Enron cheated California

May 7, 2002 8:16 AM

Enron cheated California - The Los Angeles Times is reporting the discovery of a memo detailing how Enron manipulated prices by fraud during the power crisis while blaming the problem on powerplants.

One of their strategies was actually called 'Death Star'. Look like the Enron Empire has suffered the same fate as the Palpatine's Empire.

LA Times login: cpunks password: cpunks
posted by Argyle (18 comments total)

speaking of enron... how did this sleaze ball end up the secretary of the army? is there any wonder much of the american public skeptical about the lattice work of ties between this administration and enron?
posted by specialk420 at 8:40 AM on May 7, 2002

Unlike Rush listeners, I actually remember when Davis leveled exactly these charges at Enron. I also remember Cheney ridiculing Davis for it on Sunday morning and the VRWC joining in the Cheney chorus. Looks like someone owes Davis and others an apology.
posted by nofundy at 8:54 AM on May 7, 2002

Enron seems like the perfect subject for a topic-oriented blog. Anybody know of such a beast?

The first page of Google results q=Enron has a nice Houston Chronicle page. Another one from the Washington Post. It'd be nice to get someone's interpretation of the news pieces, though.
posted by lbergstr at 9:13 AM on May 7, 2002

I didn't read these articles because the LATimes website requires (free) registration and I didn't want to bother but I did read news articles on MSNBC about the whole fiasco.

Weren't the blackouts initially blamed on a lack of new power plants caused by California's tough environmental regulations? Who were the people behind that story?

specialk420: thanks for the link ... very interesting reading
posted by rks404 at 9:18 AM on May 7, 2002

Anybody know of such a beast?
owillis has a chronicile on his site.
posted by machaus at 9:22 AM on May 7, 2002

and a chronicle too.
posted by machaus at 9:23 AM on May 7, 2002

I didn't read these articles because the LATimes website requires (free) registration and I didn't want to bother but I did read news articles on MSNBC about the whole fiasco.

Umm, like I already posted a ready-to-use login/pass and stuff...

LA Times login: cpunks password: cpunks

You can bring a horse to water...
posted by Argyle at 9:42 AM on May 7, 2002

Didn't want to bother with logging in and honestly, as a guy who works on commercial websites, it kind of irks me to see logins getting subverted. They are set up for a reason, y'know. It's not a big moral stand, just something I don't do.

Sorry if that strikes you as dense or obtuse.
posted by rks404 at 9:47 AM on May 7, 2002

If this is true, why didn't it happen to more states? With as much power Enron had, you'd think it'd be more than just California. Or does Enron think the utility regulators in CA are that dense to take it for so long?
posted by the_0ne at 9:59 AM on May 7, 2002

Not dense or obtuse at all.

I just don't see how the 'login at every site, remember login/password forever' is going to work in the long run.

IMHO, it's the height of arrogance for a site to ask for a login unless the site involves financial transactions or allows posting by the user.

If there were a benefit to logging in rather than expanding the amount of spam recieved, I might consider it.
posted by Argyle at 10:04 AM on May 7, 2002

Wow. Add these fuckers to the "new & improved" Axis of Evil.
posted by Dirjy at 10:41 AM on May 7, 2002

Each and everyone of these punks at Enron should be in jail for picking our pockets here in California.

Here is another link explaining the scheme.
posted by yertledaturtle at 11:08 AM on May 7, 2002

Oops Here is that story..
posted by yertledaturtle at 11:09 AM on May 7, 2002

What I want to know is what did Vice President Enron know, and when did he know it?
posted by emptyage at 12:59 PM on May 7, 2002

Yes, emptyage it would be nice to know what the Administration knew while they were blaming us for their friends greedy mugging of California.
posted by yertledaturtle at 1:17 PM on May 7, 2002

Or does Enron think the utility regulators in CA are that dense to take it for so long?

I'm probably oversimplifying, but what regulators? We voted to get rid of them. Not many other states have done that yet, and given our experience, not many more will.
posted by LionIndex at 3:34 PM on May 7, 2002

“Robert Bennett, a Washington attorney who represents Enron, said the memos became known 10 days ago and easily could have been kept confidential, but that the company wanted to do the "responsible thing" by releasing them.”

After they committed fraud they want to the right thing. Well, all is forgiven. Kudos to them for finding their souls.

p.s. Go through the archives and look for old threads on blackouts. Cold dismissals of any possibility that corporations corruptely abused deregulation and the like. Good stuff.
posted by raaka at 4:57 PM on May 7, 2002

I'm probably oversimplifying, but what regulators? We voted to get rid of them. Not many other states have done that yet, and given our experience, not many more will.

Just because you call something "deregulation" doesn't automatically make it so. California's law deregulated the wholesale price for electricity paid by the state’s utilities but capped the retail price paid by consumers and prohibited long-term ultility contracts.

Because they couldn’t pass on their wholesale costs to consumers, the state’s two main private utilities are $14 billion in debt, with one now in bankruptcy.

Furthermore, the state the reimposed regulations on wholesale costs, which allowed Enron to commit one of the frauds that are described in this article (namely, buying wholesale power at capped costs in CA and reselling it out of state.)

That is not deruglation - it is different regulation. And it is the main reason that if the state of California has any sense whatsoever they will vote Davis out.
posted by ljromanoff at 11:11 AM on May 10, 2002