Posted on 05/19/2010 11:48:14 AM PDT by Mozilla
A member of Arizona's top government utilities agency threw down the gauntlet in a letter to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, threatening to cut off the city's power supply as retribution for the city's boycott of Arizona. If Los Angeles wants to boycott Arizona, it had better get used to reading by candlelight.
That's the message from a member of Arizona's top government utilities agency, who threw down the gauntlet Tuesday in a letter to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa by threatening to cut off the city's power supply as retribution.
Gary Pierce, a commissioner on the five-member Arizona Corporation Commission, wrote the letter in response to the Los Angeles City Council's decision last week to boycott the Grand Canyon State -- in protest of its immigration law -- by suspending official travel there and ending future contracts with state businesses.
Noting that a quarter of Los Angeles' electricity comes from Arizona power plants, Pierce threatened to pull the plug if the City Council does not reconsider.
"Doggone it -- if you're going to boycott this candy store ... then don't come in for any of it," Pierce told FoxNews.com.
In the letter, he ridiculed Villaraigosa for saying that the point of the boycott was to "send a message" by severing the "resources and ties" they share.
"I received your message; please receive mine. As a statewide elected member of the Arizona Corporation Commission overseeing Arizona's electric and water utilities, I too am keenly aware of the 'resources and ties' we share with the city of Los Angeles," Pierce wrote.
"If an economic boycott is truly what you desire, I will be happy to encourage Arizona utilities to renegotiate your power agreements so Los Angeles no longer receives any power from Arizona-based generation."
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Just because they come to get me doesn't mean they won't pay for their decision. They may walk in, but they will be carried out, even if I get carried out with them.
I should be able to locate all the Weapons and Ammunition I lost in that terrible boating accident just in the nick of time. LOL
Read or watch “Cadillac Desert” to understand CA and water. Very interesting.
http://www.kgun9.com/Global/story.asp?S=12508838
TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) - If Gary Pierce wanted to send a message to Los Angeles, he’s succeeded. The Arizona Corporation Commissioner’s offer to assist Los Angeles with its Arizona boycott by arranging to shut off that city’s Arizona-based power supply received wide coverage in L.A.’s news media.
Los Angeles got the message and, by appearances, is scratching its collective head over it. NBClosangeles.com, the web site of NBC affiliate KNBC, posted a web story with the headline, “Power Play Over Immigration Law; LA’s boycott resolution sparks a threat over power the city receives from Arizona.” The article inaccurately described Pierce’s letter as saying that Pierce “would” ask Arizona power companies to “cut off the power supply to Los Angeles.”
The KNBC-TV posting quoted LA Councilman Dennis Zine as reacting to that by saying, “They are the ones who have to make the move, not us.” If Zine had an explanation for why he thinks it should be up to Arizona to take the first step in helping Los Angeles to boycott Arizona power, the KNBC posting didn’t give it.
In theory, before any contractually-obligated power could be cut off, all parties to the contract would have to agree. What Pierce actually said in his letter was that he would be willing to encourage Arizona utilities to do their part, should the city of Los Angeles have the “strength of its convictions” to carry its boycott that far.
Neither the Los Angeles mayor nor any city council members who KGUN9 News attempted to contact on Tuesday returned calls. But the KNBC article quoted a statement from the mayor’s office saying that Villaraigosa “will not respond to threats from the state that has isolated itself from an America that values freedom, liberty and basic civil rights.”
But that wasn’t all KNBC had to say about Pierce’s letter. KNBC’s website has a regular feature allowing users to register their reactions to stories, which it then reports as a rotating feature on the website’s masthead. On Wednesday morning one of those masthead messages read, “Locals thrilled about the Arizona power play.”
KABC-TV’s website ran the story with a headline saying “Arizona punches back, threatens L.A.’s power.” The article noted that the debate over Arizona’s immigration law had now reached a “boiling point.” It took Pierce’s letter seriously, writing, “Arizona’s corporation commission threatened to turn off the lights in Los Angeles if the city goes ahead with its boycott of the state.”
The headline for KCBS-TV’s web story read, “Arizona To L.A.: Boycott Us, We’ll Cut Your Power.” The article then stated, “Following Los Angeles’ decision to boycott Arizona, the Grand Canyon state is threatening to put us in a hole. Literally.” Like the other web postings, the KCBS-TV story, credited to reporter Dave Bryan, comes off as not quite knowing how to take the Pierce letter. The posting points out that the Pierce letter can be construed as “light-hearted” or “tongue-in-cheek,” and even questions whether it might be a “joke.” But it goes on to say there’s “no telling what would happen if the seriousness of the threat were to catch on.”
By Wednesday morning The Los Angeles Times had not reported the letter on its website. Nor had the Fox affiliate, KTTV.
Got it. Here is a pretty good map of how the Colo River intersects.
http://coloradowhitewaterrafting.info/
I sometimes always thing that rivers usually run north and south.
I realize that in CA - everything revolves around water. I wonder if AZ could shut it off.
Palo Verde is just 45 miles west of Phoenix in Arizona.
A fine example of how the truth and meaning of a story never gets reported.
Ah yes. I stand corrected. Thank you.
And may I say, a hot wind blows through Phoenix from the west everyday! Yikes!
re: “Would you support subsidies from AZ taxpayers to the AZ utilities to “encourage” them to restrict sales into CA?”
I suppose that would be up to the people of Arizona to decide. If my state was being threatened with a boycott by another state that wanted to do us severe economic damage, then, yes - I would be inclined to help out the utility company. However, I think that help should be voluntary, not forced by the state government.
You’re right. My bad.
I was responding to the rhetoric here rather than the article content. :(
APS can’t tell them to pound sand. They are a regulated utility.
And California utilities own about 30% of the plant. The City of Los Angeles via the LA Dept of Water & Power owns 5% of it. ;~))
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