ 10,000 of the cost 
up
front -- an enticing, tax-free offer.

???"For many years, I wanted to do solar, but it was so expensive," said
LaWanda Geary in the San Fernando Valley, who in April had Owen install 32
panels for a two-kilowatt system on her sunny roof. "The rebate really got me
going. I don't know many times when the government offers to pay half of
anything."

???The systems that are eligible for rebates must be tied into a utility's
electric power grid, meaning that during the day, when the sun is shining, the
panels are adding a stream of electrons used by the home to run its lights and
appliances.

???If there is a surplus of solar power, that electricity goes back into the
power lines and is passed along to a neighbor, and the electric meter at the
house actually runs backward. Homeowners, however, are not selling their 
excess
electricity -- they're giving it away to the utility company.

???On cloudy days, and at night, the home is not being powered by solar 
energy,
but getting its electricity the traditional way from the power lines.

???Calculations on savings vary. A two-kilowatt solar system can supply an
average-sized home with 20 to 80 percent of its electrical needs, depending on
how many lights, appliances and air conditioners are running, and how 
efficient
they are.

???After the subsidy, and depending on how the system is paid for (in cash or
with borrowed funds), a solar system can pay for itself in as little as six
years and as much as 36 years. Owen assumes about 20 years.

???Potential solar clients, moreover, often mistakenly assume that going with
the sun will take them off the grid, which is not possible without a large 
bank
of batteries that costs several thousand dollars more. Because the solar 
panels
are still wired to the power grid, if there is a blackout, the power in a 
solar
house goes off, just like everyone else's. If uninterrupted power is needed,
Owen suggests a diesel generator.

???Galiteva does cite one real advantage of solar: It reduces the electricity
that must be purchased from power companies and protects, to some degree, a
solar home from the full brunt of upwardly spiraling rate increases.
Unfortunately for solar enthusiasts, the L.A. Department of Water and Power,
which was not deregulated along with the three other major utilities in
California, has perhaps the cheapest and most stable supply of electricity in
the state, making the economic argument harder to make.





???To receive the full $ 5 per watt subsidy, the L.A. Department of Water and
Power requires a homeowner to purchase solar panels from a manufacturer based 
in
the city. The idea is not only to become the solar capital of the world but 
also
to encourage local growth of an emerging industry and create jobs.

???One hitch is that no solar panel makers were located in Los Angeles.

???After lengthy negotiations, Siemens Solar Industries, based in Camarillo,
Calif., an hour's drive to the north, announced in February that it would 
open a
solar panel manufacturing plant in Los Angeles. But it is not a complete
facility: The L.A. plant does only some final assembly and then the units must
be returned to Camarillo for final testing and shipping.

???Tina Nickerson, a spokeswoman for Siemens Solar, estimates her company has
sold "a couple dozen" to L.A. homeowners for the rebate program. But she, too,
reports that the interest from consumers is sometimes overwhelming and that
supply has been a problem. Most U.S.-manufactured units are shipped overseas 
to
places such as Germany, Japan and Scandinavia, which have had generous 
subsidies
in place for years.

???LaWanda Geary had to call Siemens herself to push them to deliver panels 
for
her house -- and she was eligible for the rebate because of a stopgap 
compromise
that allows to Siemens to ship solar panels from Camarillo until its L.A. 
plant
is fully operational.

???Everyone involved concedes there have been bottlenecks. Siemens now says it
has enough panels to begin to meet demand, and Owen and the city are hoping
things will sort themselves out, especially if more solar manufacturers are
drawn to Los Angeles. But proponents worry about what will happen when the
subsidies run out.

???"Selling solar is now the easy part," Owen says. "I could sell a hundred a
week. It's getting them up on the roof that's the hard part."



LOAD-DATE: May 29, 2001

??????????????????????????????41 of 98 DOCUMENTS

????????????????Copyright 2001 News World Communications, Inc.

?????????????????????????????The Washington Times

?????????????????????May 29, 2001, Tuesday, Final Edition

SECTION: PART A; NATION; INSIDE POLITICS; Pg. A6

LENGTH: 1264 words

BYLINE: Greg Pierce; THE WASHINGTON TIMES

BODY:

??TAKING YOUR MEDICINE

??Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown, who was once governor of California, likens
current Gov. ?Gray Davis' handling of the electricity crisis to his own 
bungling
of the medfly crisis.

