The Bush admin. version of the hydrogen car represents not a blow, but a reprieve for the fossil fuel industry. That's right: these cars will use hydrogen made from fossil fuel. MIT: "Even with aggressive research, the hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle will not be better than the diesel hybrid (a vehicle powered by a conventional engine supplemented by an electric motor) in terms of total energy use and greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. And while hybrid vehicles are already appearing on the roads, adoption of the hydrogen-based vehicle will require major infrastructure changes to make compressed hydrogen available...Converting a hydrocarbon fuel such as natural gas or gasoline into hydrogen to fuel this vehicle uses substantial energy and emits greenhouse gases. "Ignoring the emissions and energy use involved in making and delivering the fuel and manufacturing the vehicle gives a misleading impression," said research Malcom Weiss."

Consumers Union: "American consumers have been hit by an average $1,000 increase in their annual household energy bills during the past four years, draining more than $500 billion from the economy, a new report from Consumers Union and Consumer Federation of America shows. Much of these higher prices are due to unchecked consolidation in the oil and gas industry, which has resulted in a lack of competition and increased profits - close to $100 billion - for oil and gas companies since 2000. 'The energy problem American consumers have been facing is now a problem for the whole economy,' says Mark Cooper, CFA's director of research. 'Even though gasoline prices have dropped by a few cents during the past few weeks, they're still higher than we've ever seen and consumers continue to face escalating energy costs.' "

Bush thinks everyone will be impressed with his "greenness" because he has decided to "recycle" methane emissions from landfills and coal mines as a fuel. In principle, this isn't a bad idea - in fact, in New Jersey, one coal mine is being used to fuel a small power plant. But we're talking Dubya here, so there has to be a big fat catch. There is. Instead of developing the technology to do this "methane harvesting" right, on a scale that would be a step toward our domestic energy independence, Bush's scheme is for US corporations to SELL the methane to poor nations. Of course, the only way these poor nations will be able to USE the methane is to buy the US technology (stoves, power plants, etc.). Such a deal! Meanwhile, Bush has no plans to reduce greenhouse emissions via meaningful regulations.

Bush is pouring billions over the next ten years into his boondoggle "Clean Coal Initiative" which will pad coal barons pockets and foul the environment while failing to do anything to improve conditions for coal miners. If Bush REALLY was interested in making the coal industry environmentally friendly while providing new, better mine-based jobs, he would be pouring this money into currently underfunded technologies for turning coal mines into CO2 sequestration sites and sources of methane. If properly used, the methane extractable from coal mines is potentially a far vaster reservoir of fuel than any possible oil field. Retraining programs for miners could transform the industry from dangerous and failing to dynamic and safe with a bright, long-term future.

Tech line: "In a novel pairing of old and new, FuelCell Energy of Danbury, Conn., has begun operating the world's first fuel cell powered by coal mine methane. Funded by the Department of Energy, the demonstration harnesses the power of a pollutant - methane emissions from coal mines - to produce electricity in a new, 21st Century fuel cell. The technology supports Bush's initiative to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil by developing commercially viable fuel cells to power cars, trucks, homes and businesses [too bad he hasn't put any real CASH behind his "initiative"]. The 200-kW power plant generates enough electricity to supply an average of 40 homes. A successful demonstration could pave the way to the use of fuel cells to mitigate coal mine methane emissions while producing power at high efficiency and very low emissions." We propose that a federally retraining program could lead to a bright future for coal miners-turned-power plant workers.

This .pdf presentation on declining natural gas production, from Matthew R. Simmons, a long-time analyst and advisor in the energy and natural gas field, lays out an alarming scenario for future US natural gas supplies. He concludes that US natural gas production peaked almost thirty years ago, and that all the brave talk about essentially unlimited natural gas supplies is not borne out by new drilling and development. Most tellingly, he shows that per well production of natural gas is actually going down and is only a third of what it was in 1970.

Boston Globe: "The Supreme Court refused yesterday to order Vice President Dick Cheney to turn over secret records from his energy task force, but ensured the long-running case will stay alive by sending it back to a lower court." This cop-out move simply delays or permanently blocks the American public's right to know who is shaping their energy future - something that profoundly impacts each and every American. It also makes it possible for Bush to spend the next four months continuing to try to ram through his energy bill - which was shaped in large part by the mystery men and women on the secret list. Rumor has it that Ken Lay, coal baron Irl Englehardt, and several oil barons were involved - but not a single alternative energy leader. Is this the energy future America deserves?

One of Bush's favorite lines for promoting drilling in ANWR and giving away drilling rights to other public lands is that it will make the US "independent" from Middle East oil. But now an exec at Exxon Mobil says this is line is a "myth." "We do not have the resource base to be energy independent," Exxon Mobil chairman Lee Raymond said Monday in a speech in which he outlined some of what he called the "hard truths" about global energy markets. Raymond said that while other countries, including Russia, will play a growing role in supplying oil to the world, the Middle East will remain the center of supply because it holds as much as half of the world's oil reserves. "We simply cannot avoid significant reliance on oil and gas from the Middle East because the world's supply pool [of oil] is highly dependent upon the Middle East." The only REAL energy independence will come from Kerry's plan to aggressively pursue alternative energy strategies.

Once again, Bush and his corporate cronies in and out of Congress are trying to push through the despicable Bush/Cheney energy bill. This bill will not only FAIL to solve any energy problems for the US, it would increase pollution dramatically, cost taxpayers billions and lead to a steady increase in pollution-related health problems and deaths. US PIRG says, "This bill would hand out billions in taxpayer dollars to big polluters, allow more smog pollution in America's dirtiest cities, repeal laws designed to prevent future Enron-style market manipulations, and let oil companies off the hook for contaminating our groundwater with MTBE, a possible human carcinogen." PIRG has put together a fantastic one-stop resource on this bill, including info on what you can do to stop its passage.

Energy experts say that at present, the SPR contains enough oil to cover US needs for 10-12 months even if all other sources of oil stopped flowing - which isn't going to happen, no matter what localized crisis (Iraq, eg.) may arise. Bush began refilling the SPR at a time when US oil and gas inventories were at their lowest in nearly three decades - an insane move that made sense only as a way to benefit Bush's friends in the oil and oil futures rackets. Thanks to this steady removal of oil from an already tight and uncertain market, prices have been driven through the ceiling. Now the Democrats say "Enough!" They aren't, as Bush claims, trying to "tap into US emergency reserves" in a non-emergency...they are merely demanding that Bush return to the market oil that should never have been removed in the first place!

Newsday: "Senate leaders [Frist and Daschle] have agreed to make quick work of a leaner energy bill that will cost less than half of the version that stalled last year. The $14 billion bill was pared down from a $31 billion measure that failed to pass in the Senate." Pared down or not, the Energy Bill in its current form is a corporate pork barrel that does nothing to address long-term energy issues. Especially since a good percentage of the money cut out was supposed to go toward conservation! So what's in it for Daschle that he would become an honorary Repug for a day? " The new bill preserves mandates for greater use of ethanol, a fuel additive made from corn... a boon for [Daschle's] corn-growing state." In any case, Congress has no business passing any energy bill until the Supreme Court renders a decision on the secret task force.

This week, the Bush administration has tried to tie job growth to just about everything on its agenda, from tort reform (ie protecting corporations from accountability to consumers) to the Energy Bill (making sure the fossil fuel and nuke barons get to soak taxpayers to the max before Bush gets booted out). In this US Newswire press release, Dennis "the Corporate Baron's Friend" Hastert claims the job situation and higher energy prices make it an urgent necessity to speed through the corporate giveaway known as the Energy Bill. This is pure extortion and deceptive fearmongering: Gas prices are being kept high through calculated Bush/corporate manipulations, while the cause of the job crisis - rampant outsourcing - is totally unrelated to anything in the Energy Bill. Listen to this outrageous Hastert line: "Our economy has just started to rev up. But this economy may run out of gas if we fail to pass the President's energy policy."

So now we know what the gay marriage amendment flap, the "new Al Qaeda tapes," and the Social Security scare were all about: They were a smokescreen designed to distract Americans from a new stealth attempt to ram through the Energy Bill. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist arrogantly boasted how sure he was the Senate will pass bill. One reason he's sure is that he's fixed it so that any due process for the bill will be bypassed. This bill, which is a travesty that fails America miserably, is CRITICAL TO EVERY AMERICAN'S FUTURE. Act now! Call your senator to protest, and tell EVERYONE YOU KNOW to do the same. MoveOn has warned that Frist and his thugs may try to push the bill through at any time, no notice given. (see Moveon's statement at http://baltimore.indymedia.org/newswire/display/6376/index.php)

On 2/19 the Bush DOE issued a statement that included a bald-faced lie - as any one of the 60 scientists who just sent Bush a letter condemning his twisting of science could tell you. "The DOE claims that Bush's Clean Coal Power Initiative (CCPI) will sharply reduce and ultimately eliminate pollution in coal-based power plants." Zero pollution in coal burning is impossible, of course. Worse, seven GAO audits have revealed that CCPI is the most mismanaged of all energy subsidy programs, with the least results to show: "Emerging clean coal technologies will probably not contribute significantly to the reduction of acid rain causing emissions during the next 15 years." In fact, the DOE's own evaluations have shown that new "clean coal" technologies were 40% less effective in removing sulfur dioxide emissions than conventional smokestack "scrubbers." (see http://baltimore.indymedia.org/newswire/display/5446/index.php)

"Even though modern diesel fuels 'still emit considerably more smog-forming pollutants like nitrogen oxides, volatile organic chemicals and soot than comparable gasoline cars do,' the energy bill's tax breaks for cleaner technologies includes diesel powered vehicles. Although improvements in fuel economy can help off-set the disadvantages of diesel many, including David Friedman of the Union of Concerned Scientists, believe 'gasoline cars could be more cheaply modified to improve both fuel efficiency and emissions with technologies already available.' Mr. Friedman described the provision as inviting 'diesels back at the behest of the auto industry' and is part of an energy bill that 'increases automotive oil consumption [by] three billion to four billion gallons through 2008.'"

From the Progress Report: "Although the energy bill is stalled at the moment, energy industry lobbyists give key proponents an 'A' for effort. Shortly after the setback in the Senate, Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) met with several dozen lobbyists in a Senate hearing room where the lobbyists 'gave Domenici a standing ovation.' The meeting was described as and 'effort to keep hopes for the bill alive.'... Why won't the ill-conceived energy bill die? Ask a Ranger. That is the designation given to individuals who pledge to raise at least $200,000 for Bush's re-election committee. (Those who can only scrap together $100,000 are stuck with the less prestigious Pioneer label.) The WP reports that the energy legislation provides 'billions of dollars in benefits to companies run by at least 22 executives and their spouses who have qualified as either 'Pioneers' or 'Rangers,' as well as to the clients of at least 15 lobbyists and their spouses who have achieved similar status as fundraisers.'"

AP: "The Senate dropped efforts Monday to pass energy legislation this year after repeated attempts failed to find the two additional votes needed to push the bill through Congress. Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., concluded there was not enough time before the Senate was to begin its holiday recess to find a compromise that would be acceptable by the House and overcome a Democratic-led filibuster in the Senate. Bush administration officials said the White House was ready to push for the legislation in January, confident that Republican leaders will be able to get the support needed to pass the bill in the Senate... On Monday, the White House stepped up pressure on House Republican leaders to support a proposal that would strip away a controversial provision in the bill that would give manufacturers of a gasoline additive, MTBE, protection against environmental lawsuits. The MTBE issue prompted widespread criticism of the massive bill when it came before the Senate."

From the Environmental Working Group: "Until Republican Representative Billy Tauzin (LA) and Senator Pete Domenici (NM) disgorged the massive national energy legislation from their House-Senate 'conference committee' on Saturday, only the two of them, and the handful of aides and energy lobbyists who've been holed up for the secret drafting sessions, knew for sure what was in it. But while the details of the energy bill have been kept from the public and the rest of Congress until now, what Republicans would say at its unveiling, regardless of its content, could have been predicted with precision two years ago--by anyone who read the detailed, 23-page energy script prepared by the party's preeminent pollster and focus-group guru, Frank Luntz."

