WENONAH HAUTER
Director of Public Citizen’s Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program, Hauter said today: “The Bush administration’s proposal to urge federal agencies to conserve electricity is a sham, because Bush’s previous commitments to slash energy efficiency and conservation efforts in the private sector will overwhelm any gains made in the public sector…. The year 2000 — which saw the highest energy prices since the Gulf War — was a record for energy industry profits. Exxon Mobil was indicative of the entire oil and gas industry, enjoying the highest profits of any company in America’s history, recording after-tax earnings of $17.72 billion. The Bush administration should stop serving the corporate interests that helped get him the second-highest vote tally in the November elections, and start getting serious about serving the public interest.”
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MEDEA BENJAMIN
Co-director of the California Public Power Campaign, Benjamin said today: “The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission refuses to impose wholesale price caps, leaving us with only one recourse: The governor or the newly-created California State Public Power Authority has to take control of the power generators in California through eminent domain.”
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HARVEY WASSERMAN
Author of The Last Energy War: The Battle Over Utility Deregulation, Wasserman said today: “It’s a completely fake energy ‘crisis.’ The only crisis we have is the monopolization and manipulation of our energy supplies by big corporations and their allies in Washington. The California crisis was actually caused by nuclear power. Deregulation was a method for the utility companies to turn their bad nuclear investments into cash which they then laundered to their parent corporations. And while their parent corporations have made out like bandits, PG&E and Southern California Edison are pleading poverty and taking huge bailouts from the ratepayers and the taxpayers. The complete joke is that a crisis that was caused by nuclear power is being used as a pretext to build more nuclear plants.”
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CHUCK HAMEL
Hamel has been working with concerned BP Prudhoe Bay oil field operators in Alaska. The Wall Street Journal has recently published two news articles based on the BP employees’ revelations. Hamel said today: “Contrary to what President Bush has been saying, the current BP Prudhoe Bay operations — particularly the dysfunctional safety valves — are deeply flawed and place the environment, the safety of the operations staff and the integrity of the facility at risk. The president should delay legislation calling for drilling at the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge until BP proves it can properly operate its Prudhoe facilities.”
J. A. SAVAGE
Savage is senior correspondent for California Energy Markets.
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For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; David Zupan, (541) 484-9167
