---------------------- Forwarded by Kay Mann/Corp/Enron on 03/26/2001 12:01 
PM ---------------------------
   
	
	
	From:  Kathleen Carnahan                           03/26/2001 11:33 AM
	

To: Ann Elizabeth White/HOU/ECT@ECT
cc: Kay Mann/Corp/Enron@Enron, Carlos Sole/NA/Enron@Enron 

Subject: Cities unite to fight Enron

The latest from Florida re: Pompano Beach.

Kathleen
---------------------- Forwarded by Kathleen Carnahan/NA/Enron on 03/26/2001 
11:29 AM ---------------------------


Rebecca.Walker@enron.com on 03/26/2001 10:50:20 AM
Please respond to Rebecca.Walker@enron.com
To: Kathleen.Carnahan@enron.com
cc:  

Subject: Cities unite to fight Enron

From: Rebecca



--------------------
Cities unite to fight Enron 
--------------------

By JEREMY MILARSKY
Staff Writer

March 24, 2001

Before the battle begins, it's a good idea to have some ammunition.

That's why at least four cities have agreed to pay $10,000 to an 
environmental engineering firm based in Syracuse, N.Y., to shore up 
information about Enron Corp. and its plan to build two power plants in 
Pompano Beach and Deerfield Beach. 

Politicians in those cities want to have all the facts about the company and 
its plans when they attend a Monday evening public hearing hosted by the 
state Department of Environmental Protection. State officials planned the 
hearing, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at the Pompano Beach Civic Center, in order 
to hear concerns and comments about the state agency's plan to grant a permit 
allowing Enron to build the plant.

The cities -- which so far include Coconut Creek, Margate, Coral Springs and 
Parkland -- have hired O'Brien and Gere Engineering Inc. for $10,000, said 
Dave Rivera, assistant city manager of Coconut Creek. City commissioners in 
North Lauderdale are considering joining the deal. If they do, each city will 
pay the firm $2,000.

If they hope to sink Enron's plans, city officials concede the task won't be 
easy. The company has plants all over the world, and Enron CEO Kenneth Lay 
happens to be friends with President Bush.

"Do I think there's a chance to defeat them?" North Lauderdale Mayor Gary 
Frankel said. "Well, I bet they have more money than God. But we have to 
protect our interests."

A second element of the cities' deal with O'Brien and Gere calls for the 
engineers to look for any evidence the cities can use to ask the DEP for a 
formal administrative hearing on the proposed plants. 

"We're reviewing what has been submitted by Enron," said David Priddy, 
regional marketing manager for O'Brien and Gere. "We're prepping [city 
officials] for the Monday hearing, and we're advising them on the possibility 
of an administrative review."

Some people who live in and around Pompano Beach, as well as the politicians 
who represent them, have concerns about Enron Corp. The company wants to 
build a 510-megawatt plant south of Sample Road and east of Florida's 
Turnpike in Pompano, along with a similar plant on Green Road in Deerfield 
Beach.

Both plants would burn clean natural gas, and according to the company, there 
would be little effect on North Broward's air quality. Enron spokesman Eric 
Thode said he welcomes a review by O'Brien and Gere. He predicted the firm 
will conclude, as state officials did, that the plant will be mostly harmless.

"If they want to analyze the same things that the DEP did, they're going to 
find the same things," Thode said. "This is a state- of-the-art plant that 
will benefit South Floridians."

As a back-up fuel, the plant may burn diesel fuel, which emits some 
pollutants into the air. That has Coral Springs Mayor John Sommerer worried, 
because his city is often downwind from Pompano Beach. "We would agree to 
back off if they agree to burn solely natural gas," he said.

Opposition is also forming in Deerfield Beach, where Mayor Al Capellini has 
formed a committee to gather more information about Enron's plans for a plant 
there.

The public hearing for the plant's state permit will be from 7:30 to 9 p.m. 
Monday at the Pompano Beach Civic Center, 1801 NE Sixth St.

Jeremy Milarsky can be reached at jmilarsky@sun-sentinel.com or 954-572-2020.



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