Boycott AZ? What if we turn off your electricity, official tells LA

[ArizonaLiberal]

Source: Arizona Central


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 cutting the city's electricity 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."




Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/2010/05/19/20100519arizona-immigration-electricity-regulator-threatens-power-supply-los-angeles.html

---

Typical!

[Kerrytravelers]

1. Good luck with that.

:eyes:

[Tempest]

2. See this thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4388670&mesg_id=4388670

Same discussion.

[Codeine]

3. He's forgotten that CA has all the best attorneys. nt

[Ian David]

5. Yes, they do...

[eggplant]

16. Wait, that guy on the right looks familiar...

...didn't he become President?

:-)

[FailureToCommunicate]

18. What a great series (West Wing) !

Btw, eggplant, you are a model of restraint regarding posts.

[cosmicone]

23. It's not West Wing. It's from LA Law! n/t

[FailureToCommunicate]

25. The one he alludes to -where(actor) Jimmy Smits runs for president- is West Wing...

here is a link concerning Smits' character and Obama

<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/feb/21/barackobama.uselections2008>

(It really is a dramatic few episodes - worth finding at the library or video store!)

[pinboy3niner]

27. GMTA, LOL!

What they had there was a FailureToCommunicate, FailureToCommunicate.

[pinboy3niner]

26. You're BOTH right

The "guy on the right" in the L.A. Law photo is Jimmy Smits, who also portrayed a Presidential candidate on The West Wing.

Now, don't MAKE me come back there again! :)

[FailureToCommunicate]

28. Okay, I promise to behave.

("Don't distract the OP!")

[John Kerry VonErich]

29. Nope, just a senator from Alderaan

:rofl:

[FailureToCommunicate]

30. Good catch!

[Iggo]

4. Go for it, Gary.

:rofl:

[CLANG]

6. Well, that would make him a very soft target.

I would love to see what happened to the guy if he could make it happen. Manslaughter at the least as medical equipment across the state goes silent.

[SargeUNN]

7. Impossible to do so

Ca. has part ownership so no way that can happen and this guy knows it. He is just grandstanding.

[ProudProgressiveNow]

14. They ows 25 percent I believe. N/T

[ArizonaLiberal]

15. If you look at the list of those who actually OWN......

Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, you’d see that many of them are in California.

They include Southern California Edison (15.8 percent), Southern California Public Power Authority (5.91 percent) and, yes, the City of Los Angeles (8.7 percent.)

[Bette Noir]

8. From my reading of the article, it looks like he's threatening

to keep California-based utilities from sending power to themselves. Sorry, Bud, we OWN the plants. Or do you intend to buy us out? With what?

LA may be broke, but we're richer than Arizona.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

31. Actually there is no threat, just a lot of snark. Read the original documents

LA City Council is the one calling for reviewing contracts with an eye towards cancellation.

Pierce dared them to live up to their position and cancel the contract, claiming they had other customers.





Snarky AZ Letter:
http://hotair.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/letter-azcc-villaraigosa.pdf.pdf

LA City Council Resolution
http://clkrep.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2010/10-0002-s36_rpt_cla_5-11-10.pdf

[gratuitous]

9. Phew! Pierce is white

So his threat can't be considered terrorism.

[leftofcool]

10. So was McVeigh.

Pierce is a terrorist!

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[fascisthunter]

12. go for it idiot man

[AzJusticeFreedom]

13. Idiot politicians! nt

[truthisfreedom]

17. Uhh, Gary? You want to reduce income in AZ even further? THAT'S your plan?

You're a freakin' idiot.

[SoapBox]

19. SEE the LETTER here...

I'm cross posting from the previous thread about this...

Here is the REAL letter, with NAME, PHONE NUMBERS and ADDRESS...hehe.

Me thinks "Gary's" bulb is a bit dim!

http://www.thepoliticalcarnival.net/2010/05/arizona-threatens-to-cut-l-a-power-as-payback-for-boycott/

[The Backlash Cometh]

20. L.A. should give the business to somebody else.

[No Elephants]

21. That's exactly what some Arizona DUer suggested the day the story broke about LA's

boycott of Arizona a couple of weeks back.

[Ed Barrow]

22. This shows that the boycott is working

They're feeling the pain and now they're screaming about it. Don't let up the pressure.