"The Senate dropped efforts late Monday to pass energy legislation this year after Republican leaders failed repeatedly to find the two additional votes needed to push the bill through Congress. Top GOP senators couldn't root out the additional votes among farm-state Democrats, while House Republican leaders balked at a change in the bill that would have removed a provision protecting makers of a gasoline additive, MTBE, from pollution lawsuits. The MTBE liability shield had been at the heart of widespread Senate opposition to the $31 billion energy legislation which included hundreds of provisions aimed at boosting and diversifying energy production... Mayors, local officials and water managers have estimated that the cost of cleanup from MTBE in drinking water supplies could reach $29 billion... Two key House Republicans - Majority Leader Tom DeLay and Rep. Joe Barton, both from Texas, where most MTBE is produced - continued to balk at removing the provision."

The anti-environmental, anti-consumer Energy Giveaway is only 2 votes from passage - call your Senators at 202-224-3121 and tell them to vote NO!

"On a 57-40 vote, supporters failed by three votes to cut off debate on the legislation... The House passed the legislation earlier this week. 'This will not be the last vote on this bill,' said Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn. 'We're going to keep voting until we pass it and get it to the resident.' Opponents of the bill waged a frantic campaign for votes to derail the legislation, arguing the $31 billion bill - crafted largely in closed-door Republican negotiations with the House - was too expensive and amounted to a collection of subsidies to special interests. Six Republicans joined [34] Democrats in opposing the bill... A particular target was a provision that would shield manufacturers of the gasoline additive MTBE from product liability lawsuits. The issue was key in getting five GOP senators from New England, where MTBE contamination of water supplies has been a major concern, to oppose the legislation." Just say NO to this dreadful bill!

From the Alliance to Save Energy: "230 of the 1300 power plants are for replacing current units. So the net new demand for power is actually 1070 plants; 300 power plants' worth of capacity, already in the pipeline, will have come on line by the end of 2002. That leaves the need at 770; Appliance efficiency standards for clothes washers, water heaters, and air conditioners, passed by the Clinton administration and agreed to by the Bush administration, will reduce demand by 127 power plants in 2020. That cuts the need to 643, If the Bush administration supported the air conditioner standard at the SEER 13 level approved by Clinton, instead of the reduced SEER 12 level they announced in April, another 43 plants would be saved, reducing the need to 600."

"The Energy Bill is being pushed through using every trick in the book.," writes Cheryl Seal, "The latest: Bush says he won't insist on drilling in ANWR if they just hand over everything else in the bill. Talk about Mafia style extortion! Now Bush's goons in Congress are deferring the issue until this coming weekend, when, they assume, the media will be full of Bush in the UK. But this bill will affect us ALL for DECADES if allowed to go through. The final incarnation of the bill has FINALLY been released - allowing the public just a few lousy days to go over it, which is not just outrageous, it's UNCONSTITUTIONAL. Didn't the founding fathers have just a wee bit of a problem with the issue of non-representative government?" This update includes detailed info from Move On on what's in the bill and who to contact.

Here are just a few of the things the infamous "energy bill" will do for Bush's good buddies in the nuke industry: Nationalizes nuke research, footing 50% of bill for nuke industry development, while allowing nuke barons to keep profits. Gives nuke barons $1.3 billion up front, plus gifts of federal land, limits liability for nuke accidents to $10 billion when estimated cost of typical incident is $600 billion, sticking taxpayer with bill. Allows nukes in space, allows reprocessing of deadly nuclear fuel, giving terrorists a highly tempting source of material for dirty bombs, fast tracks relicensing of plants, sometimes even bypassing public opinion input. Redefines nuke wastes, allowing some of Earth's most deadly material to be lumped in with, and handled the same way as, low-level wastes. And they say the terrorists are in IRAQ?!

"They had hoped in the wake of the biggest power failure in the nation's history to work as partners with Congressional Republicans to write a new national energy policy. Instead, Democrats say they are being relegated to spectators. 'It is an optical illusion that Democrats are involved,' said Bill Wicker, a spokesman for Democrats on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. As Congress tries to complete its first major energy bill in a decade, Democratic lawmakers and others say they fear that the bill is being too tightly controlled by the Republican chairmen of the House and Senate energy panels, sidelining most members of the special 58-member conference considering the bill. 'To this point, they have not sought involvement of Democrats at all,' said Representative Henry A. Waxman, Democrat of California and a member of the conference committee that is supposed to reconcile the House and Senate energy bills. 'The Republicans are talking among themselves.'"

The Great Blackout and the Great Gas Hike both fell within 10 days of each other - right on the eve of Congressional debate over Bush's various corporate energy bills. Among the most critical and insidious are proposed changes to the "Roadless Rule," which, if overturned, will open millions of acres of wildlands in the Tongass and Chugach National Forests in Alaska to roads. Once roads are in, there's nothing to stop the next step: natural gas and oil drilling permits, which is exactly what has happened in Montana and elsewhere. Meanwhile, the Bush Cartel is still trying to gain access to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge oil, and to protect the right of coal barons to lop the tops off Appalachian Mountains. ALL are, directly or insidiously, related to the Bush energy plan, which is nothing more than a massive giveaway to the fossil fuel warlords.

WashPost reports: "The top two executives of FirstEnergy Corp., the Ohio-based utility that is a focus of investigations into last week's cascading blackouts, are key financial supporters of Resident Bush, according to campaign records. H. Peter Burg, chairman and chief executive, was one of three hosts of a $600,000 fundraiser for Bush's reelection campaign in Akron, Ohio, on June 30. Vice Resident Cheney was the featured speaker. Anthony J. Alexander, FirstEnergy's president and chief operating officer, was a 'Pioneer' for Bush's last campaign, meaning he raised at least $100,000. Alexander also contributed $100,000 to Bush's inaugural committee. The Energy Department has dispatched teams of investigators to the Midwest and Northeast... FirstEnergy's ties could increase Capitol Hill scrutiny of the White House handling of the blackout aftermath. Bush's campaign had no comment."

Joe Conason writes, "As a deregulation enthusiast and loyal Republican, [FirstEnergy's Anthony] Alexander raised more than $100,000 for the Bush-Cheney campaign in 2000, thus earning distinction as a 'Bush Pioneer.' All of the hundred or so checks delivered from First Energy's donors to the G.O.P.'s accounts were marked with an 'industry code' -- and in due course, the grateful recipients of the company's largesse appointed Mr. Alexander to the Bush administration's Energy Transition Team. (That favor must have been particularly gratifying to him, since the departing Clinton administration had sued First Energy for violating the Clean Air Act.) Whether he also showed up as an adviser to Dick Cheney's Energy Task Force remains a mystery, since the administration still refuses to disclose any of the task force's documents. But public records show that First Energy's executives and political-action committee have given about $2 million to (mainly Republican) politicians since 1999."

Paul Krugman writes, "The power industry hasn't spent enough on the control systems and safeguards that are supposed to prevent [blackouts]. And the cause of that neglect is faith-based deregulation.... Have we learned our lesson? Early indications are not promising. Resident Bush now says that 'our grid needs to be modernized . . . and I've said so all along.' But two years ago Tom DeLay blocked a modest Democratic plan for loan guarantees for system upgrades, calling it 'pure demagoguery.' And press reports say that despite the blackout, the administration will bow to pressure from Senate Republicans and put on ice the only part of its energy plan that had any relevance to the blackout, a FERC proposal for expanded oversight of the transmission system. This nation needs to invest billions in its power grid, yet given recent history, it's crucial that this investment not be simply another occasion for energy-industry profiteering. Somehow, I'm not optimistic." Defeat ALL Republicans!

Harvey Wasserman writes: "That the grid will crash again and again and yet again is absolutely certain. The only question is who are the real terrorists: errant crazies who blow things up, or entrenched interests that refuse to change? The technology now exists to transcend this mess. In the mid 1990s California's green energy advocates proposed a 600-megawatt mosaic of solar, wind and other renewable generators that would have entirely prevented the fake deregulatory crisis of 2000-1. It was approved by the California Public Utilities Commission, but then killed by Southern California Edison and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Today, the Bush Administration wants to further subsidize its fossil/utility friends with a bad energy bill, and by pouring billions into 'upgrading' the electric grid. The only thing certain is that every cent of that money will be wasted."

"The big new story in destructive energy development is a practice called Coalbed Methane Extraction... Gas companies drill wells deep into layers of coal and then drain the groundwater to force the methane gas to the surface. Then they siphon off the gas for enormous profit. The Federal government gives away drilling rights to these corporations for a few dollars an acre. The gas companies pay nothing for the millions of gallons of water that they're wasting... the average well discharges 17,000 gallons a day. This bill will help finance more than 40,000 new Methane wells. Together those wells will pump out 700 million gallons of groundwater a day. That's like draining 35,000 suburban swimming pools every day. They'll also leave behind more than 25,000 miles of new roads in animal habitat and toxic waste for generations to come... Call your Senators (202-224-3121) and ask them to oppose Coalbed Methane Extraction and the 'Non-Conventional Fuel Credit' in the Energy Bill, SR 14."

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. writes, "American soldiers are still guarding oil fields in Iraq but you'd never know it from watching Congress. Last month the House of Representatives passed an energy bill that does virtually nothing to reduce our dangerous addiction to Middle Eastern oil. Instead, the House voted to leave fuel economy at its lowest level in 20 years, promote reckless energy development on fragile wildlands, and hand out $20 billion in corporate welfare to giant oil, coal and nuclear companies that are already rolling in enormous profits. If you've had it with this kind of shameless payback to the auto and energy lobbies then now's a good time to do something about it. The US Senate is about to vote on its own energy bill and it could be every bit as bad as the House version - unless millions of Americans speak out right now for a sane and sustainable energy future. I urge you to send a message telling your senators to break the chain of America's dependence on imported oil."

The Sierra Club and Judicial Watch continue their pursuit of White House energy policy papers produced by VP Dick Cheney's task force panel of oil cronies in 2001. And they may be getting somewhere. Reuters reports, "An appeals judge told lawyers for...Cheney on Thursday they had no basis to ask the court to intervene in [the lawsuit] saying 'you have no case.' Appeals Judge Harry Edwards, who dominated the questioning during oral arguments, said the Bush administration appeared to be arguing, wrongly, that it was immune from litigation." Both Cheney and Bush, of course, are "ex" oil execs, and their energy task force just happened to recommend more oil and gas drilling. Environmentalists say they were largely shut out of the policy-making process, while Cheney met GOP energy industry bigshots such as former Enron exec Ken Lay. This case deserves renewed attention.

Bracken Hendricks writes, "In Tuesday's SOTU, Bush proposed a $1.2 billion plan for research and development (R&D) investment in fuel cell cars, joining the growing bipartisan consensus on the need for energy innovation. America needs an ambitious plan to create real energy independence, equal to our commitment to the Apollo space program. But Bush's initiative is a faint start toward addressing this major national challenge: too small, too narrow, and too slow to get us where we need to go... Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) has proposed spending $6.5 billion for fuel cells over the next 10 years, not only on R&D, but to accelerate deployment, to expand government purchasing, and to offer tax incentives for their use by consumers, pushing the technology forward while improving energy security now. [But] putting fuel cell cars on the road in 25 to 50 years is not enough. We need a broad plan for reinvestment that strengthens all sectors of the economy and starts right away."

Arianna writes, "For a good indication of Detroit's real plans, we need look no further than this week's L.A. Auto Show. There were as many hybrid cars on display as there were rickshaws. And in full page newspaper ads headlined 'What's Up At GM?' the auto giant bragged about having 'once again shattered the record for SUV sales, topping the million mark for the second consecutive year -- propelled by breakout vehicles like the one-of-a-kind Hummer H2.' The sales deck is clearly stacked in favor of Detroit's beloved behemoths, with billions being spent on SUV advertising and ever-more tempting marketing come-ons, like GM's 'Zero, Zero, Zero' program... Of course, Washington continues to do its part by holding SUVs to lower fuel efficiency and air pollution standards than passenger cars. Our politicians have even refused to close a deeply misguided tax loophole that rewards buyers of extra large -- and extra wasteful -- SUVs with extra large tax breaks."

Some months ago, Venezuela President Hugo Chavez was nearly removed from office in what many suspect was a Bush, Sr/Kissinger-style CIA-engineered coup. The coup having failed, Chavez appears to be the target of a massive provocateur campaign, headed by generals sympathetic to U.S. interests. He is hanging tough, however, and appears to have the support of the general populace. Meanwhile, U.S. Ambassador Shapiro is acting as a provocateur, publicly blaming Chavez for the crisis. Worse yet, Bush had pledged to hand over OUR strategic oil reserves - something unheard of - to help out his oil company buddies in Venezuela, who are being economically pinched by a national strike in Venezuela. This is outrageous! With OPEC slated to cut production and an oil guzzling war about to be launched in Iraq, Bush has no right to give away America's strategic oil reserves!

