WSPC01019 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

002257 . . THE $ TRIBUNE !lEl.EN K. COPl..EY. ~ ood ~!!'4i1NW iJaud . .JV. fi A CopJqNrrnpopor NEIL !dORGAIl. Edillr IlllBEIIT II. WTI'TY. Depoty Edlw WALT MlLLEIl. Abup"Edittr IlAl.PB 1lENIlErI', Qjcf EdiUwW Writ6 . : San Diego, California, Wednesday, Marcl128, 1JlM . , Page B-IO . Telephone 299-3131 The great energy giveaway THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, while running a record deficit of nearly $200 billion a year, is preparing to renew "sweetheart" contracts to sell Hoover Dam electric power for peanuts. That's great for =y consumer.! of electricity in the Hoover Dam marketing area, but not for San Diegans. Our power costs are among the highest in the nation, but we cannot participate in the govern- ment giveaway. If we could, we could save $10 to $:>0 million a year, which would help with the high utility bills. ,: Hoover Dam power sells for less than hall a cent a kilowatt hour. The San Diego Gas and Electric Co. is paying siJ: cents a kilowatt hour for the electrici- ty it is buying in Ariznna and New Mexico to bring here over the company's new transmission tine to the east. , Why can't San Diegans share in the benefits of low-cost federal power? Politics is a big part of the answer. The utilities which contr:lcted for Hoover power in the 19~Os got a great bargain, and San Diego Gas and Electric wasn't one of them. The 50- year contr:lcts are expiring in 1987, and the contrac- tors claim the right of renewal Legislation is being pushed in Congress, by Sell. James McClure, R.Ida.. and Rep, Morris Ud.111, D-Ariz.. to give them 30 years more at the trough. The Environmental Defense Fund says this under- pricing of federal hydropower is unfair and merely encourages consumption, increasing demands for coal and nuclear power. We agree. , Fairness demands that Hoover's electricity be auctioned off to the highest bidder. The old pork.barrellaws for the distribution of public power are out of date. There is no good rea- son for Uncle Sam to take less than top dollar for the energy generated by the Colorado River. Wby should customer.! served by municipal electric sys- tems in Los Angeles, Glendale and Pasadena have a= to low-cost power that is denied to us, mere- ly because we are served by a private power com. ,pany? They don't own Hoover Dam. The Colorado River !lclongs to all of us. Federal officials say they aren't in the business of making a profit from the sale of power. But they aren't generating energy just for the fun of it. And energy is worth far more now than it was worth in 1937. It is the preferred users who are making giant profits, at the expense of the feder:il treasury and all of us. Congress should not act hastily to perpetuate this giveaway of public money for another 30 years. The entire structure of federal power pricing needs to be brought up to tbte. .