GO SIMON
"Given its speed, my guess is this was pre-decided," said Michael Kahn, head of the ISO board. He said he was "extremely disappointed" that FERC did not either wait until any rehearing proceedings had been completed or act on Davis' suggestion that a solution could be negotiated.
Sounds like FERC is getting fed up with being poked in the eye.
Very well said, that is exactly how I read this as well. Everyone in the power industry knows that you don't piss off the FERC staff, they just get even later on. Davis in particular, and the California Government in general have been challenging FERC authority since the summer of 2000. At some point the FERC staff are going to loose it, and it may have happened. FERC has repeatedly forgiven all kinds of fines on California government organizations.
Based on what I suspect, I feel that the California ISO has a lot to answer for in the california power crisis. They are the source of a lot of requests for illegal or unethical conduct among the various "evil power gougers." A lot of that could come spilling out in the court case, along with FERC's simple request that contol of the ISO be divided among a greater group of stakeholders.
I think that as the trial progresses, we may see some verying interesting headlines (if the press covers the case in Distant Washington DC.) However, it is an election year and if Simons and the Republican party has any brains they will send out daily press briefings on the revelations that come out of testimony and cross examination in the court case!