Robert Redford, actor and director, writes at LATimes.com: "The Bush White House talks tough on military matters in the Middle East while remaining virtually silent about the long-term problem posed by US dependence on fossil fuels. Failing to rein in our dependence on imported oil gives leverage to undemocratic and unstable regimes. Wasteful consumption of fossil fuels creates political liabilities overseas, air pollution at home and global warming. The rate at which the US burns fossil fuels has made our country a leading contributor to global warming. The Bush administration's energy policy to date -- a military garrison in the Middle East and drilling for more oil in the Arctic and other fragile habitats -- is costly, dangerous and self- defeating....American rooftops can be the Persian Gulf of solar energy. After Australia, no developed nation on Earth gets more annual sunlight than the United States....wind and solar power generate less than 2% of U.S. power. We can do better."

Matt Bivens writes in the Nation's FailSafe Point, the "last point at which we can still exert control over events." In "The Energy Wars," Matt writes: "The Senate killed some ugly legislation last week that would have handed billions of tax dollars to the oil, gas, coal and nuclear industries. But don't rejoice yet: Trent Lott and other Republican leaders say they'll offer a 'new and improved' energy bill...this time in a Republican-controlled Congress. So the coming energy wars will be an early and important test of the new-look Democrats in the House under Nancy Pelosi....So Tauzin, Domenici & Co. will offer the Democrats their first major challenge in the new Congress. They know what their next move is. Do the Democrats know theirs? Will it be more meek, old-school collaboration? Or will they act as the opposition--against wasteful and market-distorting subsidies for polluters, and for energy-efficiency and renewables? Either way, the energy wars will define the new Democrats."

"Power grids are inherently prone to big blackouts, and trying to make them more robust can make the problem worse," says Phillip Ball in Nature Mag: "There is a power cut every 13 days in the United States. Indeed, over the past 15 years, large-scale blackouts there have been more frequent than can be explained by random damage." Recent research shows that blackouts seem to follow the same pattern regardless of how the power network is organized. Preventive schemes could actually make things worse, says one expert: "If they are designed to eliminate small blackouts, they can hasten the build-up to the point where a big cascade of blackouts becomes inevitable." So Bush's plan to build a horrendous power meganetwork across the U.S. will solve nothing - but create a diversity of new problems for Americans, not least of which is reinforced reliance on fossil fuel and nuke plants.

CBSNews.com reports: "State officials say California's energy crisis - its blackouts and sky-high power prices that cost California billions - was manufactured by key power companies that hoarded energy supplies to make more money... The companies kept more than 30% to 50% of their power off the market. During some of the worst moments of the crisis, they held back even more - anywhere from 55 to 76% of production.... CBS News obtained records showing federal regulators have power plant control room audio tapes that prove traders from Williams Energy called plant operators and told them to turn off the juice. The government sealed the tapes in a secret settlement and still refuses to release them." Williams Energy contributed over half a million dollars to the Republicans, placing it in the top 50 energy sector contributors according to OpenSecrets.org. It also participated in the Cheney Energy Task Force. We demand prosecution of everyone involved in the California Energy Ripoff!

Neely Tucker writes: "A federal judge yesterday ordered the Bush administration to turn over more documents about its energy task force, as government lawyers noted that Secretary of State Colin L Powell may have been among the senior officials attending some of the meetings. U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan ruled that the Bush administration has 30 days to turn over documents and written responses to questions from two interest groups that have sued to know the names and positions of everyone who took part in the National Energy Policy Development Group, chaired by Vice President [sic] Cheney... A significant part of the court order requires the administration to enumerate all of its contacts with nongovernment businesses or agencies."

Paul Krugman writes: "We're approaching the first anniversary of the sudden, unexpected end of California's energy crisis. I went way out on a limb, at least by journalistic standards, by saying that market manipulation was a key feature of that crisis. I have since been vindicated: arguments that people called leftist nonsense a year ago are now conventional wisdom. But of course I wasn't a brilliant investigative reporter; I just knew enough to talk to the right people, and to understand what they were saying. Paul Joskow and Severin Borenstein were very helpful. But my most helpful source of all was Frank Wolak, the Stanford professor who also heads the CAISO market surveillance committee. (CAISO is the 'system operator')." Remember the California energy crisis? With deregulation and individual energy firms acting in their own self-interest, it can happen again, anywhere. Here's how!

"Judicial Watch...today announced that a federal court has ruled in its favor against Vice President [sic] Cheney and his Energy Task Force. The 83 page opinion was issued...by Judge Emmet G. Sullivan and lambasted the arguments put forward by the Bush Justice Department seeking to prevent any inquiry into the operations of the Energy Task Force...The Court is set to allow discovery into, among other things, the Vice President[sic]'s role in the Task Force, how the Task Force operated, and the identities of Task Force participants. Judicial Watch will seek discovery from the Vice President [sic]himself in this case...The Court said the Bush Administration's 'stunning' arguments 'fly in the face of precedent' and are a 'problematic and unprecedented assertion...of Executive Power.' The Court voiced 'concern' over the Bush Administration's misstating constitutional law and guiding precedent."

AP writes, "A judge on Thursday rebuffed a Bush administration effort to kill lawsuits aimed at revealing the inner workings of Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan said he will allow the private groups Judicial Watch and the Sierra Club to take the first step in delving into the operations of the task force." Dick, you lost. Hand over the documents requested and stop obstructing justice!

One by one, Enron's fellow "energy traders" - Reliant, Dynegy, CMS Energy, Xcel Energy, EnCana, and the Merchant Energy Group of the Americas, are revealing that they engaged in the same kind of price manipulation as Enron. How do they get away with it? Because thanks to Republicans like Phil and Wendy Lee Gramm, these practices are NOT ILLEGAL. What will it take to outlaw energy price manipulation? A filibuster-proof Democratic Senate (60 Democrats), a Democratic House, and a Democratic President. Defeat ALL Republicans!

"After abandoning two gas price investigations last year by saying there was no conspiracy, the Federal Trade Commission now says it will monitor thousands of gas stations in 360 cities nationwide, to learn the cause of price spikes, reports CBS News Correspondent Wyatt Andrews. Just last week, the Senate released findings that the oil industry has pushed up gas prices, not by fixing prices, but by restricting the amount of oil the industry makes into gasoline. Consumer advocates say that because of oil company mergers the five top oil conglomerates have kept prices high by keeping refining low. 'You can intentionally withhold a critical commodity like gasoline from the marketplace in order to drive prices up and it is not illegal,' said Tyson Slocum of the consumer group Public Citizen." Will this be a real investigation by the FTC - or just another Bush coverup for its corporate cronies???

Listen George, we are getting sick of your abuses of power. Once again, your thugs (aka The Justice Dept) are blocking Andrew Lundquist, the director of Cheney's Energy Task Force, from testifying about missing records from the energy task force. "The administration continues to deny the public information about what their government is doing... Lundquist holds a critical missing piece of the puzzle about how the Bush energy plan was developed," said NRDC attorney Sharon Buccino. Did we also mention no documents from this person were turned over? The documents probably ended up like Enron's... SHREDDED.

Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) recently released an in-depth report on gasoline price manipulation by the dwindling number of gasoline distributors. "Due to a series of refinery closures and mergers within the oil industry, the wholesale supply market is now more concentrated than ever... In areas of high concentration where a few refiners control most of the retail sales by keeping supplies tight, refiners can raise the price of gasoline without great fear of competition. One way to maintain a tight supply is keeping only a minimal amount of gasoline in inventory. One effect of doing that is that any supply disruption will cause a shortage of gasoline because there is no reserve capacity to bring to market. This invariably leads to price increases, and, because gasoline is such an essential commodity in our lives today, most Americans have no choice but to pay more and more when prices rise." All of America is getting Enroned - we demand anti-trust enforcement by the Justice Department!

Michael T. Klare writes, "In essence, the Cheney report makes three key points: * The US must satisfy an ever-increasing share of its oil demand with imported supplies. (At present, the US imports about 10 million barrels of oil per day, representing 53% of its total consumption; by 2020, daily U.S. imports will total nearly 17 million barrels, or 65% of consumption.) * The US cannot depend exclusively on traditional sources of supply like Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Canada to provide this additional oil. It will also have to obtain substantial supplies from new sources, such as the Caspian states, Russia, and Africa. * The US cannot rely on market forces alone to gain access to these added supplies, but will also require a significant effort on the part of government officials to overcome foreign resistance to the outward reach of American energy companies." That is why BushCheney is deploying troops and money to control the Caspian, Persian Gulf, and Andean regions.

The AP reports, "When President [sic] Bush reversed his campaign stance on regulating carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants, he said the nation's energy problems - not pressure from energy industry lobbyists - changed his mind. Documents released by the Bush administration Thursday in response to a court order shed light on the intense pressure [Bush] was under. Two weeks before Bush's decision, lobbyist Haley Barbour virtually papered the White House, from VP Dick Cheney on down, with a memo suggesting [Bush] must provide a sound energy policy by not taking action against carbon dioxide. At the time, Barbour represented the interests of several energy companies that gave substantially to Bush's campaign. 'A moment of truth is arriving,' Barbour wrote Cheney on March 1, 2001... 'The question is whether environmental policy still prevails over energy policy with Bush-Cheney, as it did with Clinton-Gore,' Barbour stated." Bush lied - we demand impeachment!

Sen. Phil Gramm (R- TX) blocked an amendment introduced by California Democrat Dianne Feinstein that would have closed the loophole that allowed Enron to hide wholesale prices from buyers and control markets. "Just because Enron is bankrupt doesn't mean the party's over for these energy traders. The regulatory framework that allowed Enron to do what it did is still intact," said Tyson Slocum, a senior researcher with Public Citizen. "This is a modest attempt at regaining accountability over our electricity markets, and the Senate couldn't even muster the votes. The fact that Phil Gramm played a key role in blocking these reforms illustrates that Enron's legacy is still strong in the U.S. Congress."

"With oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge blocked by [last week's] 54-46 Senate vote, the Bush administration is on the prowl for other sources of fossil-fuel riches. According to [the] Washington Post, the administration is loosening various impediments to drilling for oil and natural gas in stretches of land in the Rocky Mountains, from Wyoming to New Mexico. Administration oilmen apparently think they may find fresh reserves of crude under those hills, but others wonder if they are going to uncork a gusher of self-parody instead. Come visit the new Yellowstone National Wells! Or maybe the new Enron Field, now relocated to the Canyonlands!" So writes Joshua Micah Marshall in Salon.

Check out these sample documents from Bu$h's energy task force records, which the National Resources Defense Council posted on its web site. It's obvious that Bu$h just did a "copy and paste" job off the policy recommendations that were sent by Jim Ford of the American Petroleum Institute, turning them straight into his Executive Order. We demand to know: how many other industry groups got to write their own executive orders and policies for Bu$h & Co.???

Bush's Department of Energy must have realized that stonewalling on turning over documents from Cheney's energy task force can only get them so far. So they're trying a new tactic: claiming that they TRIED to invite environmentalists to the table, but those pesky treehuggers just refused to come. Who on earth are they trying to fool? Are we really supposed to believe that an oil money-drenched administration with a dismal environmental record would bend over backwards to reach out to conservation groups and - even more absurdly - that they would be rebuffed?

"A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the Energy Department to release thousands of records on Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force, criticizing the government for moving at 'a glacial pace.' The ruling by U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler could undermine the Bush administration's effort to keep secret the names of industry executives and lobbyists who met with the White House as it formulated its energy plan last spring…Starting March 25, the Energy Department must turn over its documents to the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group. It must complete the task by April 10…In a statement, the environmental group expressed confidence that with the court victory in hand, the NRDC 'expects to make public -- for the first time since the task force was formed more than a year ago -- the names of participants, dates of meetings, and the topics discussed.'" Will it at last find out about Enron's influence – or will it get appealed up to the 5 Supreme Felons?

According to a report by the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, the California energy crisis was not a crisis of supply and demand, but rather a hoax. "The energy crisis was a hoax, set up by deregulation, to suck billions of dollars out of the state," said Harvey Rosenfield and Doug Heller of FTCR. "The utilities, energy companies and power traders backed deregulation because they knew it would be a license to steal. Once freed of state scrutiny -- once the cop was off the beat -- they held the state hostage until we agreed to pay their demands. When they stole as much as they thought they could get away with, the 'crisis' mysteriously disappeared -- leaving the people of California stuck with the tab. It wasn't a shortage, it was a shakedown," FTCR said.