??"Here's an analogy to the medfly crisis," Mr. ?Brown said in an interview
with the Los Angeles Times' Douglas Foster. ?"When I first heard about the
medfly, I said, 'Well, it's just a few flies, maybe they'll go away. ?Maybe 
they
won't keep reproducing.' And the winter came, and they stopped reproducing. 
?And
then, somewhere around February or March, I learned about something called
'spring emergence.' As the ground got warmer, the larvae turned into flies and
more medflies started appearing. It got out of hand, and ultimately I had to
order malathion spraying. ?It would have been better had I taken forceful 
action
at the first notice of the medfly."

??Mr. ?Foster asked: "Are you saying that the governor missed opportunities to
act early, in the same way?"

??Mr. ?Brown replied: "There's an analogy there. ?I didn't want to spray
because I knew the people in Santa Clara County didn't want to have 
helicopters
spraying malathion over their homes. ?It didn't sound good. ?As governor, I
wouldn't have wanted to see rate increases either. ?But sometimes you have to
take your medicine early. ?It's less bitter than if you postpone it."

??Mr. ?Davis served as Mr. ?Brown's chief of staff when the latter Democrat 
was
governor.

??ENERGETIC CRITICISM

??President Bush's energy plan, already under fire from Democrats and
environmentalists, is dismissed by National Review, the conservative magazine,
as so much political posturing.

??"The hyperbolic attacks on the Bush plan by environmentalists (as an attempt
to poison the air and kill the caribou) shouldn't trick conservatives into an
exaggerated sense of its merit," the magazine says in an editorial in its
current issue, dated June 11.

??"The basic thrust of the administration's thinking on energy is sound: a
growing economy requires more energy, which in turn entails more production.
But the Bush plan itself is a political document, meant to placate corporate
interests, environmentalists, and everyone in between, and so is festooned 
with
an embarrassment of subsidies and incentives that will, at best, prove an
irrelevance.

??"As Jerry Taylor of the Cato Institute writes in this issue, the phantom
energy crisis is already healing itself. ?Power plants are being built at a 
rate
that outpaces Dick Cheney's benchmark of one plant a week. Altogether, almost
100,000 new daily megawatts of electrcity capacity are scheduled to be 
available
nationwide by next year. ?This is twice the amount of electricity that 
California now uses on an average day. ?While Cheney has been sitting with his
advisers around a White House conference table, investors and entrepreneurs 
have
been digging, building, and refining his energy problem into oblivion. ?By the
time all the Bush plan's tax credits have kicked in, there may well be an 
energy
glut. ?All of this is thanks to the most efficient energy plan known to man:
market pricing."

??WRONG ON BOTH COUNTS

??"The buzz in the media after Sen. ?James Jeffords' switch put Democrats in
control of the Senate was that President Bush must change his ways. ?He has to
become more moderate. ?Why? ?Because only that will prevent more Republican
defections and it's the president's one hope for getting his agenda through
Congress. ?This is wrong on both counts," Fred Barnes writes in the Weekly
Standard.

??"Bush and GOP congressional leaders bent over backwards to accommodate
Jeffords and liberal Democrats on education, the senator's top priority.
Jeffords bolted anyway. ?On taxes, Bush stuck with his conservative tax cut
until nearly the end, when he compromised just enough to assure passage.
Jeffords voted with him," Mr. ?Barnes said.

??"The truth about the impact of Jeffords' move is that no political 
earthquake
has occurred. ?The Senate is ideologically unchanged. ?The swing votes in the
Senate, including John McCain, are important, but they already were. ?There's 
no
clear path to victory for the Bush agenda, after taxes and education, but that
was always true. ?To pass a patients' bill of rights, a prescription-drug
benefit, or missile defense, a bipartisan coalition of some sort will be
essential.

