With President Bush announcing proposals for a national energy policy today, the following analysts are available for interviews:
MINDY SPATT
Media director of TURN, The Utility Reform Network, Spatt said today: “Many outside California don’t understand why deregulation has failed. The generators (like Reliant, Dynegy, Mirant) and traders (like Enron and Williams), which control our electric supply, are manipulating and gaming the market in order to extract obscene profits. Last week, a megawatt, which costs less than $150 to produce, was being sold for $1,900. Several state agencies are investigating market abuse, including allegations that plants have been taken off line unnecessarily in order to drive prices up. Our primary problem is not a lack of supply, it’s an excess of greed.”
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ALAN NOGEE
Director of the Union of Concerned Scientists Clean Energy Program, Nogee said today: “The administration claims that renewable energy technologies are years away and can only contribute a minor amount to our energy supply. In fact, wind and solar are the fastest-growing energy sources in the world. One thousand megawatts of wind energy were added last year across 13 states. The five national energy laboratories have produced a study showing that non-hydro renewable energy could grow to supply 7.5 percent of U.S. electricity by 2010. Our studies show that this could continue to at least 20 percent by 2020.”
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HARVEY WASSERMAN
Wasserman is author of The Last Energy War: The Battle Over Utility Deregulation.
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ANNA AURILIO
Legislative director for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, Aurilio is coauthor of the just-released report “A New Energy Future: Options For a Smarter, Cleaner Energy Future.”
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DANIELLE BRIAN
Executive director of the Project On Government Oversight, Brian said today: “There is litigation suggesting that oil and gas companies are short-changing their payments for taking gas from public lands. It’s been reported that one case may result in $10 billion in gas royalty settlements.”
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SHEILA KRUMHOLZ
Research director of the Center for Responsive Politics, Krumholz said today: “Three quarters of all energy donations go to Republicans; the big jump came when Republicans took over Congress following the 1994 elections. In the last cycle, the energy sector donated $64.6 million; nearly half came from soft money. More than half came from the oil and gas industry. While the energy sector was not one of the largest contributors to Bush, he was the top recipient in all of the major industries within energy. Enron was the top donor from the energy sector. Although energy can’t hold a candle to the money that the finance sector can deliver, many of the leaders in the energy industry served as rainmakers for the Bush campaign, enlisting other big donors.”
For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; David Zupan, (541) 484-9167