"'People are concerned that this is a public relations move to discourage Congress from improving fuel-economy standards,' said Frank O'Donnell, executive director of the Clean Air Trust. 'Bravo to trying to make fuel cells. But don't drop efforts to make fuel economy tougher in the meantime.' Dan Reicher, who was assistant energy secretary in the Clinton administration, criticized the Bush administration for dropping a program that set concrete deadlines and 'held the industry's feet to the fire.' One of the breakthroughs, Reicher said, was the commitment from Detroit automakers to produce high-mileage hybrids powered by gas and electricity. A hybrid Ford Escape, he said, is to go on sale in 2003 as a direct result of the Clinton-backed program. 'They're letting Detroit off the hook on delivering real fuel-economy breakthroughs in the next few years,' said Reicher, who is a visiting fellow at the World Resources Institute. 'This is in exchange for potential improvements that are more than a decade off.'"

Long before not counting in Florida and touting the Rightwing agenda for Bu$h and Co., Marc Racicot was busy steamrolling the Montana legislature into unknown deregulatory waters for electricity. "While Enron was making billions selling energy stability, they were busy pushing a deregulation agenda across the nation. In Montana, as is well-known, the 1997 Republican-dominated Legislature, at the urging of then-Governor Marc Racicot, suspended the rules of the Legislature to introduce and pass the dereg bill in the last weeks of the session. Suddenly, substituting raw political power for careful policymaking, Montana found itself one of the few western states to leap into dereg—and oh, how we now wish we had looked a lot harder before that tragic leap." Racicot's ultimate payoff: he's the new RNC Chairman while still a lobbyist for the Energy Sector (Enron was a client).

Arianna Huffington writes, "Though I don't consider myself an automotive fashionista, I must admit I followed the thundering herd of protective parents unable to resist the allure of what is basically a comfy Sherman tank... But now we're at war, right? A New War.. Flag waving is great, but patriotic display is not a substitute for patriotic action. And the public is galvanized for action, just as it was during World War II. Back then, Americans answered their leaders' call for sacrifice in dozens of altruistic ways: They collected scrap metal to be refashioned as guns, planes, and tanks, planted 20 million vegetable "victory gardens," and made do with 3 gallons of gas a week. Just about what the average SUV devours on a few latte-hauling trips to Starbucks... Frankly, saying hasta la vista to my 13 mpg Navigator and hello to a 23 mpg Volvo V70 station wagon is hardly a sacrifice. But it's a start. Maybe I'll plant a victory garden in the backseat."

"[Jeff] Skilling recently sold $33 million of shares in Enron and his stake in the company at the time of his resignation was worth $43 million. [Ken] Lay earned a staggering $135 million last year, including profits from share options. But even as Enron's shares soared, analysts complained that the company's financial reporting was opaque, making it difficult to understand its complex web of subsidiaries...a series of articles in The Wall Street Journal questioned the nature of the partnerships and Enron's judgment in allowing them to be formed. Concern on Wall Street heightened when Enron said that it had repurchased 55 million of its own shares held by the limited partnerships. This reduced the amount of overall Enron stock in the public's hands by $1.2 billion. The Journal, meanwhile, estimated that $35 million of Enron's third-quarter $1 billion write-off was linked to losses at the limited partnerships." The SEC is investigating Enron.

"Is time running out for Enron? At the beginning of this year, the Enron Corporation, the world's dominant energy trader, appeared unstoppable. The company's decade-long effort to persuade lawmakers to deregulate electricity markets had succeeded from California to New York. Its ties to the Bush administration assured that its views would be heard in Washington. Its sales, profits and stock were soaring...[But now] the future of electricity deregulation is in doubt, thanks to blackouts and soaring power prices in California earlier this year — a crisis that ended only when that state...interven[ed] deeply in the power market. Enron's efforts to become a profit-making water supplier and to create a new market in broadband communications capacity have been expensive failures. In August, [Jeffrey] Skilling quit, forcing Kenneth L. Lay, his predecessor as chief executive and still Enron's chairman, to resume day-to-day control of the company."

"The road to reduced dependence leads in a different direction - toward conservation (meaning increased efficiency) and development of non-oil energy sources. Increasing fuel-efficiency standards for automobiles to 40 miles per gallon - a reasonable expectation, even with existing technology - would save about 2.5 million barrels a day by 2020. That is considerably more than the refuge can be expected to yield in the same time frame. As it happens, 2.5 million barrels is just about what we are now importing every day from the Persian Gulf. In addition to making conventional cars and trucks more efficient, there is much more we can do to reduce our dependence on imports - including a serious national effort to develop hybrid cars or cars powered by fuel cells." So writes the NY Times.

"In Europe, offshore wind power is the Next Big Thing in energy production. This summer, Germany announced it would phase out nuclear power and replace it with offshore wind. Nearly simultaneously, the [UK] announced that it would aggressively push offshore wind development, adding that, if all potential sites were developed, offshore wind would produce 300 percent of that island's current electricity needs…Offshore wind energy in the United States has a potential so large that, in combination with serious national conservation measures, it could - just possibly - replace the 6 million barrels of oil imported into the United States every day... Entrepreneurs are pushing for two U.S. offshore wind proposals now" - off Cape Cod (420 megawatts, about 1/2 of a nuke), and Long Island. Wind energy production costs for onshore systems are down to $.04/Kwh and dropping, making it competitive with fossil fuels and nukes.

NY Times analyst Neela Banerjee writes, "The Bush administration has refrained from criticizing Saudi silence over the American-led counterattacks against Osama bin Laden and the Taliban, nor has it spoken out about evidence that Saudi citizens finance Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network and other radical Islamic organizations. Moreover, although the [FBI] identified most of the hijackers in the Sept. 11 attacks as Saudis, Saudi Arabia has refused to provide passenger lists of flights to the United States, an act the Bush administration has been unwilling to criticize. 'The stark truth is that we're dependent on this country that directly or indirectly finances people who are a direct threat to you and me as individuals,' said [former Reagan official] Edward L. Morse. 'They won't give us information, won't help track people down, and won't let us use our bases that are there to protect them,' Mr. Morse added."

Democrats have put aside politics to respond to our national crisis, but key Republicans are playing politics with the $345 billion Defense appropriations bill. James Inhofe (R-OK) is trying to using the bill to ram through the controversial Bush-Cheney energy plan, which includes drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge. Call your Senators (202-224-3121) and tell them to oppose the Inhofe amendment.

Even though Bush and Cheney appear to worship Enron as some sort of sacred cow (not to be confused with Ophelia, of course), the bloated energy co. is on the skids - skids of its own making. The stock dropped 62% this past year and though various excuses can be made, it seems growing disenchantment with its slippery business dealings may be the big cause. In August, one of its CEOs quit "for personal reasons," joining the half-dozen other top Enron execs who have quit this year. At the same time, investors are becoming turned off by the company's shell game bookkeeping practices, heavy insider selling, and, we suspect, it's unsavory reputation as an exploiter of the common man. But, guess what? Enron (as in Kenneth Lay) is one of Bush's top not-so-secret behind the scenes advisors.

Bush's energy cronies have stolen billions of dollars from California energy consumers. Perhaps that's why the Los Angeles Times has published the first expose of how the oil, gas, electric, coal, and nuclear power industries turned the BushCheney energy plan into a massive giveaway program - at the expense of consumers, the economy, the environment, and the future of humanity. The Senate is scheduled to vote on the completely corrupt energy bill in September. We demand a thorough investigation - and a filibuster!

Arianna Huffington has become one of Bush's harshest critics. "Just how unconditional the White House believes its free pass to be was revealed in a gripping exposé in this past Sunday's Los Angeles Times, detailing the energy industry's hand-in-glove involvement in shaping the administration's energy policy. The shocking thing isn't that oilmen W and Dick turned to their energy industry buddies for input into their task force's plan. No, what's shocking is how blatant the influence was -- and how shameless the White House was in conforming to it. How quickly back-slapping gave way to back-scratching. For instance, did you ever wonder why Bush pulled the plug on his campaign promise to restrict CO2 emissions? We now learn that his flip-flop came fast on the heels of an all-out blitz from super-lobbyist -- and former Bush campaign advisor -- Haley Barbour." Of course, EVERYTHING Bush does is dictated by a powerful industry lobbyist. Where is the outrage?

"Throughout February and March, executives representing electricity, coal, natural gas and nuclear interests paraded quietly in small groups to a building in the White House compound, where the new administration's energy policy was being written. Some firms sent emissaries more than once. Enron Corp., which trades electricity and natural gas, once got three top officials into a private session with Vice President Dick Cheney... Many of the executives at the White House meetings were generous donors to the Republican Party, and some of their key lobbyists were freshly hired from the Bush presidential campaign…Three electricity companies employ Diane Allbaugh as a lobbyist. She is married to Joe Allbaugh, the only member of Bush's so-called iron triangle of trusted Texas cohorts to serve on the energy task force…On May 21, five days after the task force report touted coal, Peabody's went on sale. The company received $420 million, about $60 million more than analysts expected."

On August 8, Bu$h's Energy Department finally asked the American people what WE think about their energy plan. Of course, the game is rigged for Bu$h/Cheney's greedy energy cronies, but Democrats.com member Daniel Brown has made it easy to challenge the special interests by simply copy-pasting some excellent comments.

Don't you find it just a BIT odd that when the power industry was gearing up for the push for Bush's energy plan, blackouts and predictions of widespread crises were the daily news? Now that the energy plan has passed the House and CA power providers are being vigorously investigated for scams, there are strangely NO energy crises on the horizon. Not even in one of the biggest power draws across the nation in HISTORY. We think their phony blackouts were a safe scam for them in the spring, when no one might actually die from heat or cold if they played games. But now in a heat wave, they don't dare risk the possible lawsuits from deaths (we doubt the risk of deaths alone would be sufficient deterrent if they thought they could get away with it).

The Energy plan has been a carefully orchestrated shell game played by Bush, the GOP, and the oil/coal barons. First, Bush releases his plan back in the spring. There's nothing in it giving direct cash assistance to the oil and gas companies. Didn't need to be. It was early on agreed that Congress would write the industry pork in later. They did - to the tune of $13 billion in new tax credits and direct "incentives." Meanwhile, Cheney stonewalls the GAO, making sure the bill makes it through Congress BEFORE he reveals the "energy task force" consisted of oil barons or criminals (Henry Kissinger). So now Bush is rallying all his front groups, taking out ads under their names, waiting for the heat to cool, before going in for the kill in the fall. And, with Bush's tax credits and incentives, they won't need to actually drill anywhere - it would be more cost effective to just do it on paper as a formality.

Don't the Bushgopers (our new name for Republicans who trot along behind Bush, hanging adoringly onto his coattails) get it? NO ONE WANTS BUSH'S ENERGY PLAN. No one, that is, except the fossil fuel barons and their corporate front groups. And, btw - it's getting harder even for Bush to find front groups willing to be identified with so hated a plan. A new, highly deceptive TV slot touting the plan (they actually show wind mills - which represent about .00001 part of the scheme) says the ad was brought to you by "Citizens for Real Energy Solutions." A search of 16 search engines, including an extensive Google and Yahoo scan revealed no such organization. I.e, it was INVENTED solely as a vehicle to push the plan. So not only is the plan a sell out and fraud, it is being sold fraudulently by bogus "citizens' groups." Which leads to the next question. Who REALLY funded the TV campaign? If it wasn't the oil companies, channeling money through this made-up group, it was mostly assuredly the taxpayers.

In the next few years, tiny Iceland, whose residents emit just as much carbon per head as Americans, may make the US look like a lumbering global dunce, still perched in its isolationist corner. Although Iceland is already the greatest harnesser of renewables, with 99 per cent of electricity coming via geysers and hydroelectric dams, it has made a political commitment to going above and beyond even the watered-down Kyoto pact and cut greenhouse emissions to zero within 30 years. In the process, it hopes to become the first hydrogen economy, leading a global energy revolution. Go, Iceland, Go!

This week, Bush and Cheney (along with their henchmen Delay, et al.) are waging a desperate battle to keep their energy plan afloat - a plan so unpopular that its pursuit may ultimately represent political suicide. Why are these men so eager to risk everything to ram through their plan?

