[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

;Calpowercrisis

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[CedarDave]

"Given the critical safety and deliverability concerns associated with operating a natural gas pipeline, it is inappropriate and without precedent to second-guess a pipeline's day-to-day operations," El Paso president William Wise said.

Though that quote sounds self-serving, the fact that El Paso had a pipeline explosion two years ago in an older mainline pipeline outside Carlsbad NM that killed 12 persons, leads to caution in pushing gas through at full "capacity", especially when older lines are revamped and put into service to meet capacity demands. I fully expect this decision to be reversed on appeal.

[RightOnTheLeftCoast]

How much of El Paso's curtailment of shipments was due to the State's inability and/or refusal to pay? I recall quite a lot of that was going around at the time.

[snopercod]

I expect there is more to this story, as usual, than the press is publishing. Some good background material here:

Natural-Gas Companies Find Unexpected Lift in California

[soycd]

My guess is that the judge is a Clinton appointee.

[Redbob]

I wonder if Tony "Shorty" Sanchez or his bank has any connection with this El Paso gas outfit?

[Rodney King]

What the judge is in effect saying is that a private business must do business with the state at terms set by the state. Sounds like communism to me. El Paso was under no obligation whatsoever to ship that gas to CA.

[Poohbah]

IF I ran El Paso Gas, I would simply announce that all existing contracts with the state of CA would not be renewed pending appellate review of this decision.

[GretchenEE]

I like the idea of lowered rates for the ripped off, but I also like the idea of the El Paso pond scum execs having their pay adjusted retroactively for their part in the crime.

[an amused spectator]

Chief Judge Curtis L. Wagner, Jr. received his law degree from the University of Tennessee in 1951 and received his pre-legal education at Tennessee Polytechnic Institute. He was admitted to the Tennessee. Bar on March 31, l952.

His government service includes both the Criminal and Civil Divisions of the U.S. Department of Justice, and serving in a civilian capacity as Chief of the Regulatory Law Division in the Army's Office of The Judge Advocate General.

Prior to entering Government Service, Chief Judge Wagner was in the private practice of the law with Kramer, Dye, McNabb & Greenwood in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Chief Judge Wagner has extensive experience in mediation and other forms of alternative dispute resolution. He has successfully resolved many large multi-party cases at the Commission and has given many lectures on the subject.

He has been an Administrative Law Judge at FERC and its predecessor, the FPC, since l974, and has been Chief Judge since l978.

Chief Judge Wagner has received numerous awards including the Department of the Army's highest award, the Decoration For Exceptional Civilian Service.  He appears in four separate editions of Who's Who.

[Graewoulf]

Refresh my memory: was the natural gas withheld because CEO Gray-Davis refused to pay for it?