A wild week in Iowa.  By the end of the day Tuesday, it became clear to all 
parties that the bill would not be called for a vote.  The customers were 
unwilling to give anymore on the enviroment issues and the democrats would 
similarly not back off their positions.  Mid American then switched gears to 
pull out all the stops on getting labor support in order to trump the enviro 
supporters.  Mid American put forward a proposal to the unions/legislators 
that they would commit to build 2 power plants in the state of Iowa (as 
opposed to developing in Illinois) over the next 5 years that would employ 
union labor. Mid American also had it's top management making many visits 
this week---Greg Abel and I believe also David Sokol.  (No Warren Buffet 
sightings yet!!!!)This offer created a flurry of activity on both sides, but 
at the end of the day Thursday, the state IBEW group let it be known that 
they would still not support the bill even with the Mid Am proposal.

Mid American believes that the Republicans now have a hook to force the 
democrats into voting for the de reg bill, by saying that if they don't vote 
affirmative, they are not for economic development in the rural/struggling 
areas of the state where the power plants would be built.  

WHile I may not share Mid American's positive assessment, the proponent's 
group continues it's advocacy and will meet with legilsators in their 
districts over the weekend. The senate leadership agreed to hold off 
reconvening the committee until Monday afternoon in an effort to allow any 
last minute maneuvering over the week end.
---------------------- Forwarded by Susan M Landwehr/HOU/EES on 04/14/2000 
05:43 PM ---------------------------


Susan M Landwehr
04/10/2000 11:15 PM
To: Richard Shapiro/HOU/EES@EES, Harry Kingerski/HOU/EES@EES, Janine 
Migden/DUB/EES@EES, Becky L Merola/DUB/EES@EES, Mark Harada/HOU/EES@EES, 
Scott Stoness/HOU/EES@EES, Ajit Gill/HOU/EES@EES, Richard D 
Rathvon/HOU/EES@EES, Barton Clark/HOU/ECT@ECT, John Moore/Corp/Enron@Enron, 
Ben Jacoby/HOU/ECT@ECT, Stephen Plauche/Corp/Enron@Enron, Fred 
Mitro/HOU/ECT@ECT, Janel Guerrero/Corp/Enron@Enron, Daniel Reck/HOU/ECT@ECT, 
Christi L Nicolay/HOU/ECT@ECT, Lon Stanton/ET&S/Enron@Enron, Barbara A 
Hueter/DUB/EES@EES, Roy Boston/HOU/EES@EES, Kerry Stroup/DUB/EES@EES, 
dmangsk@enron.com, Thomas S Reichelderfer/DUB/EES@EES, Steven J 
Kean/HOU/EES@EES, Elizabeth Linnell/HOU/EES@EES
cc:  
Subject: Iowa de reg update

The latest from Des Moines.  The chair(republican) of the Senate committee 
had a hearing this morning to consider all of the enviromental amendments put 
forward by the Democrats and it was clear that no Dems would vote for the 
eventual bill without their amendments, so the chair recessed the committee 
without a vote.  The committee can be recalled at any time, but the general 
sense is that it will not be brought back up without at least 2 democrat 
votes guaranteed.  As is often the case in these debates, the proponents 
continue to try many strategies, but all of us agree that without direct 
intervention from Governor Vilsack, the democrats will not come around. As 
stated in my earlier message, I am not optimistic about passage.  Tempers are 
running very high and it is very possible that the utilities will try to cut 
a deal at the last minute that will negatively impact the customers (likely 
by rate impacts on envriomental/efficiency programs).  Please give me a call  
#612-339-4599 if you want any added insight.


---------------------- Forwarded by Susan M Landwehr/HOU/EES on 04/10/2000 
10:47 PM ---------------------------


Susan M Landwehr
04/05/2000 12:24 PM
To: Richard Shapiro/HOU/EES@EES, Harry Kingerski/HOU/EES@EES, Janine 
Migden/DUB/EES@EES, Becky L Merola/DUB/EES@EES, Mark Harada/HOU/EES@EES, 
Scott Stoness/HOU/EES@EES, Ajit Gill/HOU/EES@EES
cc: Richard D Rathvon/HOU/EES@EES, Barton Clark/HOU/ECT@ECT, John 
Moore/Corp/Enron@Enron, Ben Jacoby/HOU/ECT@ECT, Stephen 
Plauche/Corp/Enron@Enron, Fred Mitro/HOU/ECT@ECT, Janel Guerrero/HOU/EES@EES, 
Daniel Reck/HOU/ECT@ECT, Christi L Nicolay/HOU/ECT@ECT, Lon 
Stanton/ET&S/Enron@Enron, Barbara A Hueter/DUB/EES@EES, Roy 
Boston/HOU/EES@EES, Kerry Stroup/DUB/EES@EES, dmangsk@enron.com, Thomas S 
Reichelderfer/DUB/EES@EES 
Subject: Iowa de reg update

The Iowa customer choice bill has run into some significant roadblacks the 
last few days due to the political maneuvering of the Democrats.  As you will 
recall, the House Republicans have always stated that they needed Democrat 
votes in order to bring the matter to the floor for a vote.  Despite Governor 
Vilsack's stated support for the measure last week as well as last weekend, 
the House  Democrat leadership is unwilling to push their members, as they 
want to use this bill against the Republicans in the House races this fall. 
(The tactic they will take is that residential rates will rise in the 
Southeastern part of the state due to the Republicans passing the bill).

The primary issue that the Dems are using as a reason not to vote for the 
bill is that the enviromental protections/funds are not high enough.  The 
Republicans are unhappy about the exhorbitant amount of funds and the RPS 
that are already in the bill, and are not willing to vote for an amended bill 
that the Dems are pushing for.  The enviros and the unions are, as they have 
been for the last 6 months, the dividing force in this debate.

Therefore, the proponents coalition moved their efforts to the Senate, with 
the hope of getting a vote out this week and then move it back over to the 
HOuse.  While we had a good commitment from Senate leadership (both Dems and 
Republicans) on Monday, that support has eroded as of this morning.  We are 
trying a number of tactics, and hope that there will be some positive 
movement today and tomorrow.  Without the Governor stepping up to the plate 
and "encouraging" the democrats to gather the number of democrat votes 
neccessary this week, I am not optimistic about passage.

There are still two-three weeks of session left, so this debate could rage 
until then, but my sense is that if we don't get something out of the Senate 
by the end of this week or early next week, we'll be dead.  Call if you have 
any questions.
#612-339-4599