Thanks to stricter regulations, air quality through the late 1970s and into the 1980s had improved greatly. However, in the past decade, smog emanating from coal-fired power plants has increased smog alarmingly. Now, even the once pristine Grand Canyon, has a visibility problem due to air pollution. But Bush wants to feather the nests of ENRON, et al., and plans to build nearly ONE HUNDRED new power plants PER YEAR for the next 20 years. Yet, ridiculously, the GOP says this plan won't sacrifice environmental quality (they probably also believe taking a bath in a mud puddle won't sacrifice personal hygiene, either). Meanwhile, the people who live in smog zones, such as Columbus, OH and Memphis, TN where "code red" days have nearly doubled in the past decade, can look forward to brown skies, a steadily climbing rate of premature deaths and severe asthma in their children

Can a dying nuclear power industry be resuscitated? Only if government subsidies cover the astronomical liabilities involved. Letting The Price-Anderson Act expire could be the nuclear industry's coup de grace. Why should Congress extend Price-Anderson?

"The new Army secretary is pressing to speed efforts to let private contractors run utilities on military bases as the energy company he recently left seeks millions of dollars from the Pentagon for providing just such services. Army Secretary Thomas White has said he would remove himself from decisions involving Enron Energy Services [uh-huh], where he served as vice chairman until this year, if there was a clear conflict of interest. White, a former brigadier general, is consulting with lawyers on whether he should participate in decisions related to Enron…whose chief executive officer, Kenneth Lay, is close to President and was a major contributor to the Bush campaign. White also is in the process of selling $25 million in Enron stock." Let's hope that White moves faster than Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill has in divesting from Alcoa. Meanwhile, Enron has been gouging California with exorbitant energy prices, while Bush-Cheney have washed their hands of the matter.

"Talks to settle allegations of electricity price gouging in the West begin Monday, and the judge overseeing the process says that while California' s claim of $9 billion seems excessive, refunds of 'several billion dollars' could be in order…The refund talks were ordered by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and its top administrative law judge, Curtis Wagner, will preside...The talks won't be limited to California, either, [but] will extend to power sales in Oregon and Washington…Wagner is also separately hearing the California Public Utilities Commission's complaint accusing El Paso Corp. of improperly sharing information with its natural gas marketing arm to boost the price of natural gas deliveries to California. Duke Energy, meanwhile, denied as 'baseless' claims by former workers at one of its California power plants that the company had shut down production units to drive up electricity prices." But Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante said, "This is the first smoking gun."

Creativity is one thing the progressives have in abundance, but that the rightwingers lack and cannot buy for all their corporate bucks. Here's just another example of progressive creativity, this one from CoPIRG (Colorado Public Interest Research Group) - a video that blasts the Bush Energy plan with great effectiveness.

"The Republican-controlled House voted by comfortable margins yesterday to block oil and gas exploration off the coast of Florida and to bar new oil, gas and coal exploration in millions of acres of national monuments, dealing a blow to President [sic] Bush's efforts to increase domestic [i.e. exportable] energy supplies…the House also approved a proposal to prevent the administration from reviewing or altering new restrictions on hardrock mining on government land. Although the measures now go to the Senate…the votes were the strongest indication yet of congressional unease with Bush's energy and environmental policies. They suggested that even among Republicans there are serious doubts about the general direction of the president's proposals. The votes coincide with a decline in public approval of the president's energy and global warming policies, which critics say place greater emphasis on production and exploration than conservation and environmental protection."

While the rest of the world moves rapidly forward into a less fossil-fuel dependent future, thanks to Shrubcheney Consortium, the U.S. is falling behind and may soon become -- energy-wise -- a Third World nation. Bush's lack of vision or interest in the public good will take its toll across the board. For example, Asia will soon require less crude oil imports because of their current push to develop alternatives, from biofuel to coconut oil (Pakistan already has a gasoline surplus). This will decimate the very industry Bush is putting all of our resources into. Meanwhile, U.S. automakers will once more find themselves out-competed by ultra-fuel efficient foreign cars (this week, Toyota unveiled TWO new hybrid-fuel vehicles).

Bush is using phony staged "blackouts" to push his pathetically inadequate and downright destructive energy schemes. Well, two can play that game, Shrub - or should we say several MILLION! A massive protest in the form of a giant rolling blackout that will girdle the globe is planned for June 21! POWER TO THE PEOPLE!

"I have lived through alot.. the death of my first son - teen pregnancy of my daughter -a job doing manual labor for 32 years job and the endless struggle to get through every day with the severe arthritis that I have had for the last six years and yet nothing has made me feel quite as defeated as I did the other day...." so writes Linda Washington, who was forced to pawn her VCR and CD player - her sole source of entertainment - to pay the power bill inflated by the "energy crisis" engineered by scam artists like Enron's Kenneth Lay. So while Lay takes home his record-breaking bonus this year, Ms. Washington will sit in a quiet apartment with even her simplest pleasures gone.

"Even as the Bush administration cites a lack of refineries as a cause of energy shortages, oil industry documents show that five years ago companies were looking for ways to cut refinery output to raise profits. The internal memos involving several major oil companies were released Thursday by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., whose office obtained them from a whistleblower. He said the materials did not necessarily reflect any illegal activities but said some of them 'sure look very anticompetitive'... Wyden said the documents 'raise significant questions about whether America's oil companies tried to pull off a financial triple play -- boosting profits by reducing refinery capacity, tagging consumers with higher pump prices and then arguing for environmental rollbacks'... Wyden singled out a 1996 memo from Mobil... that suggests that Mobil was ready for a 'full court press' to make sure an independent California refinery, which had closed in 1995, would not reopen."

Folks, this may be the first huge scandal of the Bush administration. Republicans, from Bush on down, are getting clobbered over their refusal to impose wholesale price caps in California. So Karl Rove convened a White House strategy meeting and decided the utilities must wage a $50 million propaganda campaign in California to scare voters into opposing price caps. This abuse of White House staff and resources is a massive scandal - WE DEMAND AN IMMEDIATE INVESTIGATION!

If Nixon's Project Independence was merely a harmless "Energy Tantrum", a well-intended experiment that did not work, Bush's "national energy policy" is an unabashed charade for a private sector "Energy Feast". It will only benefit private sector corporate energy giants, and deprive the people of this nation of a positive future. In any event, it is too faulty to stand for a national energy policy.

Nuclear power is dangerous, disasterous and discredited. But Bush's corporate patrons demand their payback for the millions they put into his candidacy, so now the power of the United States government is being withdrawn from renewable energy and placed behind nuclear -- despite its horendous record of being expensive, inefficient and unsafe.

A novel 30-kilowatt solar electric power system will soon be installed on a high-rise apartment building in NYC's Battery Park. The system, which will generate as much as 5% of all the power used in the building, will feature solar cells and special photovoltaic modules that will actually replace conventional building materials. In this case, the modules will become the building's facade. Despite Shrubcheney's propaganda that fossil fuel is THE ONLY solution, the company providing the building's solar powered system, AstroPower, was recently ranked 39th on Business Week's Top 50 Standard and Poor's Small Cap Company list for one- and three-year performance. Projects like this would be springing up twice as fast if the White House wasn't systemmatically trying to impede the progress of alternative power.

NY Times columnist Paul Krugman - who does double duty as the Ford International Professor of Economics at MIT - shreds Bush's non-answer to Gray Davis' request for price caps on wholesale electricity, calling Bush "obtuse." "No doubt his determination to answer the wrong question is deliberate: misrepresenting policy issues is, after all, standard operating procedure for this administration. But even on a cynical political calculation, Mr. Bush's remarks seem to be foolish, only reinforcing the sense that he neither understands nor cares about California's problems. Maybe Mr. Bush's advisers are knee-jerk ideologues who believe that the market is always right, even when textbook economics says it is wrong. Or maybe they are so close personally to energy industry executives that they believe that whatever is good for Enron is good for America. Whatever the real story, it's clear that this administration not only has no answers for California, it won't even listen to the question."

Members of the United Auto Workers took to the streets in 6 cities to denounce price gouging by energy companies - and their pal George W. Bush. "The United Auto Workers clearly targeted President Bush as the culprit. The UAW wants the oil spigots opened wide, even tapping the national strategic gas reserves and imposing price controls if necessary. With gas at nearly $1.70 a gallon and other energy costs skyrocketing, the union says America's middle class is facing a huge budget crunch. 'I think it's killing working families,' said Bridgette Williams, of the AFL-CIO. 'There's already an issue of whether to pay the utilities or buy food.' 'This is a crisis that seems to have arisen with our oil buddy George W. Bush's arrival in the White House,' said Jerry Kline, of UAW Local 249."

Gray Davis writes: "California is experiencing an energy shock like that perpetrated by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in the 1970's. That episode plunged the United States into deep recession and gave rise to a long period of stagflation - rising prices in a no-growth economy. The size of the energy shock to California this year is likely to be in the range of $40 billion to $50 billion... It is enough to threaten the still solid California economy with recession and to knock the nation's gross domestic product down by at least half a percent - enough to counter the stimulative effects that the Bush tax cut is intended to have on the stumbling national economy. As the Fed chairman, Alan Greenspan, observed in late January, 'It is scarcely credible that you can have a major economic problem in California which does not feed to the rest of the 49 states.'" Get ready for the Bush recession.

"President [sic] Bush wagged his finger Tuesday and lectured Californians that the energy issue needs action, not political excuses and blame-laying. But he brought little action with him and once again stiffed the state - this time in person - on the one thing it needs the most, a temporary federal cap on skyrocketing wholesale energy costs." So writes the Los Angeles Times.

On Memorial Day Weekend, undaunted by Shrubmeister's lack of serious interest in planet-saving innovations, the 13th Annual Tour de Sol competition was held in Boston. The 300-mile test of advanced nonpolluting, super-energy efficient vehicles was the highlight of the Great American Green Transportation Festival. The Tour de Sol is the largest such race in the world. More than a dozen of the vehicles, which ranged from the solar car from the University of Maine to a motor scooter from the People's Republic of China, are production vehicles available right now in the U.S. Interesting that we don't hear about them in the mainstream media, eh?

"Accusing federal regulators of not doing their job, Senator Dianne Feinstein called today for hearings into possible improprieties between members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and private energy interests." Said Ms. Feinstein, "Despite evidence of manipulation and price gouging in both the electricity and natural gas markets in California and the West, and a finding by FERC last November of 'unjust and unreasonable' rates, the commission has failed to take the actions necessary to bring reliability and stability to the marketplace." Moreover, "in her letter, Ms. Feinstein cited an article in The New York Times today reporting that Kenneth L. Lay, chairman of the Enron Corporation, had told the commission's chairman, Curtis Hébert Jr., that he would support his continuation in the job if the commissioner endorsed the company's views on energy deregulation. Enron is the nation's largest electricity trader" -- and Bush's number one financial backer.

Representatives from dozens of religious organizations and congregations from across the nation - representing an estimated 80 million Americans - converged on Washington this week to confront Shrub about his morally indefensible energy plan. "We must join in binding international agreements, such as the Kyoto Protocol, which set energy conservation targets and timetables," the religious leaders wrote. "Far more than rolling blackouts and gasoline price increases are at stake. The future of God's creation on earth; the nature and durability of our economy; our public health and public lands; the environment and quality of life we bequeath our children and grandchildren. We are being called to consider national purpose, not just policy." Bush and the Republicans have taken religious voters for granted - if the religious community turns against Bush, the Republicans will be in very deep trouble.

Granny D., the dear elderly woman who stoically hiked across America, then picketed the Capitol in all weather for Campaign Finance Reform, sent us her own for-fun campaign poster, complete with the latest statement by the "candidate." So here it is: Robert Redford for President! Whether he runs or not, we appreciate his pointed insights re: Shrubcheney.

Democrats.com was the first the uncover the more-than-coincidental similarity between the James Baker III Institute's 'Strategic Energy Policy Changes for the 21st Century' report and the Bush energy plan, formulated by a task force that included two-dozen oil and energy corp. execs, including Bush buddy Kenneth Lay, chief of ENRON, the power company that exploited (and maybe helped create) the CA energy crisis. Now the NYT continues the saga by revealing the heavy hand Kenneth Lay has had - and continues to have in pushing the energy industry's agenda in the guise of the new "energy plan." (for background info, go to dems.com "compass" and enter "Baker Institute").

According to the right-wing Orange County Register, "In California, refiners have 10 percent more fuel in storage than they had this time last year... Supplies of fuel in California are so high that refiners could run out of room to store gasoline in 10 days to two weeks." In other words, there is no justification for wholesale gasoline prices going from $.41/gal to $1.10/gal. In other words, there is no gas/oil/energy crisis. In other words, Bush/Cheney are lying through their teeth! Here's the smoking gun - let's have an impeachment!

