Subject: RE: letter to editor of Wall Street Journal
From: [email-masked]
To: [email-masked]
Cc: [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 9 Aug 2000 04:06:00 -0700 (PDT)

Mark:  Just wanted you to be aware per our request, Bill Paxon sent the 
attached Letter to the Editor of the Wall Street Journal on behalf of AAE.  
We hope his political standing will enhance the chances for the paper to 
print it.

August 9, 2000

Wall Street Journal
200 Liberty Street
New York, NY 10281

Dear Editor:

John Fialka and Rebecca Smith are to be congratulated for the first piece of
journalism I am aware of that has attempted to explain what is really behind
the energy problems in the overheated West (Deregulation Leaves Electricity
Market Ripe for Manipulation by Power Firms, August 4). As this piece makes
clear, these crises of capacity and delivery of electricity around the
nation are doomed to continue for a simple reason:  electricity is a new
game, still being played under old rules. It is becoming a competitive
market, but the old rules written for a government-sanctioned monopoly market 
haven't been
updated.

As a result, some old-line utilities are exploiting and even contributing to
the crises with behavior that is not controlled by the old rules. As the
story details, utilities can drive prices up, exacerbate the energy shortage
by withholding electricity from the grid, or impede the free flow of
electricity across lines they control.  It's gamesmanship, very profitable
and not illegal, but definitely not in the public interest.

There is a very simple fix to the problem.  Write new rules.  Some old
laws need to be repealed. Some new oversight over this interstate commodity
has to be given the Federal government so that the general welfare gains
some control over local profiteering.  There are bills in Congress that make
these fixes. But a few powerful utilities block their passage. As long as
this blockade remains in effect, the industry cannot move forward to
modernize itself, build new generating capacity, and streamline the way
electricity moves from region to region.  Some day, Congress will pass the
needed legislation. Why not now?

Sincerely,

Bill Paxon
National Chairman
Americans for Affordable Electricity