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Governmental
Affairs Committee Minority Report:
FERC
Deserves Credit for Positive Changes
December
20, 2002
Washington,
DC – Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Ranking Member Fred
Thompson (R-TN) today released the Committee’s minority views
on the recent hearing regarding the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission (FERC) and its oversight of the Enron Corporation.
The
Committee undertook an extensive investigation of FERC, which is
charged with regulating the wholesale energy markets.
This Minority Report is intended to provide “the rest
of the story” to the Majority Report on FERC, which was
released November 12.
“While
there is widespread agreement that FERC had significant problems
in overseeing the rapidly developing energy markets of the
1990’s and a critical lack of regulatory leadership during
California’s energy crisis in 2000, the record of failure
ended 18 months ago when the current commission took shape,”
said Senator Thompson.
While the
Majority Report correctly identifies FERC’s regulatory
failures as they relate to Enron, in the judgment of the
minority, it fails to give appropriate recognition to the
positive changes at FERC that have occurred since Patrick Wood
became Chairman, and it purports to paint both Chairman Wood and
his fellow Commissioner, Nora Brownell with the tainted Enron
brush while ignoring contacts between Enron and other FERC
Commissioners who were serving at the time of FERC’s oversight
failures.
In
coming to FERC, Chairman Wood inherited a sizable set of
challenges and has implemented a formidable plan.
The minority report recognizes the importance of
analyzing FERC as it exists today, and the progress that has
been made in the past 18 months.
The report also recognizes FERC’s positive developments
on several fronts involving the creation of a new department of
market oversight and investigation and a number of rule-making
proposals designed to prevent a recurrence of the problems
highlighted by the Enron debacle.
MINORITY
VIEWS
FERC
and its Oversight of Enron Corp.
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