pacific nw lawmakers gear up to oppose ferc rto mandate note highlighted sentence . . . . perhaps defazio is right ( for the wrong reasons granted ) . . . . . i know the rto efforts can ' t be " marked " today , but you might want to hug ( but not , of course , in a budgetary sense ) your favorite regulatory person today .
pacific nw lawmakers gear up to oppose ferc rto mandate
by bryan lee
10 / 04 / 2001
dow jones energy service
( copyright ( c ) 2001 , dow jones & company , inc . )
of dow jones newswires
washington - ( dow jones ) - members of the pacific northwest congressional delegation are gearing up in opposition to the u . s . federal energy regulatory commission ' s mandate for consolidation of power - grid assets in the region .
the house northwest energy caucus held an informal hearing late wednesday to air concerns of utilities and industrial consumers in the region about ferc ' s effort to establish a regional transmission organization , or rto .
the lawmakers plan to follow up the hearing with a letter to ferc voicing the concerns , which largely revolve around skepticism that the rto will result in cost savings for the region ' s consumers .
ferc shouldn ' t force an rto on the region without first conducting a cost - benefit analysis , said rep . peter defazio , d - ore . , who is spearheading the effort .
speaking with reporters prior to wednesday ' s hearing , defazio complained that " a bunch of bureaucrats " at ferc are embracing the national power - grid agenda of enron corp . ( ene ) without assessing the costs and regardless of " what it does for local reliability . "
defazio ' s complaints were echoed in the testimony presented at wednesday ' s hearing .