[pinboy3niner]

24. "We are all boycotters, now"

(Apologies to Palin . . . oops . . . I mean JFK.) :)

[maddezmom]

32. kick

[CHIMO]

33. Arizona threatens to cut power to Los Angeles over immigration row

Source: guardian.co.uk

Arizona's tough new immigration law has drawn it into an open conflict with one of the most powerful cities in America, after a prominent Arizona politician threatened to pull the plug on its power supply to Los Angeles in retaliation for the city's boycott of the state.

Gary Pierce, a commissioner with the Arizona Corporation, an elected body in charge of the state's public utilities, sent an angry letter to the mayor of LA, Antonio Villaraigosa, prompted by LA's boycott of Arizona and its local businesses.

"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," he wrote.

LA, which has a large Hispanic population and is opposed to Arizona's immigration law, receives a quarter of its electricity from power plants located in Arizona.



Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/20/arizona-los-angeles-electricity-immigration

[The Hope Mobile]

34. Personally I would rather give up 25% of our power and find alternative sources here nt

[EJSTES2005]

70. It would bankrupt AZ

before it would send CA deeper into insolvency.....maybe the right-wing machine will buy AZ power like they buy all the right-wing hacks books...

[ProgressiveProfessor]

110. Probably not. There is enough demand to take most of it instantly

on a long term basis.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

109. You can't...LA is way too NIMBY and is quite happy to export its pollution and steal water from

outlying areas.

[hedgehog]

35. There are a lot of waves off-shore, use the waves to generate

electricity and the electricity to desalinate water.

[protocol rv]

41. ROFLAMAO

California has a huge debt crisis. If they keep going this way, they'll have to become indentured servants in Chinese factories. The Californica economy looks so wobbly, if it keeps going the way it is, Californians will be jumping the fence to flee to Arizona :-)

[hedgehog]

46. How much of that debt crisis dates back to when Enron looted the power grid?

[protocol rv]

85. Who cares?

California still owes the money. Which I believe wasn't due to Enron, it is due to a government run by idiots, spending money they don't have, because the state is full of people who don't know what the word responsibility means.

[Wednesdays]

91. Personal responsibility! Personal responsibility! Personal responsibility!

:spank:

[Jefferson23]

36. Keep it up Arizona, you'll be a pariah state in no time. n/t

[protocol rv]

40. I got the sense Arizona is becoming very popular

Poll results show mosre Americans support Arizona's law than don't. I cancelled my vacations in California in retaliation for their attitude, and I'm going to the Grand Canyon.

[movonne]

42. Who cares where you go...I can think of a few other places...

[Hepburn]

45. +1

[Name removed]

48. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[soleiri]

54. You're on the side of the Tea Party?

That explains everything.

[Name removed]

86. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[soleiri]

97. God willing, you never will be an American.

Trash?
Shoot in the back?

Are you fucking kidding me?

How is this person a member of DU?

[JI7]

81. yeah, but those who oppose it are more likely to want to visit Grand Canyon

those who support it are more the types to go to places like disneyland and other amusement parks.

[classysassy]

103. There is an old french proverb that says

" sometime a majority simply mean that all the fools are on the same side" I think thats this is one of those times.

[soleiri]

52. As a Californian of Mexican descent

My feelings are mixed.

While I abhor this law, and I'm actually afraid to drive through Arizona,
even to go to Las Vegas for fear of being stopped.

On the other hand,
You aren't coming to California for vacation?

:party: :party: :toast: :toast: :bounce: :bounce: :party: :toast: :bounce: :toast: :party: :party:

[pinboy3niner]

67. +1 LOL

:toast:

[protocol rv]

87. So what if they stop you?

Give them your driver's license, and tell them have a nice day.

[struggle4progress]

89. Another state's driver's license may not generally satisfy Arizona authorities

[alcibiades_mystery]

99. ROFL

Ownage.

[Downwinder]

58. Don't fall in. n/t

[frylock]

75. oh how disappointing

[Jefferson23]

77. That's your prerogative, and I can assure you that popularity on

the issue will never translate this hideous law to be found Constitutional.

[Hawkeye-X]

83. My planned vacation to California trumps your fake-ass so-called cancellation

Of course, I'm only going to be in California for 12 hours while I cruise the coast to Mexico.

[classysassy]

104. Arizona

has been hijacked by a bunch of evil,vile republicans who will pay for their evil deeds come november.

[Lagomorph]

94. Arizona didn't bring the subject up.

L.A. did. AZ just told them to go ahead, they'll find other customers. OK, it's not the popular perception, but then their immigration law isn't quite what some people would have us believe. If, in the end, we see a smoothed out immigration policy, the whole issue will blow away.