On Monday, 39 members of the National Council of Churches wrote to Bush: (excerpt) "Far more than rolling blackouts and gasoline price increases are at stake: the future of God's creation on Earth; the nature and durability of our economy; our public health and public lands; the environment and quality of life we bequeath our children and grandchildren...Humankind has a fundamental choice of priorities for its future. By depleting energy sources, causing global warming, fouling the air with pollution, and poisoning the land with radioactive waste, a policy of increasing reliance on fossil fuels and nuclear power jeopardizes health and well-being for life on Earth." Amen.

The power industry is already showing its true colors. AZ power brokers hoping to hit the big time by shipping power to CA are planning a massive power plant expansion within three miles of 21 schools, in a state famous for its pristine air. But dozens of other plants are being planned in AZ and Nevada, where power moguls will take advantage of cheaper land while sucking up bigger energy bucks from CA. "This is like a new California gold rush," says Steve Brittle of Don't Waste Arizona. "The whole trend is going absolutely the wrong direction." Wake up people! This is YOUR country, not the power industry's!

A Transportation Department report released the day after Bush's "energy plan unveiling" (no coincidence here, we're sure!) says Americans are this year buying cars with the lowest average fuel efficiency since 1980 - and thus are likely to require a growing fuel supply. However, regional reports by car dealers show an opposite trend, so someone's fudging here. In any case, the U.S. needs to have fuel efficiency pushed, and pushed hard. Neither Bush, with his drill and guzzle plan, nor Terry McAuliffe and Tom Daschle driving around in big gas guzzlers and thereby setting a poor example, are doing much for the cause of conservation. Come on, Dems! Let's not be accused of the same hypocrisy the GOP is so blatantly guilty of! Unload your SUVs, Caddies, and trucks (unless of course you need one to tote tools and haybales!).

"In an industry as complicated as ours, you can't run things like a cowboy," scoffed Dieter Zetsche, president of DaimlerChryslter's Chrysler Group last week in response to the hoopla Bush is making over hybrid car incentives. There has not been sufficient demand yet for the cars - mostly because the oil industry has fought against them. The auto industry, which has more foresight than Shrub, also does not want to build up a huge hybrid car production system because it believes the hybrids should only be an interim step on the road to pollution-free cars. But, contrary to what big oil wants us to believe, interest in alternative cars is HIGH - Toyota says it has a 5-month waiting list for its hybrid Prius.

Democrats.com has learned from an inside source that the template for the Shrubcheney energy plan is the "Strategic Energy Policy Changes for the 21st Century" plan from the James Baker III Institute on the campus of Rice University in Texas. It IS the Bush plan. The Baker Institute is a big-bucks right-wing propaganda and world-domination-planning center disguised as a "think tank." Dominating the 41-member task force are two-dozen major energy CEO's, including Kenneth Lay of Enron, David O'Reilly of ChevronTexaco, Steve Miller of Shell Oil, and Chuck Watson of Houston Dynergy. NOT ONE representative from the alternative energy sector sat on this task force, not one climatologist, ecologist, or non-geopetrol scientist of any type. Conservation and alternatives are discussed as vague projects for "later." But, here is our energy plan! Read it (if you can wade through the BS in which it is couched) and weep!

When you consider that ABC is one of the most corporate of the corporate media outfits, always spinning toward the right, then it's a pretty strong statement when even they cannot come up with more than 4 in 10 Americans willing to give Bush the thumbs up. The results of the May 15 poll canvassing public opinion on Shrub's energy tactics showed most Americans want increased conservation rather than increased fossil fuel or nuclear production. Had the poll been taken AFTER the energy plan's unveiling, it is doubtful the pollsters would have found 1 or 2 out of 10 people ready to admit support for Shrub's energy stance. Yet Shrubcheney presses forward, indifferent to the will of the people he is supposed to represent (as opposed to those he does represent, namely the energy moguls).

Some folks scoffed when it was suggested that the ANWR drilling proposal was being used as a thumbscrew on the American public: In exchange for easing up on the thumbscrew, the dungeonmasters would offer us a deal - let us trash the Rockies instead. The idea, of course, was that we'd be so grateful to see ANWR protected we'd step aside without protest and let the Rockies go. No 20th century leader would be that devious, right? Dream on! Now that the energy plan's hideous face has been unveiled, Shrubcheney is, as predicted, now stalking one of the last pristine forests left in the continental U.S. Liz Halloran paints a moving portrait of a wilderness in peril.

Known as mild-mannered and nonconfrontational, California governor Gray Davis is proving the old marine corps adage: "When the going gets tough, the tough get going." Pushed once too often by the energy moguls and Bush administration (is there a difference?), Davis has taken off the gloves and come out swinging. Davis has threatened to start seizing power plants if the industry continues to play games with the people of CA. "I'm going to hold everyone accountable: myself, the energy producers and the president [sic] of the United States," Davis asserts. Go Gray, Go!

Philip E. Clapp, president of the National Environmental trust has blasted Shrubcheney's energy plan, implying with good reason that it is not just destructive and impractical, it is downright irrational (Cheney does have a sort of darkly crazed look, doesn't he?). The sources of fuel the plan concentrates are are not only the most expensive of all possible to achieve, they will not yield fuel available to the public for up to a decade. Worse yet, the new power plants proposed by the plan will increase global warming by a staggering 65%. If this isn't insanity, then Hannibal Lechter ought to be given a government post.

California Public Utilities Commission president Loretta Lynch announced that the commission now has evidence that a cartel of power companies colluded to drive up energy prices by creating artificial shortages. "There are instances where plants could have produced, and they chose not to," says Lynch. Worse yet, there were times when plants refused to produce, even when ordered to under special contracts the companies have with the state. Industry mouthpiece Gary Ackerman of the Western Power Trading Forum naturally denies all charges and says the companies "do not make money by shutting down...so their competitors can make money." Maybe not the day of the shutdown, but they sure clean up in the long run with the new higher prices they create! The loss of a few days revenue is a mosquito bite when you're talking a later pay off of billions!

Brushing all critics of the disastrous energy plan aside as "alarmists" and knee-jerk complainers (referring to about 90% of the planet's reasonably educated people), the White House has rammed forward with the plan, signing executive orders that will "fast track" power plant construction and bypass regulations. Ari Fleischer, Spencer Abraham, and Richard Lindsey are busy making the rounds of the corporate media, getting their spins pumped up by ABC, NBC, and the "big fat idiot" (Rush Limbaugh). Bush, who still has trouble with long division and has absolutely no science background, has ordained that alternative energy isn't unlikely to replace oil. Well, Shrub, it sure won't replace the nice oily retirement billions you hope to gain in exchange for letting the fossil fuel industry screw the country, would it?

While Shrub mapped out his plan to intensify the already dangerous pressure on precious natural resources, the European Union outlined its plan to insure long-term resource sustainability. The priorities listed by the EU: climate change, public health, resource management, transportation congestion, and pollution. In all areas of the plan, sustainable development is the core concern. Among the EU's goals is cutting greenhouse emissions by 20% by 2020. Meanwhile, back in Lookinglass World, Shrub's goal seems to be raising emissions by 50% by 2010, while his core concern seems to be "resource exploitability." We were a bit embarrassed by some of Clinton's little affairs. But with Shrub, it's terminal humiliation!

The returns are coming in fast and furious in the wake of Shrubmeister's unveiling (unmasking would be more accurate) of his energy plan. No surprises here: the pros are restricted to GOP show dogs - you know, the kind that heel real well on command by their masters!, the energy industry, those who use the most energy for the least penalty (the high-tech industry, esp.) and, of course, the energy moguls themselves. The'anti' list is getting so long we may soon be able to T-P the White House with it! One of the most disgusted critics of the plan is the Business Council for Sustainable Energy, a coalition of business and trade associations committed to clean energy. They appeared before the GOP-bullied Congress in April and their testimony obviously fell on deaf (and incredibly dumb) ears. Here's what the group has to say about the plan.

As Shrub tries to pull us all backwards into a sooty, doomed past, young inventors and conservationists are working to find real solutions for the future. Take the group of California students who just formed Sea Power & Associates, a company using a technology developed by a young inventor that can harness the power of ocean waves. Their ingenious system, which converts wave motion into electricity, has the potential to convert every yard of coastline in No. CA into a power source for 20 typical homes. "We're going to be replacing diesel generators in our target market," said Heather Breusse, Sea Power's COO. "Sea Power will be saving society more than $150 million in reduced pollution and in savings to consumers from lower energy costs." Rock on, Sea Power!

The Shrubcheney "guzzle now gasp later" (GNGL) energy scheme appalls most and mystifies others. Among the mystified is Howard Geller, former Executive Director of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. The only thing Shrubcheney is contributing to the cause of conservation, says Geller and others, is talk. At the rate Bush is spewing hot air, global warming has probably gotten worse just since Monday. Read the ACEEE's point-by-point criticism of the GNGL plan.

The reports in the aftermath of today's energy plan "unveiling" by G. W. (Global Wreckingball) Bush make it clear: Every industry that stands to benefit financially from Shrub's scheme (the American Electronics Association, the National Association of Convenience Stores, the mining industry, the American Chemical Council, etc.) love the plan. Every group that dedicated to the welfare of their fellow humans, plants and critters have publicly condemned it (Earthjustice, World Wildlife Fund, Physicians for Social Responsibility, the Defenders of Wildlife, and many others). The Union of Concerned Scientists, which includes several Nobel Laureates, has blasted Shrub's scheme and thrown their support to the Democrat's alternative plan. The UCS has also gone all out to present the public with a strong dose of energy realities in a user friendly site. Check it out!

"The Cheney team has a three point energy plan: rape, burn and pillage. Rape the environment. Burn fossil fuels 'til we choke. Pillage the consumer's pocket book. This is lunacy. We call for a sensible plan: a balanced energy policy, preserving our environmental safeguards while focusing on conservation, efficiency, and renewables." Sign the petition.

"Cheney's call to construction exaggerates, if not misconstrues, the nation's future energy problems. In fact, the power plant industry is already in the midst of an unprecedented building boom–and is adding more new power than the plant a week called for in Cheney's production schedule. Within the next two years, Americans should face a power glut, not shortages." So says US News and World Report - not exactly a bunch of tree huggers.

We don't know about you, but the current "epidemic" of oil refinery fires is starting to set off buzzers and bells in our minds. The latest fire occurred in the Virgin Islands at the largest refinery in the western hemisphere at around 1:00 a.m. on May 17 - the same day Bush unveils his energy plan. The fire has seriously reduced the facility's ability to produce gasoline. Very conviently, this selective fire has not curtailed the refinery's ability to continue processing crude. But now, on the very eve of Bush's energy plan pitch, which is relying heavily on the psychological thumbscrews presented by gas shortages, a major fire insures an enhanced gas shortage. How very convenient! Too convenient, if you ask us!

Shrubcheney says we must drill, drill, drill! because oil supplies are scarce. He say gas prices are high for the same reason: a shortage. Funny, that's not what OPEC says. There's plenty of oil available now - enough to ease the present crunch until we can upgrade our existing refineries and existing pipelines (which probably already have far more capacity than the suppliers let on - as has come to light in the case of ElPaso Energy), develop ALTERNATIVE energy sources, and institute strict conservation measures. So why all the focus on new production? Maybe because Shrubcheney has had plans to sell off the future new oil supply to the new trade partners he's been trying to line up - with whom he wants absolute trade-deal power! So we lose our national treasures so the oil can get shipped to Brazil or Mexico.

Shrub went to Yale, but apparently remained in a boozy stupor the whole time or he might have gained some decent values. Yale students are now leading the way in environmental activism, starting with their own campus! Here's the current work list of the Yale Student Environmental Coalition. No wonder Shrub avoids his old Alma Mater - they'd be more likely to lynch him than laud him. He's in for a BIG surprise on May 21, when he returns to Yale to receive an honorary [sic] degree (see anti-Bush protests above).

Why is there an energy crisis in the US? Because of corporate greed. The House Progressive Caucus is mad as hell - and they have a plan. HERE is the outrage! Watch their press conference on C-Span.

Shrub's energy act is likely to fold the first night out as he ducks the slings and arrows (and if we're lucky, a few rotten tomatoes) of outraged citizens. Minnesota activists will rally to jeer His Heinous as he maps out his new empire, while anti-Bush ads will flood TV stations. "The Environmental community is going to put more money into this than any other campaign in its history because there is so much at stake," says Phil Clapp, prez of the National Environmental Trust. To all you who care about the environment and can drive, hike, pedal, fly, or astrally-project to St. Paul - BE THERE! We're counting on you!

