Check out News-Blackout Threat Remains in Calif.

[RadiumProj@cs.com]

As a followup to earlier posts on the electricity supply shortage in 
California, readers may want to read the  AP story attached below: "Blackout 
Threat Remains in California" . Numerous antinuclear activist organizations 
and individuals like Amory Lovins have claimed for years there is an excess 
of power capacity, that all nuclear plants should and can be shut down,  and 
all the US need do is conserve. Perhaps, Lovins and his disciples can shut 
off their electric meters and close the natural gas lines to their homes and 
"think tanks" and help to conserve power for others that may presently need 
the energy.

Stewart Farber, MS Public Health
Public Health Sciences
172 Old Orchard Way
Warren, VT 05674
[802] 496-3356
============
Blackout Threat Remains in Calif. 
By JOHN HOWARD 
Associated Press Writer 

      SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- California strained through a chilly weekend 
to keep electricity flowing, as wholesale power prices soared. 

      "I don't know how long this can go on,'' said Greg Pruett, a spokesman 
for Pacific Gas and Electric Co. 

      The California Independent System Operator, which controls the power 
grid for much of the western United States, declared a statewide alert 
Saturday, urging California homeowners and businesses to conserve power. The 
state narrowly avoided blackouts Thursday when power reserves dwindled 
dangerously. 

      The power crunch has been blamed on cold weather in the Northwest, the 
shutdown of some generating plants for repairs or other reasons and the 
effects of utility deregulation in California. 

      With an Arctic front pushing freezing temperatures down from Canada, 
the Pacific Northwest is bracing for another cold snap that is expected to 
further increase demands for electrical power. 

      Washington Gov. Gary Locke has asked homeowners and businesses to 
conserve as much electricity and natural gas as possible, and Washington 
state regulators met in emergency session Saturday to consider allowing two 
utilities to offer financial incentives to big businesses that agree to cut 
power use. 

      "If we act quickly together, we can hopefully avoid disturbances and 
brownouts next week,'' Locke said. Officials in Oregon, Wyoming, Idaho and 
Montana have also joined the call for energy conservation. 

      "Once again, it's the supply issue,'' said ISO spokesman Patrick 
Dorinson. "We're all drawing off the same system.'' 

      Late Friday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved ISO's 
request to lift price caps on wholesale electricity, a move the grid 
regulators said would help ease the crunch. 

      But California Gov. Gray Davis said the decision would only push 
electricity prices higher. He said he has asked for a Congressional 
investigation. 

      Apart from the FERC's decision, wholesale electricity costs have 
soared. 

      Last year, utilities paid roughly $22 to $45 per megawatt hour, said 
Tom Williams, a spokesman for Duke Energy, a wholesale power provider. This 
year they have paid an average of 15 times that amount. A megawatt is enough 
to power about 1,000 homes. 

      In California, the two largest electrical utilities -- Pacific Gas & 
Electric Co. and Southern California Edison Co. -- operate under a rate 
freeze and cannot pass those wholesale price spikes on to their customers. 
Pruett said PG&E has absorbed $4 billion in losses since June. 

      The price of natural gas, which most power plants use to produce 
energy, has also soared. A week ago, wholesale natural gas sold for less than 
$20 per million British thermal units, the standard measurement; on Saturday, 
it was selling for about $60 per million Btu. 

      California in 1996 approved a phased-in deregulation of the $20 billion 
electricity market, which was supposed to lower prices by increasing 
competition. But demand for electricity has outstripped supply, in part 
because of a growing population and a booming high-tech economy. 

      


      On the Net: 

      California Independent System Operator, http://www.caiso.com  
 Source:      
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HREF="http://newsroom.compuserve.com/nr/story.asp?BTM=H&idq=/apo/National/Nati

onal_47.ASP&PV=NAT">Click here: News</A> 
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