??"Yes, there's one big change with Democrats taking over: judges. ?Bush will
have a harder time getting conservative nominees through a Senate Judiciary
Committee run by Patrick Leahy, perhaps the most partisan Democrat on Capitol
Hill. ?One more downbeat side effect: Jeffords' announcement overshadowed 
Bush's
tax-cut victory, denying him any political momentum he might have gotten from
it."

??INCOHERENT REBEL

??"Before liberals put James Jeffords on Mount Rushmore, can we please stop 
and
note how he's already betrayed Democrats and his own avowed principles by
deciding that his defection won't take effect until after President Bush's
wrongheaded tax cut has been signed into law?" syndicated columnist Matthew
Miller writes.

??"Any traitor (I mean, 'man of conscience') worth his salt shoves the knife 
in
to the hilt - otherwise, what's the point? ?Machiavellis throughout history 
have
wisely advised that when you move against the king, you'd better finish him
off," Mr. ?Miller said.

??"Yet Jeffords took pains to make sure his switch wouldn't derail the
centerpiece of Bush's agenda, the very agenda that inspired Jeffords' move and
which Jeffords had the power to stop via his action.

??"We are dealing, in other words, with a deeply incoherent rebel. ?This would
be a private matter for Jeffords to sort out with his therapist were not his
cowardice in this moment of 'courage' so consequential for the country."

??THE LONELY VERMONTER

??"In the final analysis, Vermont Sen. ?James M. ?Jeffords was out of step 
with
his party, making his departure appropriate, if politically inconvenient. 
?Those
who argue that it was the party out of step with Jeffords, some political
analysts are saying, are those who wish the Republicans no good." UPI 
political
analyst Peter Roff writes.

??"The conservative, low-tax, minimal-government Republican Party enjoys
national parity with the Democrats, something the Northeastern liberal GOP 
could
not achieve. ?Jeffords is, in that regard, these observers say, out of step 
with
victory. ?One GOP consultant went so far as to say, 'If the Republicans were
doing better in New England, Jeffords would not have been so lonely. ?Why is 
it
that the people from states where the GOP usually doesn't win think they can
tell the rest of us how to run the party and what we all should believe? ?It
doesn't make sense.' (spade)

??"There are those in the GOP who regret the loss of the majority that
Jeffords' defection brings, but very few, if any, are mourning the loss of the
lonely Vermonter," Mr. ?Roff said.

??LAST WORDS

??Brill's Content asked PR pros how they would handle Vice President Richard 
B.
Cheney's heart problems.

??"It's inconceivable that Mr. ?Cheney can put in the kind of time we're led 
to
believe he is without putting himself at risk," one public relations man, John
Scanlon, told the magazine. ?"My recipe for controlling the situation would be
photo-ops, access to his schedule, and a couple of exclusive articles. ?He's 
got
to convince people he's fit for the job."

??Unfortunately, Mr. ?Scanlon did not live to see his quote in the magazine's
June issue, the New York Post reports. ?He died of a heart attack.

??* Greg Pierce can be reached at 202/636-3285 or by e-mail at
gpierce@washingtontimes.com.

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????????????????Copyright 2001 News World Communications, Inc.

?????????????????????????????The Washington Times

?????????????????????May 29, 2001, Tuesday, Final Edition

SECTION: PART A; NATION; Pg. A4

LENGTH: 809 words

HEADLINE: Bush faces tough sell on visit to California;

Davis likely to be rebuffed on price caps

BYLINE: Joseph Curl; THE WASHINGTON TIMES

DATELINE: LOS ANGELES

BODY:

??LOS ANGELES - Twenty minutes - that's how long Gov. ?Gray Davis, who has
accused the Bush administration of ignoring California's energy crisis, will
have to sway President Bush in a meeting today to consider imposing federal
price caps on wholesale power prices.

??His plea likely will fall on deaf ears.

??"That's simply not going to happen," said one senior Bush official. Both Mr.
Bush and Vice President Richard B. ?Cheney, who on Friday again blamed the 
state
government of California for the energy crunch, oppose cap measures.

??In his first visit to California since the presidential election, where he
lost the state to former Vice President Al Gore by 54 percent to 41 percent, 
Mr.
Bush hopes to sell his national energy policy to a vocal group of opponents.
But the hue and cry has been muted of late since residents have battled 
rolling
blackouts and sky-high gasoline prices.