Just when Shrub and Cheney thought they could rely on the gas-greediness of the American consumer to help promote their power plant empire scheme, it looks like consumers are giving their megatanks the heave-ho. This trend is starting in CA (understandably) but is likely to sweep the nation. So what will your next ploy be, Shrubcheney? - will you recommend we all set our thermostats at 55 in summer and 90 in winter? You must have SOME backup plan for thwarting conservation!

Shrub and Cheny's Evil Empire is rumbling forward, tank like, with its plan to forever make "energy and environment" not only synonymous but interchangable. Now the FERC is pushing to weaken the power of state agencies to enforce the Clean Water Act and wants to "fast track" (i.e. ram thru with a bludgeon) hydroelectric projects and hydropower relicensing. "A license to dam a public river is a priviledge, not a right," says Matt Sicchio, coordinator for the Hydropower Reform Coalition dedicated to protecting rivers impacted by hydropower dams. Hydropower, by the way, is one of the least efficient forms of energy generation, especially in terms of environmental cost.

Don't listen to what Shrub and Cheney and their think-tank "geniuses" (as if!) say about our energy situation. It's all a barrel of snake oil (which will soon be $100 bucks a barrel if they have their way!). Want the truth? Here it is, in the government and industry's own words! Go to Bush's Empire-launching party well-armed with the facts and be ready to fight this new Evil Empire as if our lives depended on it...the harsh reality is, they do!

Attention concerned reporters and citizens! On the day that Shrubmeister lays out the official battle plans for his war on the environment (euphemistically known as his "energy plan") several REAL experts in the fields of energy conservation, pollution, and global warming will be available for comment on the Bush debacle. We checked them out and they passed muster (i.e., not on Exxon or Western Fuels Association's payrolls, nor are they the brainwashed alumni of rightwing think tanks).

Remember the tax cut Bush promised you? If you're in the middle class, Bush and the Republicans want you to take the meager tax cut they're promising and turn it over to the oil and gas companies -- the same ones that are already making millions from the high gas prices. Bush said last week that the solution to high gas prices for average Americans was for them to use the money from the tax cut and spend it at the pump. Send a message straight to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. Tell them you're tired of spending your money on higher fuel bills when Big Oil is making millions.

A memo guarded like the crown jewels by the Texas energy firm El Paso, suggests the company schemed to commit price-gouging against California natural gas consumers. The memo indicates that the company intentionally restricted space on its So. CA pipline to jack up the price of the gas. And, that's not all, folks! There's another batch of documents yet to be made public that PUC lawyers for CA say are "smoking guns." Worse yet, there is evidence El Paso took advantage of the dry weather combined with a reduced output by the hydro plants to go in for the kill. The arrogant response of El Paso's lawyer Bill Scherman: "I'm not losing sleep over it."

"Last week, however, Vice President Dick Cheney told the Los Angeles Times that he would remain philosophically opposed to any federal intervention on wholesale power prices even if it threatened the national economy. With all due respect to the vice president, that is one of the most irresponsible statements I've ever heard. Here is the eye-popping result of the federal government's rigid stance: In the spring of 2000, a megawatt of electricity in California cost an average of $30. By last December, after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission precipitously removed the hard price cap of $250 per megawatt hour that been in effect, the spot-market price shot up to $1,500 for the same megawatt of power. Just last week, we paid an astounding per-megawatt record of $1,900 to Houston-based Reliant Energy... Where is that money going? Simply put, into the pockets of the generators and marketers -- almost all of them in the South and many of them located in Texas.

House Democratic leaders, portraying President Bush's soon-to-be-released energy policy as an environmentally disastrous giveaway to his friends in the energy industry, today released their own energy blueprint that called for the government to force down electricity prices and to step up conservation efforts. "The differences between our principles and President Bush's could not be greater," said Representative Richard Gephardt, the House Democratic leader. "We call on the president to move away from the special interests and put the interests of the American people first. We call on him to reject the radical, production-only approach and to embrace a balanced program." The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has begun distributing news releases to local reporters in California and elsewhere in the West, singling out individual Republican House members from the state who have refused to support price limits on electricity. Keep the heat on the Republicans!

In addition to pumping carbon dioxide, mercury, and sulfur compounds into the air, fossil-fuel-fired power plants have another nasty habit: they require water - lots of it - to cool their machinery. Even in Louisiana, where water is fairly plentiful, farmers and residents are worried as new plants are already being built at an alarming rate. An estimated 5 million gallons of water per day is guzzled by even the newest "water efficient" plants. Most of this water is ultimately lost via evaporation. Just imagine the impact of a "new efficient" plant on the water supply in, say, Utah, or ANYWHERE during a drought. Let's see, that's 1,300 plants times 5 million gallons of water a day times 365 days per year...What's next Cheney? A snow-melting operation in ANWR to provide the drinking water we will no longer have?

"In truth, a comprehensive national conservation plan is indeed the best immediate solution to America's energy problem. The Hubbert Peak indicates that we have a window of opportunity of approximately 30 years in which to end our dependency on petroleum. It is during this period that urgent development and implementation of sustainable energy sources ­ must be done! The REAL challenge, therefore, is not to lie to the American people about future oil production, as Cheney and Bush are doing, it is to show courageous leadership and begin the task of weaning our civilization off of fossil fuels and on to solar energy, wind power, and hydrogen fuel cells." So writes Dave Chandler, Publisher of www.earthside.com.

"First things first: This year's gasoline price spike has nothing to do with a shortage of crude oil. Even if we had already punched the Alaskan tundra and the ocean floor off Florida full of holes, we'd still be in the same fix. The binding constraint right now is the nation's limited capacity to refine crude oil into gasoline. Why is refining capacity inadequate? No new refineries have been built in this country for 20 years, a point emphasized with obvious relish by Dick Cheney. His implicit subtext, of course, is that it's the fault of environmentalist types who stood in the oil industry's way…Wrong...the reason the oil industry didn't build any new refineries for two decades was that they weren't needed... What finally brought us up against capacity constraints was a surge in demand that was partly due to the economic boom of the later Clinton years, but mainly due to the renewed enthusiasm of Americans for huge, gas-guzzling vehicles — an enthusiasm, er, fueled by cheap gas."

California "officials had anticipated a crunch in June, when air conditioners are cranked up for summer weather. But already, California has been hit with back-to-back blackouts on Monday and Tuesday, and the operators of the state's power grid barely scraped together enough energy to avoid blackouts Wednesday." The Bu$h administration refuses to help California in order to protect oil and gas suppliers - so our members are calling them "Bushouts."

A string of 20 white windmills spinning at the entrance of Copenhagen's harbor stand as a symbol of Denmark’s position as the worldwide leader and pioneer in the pollution-free wind energy sector. In 1979, Denmark began a national windmill program under pressure from grass root organizations demanding new electricity sources. Since then, the government has encouraged Danes to invest money in windmills through co-ops, like Middelgrunden. Today, more than 5,600 windmills dot the Scandinavian nation, producing about 10 percent of Denmark’s electricity. In 2030, half of Denmark's energy should come from windmills. In the U.K., the Blyth Offshore Wind Farm, the first multi-megawatt wind farm in serious seas, was recently commissioned, while the rest of Europe already has plans to generate a total of 12,000 megawatts of power from offshore wind farms by 2010. So why isn't Bush promoting clean wind power, instead of earth-threatening oil, coal, and nuclear power?

House Minority leader Richard Gephardt on Friday led a rally outside a power plant near San Diego, demanding federal action to tackle soaring power prices in California. "People all over the West are being hit by higher prices. What hits in the West will hit in the Midwest, will hit in the Northeast. This is America's problem, not just California's problem," Gephardt told a crowd of 750 activists - including Ruth Hull-Richter from the California chapter of Democrats.com. Other speakers included Rep. Bob Filner, Rep. Maxine Waters, and Rep. Susan Davis.

What the public doesn't know - and with the present media may NOT know until it's too late - is that safe, cheap, nonpolluting, and more efficient energy sources are RIGHT NOW on the the brink of commercial availability and affordability. Within a few years, you could have your own microturbine or fuel cell providing all your power and heat - no need for a power plant at all! That's why the big traditional energy outfits are so desperate to commandeer the market NOW. The public also doesn't know that many so-called power "shortages" aren't really shortages - they are fluctuations caused by unusual patterns of current flow in conventional systems caused by high-tech electronic equipment (especially large computer clusters, which are ubiquitous in CA). Increased use of advanced fault current limiters and other equipment could solve many of these problems without the need to ever build a new plant. Read our lips: NO NEW FOSSIL FUEL PLANTS!

"It's hard to understate the influence big donors and high-ranking executives have with the Bush Administration. Take Tom Kuhn, for example, one of the energy executives who came calling when Bush was thinking about actually following through on his pledge to limit carbon dioxide levels. Kuhn, a top Bush fundraiser, also served on Bush's Energy Department transition advisory team, and still enjoys access to the highest reaches of the Bush White House. Not surprisingly then, the Big Oil Bush Administration's energy policy could not make Bush's huge donors and the special interests in the energy business any happier." So declares the Democratic Party.

While Bush rails at California for its "poor management" of its energy industry, his own home state of Texas, thanks in large part to his own policies while governor, ranks WORST in terms of energy wastefulness of all states with populations of over 5 million. No wonder he wants to drill in ANWR. He wants to ship it all down to Texas, where they'll dribble it all away in a week or two. Does that W in your name stand for Wasted, Shrub?

Bush claims he wants to base his energy/environmental policy (he doesn't see the difference between the two concepts!) on "sound science." Well, here's what two real scientists (i.e., not industry PR men calling themselves scientists) have to say about the Bush energy policy. Robert K. Kaufmann and Cutler J. Cleveland of Boston University are experts in energy resource management and the oil industry. Kaufmann led the development of the oil model in Project Link, the global econometric model developed by Nobel laureate Lawrence Klein. Both men have been published in a wide range of REAL journals (not the cheesey type sponsored by the oil or coal industries, such as the bogus "CO2 News" or "World Climate Report"), been consultants for governments and industry, presented their work at national and international meetings and now maintain a website open to the public (www.oilanalytics.org). Read it and weep, Shrub!

"Energy prices are skyrocketing across the nation, yet Washington is doing nothing. Energy producers are taking huge windfall profits. Consumers and taxpayers are given the shaft... The energy markets are controlled by a small number of companies -- Enron, Duke, Dynegy, Reliant, etc -- which supply local utilities throughout the country with gas and power. These companies are so big, they are more like monopolies than players in a price-competitive market. Their irresponsible behavior calls for a strong federal hand... A new bill sponsored by Senators Feinstein (D-CA), Smith (R-OR), and Lieberman (D-CT), would direct FERC to set temporary "cost-plus" rates allowing wholesalers to charge a reasonable rate of profit, not the excessive premiums they are now charging." Sign this important petition to Congress.

"You can hear it now, 'Drill the damn Arctic. I wanta drive my truck!' Political music to the Bush - Cheney - Exxon - Halliburton Axis and their vision of America's energy future. Their tactic? When the price per gallon tops $2.00, public support for environmental protection will crumble in the face of consumer demand for cheap gasoline." So writes Dave Chandler, publisher of www.earthside.com.

"Citing what they called a textbook example of market manipulation, energy experts told state legislators Wednesday that a Texas company hoarded space on a key natural gas pipeline into California, causing electricity prices to skyrocket. The testimony before an Assembly committee investigating the natural gas market highlighted a day in which another legislative panel, a joint Assembly-Senate committee, began probing whether energy companies are systematically gouging California. Because natural gas is burned by many power plants to produce electricity, a move by El Paso Natural Gas Co. to sell pipeline capacity rights directly to an affiliate caused an increase in electricity prices, energy consultants told the Assembly subcommittee on energy oversight. Much of the pipeline capacity subsequently went unused, and Southern California Edison alone had to pay $750 million more as a result of higher gas prices last year, they estimated." Is this part of a Bush/Enron/Energy sector scam?

