New president sweeps Calif. crisis under the rug Jan. 22, 2001—As a staunch Democrat, I watched snippets of George W.'s inauguration with trepidation. As someone whose job it is to report on the energy industry, I watched it with curiosity and questions. What do you mean he's not going to do anything about California? I could hear myself ask news magazines when they reported Bush's stance on the crisis. It seems our new president has decided to let the befuddled state sort out its own problems; he has a different agenda. He has education on his plate. He wants to overhaul the system, set it to rights, etc. I say, Great, President Bush, but you won't be able to fix it this week, this month, or even this year. You're going to have to get down in the trenches, roll up your sleeves, get your hands dirty. And what about the schools in California? I think they'll probably have a difficult time educating the children without lights that illuminate or computers that tone you've got mail. I think it will be hard to furnish hot lunches without a stove that heats or a refrigerator that chills. So, on a basic level, education needs electricity. But, then again, President Bush is not restricting himself to education. He's also pushing tax relief. He wants to reduce federal income taxes by $1.3 trillion in the next decade, and he insists that tax cuts are needed to keep that recession that seems to be lurking in the dark corners of the economy at bay. But, if I'm not mistaken, the state of California is the sixth largest economy in the industrial world. The world, President Bush. If power issues drain resources in the state (as it looks like it might do with Gov. Davis allocating budget surplus money to buy enough power to keep the state afloat), the domino effect will hit the rest of the country with a wallop not even that sneaking recession could pack. So, it seems a smart move to take care of a looming issue that could set off financial time bombs from Haight Street to Wall Street and back. But he also wants to help the elderly in these first 180 days in office. He has plans for assistance with prescription drugs and remedies for the ailing Social Security system. However, an entire states health is put at risk by an unreliable electric grid, and the president doesnt bat an eye. A blackout shuts down home health units; it could effectively cripple hospitals. Yet, President Bush has turned away pleas by Gov. Davis for price caps, and senatorial representatives from the Northwest essentially cornered Sen. Diane Feinstein during Spencer Abraham's confirmation hearings to bare teeth and warn the golden state away from a reliance on the area's hydropower. Yet, still the president sweeps these problems under the famous Oval Office rug. I call on Bush to stop looking at these issues as hands-off, pedestal high piles of legislation; he can actually address all of those key policy areas now, help those problems today, if he will only work with California instead of treating the state like a wayward child on the wrong end of tough love. I say if our new president really wants to address education, the economy and health issues, he should immediately and forcefully intervene in the California energy crisis. If he doesn't, I fear that his first little speech to staffers about doing absolutely nothing that will reflect 'improper conduct' on the administration will be in vain. The improper conduct will belong squarely in his own lapand in his first week in office no less. Kathleen Davis is an Associate Editor for Electric, Light & Power Magazine, a PennWell publication. She can be reached at kathleend@pennwell.com.

http://elp.pennnet.com/Articles/print_screen.cfm?PUBLICATION_ID=34&ARTICLE_ID=90412

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), January 22, 2001

Answers

It has taken Californians YEARS to get themselves into this hole they are in. And yet, after only 2 days in office, Mr. Bush is supposed to order the Federal government to come running to the rescue. And if he does not do it within the next 15 seconds, they are prepared to condemn him. I see no one criticizing Klinton, and he had months, if not years, to do something. He did not. With a flick of a pen, he set aside millions of acres of land against the will of the folks whose land it is. Personally, I would not be sorry to see President Bush flick his own pen and designate California a National Dump and sell it to Mexico.

-- David A Jones (jonesey65244@yahoo.com), January 22, 2001.