??A new poll released Friday shows 59 percent of Californians, many of whom
have been longtime foes of nuclear energy, now believe the non-polluting 
energy
source may be the way to solve the state's problems.

??Mr. ?Davis' popularity has plummeted. ?The Democrat, facing re-election next
year and often mentioned as a presidential candidate, is viewed as having 
"poor
job performance" by 60 percent of Californians, according to a survey by the
Public Policy Institute of California.

??In a small gesture to California, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham yesterday
announced plans to increase transmission capacity in California, which he said
would be a "big step" in easing rolling power blackouts.

??Abraham ordered the Western Area Power Administration - an Energy Department
arm responsible for marketing electricity from federal water projects in 15
Western states - to wrap up planning for building extra transmission capacity.

??The governor has repeatedly blamed Mr. ?Bush, who took office four months
ago, for the energy crunch in California. ?He points the finger of blame far
outside the state's boundaries, primarily at Washington and Mr. Bush's home
state.

??"The people that have dropped the ball are the federal government," Mr. 
Davis
said last week. ?"They need to reimpose a price cap because we're being
obscenely gouged by price gougers out of Texas and the Southwest. ?. . . 
There's
a massive transfer of wealth going on from ordinary citizens in California to
Texas."

??Mr. ?Davis has also charged that utility companies are withholding power in
order to drive up prices, a claim the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has
investigated and dismissed.

??Mr. ?Bush and Mr. ?Cheney have often pointed out that California is second
only to Rhode Island in conservation efforts, but the state is on the brink of
an energy supply collapse.

??Still, despite the state's failure to build new power plants, Mr. Davis says
California is entitled to a federal bailout approved by Mr. Bush.

??"I'm going to keep asking him to do it because we're part of America. The
state, the last three years, has led American economic growth. ?. . . We're
doing everything we can out here," he said.

??In the Democratic response to the president's weekly radio address, Mr. 
Davis
accused the president, a former oil man, of being concerned only with the
petroleum magnates.

??"With all due respect, I urge you to stand up to your friends in the energy
business and exercise the federal government's exclusive responsibility to
ensure that energy prices are reasonable," he said.

??Many analysts, however, blame the state's deregulation scheme and failure to
construct adequate electrical generating capacity. ?The price wholesale power
providers can charge utilities is not capped, but the fee those companies can
charge users is capped - resulting in massive debt for providers.

??The state was slow to respond to increased demand, the analysts say, even
though the state is building 10 new power plants, four of which will come on
line this summer.

??In his national energy policy, Mr. ?Bush lays out 105 proposals that focus 
on
increasing domestic supply, improving the nation's ability to move energy
between regions and increased conservation. ?But the policy is geared more
toward long-term solutions - such as decreasing America's reliance on foreign
oil - than short-term relief for Californians and motorists nationwide.

??Mr. ?Cheney, who heads the president's energy task force and said Friday 
that
California knew "for more than a year" about the impending energy shortage, 
has
promoted nuclear power as essential to America's energy needs. ?He said that 
at
least some of the 65 power plants that need to be built annually to meet 
future
electricity demand ought to be nuclear.

??A poll by the Field Institute last week found many Californians now agree.
Although nuclear energy produces 20 percent of the nation's energy, 
California 
has just two nuclear plants.

GRAPHIC: Photo, Gov. ?Gray Davis 

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??????????????????????????????43 of 98 DOCUMENTS

????????????????????Copyright 2001 Chicago Tribune Company

???????????????????????????????Chicago Tribune

???????????????May 29, 2001 Tuesday, NORTH SPORTS FINAL EDITION

SECTION: News; Pg. 6; ZONE: N

LENGTH: 514 words

HEADLINE: Bush backs WW II project

BYLINE: From Tribune news services.

DATELINE: LOS ANGELES

BODY:

??President Bush promised World War II veterans a Washington memorial that
"will stand for the ages" and paid Memorial Day tribute to America's fallen
soldiers before embarking on a three-day West Coast swing to try to ease his
political problems in California.

??Bush landed at ground zero of the nation's energy worries Monday night, 
hours
after Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham speeded up planning to relieve a
notoriously overloaded electricity transmission line through California. ?

