Cape Cod Feels The Jolt
Of California Power Plays

CAPE COD - A serious ripple from the wave of energy related troubles that California has been embroiled in for the past several years has now reached Cape Cod. Mirant Corporation, with corporate offices in Atlanta, Georgia, is the giant energy company that owns the Canal Generating Plant in Sandwich, and it has filed for bankruptcy.

How this will affect Cape Cod consumers, many of whom receive power from the plant through the Cape Light Compact, has yet to be determined. But what is clear is that this is yet another spin-off from maneuverings by a coalition of power giants that sought to ransom the electric rates in California. Enron is another example, and it seems clear that the fallout from the Enron debacle has helped to bring down Mirant.

In a less partisan time, it might be possible to investigate this threat to U.S. national security – the potential loss of energy producing companies due to financial collapses that follow price gouging and profiteering – by the use of the oft-abused Special Prosecutor statutes for the purpose for which they were created. But that is very unlikely in the current situation where one-party dominates all of the national government. Such a much-needed review is even more unlikely given that the Republican Party, both in Congress and in the Bush Administration, has many ties to the energy giants.

That fact is underscored by the current reality in California, where GOP activists, some of whom hold seats in Congress, are successfully mounting a recall campaign against the Democratic Governor, Gray Davis, ironically capitalizing on the state's fiscal crisis.

Davis undoubtedly has made some serious errors in the fiscal management of the California budget, but it should be remembered that the financial troubles began when the power companies colluded to hold-up that state for billions of additional dollars in electrical costs.

As has been often the case in recent history, if the situation were reversed and the people behind these machinations were Democrats, there would have been investigation after investigation. It is how quietly all of these remarkable situations are accepted when Republicans are involved that should be the ultimate clarion call.

It is a remarkable scenario: Republican dominated businesses essentially hold a major state’s power at ransom, and after everyone in authority has divided up the spoils, there is little enforcement, or even questions when their business and internal accounting practices later result in a collapse within the industry managing the power grid. But then, in perfect irony, the Democratic governor is blamed for all of the state’s ills and a GOP effort is put together to achieve a recall.

Arnold Schwarzenegger waits in the wings. If the recall is successful, he has already made it clear he will be available to the Republican Party as its candidate. Shades of Ronald Reagan. The GOP’s terminator is ready to conclude the irony.

Editor's note: This story was filed prior to the California recall and subsequent election of Mr. Schwarzenegger as governor. The Bradley Report began time/dating its stories after this article was published.