Score one for the good guys, thanks to the legislative skill of U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell and the persistence of the Snohomish County PUD.
Snohomish County electricity customers won an important round this week in the twisted saga of Enron and its criminal manipulation of energy markets. Against considerable odds, Cantwell saved a key provision she inserted into the Senate energy bill from being dropped by Senate and House negotiators. Her amendment, fought adamantly by an Enron lobbyist, prohibits a bankruptcy court from enforcing payments on power contracts borne of Enron-style corruption. The PUD canceled such a deal that was signed in 2001, but a shameless Enron has been pressing for a $122 million termination fee.
Enron creditors, many of which are based in Texas, had fought the provision, and it appeared two powerful House members from Texas – Majority Leader Tom DeLay and Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton – might succeed in killing it.
Cantwell, despite her underdog status as a first-term senator from the minority party, prevailed. She enlisted the support of Idaho Sen. Larry Craig and other Western representatives, as well as the unanimous backing of the state’s congressional delegation.
Cantwell’s success was made possible in no small way by the continuing efforts of the PUD to expose the depth of Enron’s corruption. As the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission dragged its feet, PUD officials were poring over tapes of telephone conversations that showed Enron traders using illegal schemes to gouge ratepayers throughout the West. Having found multiple smoking guns, the PUD left no doubt that the expensive contract it had signed with Enron was the product of that outrageous behavior, something that surely weighed in favor of Cantwell’s provision.
While this is a critical victory, it isn’t a final one. A trial before a FERC administrative law judge is scheduled for later this year, with a decision expected early in 2006. Earlier this year, the commission finally took positive action against Enron, issuing an order that said Enron’s illegal activities invalidated its right to sell electricity during the 2000-01 energy crisis. The trial judge will decide just when that right was voided.
Momentum appears to be on the side of the PUD and all Snohomish County power customers. The fight in such a black-and-white case shouldn’t have been his hard. Fortunately, Cantwell and the PUD were up to it.
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