Steps taken by President Bush and Secretary of Energy Abraham to address the power crisis in California and the Western states as outlined in Secretary Abraham's letter to Congress and the California Legislature. (Continued from page 1)

• "While the imbalance between supply and demand is the reason for high energy costs and power shortages, the Bush Administration was the first to take action on overcharges. FERC took unprecedented action and ordered the first-ever refunds to address overcharges by generators on market-based rates after we took office and after a Republican took over as Chairman."
  
  
• "On March 14, FERC issued a series of orders designed to expedite energy supplies to California, including streamlining regulatory procedures for wholesale power sales, expediting natural gas pipelines, and urging hydropower licensees to assess the potential for increased hydropower generation."
  
  
• "As follow up to a meeting with Governor Davis, I issued a letter indicating that the Administration did not oppose the State’s proposed purchase of the California utility transmission systems, conditioned on the adherence to open access requirements."
  
  
• "Just two weeks ago, I met with a group of California energy suppliers to impress upon them that the next several months should not be viewed as 'business as usual,' and to ask for their help to avoid foreseeable disruptions in supply."
  
  
• "Last week, I met with a group of electricity experts to discuss the California electricity crisis and to explore actions that could be taken by the federal government and State to increase supply or reduce demand. As you can see, the Administration has taken constructive action from its first day to help California deal with its electricity crisis. Governor Davis has expressed his appreciation to both the President and me for this help."

To the Bush Administration's opposition to imposing price controls on wholesale power sales in the West, Secretary Abraham responds, "The only thing we have opposed has been the imposition of price controls because they would not prevent blackouts and would drive away the new supply California and the West so badly need."

Secretary Abraham also pointed out that advocates of price controls had failed to "indicate how price caps would increase supply, decrease demand or prevent blackouts this year," and notes that governors of eight Western states had also expressed opposition to price controls. "Those eight governors reiterated their opposition in an April 6 letter to FERC Chairman Curt Hebert, calling them ‘penny wise and pound foolish.'"

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