[Jefferson23]

105. When I said keep it up Arizona, I was referring to the law they passed, and

the backlash will continue as a result.

I was listening to the mayor of Phoenix yesterday on NPR, he is trying to convince businesses not to boycott. He believes this hideous
law can be dealt with before it goes into effect. I wish him all the best, he is trying to do the right thing.



snip* What I've done is voiced my opposition to boycotts. I've called my colleagues throughout other cities, asking them not to boycott. I've called companies to please come, reminding everybody the law doesn't go into effect for another 70 days. And by then, wiser heads will prevail and not to punish everybody in Arizona for a few individuals that I believe used a wedge issue to divide the state and the city.

NORRIS: You've threatened to sue over this law. But, as I understand, the city attorney questioned whether or not you have the authority to file suit. What are your legal options?

Mayor GORDON: Well, the legal issues are very complicated. Both - which courts lawsuits can be filed in, who has standing, whether the issue is ripe yet since the law doesn't go into effect. That's being sorted out by a lot of different attorneys, the council. The majority of the council does not want to sue. As a result, I was looking and still am looking at action where as an individual or as a mayor I would proceed.

There have been a number of lawsuits filed already.

NORRIS: May I just - I'm sorry. May I just interrupt you for a minute?

Mayor GORDON: Sure.

NORRIS: Did you say that you would be willing to sue as an individual, not just as the mayor of the city?

Mayor GORDON: Correct. On civil rights issues, everybody - when the issue is ripe - has standing to sue on a law that isn't legal. I'm confident that the Justice Department will intervene at some point.

At this point in time, it's becoming overwhelming in terms of the boycotting and just trying to stop that has become a full-time job.

NORRIS: Mayor Gordon, thank you very much for your time.

Mayor GORDON: Thank you very much.

NORRIS: That was Phil Gordon. He's the mayor of Phoenix, Arizona.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127018725

[Lagomorph]

106. It would be great to see the issue ironed out.

I don't think anybody wants to go "full gestapo" on Hispanics. There are problems along the border that need to be dealt with. Since the governments haven't done anything to improve immigration procedures, the criminal element is running the show. I think the problem is with the criminal element, rather than Hispanic workers.

[Jefferson23]

114. Arizona enacted this law because they do indeed want to and have gone

full gestapo on Hispanics. I believe it will be stopped and AZ will need to re-think and reconstruct their law.

[Xipe Totec]

37. Thanks for pointing out that this power source is vulnerable

Time for LA to negotiate new power contracts.

Why would LA want to rely on an unreliable power source?

[protocol rv]

47. Where are they going to get it?

That's easier said than done. There are no alternative sources. California has to, as they say in NY, eat fecal matter and die in this matter. If Arizona cuts their power, they'll be in the dark. And this blustering isn't going to help. You'll have to learn to behave.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

55. LA is famous for exporting its environmental issues to other areas

LADWP is about as evil and vile as they get. Owens Valley will not recover in our lifetimes and LADWP is fighting every step of the way.

LA is also exporting their trash to Kern County.

[Xipe Totec]

56. You are so wrong, it's not even funny

Arizona may be the cheapest right now, but reliability also matters.

Where do you think Arizona gets the energy to run it's power plants? Do you think these power plants are solar? :rofl:

[DesertRat]

57. New power contracts..with whom?

Just curious. :shrug:

[Xipe Totec]

61. PG&E

Give them an incentive and they will deliver the energy.


INVESTING IN CALIFORNIA’S ENERGY FUTURE

Last year’s capital investment once again focused principally on increasing reliability and capacity across the extensive network of wires, pipes, generating stations, and other essential assets at the heart of California’s energy infrastructure.

PG&E’s total capital expenditures in 2009 were $3.9 billion. This exceeded our initial capital spending goals for the year, but remained consistent with our projected range for annual average capital expenditures over the 2008 through 2011 time frame.

The majority of these resources supported ongoing efforts to strengthen local electric and natural gas distribution systems. For example, we made improvements to a number of our least reliable electric circuits, we added new protective equipment to lines, and we installed new hardware to enhance power restoration capabilities in certain reliability hot spots.

We also proceeded with efforts to lay the foundation for the emerging smart grid, through the ongoing transition to SmartMeter™ technology. By year’s end, total installations of new gas and electric meters reached approximately 4.5 million out of a total of 10 million that will be in place by mid-2012.

