Power Struggles

California’s Engineered Energy Crisis and the Potential of Public Power

by Harvey Wasserman

The U.S. barons of fossil and nuclear fuel have used a contrived energy crisis in California and the nation as a pretext to declare an all-out assault on environmental protection. George Bush, Dick Cheney and their cohorts from the oil industry claim the rolling West Coast blackouts justify rolling over a century of carefully crafted environmental law.

But this rationalization ignores a telling detail: California does not have an energy shortage. And according to some of the state’s highest officials, the blackouts have been choreographed for massive price gouging by some of Bush’s closest associates and contributors. MORE>>

Hurwitz’s Power Grab

by Jim Valette

Charles Hurwitz, the man who critics say has made a fortune by pillaging old growth redwoods, busting unions, and engaging in shadowy stock market and savings and loan deals can add another title to his infamous resume: power robber baron.

Kaiser used a novel approach to turn a profit: it started selling the smelters' contracted allotments of electricity back to the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), the agency that produced the power in the first place. Under Kaiser's existing contract with the BPA, it purchased power at a rate of $22.50 per megawatt-hour. Kaiser resold the power to BPA for more than 20 times that amount. In late 2000, the spot market price for electricity in the western United States soared to as much as $750 per megawatt-hour. MORE>>

Attorneys General for Sale?

by Andrew Wheat

A handful of conservative state legal officials devised a highly marketable idea in 1999. They decided to raise lots of money to elect more attorneys general who — like themselves — are reluctant to sue big business. MORE>>

On Tax Cuts, Loopholes and Avoidance: Working for Tax Justice

An Interview with Robert McIntyre

Robert McIntyre is director of Citizens for Tax Justice, a nonpartisan research and advocacy group that fights for tax fairness at the federal, state and local levels. Since he began his career in tax reform in 1976, McIntyre has written hundreds of articles on tax policy issues, in publications like the Washington Post, the New York Times and academic journals. He appears frequently on television and radio programs, and often testifies before Congress. CTJ’s highly publicized reports in the mid-1980s on corporate tax avoidance are credited with providing the spark for the Tax Reform Act of 1986, which closed many loopholes. This interview was conducted prior to final Congressional approval of the Bush tax plan. MORE>>