Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Go for it!...

Arizona electricity regulator threatens power supply to Los Angeles

An Arizona electric-utility regulator is drawing national attention for threatening to black out Los Angeles because of that city's boycott over Arizona's immigration law, but actually cutting the juice is not in his power. Commissioner Gary Pierce, who is running for re-election this year to the five-member commission, sent a letter to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Tuesday, saying that he'd "be happy to encourage Arizona utilities to renegotiate your power agreements so Los Angeles no longer receives any power from Arizona-based generation."

Pierce wrote the letter in response to the Villaraigosa's comments about the new immigration law in Arizona, which itself has drawn national attention.

But Southern California Edison, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and other California utilities have an ownership stake in major power plants in Arizona, including the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station.

The California utilities paid part of the cost of building Palo Verde, and pay their share of the fuel and operations, so Arizona can't take away the power they get from the plant. And the Corporation Commission has no jurisdiction over merchant power plants that sell power from Arizona to California.

Pierce said he wrote the letter simply to illustrate the close ties between Los Angeles and Arizona, and to get the city council there to reconsider its boycott. He said it is not a literal threat to cut power to the city. "It is mischaracterization to say we have any power here other than to call their hypocrisy into question," he said. "A boycott is an unfriendly gesture. Where do you expect that to go?"

Pierce said he spent the majority of Wednesday on the phone with media discussing the issue, and that he was surprised by the national reaction. He said he had not gotten a response from Los Angeles by midday. "It's almost like two communities in Arizona deciding to boycott each other," he said. "We're awful close and interrelate so much, I just think it's an impractical solution and not very well thought out (by Los Angeles). Really guys, let's cool it and move on."

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