With its ability to send timely energy-usage data and its Web-like connectivity options, SmartMeter™ technology will be the basis for a range of new energy management tools and capabilities, which are key to improving customer service, increasing reliability, expanding energy efficiency and demand response, and optimizing the use of renewable energy sources and, soon, electric vehicles.

Last year also saw further heavy investment in electric transmission, with a focus on asset replacement and alleviating grid congestion. Other projects in this area were aimed at interconnecting new generation, including new renewable power sources, and improving reliability through automation.

PG&E also won federal support for a project to install new monitoring and communications technology within our electric transmission system. Known as synchrophasors, the devices will help identify and address potential reliability concerns and improve our ability to integrate intermittent renewable power resources.


http://www.pgecorp.com/investors/financial_reports/annual_report_proxy_statement/ar_html/2009/index.html

[protocol rv]

88. it isn't that easy

But maybe you can get some coal burning power plants :-)

[ProgressiveProfessor]

111. Be nice if they were in the LA area. LA loves to export its pollution and steal water from

outlying areas

[CreekDog]

38. Dunno if it's wise to mess with LA Water and Power

[Name removed]

39. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[nomorenomore08]

76. Are you fucking kidding me???

I am *this close* to getting myself tombstoned over your worthless ass... :grr:

[ShortnFiery]

43. Amazing. If we don't do something to tamp down the resentments,

this can not end well. :(

What can we do, as citizens, to help ease the anger?

[Demeter]

44. Rematch on the Civil War

Seriously. Maybe the bigots would get their heads in the right place.

[ShortnFiery]

49. The drug gang wars in Mexico are reaching a crisis point.

If it spills over the border, then emotions will run TOO HIGH.

Isn't it better to at least reach a compromise now while tempers are not at a total extreme?

[protocol rv]

51. Maybe you will realize you are the minority

And I take it the ones who support the illegals are ultra leftists don't like to bear arms. So don't start talking civil war, because you'll probably lose it. Imagine, there will be Tea Party armies marching from San Francisco to LA, burning everything down, like Grant did.

[kimmylavin]

71. Are you sure you're on the correct website?

Your wet dream is simply that, and if you honestly think the Teabaggers are any match for the US Army (yeah, they just might be involved in a fight like that), you are seriously deluded.

[frylock]

78. the troll is strong in this one

[Wednesdays]

93. Report! Report!

:spank:

[Jefferson23]

80. You are either confused or poorly informed, perhaps both:

The ultra left? Hardly.


snip* Religious leaders, conservative as well as progressive, have been among the most powerful voices against this. The organization Faith in Public Life sent out an e-mail that included many responses from the religious community, among them was:

The Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference: “If you are Hispanic in Arizona, you just became a suspect and open to police harassment.”

The New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good declared that the law would have the effect of “mandating racial profiling, criminalizing ministry to undocumented immigrants, separating immigrant families, and exacerbating a climate of fear and suspicion that pits neighbor against neighbor.” It called it a “wholly unbiblical and immoral law.”

And Gideon Aronoff, the president and CEO of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, said the law means that “Arizonans are now living in a world where police may impound vehicles transporting anyone found to be an undocumented immigrant, which means that Arizonans who don’t check the papers of the kids they drive to Sunday school may now be engaging in illegal activity.”

It’s good that President Obama condemned this bill -- and very sad that Sen. John McCain, long a reasonable and humane voice on immigration but now facing a tough Republican primary, supported it.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2010/04/arizonas_shameful_immigration.html

[Wednesdays]

92. Grant burned down LA and San Francisco?

Who knew? :shrug:

[BlueCollar]

112. coming soon in a texas textbook

pay attention dammit!!!

:spank:

[NecklyTyler]

64. Note that it is the Republicans that keep ratcheting up the hate and discontent fueling a Civil War

Each decision made by the conservatives and the Republicans are calculated to inflame anger. Inflammatory immigration laws in Arizona, inflammatory threats to the well being of citizens in another state flowing right along with inflammatory statements by the Tea Party. All of this is kept at a rolling boil by the talk radio instigators like Limbaugh and Beck

[protocol rv]

50. I would say you should enforce the existing laws

And send the illegal aliens back to where they came from. Also, secure the borders. I'm sure this can be done with draconian work place enforcement, hang a few business orders, and they'll stop waging war on the american working class by hiring illegal aliens.

