Subject: Eurelectric conference - PR issues in Spain
From: [email-masked]
To: [email-masked]
Cc: [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 8 Jun 2001 11:47:00 -0700 (PDT)

Fiona Grant mentioned to me that you will be speaking at the Eurelectric 
meeting in Madrid on Monday and we thought that you might therefore be 
interested to see the attached note summarising the current PR situation with 
respect to our power plant developments in Spain.  

FYI Greenpeace is lobbying the Spanish Government heavily over the next few 
days in advance of the Bush visit - according to its website, will be calling 
for the Spanish Government to prohibit the development of power plants by US 
companies in protest at his policy on Kyoto.

 -----Original Message-----
From:  Green, Julie  
Sent: 08 June 2001 13:40
To: Sherriff, John; Brown, Michael - COO London; Gentilini, Mariano; Shaw, 
Eric; Soneira, Ignacio; Gentle, Jackie
Subject: Arcos/Tordesillas demonstrations 

This Sunday sees the demonstration in Arcos opposing the development of CCGTs 
in the region.  It is difficult to estimate likely turnout at the event - 
however the opposition Platform has been placing ads and has organised 
several buses from outside villages.  We are in contact with the Arcos Town 
Hall to see if they will be issuing official attendance numbers in advance of 
the opposition group, which can be sure to distort numbers.

Our PR consultant is in contact today with local media and will be in Arcos 
at the weekend to gauge the mood - if the demonstration does not attract many 
supporters, we will not comment publicly.  However, we will assess the 
situation on Sunday, and if there is a very large turnout, we may set up some 
interviews for Ignacio Soneira during the afternoon with local press and 
radio.  These interviews will be used to communicate that: Enron continues to 
believe in the positive benefits of the project for the region; the project 
has been subject to extensive public consultation; we have obtained our 
Environmental Impact Declaration and a large number of other permits; 
different opinions are to be welcomed in a democracy, and in fact the project 
does have support from many parts of the local community.

It is important to note that local politicians are setting great store by the 
success or otherwise of this weekend's demonstration - one key factor will be 
the ratio of Arcos residents present versus outsiders.  We will be continuing 
with our ongoing PR activities - adverts, presentations, sponsorships, 
interviews etc - next week, so that we are not seen to be backing off from 
the project following the demonstration.

Some local politicians are predicting that the level of turnout may in the 
end depend on the weather.  

Tordesillas

The demonstration which took place a few days ago in Tordesillas did attract 
a large number of local people (in the thousands).  The Tordesillas Mayor has 
now said that if local people are against the plant, then she too is against 
the project.  Our media response on this issue is that the consultation 
process is ongoing and that the Environmental Impact Report is due out within 
the next few weeks.  

The demonstration and the Mayor's position has attracted substantial local 
press coverage - the obvious concern is that these latest developments get 
picked up by newswires (one energy publication has picked up on the 
situation) and spread through Spain to Arcos.

Jackie Gentle and I will be visiting Tordesillas and Arcos next week to 
discuss the latest developments.