??Abraham's action was timed to provide a bit of news for Bush to announce
during his first presidential trip to California, where he is to hold a
politically charged private meeting with Democratic Gov. Gray Davis on 
Tuesday.
Bush's aides said he will pledge to cooperate with California but will stick 
to
his position that no action by the federal government can prevent the rolling
blackouts that are expected this summer.

??Abraham ordered the Western Area Power Administration, a 15-state marketing
arm of his department, to complete planning and seek outside financing for an
increase in transmission capacity that he said would be "a big step in the 
right
direction, and a big step forward for Californians."

??"California's electricity problems developed over a period of years and
cannot be solved overnight," Abraham said in a news release. "However, we can
move now on actions that will help avert the same types of problems from
recurring year after year." Monday's action is designed to reduce the 
bottleneck
on California's Path 15, which connects the northern and southern parts of the
state.

??Davis, who is seeking re-election next year, has seen his poll ratings
plummet as electricity prices soared, utilities hit dire financial straits and
homes and businesses were surprised with blackouts.

??For most of Monday, however, Bush focused on U.S. veterans and the solemn
ceremonies in two states honoring those who never returned from America's 
wars.

??"Their losses can be marked, but not measured," Bush said at the traditional
Memorial Day ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. "We can
never measure the full value of what was gained in their sacrifice. We live it
every day, in the comforts of peace and the gifts of freedom."

??Bush also laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns.

??Later he traveled to Mesa, Ariz., to pay tribute to veterans at the Champlin
Fighter Aircraft Museum. He asked the crowd to observe a nationwide moment of
silence at 3 p.m. Arizona time.

??"Any foe who might challenge our national resolve will be repeating the 
grave
error of defeated adversaries," the president said.

??Bush opened the day at the White House, where he signed legislation to
construct a World War II monument on the National Mall, a setting criticized 
by
some. Bush said the monument between the Washington Monument and Lincoln
Memorial "will stand for the ages."

??"I will make sure the monument gets built," the president told an audience 
of
veterans in the yellow-curtained East Room, among them former Sen. Bob Dole
(R-Kan.), who has supported the memorial.

??.

GRAPHIC: PHOTOPHOTO (color): President Bush and Maj. Gen. James T. Jackson
attend Monday's wreath-laying at Arlington National Cemetery's Tomb of the
Unknowns. AP photo by Ron Edmonds.

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??????????????????????????????44 of 98 DOCUMENTS

?????????????????????????????The Associated Press

The materials in the AP file were compiled by The Associated Press. ?These
materials may not be republished without the express written consent of The
Associated Press.

???????????????????????May 29, 2001, Tuesday, BC cycle

?????????????????????????????7:55 AM Eastern Time

SECTION: Domestic News

LENGTH: 604 words

HEADLINE: Bush announcing low-income aid, but no price caps

BYLINE: By SCOTT LINDLAW, Associated Press Writer

DATELINE: LOS ANGELES

BODY:

??President Bush traveled across the country to deliver news Gov. Gray Davis 
doesn't want to hear: He won't force down soaring electricity prices that have
cost California nearly $8 billion since January.

??The Republican president and the embattled Democratic governor arranged a
20-meeting Tuesday to talk about California's energy crisis, but there was no
indication they would break their stalemate.

??Bush opposes price limits on wholesale electricity that utilities buy,
arguing they do nothing to address supply-and-demand issues at the heart of 
the
crisis.

??Davis contends federal energy regulators are ignoring their mandate to 
ensure
"just and fair" electricity prices.

??With no sign of a break in the deadlock, each side maneuvered for maximum
advantage from Bush's first full day in California as president.

??Davis, in an interview Tuesday on ABC's "Good Morning America," defended his
record on licensing more power plants.

??"We've licensed 15 plants. Ten are under construction, four will be online
this summer, four next summer, and by the end of 2003 we will have built our 
way
out of this problem. But between now and then, we are getting gouged
unbelievably," Davis said.

??The Bush administration timed positive energy announcements to coincide with
the president's visit.

??At the Marine Corps base at Camp Pendleton, Bush was announcing the 
expansion
of a program that provides federal money to help low-income residents pay for
power.

