CA: El Paso Corp. says it did not wrongly withhold gas from California

WASHINGTON -- A Texas energy company on Monday urged federal energy regulators to ignore findings that it withheld natural gas from California to drive up prices during the state's energy crisis.

The closely watched case pitting Houston-based El Paso Corp. against California and two public utilities that suffered large losses in 2000 and 2001 is part of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's attempt to apportion blame for the California energy crisis.

Working for a large, public, utility,Federally Regulated down to the last pencil makes El Paso unlike any other company. I know from personal experience that El Paso dots all the I's and crosses every "T" to accomodate the Federal Goons and the Chief Looney in California. Making a profit is in the best interest of every supplier that provides natural gas to California.

I still maintain profit which = revenue is not a dirty word in that industry. Working For The "Company" in many respects is exactly like being in the service. It used to be the closest thing to a government job without actually being on the payroll! Kakais & Levis were and probably still is the uniform of the day! Since this company bought me my first pair of shoes and provided a list of benefits that went on foever; it is something nobody in their right mind would mess with! Project Gasbuggy, a cooperative venture with the Federal Government was probably the fatal mistake the company made by becoming closely associated with the Federal Government! Nuclear gas stimulation by explodeing a nuclear device deep in gas bearing formations was a very dynamic and cost ineffective venture and never did ammount to anything but a deep radioactive hole in the ground that never proved out!

I'm sure other costly ventures such as the El Paso Fleet of LNG (Liquified Petroleum Gas) Tankers that was designed to make regular trips out of Arzu Algeria and back to Houston to link up with the pipelines were heavilly promoted by the government which put furthur strain on Revenues. It has been a long time since I have heard anything about the Flagship Tanker The Paul Kaiser, I don't know if it still exists or not! This was a multi-Million or possibile Billion Dollar boongoggle if it did not pan out. Something so grand, that was pioneered by Paul Kaiser and other visionaries to be left to drift with all these Federal Goons who are no friend to the consumers who know only tax and spend strip and scrap is a shame of monumental proportions! Get government out of the industry now!

Many of these Federal Regulators who are the policy and investigative teams are responsible for not being informed about many of the aspects concerned with getting thousands of mcfg's of product to the consumer. These Federal Regulators are comproble to our U.N inspectors in Iraq! They cannot find their Butts in the blazing Sahara Desert with both hands. Most are so called experts and "pretty Boys" who have never had a "real" job & never get their fingernails dirty or have never spent a hour or a day in the field doing the back breaking, thankless for the most part job of getting the product out of the fields through the processing plants and Compressor Stations!

Gray Davis is one of the long list of Traitors who wouldn't know the Truth if it had teeth and bit him in the Butt!
He wouldn't last an hour in play with the Real men and Women who deliver the goods to this Nation's consumers.

The thing that needs reporting on is what I'm talking about here in this article. These bureaucrats and regulators are allowed to trash talk and bereate honest hard working citizens in the "Grand" liberal style. The socialists have been allowed to frame and spend Billions of Tax Dollars on worthless trumped up charges of Corruption. If there was ever a time the Kettle is being called Black Its now!

Do some real time investigation out on the "Lines" and you will see why producing this product takes very close attention to every detail of the operation. You will soon see this kind of operation cannot be run from a desk or a easy chair. It only takes one mistake and I don't mean a great big one, the slightest miscalculation when dealing with the critical temperatures and pressures will get you! The pipelines are a series of welded "PuP" joints with thousands of welds along with twists and turns that are working as they are designed to do; but remember they are in a continous state of minute destruction because of welding chips and other debris that is passing along in the gas stream, causing wear and abrasion. This is why lowering the pressure is called for. Sometime the entire section of line has to be shut down and several pieces have to be removed. On a 42" pipeline this is no small operation and the combined cost of "Preventative Maintenance" runs into the multiple Millions of Dollars for up keep. If you ask the "right" questions and talk to the "Real People" involved, you too would run the pressue at a lower value. I have seen up close and personal what happens when one of these "Occurences" happens inside a Compressor Station and flesh and blood is no match for this unruly beast!

So instead of doing all your pontificating and postureing from a easy chair try educating yourself to the Real World you are trying to govern with your stupid and idiotic demands. We are owed an apology for all this shabby treatment and I will also remind you that all this grand design came about without the need or the invitation of the OCAW union organizers, they tried but Free Enterprize Won out, so stick whatever, in you know where the Moon doesn't Shine! Get it Right or Shut-Up!

Attention to detail is required .. Bump

August 21, 2000

Pipeline explosion kills 10, two survivors critically burned

CARLSBAD, N.M. (AP) ---- On one side of the Pecos River are three charred pickup trucks, remnants of a weekend camping trip. Beyond the other bank are clusters of blackened trees.

An explosion of a natural gas pipeline just before dawn Saturday swept flames down the river's banks and through the tents of two families, killing 10 people and leaving two critically burned.

The only survivors, a man and his daughter-in-law, were in critical condition Sunday at a Lubbock, Texas, hospital.

"They were consumed by a huge ball of fire," said state police Lt. Larry Rogers. Officials described the ruptured line as a massive flame-thrower that showered burning fuel on the victims.

The victims were members of two southeastern New Mexico families who had been camping along the river in an unmarked but popular camping site for area fishermen, said state police Capt. John Balderston. Five were under the age of 6, including infant twins.

Some had been fishing along the river's banks, their lanterns set up to light their way, officials said. Others had been asleep. They had no chance to escape the flash of fire, caught between the river and the ruptured gas line.

One survivor recalled being awakened by shouts to find herself and everything around her on fire, Balderston said. She jumped in the river, then found she couldn't get back to the children because of the intensity of the flames.

By the river's edge, investigators found sleeping bags and the melted geometric shapes that once were tents. The trucks looked as though they had taken a direct hit from a bomb.

A nearby bridge carries the 30-inch natural gas pipeline across the river, then the pipeline goes underground, said Norma Dunn, spokeswoman for El Paso Natural Gas Co.

The pipeline was 5 to 6 feet underground at the rupture point, Dunn said.

The force of its explosion carved out a crater that authorities said measured about 86 feet long, 46 feet wide and 20 feet deep.

The fire burned 40 minutes to an hour and was visible from Carlsbad, 20 miles to the north, Balderston said.

On Sunday, investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board were trying to determine what caused the pipeline to rupture and explode.

"There is no indication it was third party damage or foul play," said John Somerhalder, president of the pipeline group for El Paso Energy. "This was a very major tragedy."

8/21/00

The beauty of Free Republic is that it allows "anonymous" folks to voice their concerns.

In doing so, a lot of good debate and some mud get slung.. but hopefully, in the end, lurkers and FReepers will get a little more insight into what has happened and is happening on this spinning globe we call home.

I am hoping for a mild winter, but ... With another El Nino sitting in the Pacific, I wouldn;t count on it.

wharfrat raises very legitimate points as to why and what El Paso was and is obligated to do, both regulatory-wise and as a corporation.

The California state leaders would have you believe all corporations are evil. Well, then why do they take their campaign donations? It's all a political ploy to gain and retain power, something the demRats know is going to be darned near impossible to wield in 2004 and 2006 after the last few years of botched legislation and no visionary leadership have been forthcoming from Davi$ and his ilk.

Blame the corporations all you want, fellas. Our own state "leaders" blew it, they should just admit it and let's move on..

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