[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 83 (Wednesday, June 16, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Page S6877]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        ENERGY TRADING OVERSIGHT

  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, the recent release of audiotapes of 
Enron traders gloating about their ability to manipulate energy markets 
should jolt the Senate into passing S. 2015, the Energy Needs 
Regulatory Oversight Now or ENRON Act.
  A public utility near Seattle, which is trying to get back the money 
it lost to Enron's unscrupulous energy trading practices, received the 
tapes from the Justice Department. These tapes confirm what we all 
suspected: Enron manipulated energy markets and gouged consumers. 
According to these tapes, Enron traders celebrated when a forest fire 
shut down a major transmission line into California in 2000. This shut 
down cut power supplies and raised energy prices. An energy trader 
sang: ``Burn, baby, burn. That's a beautiful thing.'' These taped 
conversations also provide evidence that Enron made secret pacts with 
power producers and Enron traders deliberately drove up prices by 
ordering power plants to shut down. The traders also brag about their 
ability to manipulate markets and steal money from the ``grandmothers 
of California,'' who one trader called ``Grandma Millie.'' The 
arrogance of these traders shocks the conscience. It also demonstrates 
the need for Congress to protect consumers from energy market 
manipulation. We cannot let the market abuses that took place during 
the Western energy crisis of 2000 happen again.
  S. 2105 requires the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to prohibit 
the use of manipulative practices like these that put at risk consumers 
and the reliability of the transmission grid. We learned from this 
crisis that electricity markets need close government oversight to 
ensure that companies do not engage in risky and deceptive trading 
schemes leading to soaring energy prices and their own possible 
financial failure. In both cases, consumers--the people who depend upon 
the electricity these companies generate or trade--are the losers.
  The Senate recently went on record in support of barring abusive 
energy market practices when it approved an amendment to the fiscal 
year 2004 agricultural appropriations bill offered by Senator Cantwell. 
I am disappointed this language was stripped from the omnibus spending 
bill. These necessary protections were also omitted from the final 
energy conference report and the revised energy bill we voted on in 
April.
  We need to send a clear message to the energy industry that this 
behavior will not be tolerated, and we must show consumers that we will 
protect them from energy market manipulation. I am proud to cosponsor 
S. 2015 and encourage my fellow colleagues to pass this legislation.

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