[soleiri]

60. How can we?

It's MY father who will be profiled.
He's a naturalized citizen, why the hell should he be subjected to state sponsored harassment?
My sons will grow up knowing there are still places in America who will judge them because of their ancestry.
Ease anger? HELL FUCKING NO. I'm angry and I'm staying angry until the racist law is changed.
I don't give a fuck how many Americans agree with the law. It's wrong.

[applegrove]

84. One of my mom's health care workers said that she was for the law. The woman emmigrated from

Poland and said since she had to wait to come and join her family why shouldn't all immigrants have to. I was a little shocked but I would gather alot of legal immigrants feel that way too. Sorry situation but there it is. And unlike trying to solve a serious problem like immigration the GOP just keeps ratcheting up the issue so it can exploit it. And people fall for it.

[soleiri]

95. How nice for her

and her white privilege.
She won't be targeted.
My brother and I, as legal, American born citizens could be targeted for this state sponsored harassment.

By the way, my father is a naturalized citizen, but only because the government forced his family to go back to Mexico despite the fact that they were US citizens. Even though they had other children who were born in the US.
So, if people want to talk fair, how fair is that?

[applegrove]

100. Oh I know. It is just awful. Obama needs to do something about immigration

reform right now so there is a path for people to be legal. I really doubt that any american government can send 20 million people home with an aging population of people. The USA like canada needs all the immigrants it cat get.

[FiveGoodMen]

63. My suggestion would be that the people of Arizona vote the racist, fascist scum out of office

and change their laws.

If they won't do that, then I think continued anger is called for.

[pinboy3niner]

68. Don't worry--L.A. is part owner of a couple of those AZ plants

Pierce doesn't have any support in his own agency to do anything, and with L.A.'s ownership stake they can't do anything anyway.:)

[ProgressiveProfessor]

53. Actually it was a snarky challenge to the LA Council to live up to its words

thought the actual boycott resolution was chock full of escape clauses. Read the original materials

City Resolution:
http://clkrep.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2010/10-0002-s36_rpt_cla_5-11-10.pdf

AZ snarky letter:
http://hotair.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/letter-azcc-villaraigosa.pdf.pdf

[soleiri]

59. I was wondering if anyone read the actual article

"It soon emerged that the corporation has no power to cut off power supply to LA, and that California owns several of Arizona's power plants. Pierce was forced to backtrack."

Austin Beutner the General Manager of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power released a statement.

http://www.ladwpnews.com/go/doc/1475/555479/

[ProgressiveProfessor]

62. AZ never threaten to cut off LA. The letter challenged LA to live up to their words

and exit the contract.

Its fully conceivable that LA will pay more than it wants to next time around or be forced onto the spot market. Serious cost implication for LADWP customers

[EFerrari]

65. The guy that made those remarks was one loud mouth

with no power.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

74. It sure was snarky

[Tempest]

66. L.A. partially owns the transmission lines and generation plants in Arizona

AZ is technically powerless.

[Kringle]

69. operating permits will be revoked nt

[EFerrari]

73. LOL

[frylock]

79. +1

holy shit! this thread has managed to ferret out a couple of real winners!

[Quantess]

96. I'm going to wait around and see if there will be a pizza party.

[soleiri]

98. I'm wondering the same thing.

Apparently, illegal immigrants are trash that can be shot in the back.

and Grant should burn LA to SF?


EDIT: Just as I was posting...

[Quantess]

102. I just did an author search.

Likes to trivialize the oil disaster.

[HooptieWagon]

72. K&R n/t

[saracat]

82. Gary Piece is ONE guy on the Corp Commission, He is NOT Arizona.

The Corp Commission has several Democrats and moderate Repugs on it and they do NOT support this. I am really tired of this misleading headline.Pierce is a moron but those who believe he has any authority are equally silly. There are no letter from the Arizona Corporation Commission stating any such threat. This is a loco loner wolf.

[struggle4progress]

90. He sure plays a good poster boy for a certain group of Arizonans, though

[Desertrose]

101. Will the stupid never end?

Like AZ would ever do this....can anyone say "lost revenue"?
No way.

These idiots need to just shut up....collectively & singly.

[classysassy]

107. Peerce and his friends

will in time pay for their mis deeds.

[classysassy]

108. Pierce and his friends

[meow mix]

113. how about we contract a warrior-drifter from the wastelands..

auntie, who run barter town?