Patrick
Wood
III
Chairman
of FERC
The Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission (FERC) is the agency that will decide if Fall River
/ Somerset
are to host an LNG terminal. The Chairman of FERC,
Patrick Wood III, plays a key role in the siting of this
and
other LNG facilities. To understand Mr. Wood we must first look at his
background and how he has
handled his chairmanship at FERC. As
you read the following information ask yourself this question:
Do I
believe that FERC and Chairman Pat Wood III will protect the safety
of my family and ignore the
wishes of the big and powerful energy
companies and their attorneys?
Mr. Wood has a B.S. in
Civil Engineering and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He worked as an
engineer for
ARCO Indonesia and then as an attorney for the Baker
Botts law firm. Yes, this is the same law firm
representing Weaver’s Cove Energy and HESS LNG! For more
information on Baker Botts see “Follow
the Money” on this web
site.
In 1994, Kenneth Lay of
the infamous ENRON Corporation, asked then Governor George Bush of Texas
to
name Mr. Wood to the Texas Public Utility Commission. Governor
Bush followed through with the request.
Kenneth Lay said that Mr.
Wood had a new vision, and that new vision was his desire to impose
deregulation saying that competition can do better than regulation in
delivering customer benefits.
In 2000 Kenneth Lay then commended
Pat Wood III to head up FERC as its Chairman. President Bush once
again followed through and nominated Mr. Wood to become chairman of
the very powerful and influential
Federal Regulatory
Commission.
California Energy Crisis: How Patrick Wood III treats
other citizens of this nation.
During the years of 2000 and 2001
California and the West Coast went through an energy deregulation
nightmare. Energy prices skyrocketed and thousands of workers lost
their jobs due to price increases. The
nation was told that
California had itself to blame since they had not prepared for the
increase in electrical
demand.
Today we are finding out
that what we were not told the whole story. Several companies, ENRON being
one,
actually manipulated the energy market and gouged the rate
payers millions if not billions of dollars. FERC,
under the
leadership of Patrick Wood III, had the power to block unreasonable rates
but allowed energy
prices to soar 50 times normal
levels.
During this time ENRON energy traders were illegally
manipulating the market. Taped conversations
between ENRON
employees have now surfaced.
ENRON Trader: “If the line’s not
congested then I just look if I can congest it.”
ENRON Trader 2:
“Right, right.”
Enron Trader: “So, like those hours, if you can congest
it, that’s a money-maker no matter what, cause you’
re not losin
any money to move it down that line.”
Another money making scheme
for ENRON was to purchase power in California and send the electric to
Oregon. As this was done a utility company would be paid $5 per
megawatt to disguise the origin of the
power. This same
electrical power would then be sold back to California on an emergency
“Out of Market”
basis for $750 a megawatt hour. This quick scheme
netted $222,678.00 for the deal.
ENRON traders had nicknames for
their schemes such as “Ricochet, Death Star, Ping Pong, and
Sidewinder”.
A public utility commission on the West Coast,
Snohomish County Public Utility District, has already identified
$6.3 million in unjust ENRON profits and they estimate it could be at
least $1.1 billion. Where was FERC and
Pat Wood III when all this
was taking place? Where are they now?
Senator Maria Cantwell of
Washington said, “It will be next to impossible for the ratepayers of the
West to
get the justice they deserve if FERC continues to either
ignore or suppress evidence demonstrating ENRON’
s intent to
manipulate markets and gouge consumers”.
What kind of protection
will the citizens of Fall River, Somerset, Swansea, etc. receive from FERC
when on
the West coast they have been slow to protect the
consumers? It is a well known fact that both Kenneth Lay
and his
wife Linda donated 100’s of thousands of dollars to George Bush’s campaign
and to a political party.
Do donations of this magnitude carry
any weight?
A scathing letter was recently sent to Patrick Wood III
from Douglas Heller, Executive Director, Foundation
for Taxpayers
and Consumer Rights. Following are some excerpts from the
letter:
“We have received a
copy of your June 7, 2004 letter to Senator Barbara Boxer and are appalled
at your indifference to both
already established facts
surrounding Enron’s gaming of California ratepayers and to the suffering
of Californians due to
market manipulations perpetrated by
companies that you regulate.”
“Most disturbing
is the misstatement of conclusions already reached by your agency and that
you show far more empathy for
the discredited positions of Ken
Lay, who first recommended you as a utility commissioner to then-Governor
Bush, than for
Californians. Despite the revelation by CBS News
of taped conversations among ENRON employees revealing overtly
criminal behavior by Lay’s employees (and explicit acknowledgement
that Mr. Lay himself was in on the schemes), you have
once again
dismissed evidence of one of the largest crimes against consumers in our
nation’s history.”
The letter goes onto to
quote certain statements made by Mr. Wood and then counters those
statements.
Wood: “the Commission found no evidence that there was
market manipulation. . .”
Heller: “In fact, that conclusion
contradicts the findings of your own agency. According to FERC’s “Final
Report on Price Manipulation in Western Markets” of March 26,
2003 the manipulated spot market prices
“significantly
influenced” the energy prices agreed to in longer term
contracts”
Here we have a FERC report saying one thing and then the
Chairman, Pat Wood III, saying something else.
This is similar to
the recent ABS LNG report commissioned by FERC. It had some devastating
numbers
when it comes to the destruction an LNG spill could
produce. Recently, Gordon Shearer of Weaver’s Cove,
said those
numbers have been reduced. Do we really believe FERC and the new totals?
Do we really think
that FERC will protect us?
The letter
goes on for two pages and ends with this:
“There is no
excuse for your unwillingness to confront the abhorrent economic crimes
that gave way to the deregulation
disaster of 2000 and 2001. It
is time that you stand up for consumers.”
This hands off approach by
FERC and Pat Wood III is very similar to what is taking place in our
backyard.
Rich McGuire of FERC told a crowd in Tiverton that the
Weaver’s Cove project is not FERC’s project. This is
not true, in
reality Weaver’s Cove and all other LNG projects are really FERC’s
projects. FERC makes the
final decisions and continues to tell
the states that they are the sole power when making the decision on
locating LNG facilities.
In California Michael Peevey,
President of the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has been
telling
FERC that they, the PUC, want a share in the jurisdiction
when it comes to the safety and siting of an LNG
terminal in the
state. FERC is trying to assert exclusive jurisdiction and they are
attempting to preclude the
PUC and other state agencies from
having any authority in siting the facilities.
After reading the
above information do you trust FERC, Pat Wood III and the other
Commissioners to protect
your safety and
interest?
