LETTERS
Electric Dereg
Senate Bill 888, my bill to end electricity deregulation, illustrates the fundamental problem facing the business community in Sacramento: The voice of small business has been muted by the influence of its larger brethren.
SB 888 is the culmination of two years of investigation into the corruption of California’s energy markets and the undeniable failure of deregulation. All sides agree that the state’s current electricity markets are still broken. I believe they cannot be fixed in the context of a deregulated market. With natural gas prices expected to double this winter because of supply shortages, the second energy crisis is on the horizon.
Instead of a debate on deregulation, however, SB 888 is a lightning rod for its “direct access” provision. Direct access allows customers to “leave the grid” by foregoing their “bundled” electricity delivery from the traditional utility and opting to contract for electricity from an unbundled energy service provider (ESP).
Since the market was opened to them, however, these ESPs haven’t targeted the less-lucrative small business marketplace. Instead, direct access allowed only the largest businesses to negotiate their own energy deals, leaving the rest of us,small and medium-sized businesses and residential customers,on our own.
Utilities invest millions of dollars in infrastructure, anticipating the transmission and generation needs of its customers. When large customers leave, the cost of paying for these investments is spread across those who remain. Thus, all others are forced to subsidize the cheaper rates achieved by the large businesses. It’s why I say that direct access always has been unfair.
Given its devotion to the direct access deity, the California Manufacturers and Technology Association opposed an unrelated bill on curious grounds: “[It] would result in significant cost-shifting to non-agricultural customers…” Apparently, cost shifting is okay only when you’re the one doing the shifting.
I’m happy to debate the merits of direct access, but let’s stop pretending that SB 888 is only about direct access; let’s stop pretending that the prospect of “competition” was ever meant to help anyone other than the largest industrial users; and, finally, let’s stop pretending that the “business community” is speaking when the state Chamber opens its mouth.
Deregulation and direct access are bad for small business. It’s time small business owners stood up to the Chamber and said so.
Joe Dunn
(Dunn, D-Santa Ana, is a state senator and chairman of the Senate Select Committee to Investigate Price Manipulation of the Wholesale Energy Market.)
El Toro, Cont’d
In November 1994 Congressman Christopher Cox expressed his desire to see the El Toro base sold and funds used to offset the cost of closing the base, moving the Marines and environmental cleanup.
Back then, few people on either side of the issue believed that the base would ever be auctioned. Nearly 10 years later the base is on the auction block, but as all things El Toro-related, there are a few die-hard airport proponents who continue to beat the El Toro airport drum.
The latest wrinkle was a pitch from Los Angeles to the Department of Transportation to keep the base property and lease it to LAX to run an airport. The Navy has stated emphatically and unequivocally that they will not subscribe to this plan. That should put the matter to rest.
But why would Los Angeles inject itself into an issue that is by rights only Orange County’s to decide? What has happened is a few Orange County die-hard airport proponents have aligned themselves with anti-LAX expansion efforts.
This is so unnecessary. Improving ground transportation to the Inland Empire, where the population growth will occur and where three new airports in Riverside, San Bernardino and Victorville are waiting to take off, is the surest way to ensure that John Wayne or LAX will never need to expand. Also, helping to ease our jobs and housing imbalance by creating more economic stimulus in the Inland Empire will ease traffic congestion on roads into and out of Orange and Los Angeles Counties.
But maybe the issue for Los Angeles isn’t finding an airport plan that works for everyone but finding an airport that maintains Los Angeles World Airports’ stranglehold on the Southern California aviation market. Los Angeles owns and operates LAX, Ontario and Palmdale. They don’t own the new airports in the Inland Empire.
When the auction paddles go down on El Toro, let’s hope it really is the end of the debate.
Mimi Walters
(Walters is a Laguna Niguel council member and chair of the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority.)
Why would you waste the ink to print the June 16 letter from such a self-serving person as Gary Simon? The airport issue is dead in the water. Why keep bringing this up again? It will never happen. But giving space in your paper again just gives false hope to people like Gary Simon and Donald Nyre.
Please let dead dogs lie, RIP forever.
Lorretta Laslo
Northwood, Irvine
