Davis’ Energy Buyers: ‘They Haven’t a Clue’
Re “Sudden Power Glut Puts State in Costly Bind,” Aug. 11:
As if the collapse of the Soviet Union was not enough to disabuse people of their illusions about state economic planning, Gov. Gray Davis’ tinkering with the electricity crisis--itself a product of prior state planning--has provided another object lesson. Now we are told that his efforts may produce a power glut, which would put the state in the position of encouraging more electricity usage, rather than the conservation he has been touting. Furthermore, such surpluses are being resold, under the state’s long-term contracts, at 20% of the price paid, a debacle that may produce a $500-million deficit next year. Perhaps Davis and his advisors will next inform us that they intend to make up such losses through volume selling!
Butler Shaffer
Los Angeles
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Two front-page articles on Aug. 12, when analyzed together, strike me as strange. In “Chaos, Inexperience Hobbled Power Buyers,” you essentially apologize for government ineptness in the energy market and lament that we taxpayers are stuck with the the bill. In “Bush Oil, Gas Bid Skirts Key Issues,” you implicitly criticize President Bush for listening to oil industry experts who wish to search for oil on government lands.
Are you saying ineptness, if it’s governmental, is excusable and that expertise, if it’s industrial, is best ignored? You sure?
After all, oil companies are willing to risk their, repeat their, bucks to drill for oil; they can win big and, equally well, lose big. If they wanted to drill on government lands, isn’t it likely that they’d seek the best places to do so and not the wrong places? I think it far more prudent to listen to those willing to risk their own bucks, and especially so over those who are willing to bet taxpayer bucks, but at no personal risk.
Gerald J. Stiles
El Segundo
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Whether one believes in a free market in energy or a controlled one, in deregulation or re-regulation, one thing has become clear. Gov. Davis and his cronies are not capable of coping with the questions of buying and selling electricity and the maintenance of fiscal responsibility for the people of California. They haven’t a clue about what they are doing: They buy electricity; they sell electricity; they always lose money in the deals they make.
One would hope that disgusted Republicans and Democrats could at least unite long enough to drive Davis from office and replace him with someone competent who also knows competent people to advise him. Dan Lungren could not have done such a poor job, pro-life or not.
Norman Ravitch
Riverside