??Bush was proposing $150 million, in addition to $300 million already 
budgeted
for a component of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, to provide
special help to cash-strapped residents of California and certain Midwest 
areas
such as Chicago, a senior administration aide said.

??Bush was also reminding state residents of his order that military 
facilities
in the state cut peak-hour usage by 10 percent.

??To alleviate an electricity bottleneck on a crucial south-north transmission
path, the Department of Energy announced that the Western Area Power Authority
will try to raise money from a variety of private and public entities to 
finance
a crucial additional lines.

??"The Bush administration is taking a leadership role in addressing a
long-neglected problem in California's electricity transmission system," said
Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham. "California's electricity problems developed
over a period of years and cannot be solved overnight. However, we can move 
now
on actions that will help avert the same types of problems from recurring year
after year."

??Davis had a letter for Bush from top economists who maintain price caps are
justified and necessary.

??Aides to the governor expressed amazement that Bush would travel all the way
to California with no major announcement in hand, and predicted Davis would
respond with "polite rage."

??Mindful of the national stage he commanded, Davis planned a news conference
to air his grievances. And he convened a panel of families he said have been
victimized by the energy crisis in the same hotel where Bush was staying.

??Davis wants Bush to pressure the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to
impose stiff price caps.

??Tuesday, limited caps ordered last month by FERC go into effect in
California, but only when electricity reserves fall below 7.5 percent in the
state - a step Davis called inadequate.

??Protesters planned demonstrations in Los Angeles and at Camp Pendleton, in
San Diego County.

??Bush also arranged a speech on energy and trade to the Los Angeles World
Affairs Council and planned to president over a closed-door energy round-table
discussion.

GRAPHIC: AP Photos DSM106, KDJ102

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??????????????????????????????45 of 98 DOCUMENTS

???????????????????The Associated Press State & Local Wire

The materials in the AP file were compiled by The Associated Press. ?These
materials may not be republished without the express written consent of The
Associated Press.

???????????????????????May 29, 2001, Tuesday, BC cycle

?????????????????????????????7:31 AM Eastern Time

SECTION: State and Regional

LENGTH: 594 words

HEADLINE: Stakes are high for Davis meeting with Bush

BYLINE: By GARY GENTILE, AP Business Writer

DATELINE: LOS ANGELES

BODY:

??With California facing a summer of outages, Gov. Gray Davis was to meet
President Bush to press for a federal cap on energy prices.

??But Davis wasn't expected to win any concessions during the 20-minute 
Tuesday
meeting where he's expected to point to Texas energy makers.

??Davis has appeared on national news programs attacking Bush for opposing
price controls on wholesale electricity, and suggesting the president has
ignored price-gouging by Texas-based electricity generators.

??"The president did not create this problem, but he is uniquely situated to
solve it," Davis said Monday. "What I'm going to ask him to do, with all
respect, is to enforce federal law. The money that leaves this state goes
directly to energy companies in Texas and the Southwest."

??If Bush refuses to administer price controls as expected, Davis can use that
as ammunition in his sparring with the administration.

??Bush has blamed California officials for the state's power woes and said
price controls won't solve shortages. Instead, they said, Bush plans to stress
his efforts to conserve energy in federal buildings and will bring one or two
new initiatives to the table.

??One of them commits the federal government to helping organize a consortium
to build more power lines for the state.

??Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham directed the Western Area Power
Administration, a federal agency, to take the first steps to clear the way for
building more transmission capacity between southern and northern California.
That would help relieve a transmission bottleneck in the central part of the
state.

??While this will not help this summer, Abraham said in a statement the line
improvements, when completed, "will help avert the same types of problems from
recurring year after year."

??The stakes of the meeting are high for both politicians.

??Davis, who has been mentioned as a Democratic challenger to Bush in 2004,
wants federal help to solve an energy crunch that threatens rolling outages 
this
summer and has cost state taxpayers nearly $8 million since January - the 
price
of buying power for two cash-starved private utilities. And his plan to rescue
one of those companies reportedly is faltering.

??Leaders of both the state Senate and Assembly oppose a $3 billion-plus plan
to bail out Southern California Edison by buying its power lines, the Los
Angeles Times reported Monday.