"One of Pacific Gas and Electric's senior vice presidents, Dan Richard, came to a brown-bag media lunch last Wednesday, and his remarks were among the clearest indications to date of PGE's carefully orchestrated campaign to get rid of the last bit of regulatory control the state still has over private utilities. His comments – confirmed by a secret memo leaked to the San Francisco Chronicle last week – demonstrate the astonishing arrogance that still reigns at a time when PGE's public credibility is collapsing faster than the company's cash flow. In short, PGE is still unwilling to admit that deregulation was, and is, a bad idea. Instead, the company insists that the state should deregulate even more...[There is a] growing body of evidence pointing to the fact that PGE's bankruptcy filing is part of a secret strategy to save its private monopoly power in California." A few weeks ago it was revealed that PGE handed bonus checks to middle managers hours before declaring bankruptcy.

"The Energy Department yesterday announced the rollback of a Clinton administration rule mandating increased energy savings for central air conditioners and heat pumps in favor of a less stringent rule applauded by appliance manufacturers…The Bush administration's plan is likely to face legal and congressional challenges, opponents predicted. The Clinton standard, mandating a 30 percent gain [in efficiency], would have offset the need for 39 plants of the same size, officials said." Bush's plan only requires a 20 percent increase, which would remove the need for 27 plants -- 12 less than under the Clinton standard. "The difference in energy savings between the two standards over 30 years equals the annual electricity use by all American households today." Said David Nemtzow of the Alliance to Save Energy: "Here we are with the worst energy problems in 20 years, and they are gutting a tool that is already in place. They're working very hard to make the nation more energy inefficient."

"A review by Bush administration officials that could lead them to relax a new efficiency standard for central air-conditioners has been dealt a blow by an unlikely source: the nation's second-largest air-conditioner manufacturer. The company, Goodman Manufacturing, which owns Amana and several less prominent brands, has sent a letter to Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham asking his department not to revise the standard, which was approved in the last days of the Clinton administration and would require new models to be 30 percent more efficient than the current minimum standard. The industry's trade association, the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute, has asked that the efficiency increase be cut to 20 percent. But environmentalists are hoping to preserve the standard, and they have been joined by some industrialists."

"The parent company of a California utility [PG&E] awarded about 6,000 bonuses and raises to midlevel managers and other employees hours before the utility filed for [Chapter 11] bankruptcy, a newspaper has reported...No money was distributed to rank-and-file union members who already received a wage increase earlier this year as part of their contract... California utilities, including PG&E, are struggling with massive debts related to the state's power crisis. Utilities have been crippled by skyrocketing wholesale energy prices." This price gouging has been committed by companies like Enron, which is headed by Bush buddy Ken Lay. According to the Center for Public Integrity, Lay and Enron have been the largest contributors to George W. Bush's political career. Gov. Gray Davis (D-CA) remarked, "PG&E's management is suffering from two afflictions: denial and greed." The same could be said of Enron, Bush's energy and oil backers and the entire Bush administration.

"...The [oil] industry has shorted the government on oil-royalty payments alone by about $100 million a year, through a variety of price-fixing and record-fiddling games…What has made this possible is a system that allowed industry to decide on its own what it would pay the government for the oil it pumped... sworn evidence shows companies falsifying prices, using phony bills of sale and deliberately misclassifying high-quality oil as low quality in order to pay less. After years of denials, stonewalling and evasion, more than a dozen companies have agreed in recent months to settlements totaling nearly a half-billion dollars in suits…Thus they avoided defending themselves against daunting evidence of persistently cheating the public. Shell Oil alone is paying $110 million...But now the industry is trying to force the government to accept payment in oil instead of cash. Its proposal would put extra costs on the taxpayer totaling more than $300 million a year…"

"Congressional Democrats accused President Bush on Saturday of 'inaction and excuses' instead of protecting consumers in Western states from rising electricity prices and power supply shortages." Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA) said, "the Bush administration was refusing to enforce fair pricing laws. [He added that] Vice President Dick Cheney and a task force he heads on the power crunch 'even refused to meet with members of Congress, including myself, who asked for a discussion on this issue.'" In a Goebellian moment, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham accused the Democrats of "trying to exploit this crisis for partisan gain by distorting the record while offering no real solutions.'' We think Bush, Cheney and Abraham are exploiting this crisis to pay back their energy overlords -- including big-time contributor Enron. A Bush buddy, Enron chief Ken Lay stands to reap an incredible bonus next year as a result of the machinations of Bush and companies like Enron that perpetuate the energy crisis.

The facts are clear. Clean, affordable, unlimited energy is available now. If you want it, you can have it. There is just one catch: you must demand it. Or do you prefer to surrender your right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" and allow the Exxon’s and Bush’s of the world continue to drill your wallet and your country dry?

"The Bush administration plans to cut programs intended to make buildings and factories use less energy and to generate more power from the wind and the sun, people who have seen the administration's budget proposal say. The cuts, being proposed despite the administration's contention that the nation faces an energy crisis, would reduce the Energy Department's overall spending on energy efficiency and renewable energy by about $180 million, or 15 percent...the administration is now reviewing whether to delay or scrap Clinton administration standards that would require new clothes washers, water heaters and central air-conditioners to use less electricity and natural gas...Though supporters of...[energy efficiency and renewable energy] programs say the nation would face a far greater energy crisis today without [them]. They cite studies concluding that energy efficiency technology developed in the last two decades created $200 billion in energy savings last year."

Windmills now operating in California's Mojave Desert could produce 240 megawatts of non-polluting power each day. But Southern California Edison thought renewable energy was a fad and refused to upgrade the transmission lines to carry that power to consumers.

"Energy marketing powerhouse Enron Corp. rewarded chairman Kenneth Lay with a $7 million bonus for the company's performance last year, a 79 percent increase from the year before." A good friend of George W., Lay was one of his fundraising "Pioneers" who netted over $100,000 for the Bush 2000 campaign. Through the years, Lay and Enron have given hundreds of thousands to Bush's campaigns. Per the Center for Public Integrity, Enron is Bush's #1 career patron. Other Enron executives, including President Jeffrey Skilling, also saw their bonuses balloon. Lay and Skilling can look forward to even bigger bonuses in 2001, since Enron is cleaning up over the California quasi-energy crisis. Meanwhile, their buddy Bush has washed his hands of the crisis. Can you say quid pro quo?

Only by creating the illusion that new energy sources are urgently needed can President Bush and the Republicans hope to suspend the better judgment of the American people, which is first to focus on the efficient use of the energy we now consume. At best the oil that could be found in the Alaskan coast would provide enough gasoline to run 2% of America's automobiles for 3 decades. If we improved fleet mileage by even one mile per gallon it would save twice as much energy as that, and cost consumers a whole lot less.

Shrub's buddies at Enron are running into fierce opposition from Floridians opposed to Enron's plans to build a power plant in Broward County, near Fort Lauderdale. Dan Mackey, one of 500 residents who attended a hearing to protest the plant, carried a hand-drawn sign that read, "Think of Our Kids. Stuff the Stacks." Aware of the company's political influence, such as its close ties to President Bush, Mackey said he wondered how much of a chance opponents had. "We're afraid of Enron," said Mackey, who has a 10-year-old daughter. "We don't feel we're in very good shape against them."

Wholesale electricity suppliers overcharged California by about $5.5 billion between May and last month, and that money should be refunded to the state's taxpayers and financially strapped utilities, according to the state power grid operator. Unfortunately for Californians, the Bush administration gets to decide whether to order a refund. No wonder Shrub won't set foot in the state - he'd get hung from the nearest electric pole.

"The American people aren't stupid. But for some reason, many politicians (especially those with ties to the gas and oil industries, which have a vested interest in keeping consumption high), seem unable to present their constituents with the hard truth: Oil and natural gas are limited resources and some day — perhaps not in our lifetime, but in our children's or grandchildren's — they'll run out. It's time to stop wantonly wasting energy and to turn our attention to developing sustainable energy sources." So writes the Boulder County Daily Camera.

Congressional Democrats unveiled a broad energy plan to boost oil and renewable energy supplies, saying there was no need to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as President George W. Bush has urged. Democrats would provide tax incentives to increase energy supplies and promote energy conservation. The other bill would improve the nation's energy infrastructure, such as power transmission lines, and increase vehicle fuel efficiency.

Now that OPEC has announced that they will cut production -- which will raise oil prices -- Bush and his advisers are meekly expressing "disappointment." This is a far cry from Bush's campaign rhetoric that he would be tough with the oil cartel. But lower oil prices would undercut Bush's bogus "energy crisis" as an excuse for oil drilling in Alaska. It would also ruin "bidness" for the Carlyle Group, including Daddy Bush and James Baker. Mustn't do that - wouldn't be prudent. We demand an investigation!

In order to sell his tax cut for the greedy, Bush is pushing the economy into a recession. In order to sell his plan to drill oil in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge, Bush may be urging OPEC to cut production. We demand an investigation!

Drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge makes no sense from the perspective of the environment - or energy policy.

Trent Lott picked Curtis Hebert as chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which regulates wholesale energy rates. But Hebert's hardline opposition to regulation is deepening California's energy crisis. Bush wants to put his own man at FERC to work with California, which has not elected a Republican to a top office in six years. But dumping Hebert will piss off Lott big-time. What will Shrub do?

"California cannot fix its energy crisis without serious damage to the economy. The state is trying to improvise a solution, but does not have the means to do it alone. Without federal help, we are in for a rough ride. The Bush administration's refusal to help, a refusal that is politically and ideologically driven, will do long-term damage to both the state and national economies. The federal government alone can regulate interstate energy prices, which are by definition a federal responsibility." So writes columnist James Goldsborough.

President Bush is exploiting a weakening economy to build support for his tax cut proposals and using the California energy crisis to justify accelerating our relentless addiction to petroleum. The American people know that neither are right. Instead, they are looking for us to explain what is happening now and what opportunities are truly presented. They don’t want to follow Bush down the path of tax breaks for the wealthy and they most certainly do not want to see environmental protections weakened so we can devastate the natural beauty of Alaska for the sake of servicing our oil and gas habit for a few more weeks. The vision of what can be is there, as is the threat to our survival. All that is missing is a 21st Century Democratic Party to bring them together.

Public Citizen has released a report showing that Bush's top campaign contributors -- especially Enron, Reliant and Dynergy -- are getting their money's worth as a result of Bush's refusal to intervene in the California energy crisis. Enron CEO Kenneth Lay and Reliant's James Baker are close friends and advisers of Bush. Baker's law firm also made hefty donations to the Bush campaign, and two of Reliant's executives were Bush fundraising "Pioneers". "'It seems clear that the Bush administration is trying to return the favors done by friends and donors,' Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook said. 'Bush is helping out his buddies at the expense of every consumer in California, and his refusal to cap wholesale prices is threatening to wreak havoc on the entire western region of the United States.'"

Blackouts, brownouts and soaring electricity rates have defined the political landscape of California since last spring. They've transformed the phrase "utility deregulation" into a household epithet. They've stopped in its tracks a nationwide wave of electricity restructuring that has already claimed two dozen states and was about to sweep the rest. And they've helped create a crisis whose economic and ecological shock waves will carry deep into the new century.

With California, Bush/Cheney pursue a number of "divide and smash" end games. They are attacking on three fronts: 1) Open doors to power companies to pillage California itself. By selling the severity of the crisis, and the myths of the benefits of deregulation and the free market, Bush and the Texans seek to rip apart environmental laws, and open up markets. 2) Use corporate media to promote, exploit and exaggerate the "power crisis" to justify other parts of the Bush corporate/right wing agendas—including drilling in Alaska ("it will help relieve California's supply problem) and even the tax cut plan ("a tax cut will help pay higher energy bills"). 3) Inflict maximum political damage to Democrats and other opposition, and fuel outrage among voters.

Corporate Watch warned us about Bush's relationship with Ken Lay and Enron last July. Craig McDonald, director of Texans for Public Justice, says "Those two have a mutual self-interest in being buddies. Bush has always delivered on Ken Lay's political pitches. Enron depends upon government policies to enhance their bottom line in lots of ways. The company relies upon this kind of access to government." It is people from the Uru Moratas of Bolivia to the school children of Deer Park and Spring, Texas, who will ultimately pay the price through the continued destruction of their communities and environment.

The Enron administration reiterated that it would not extend a federal order requiring power suppliers to sell electricity to the California market, "dashing any hopes from the state's utilities of a last-minute reprieve from the White House." Enron spokesman Ari Fleischer delivered the message to reporters from the Enron office at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. in Washington DC.

All roads in California's energy crisis lead to Enron, whose chairman Kenneth Lay has raised millions for Bush. Other key Enron players include "Pug" Winokur and Frank Wisner, Jr. No wonder Bush's Energy Department is watching silently while California's rising electricity prices zap the economy into recession.