[Carry_Okie]

Agreed. Posted facts with sources don't seem to change the contention.

I am nervous about trying deregulation of power pricing again without pumping up the supply side first with a major cut in regulatory snags to new plant and pipeline construction.

[Dog Gone]

I completely agree with that. The obstacles that have been placed in front of new power plant construction are enormous.

Power companies are reluctant to even begin the permitting process. It can take years and millions of dollars to find out the answer is no.

Governor Schwarzenegger can't eliminate those obstacles; only the legislature can do that. I imagine he can make some political appointments to the various regulatory agencies and commissions involved, which could help. I know he can make two appointments to the PUC, but it's the other boards involved that are the biggest problems.

Well, that and the NIMBY attitude of residents...

[Hostage]

If you were a power plant developer and operator, why would you build a plant that has an unprofitable ROI based on regulated power prices. You can't have it both ways.

The way to look at this is by observing what happened to the long distance telephone market after Judge Greens broke up ATT's monopoly.

The same thing can happen in the power industry. There will be innovation after innovation creating hundreds of thousands of new jobs. It is not unreasonable to expect portable fuel cell generators run off of natural gas lines or stored propane to be placed in new residential home tracts and replacing old distributed power lines.

America does best when America lets its free market system work.

Think about it.