Needed: Energy Policies That Increase Production

I laugh all the way to the bank as I think of the alleged consumer advocates attacking the utilities who are victims, not the cause, of our crisis.

One cause is high oil and gas prices. The solution requires production of more fuel and/or development of alternative sources of power. A short-term fix could be oil and gas price control, which will reduce the incentive to drill and keep the price up in the long run. We need a state and national energy policy that will increase oil and gas production.

Another cause is lack of sufficient capacity to generate the needed electricity. Edison used only private funds for its Edison, Florence, Huntington and Shaver Lake generation projects. Los Angeles took part of Edison’s distribution system and gets power from the Hoover Dam at less than adequate return on the taxpayers’ investment. Generators are not a good investment because of the unfriendly atmosphere, particularly in California, including the prospect of regulation, taxes, safety and environmental regulations. Vice President Al Gore’s frequent jabs at big business did not help the atmosphere.

We will never know if deregulation of the utilities would have worked if the price of fuel and demand for electricity had not risen so dramatically and generation capacity had increased.

ROY B. WOOLSEY

Newport Beach