??Bush, meanwhile, needs to mend fences in vote-heavy California. The
Republican president lost badly here in November, and polls show most
Californians dislike his handling of their energy crisis.

??Bush's Tuesday agenda was heavy on energy issues. At the Marine Corps base 
at
Camp Pendleton, near San Diego, Bush was to highlight his order that federal
agencies and installations cut back energy use. Then it was on to Los Angeles 
to
discuss his energy plan in a speech to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council.

??Bush was confronted by the issue virtually as he stepped off the plane 
Monday
in Los Angeles. Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Los Angeles, escorted the Academic
Decathlon national championship team from El Camino Real High School in 
Woodland
Hills to meet Bush. He told the president California needs regulation of
electric generators.

??"The president seems to believe just by instinct that rate regulation 
reduces
supply and also by instinct that all those in the energy industry are fair
people who are not trying to game the system," Sherman said. "Anyone who 
studies
the facts in California knows that power is being withheld in order to drive 
up
the price."

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????????????????Copyright 2001 Burrelle's Information Services

???????????????????????????????????ABC NEWS

??????????????????????SHOW: WORLD NEWS NOW (2:00 AM ET)

?????????????????????????????May 28, 2001, Monday

TYPE: Newscast

LENGTH: 447 words

HEADLINE: PRESIDENT BUSH VISITS CALIFORNIA WHERE POLITICIANS ARE CRITICAL OF 
HIS
LACK OF ACTION FOR THEIR ENERGY CRISIS

ANCHORS: DEREK McGINTY

REPORTERS: JOSH GERSTEIN

BODY:

??DEREK McGINTY, co-anchor:

??When Air Force One touches down in California today it will mark President
Bush's first visit to the Golden State since taking office. Now that fact has
not been lost on Governor Gray Davis who has accused the president of ignoring
his state's power crisis. ?As ABC's Josh Gerstein tells us, Mr. Bush's visit
could have major ramifications for his presidency and his party.

??JOSH GERSTEIN reporting:

??(VO) Since taking office, President Bush has visited 28 states, but until
this week he had not found time on his schedule to visit the nation's most
populous state, California.

??Mr. DAN SCHNUR (GOP Political Consultant): Because the state is going 
through
such extraordinary times right now because of the energy crisis, his absence 
has
been much more noticeable, and the discussion about it's been much more
heightened.

??GERSTEIN: (VO) Democrats have begun an aggressive effort to paint the
president and other Republicans as obstacles to resolving the energy crisis.

??Offscreen Voice: (From TV Commercial) President Bush has offered no relief 
to
hard-pressed rate payers.

??Text:

??"The President...believe(s) that the issue is mostly a California matter..."

??GERSTEIN: (VO) On Tuesday, Mr. Bush meets with California Governor Gray
Davis. ?He, and other Democrats, want the federal government to impose caps on
wholesale prices for electricity. 

??Representative ANNA ESHOO (Democrat, California): Our people are hurting.
We're bleeding in the sand. ?We need a tourniquet, and the president is the 
one
that can do this.

??GERSTEIN: (VO) During his trip, President Bush plans to highlight the 
federal
government's conservation efforts, but aides say he will not endorse price 
caps.

??Mr. TUCKER ESKEW (Director, White House Media Affairs): The president
believes that capping wholesale prices would do nothing to lower demand, or
increase supply, the two fundamental solutions to any energy problem such as
this.

??GERSTEIN: Holding the line against price caps may have political costs. Most
analysts give Mr. Bush little chance of winning California in 2004, but
Republican congressmen there face re-election next year. ?So far, five of them
have endorsed some kind of limit on electricity pricing.

??Representative RANDY CUNNINGHAM (Republican, California): We're in an 
extreme
emergency right now. ?It takes extreme measures.

??Unidentified Woman: We are in rolling blackouts.

??GERSTEIN: (VO) While electricity may be in very short supply in California 
this summer, the president and politicians of all stripes are likely to find
there's more than enough voter anger to go around. ?Josh Gerstein, ABC News, 
the
White House.

LOAD-DATE: May 29, 2001