The Water Barons

[Joanne98]

It doesn't get any more evil than this....

http://www.icij.org/water/report.aspx?aid=44

Cholera and the Age of the Water Barons

By Bill Marsden

February 3, 2003 — When cholera appeared on South Africa's Dolphin Coast in August 2000, officials first assumed it was just another of the sporadic outbreaks that have long stricken the country's eastern seaboard. But as the epidemic spread, it turned out to be a chronicle of death foretold by blind ideology.

In 1998, local councils had begun taking steps to commercialize their waterworks by forcing residents to pay the full cost of drinking water. But many of the millions of people living in the tin-roof slums of the region couldn't afford the rates. Cut off at the tap, they were forced to find water in streams, ponds and lakes polluted with manure and human waste. By January 2002, when the worst cholera epidemic in South Africa's history ended, it had infected more than 250,000 people and killed almost 300, spreading as far as Johannesburg, 300 miles away.

Making people pay the full cost of their water "was the direct cause of the cholera epidemic," David Hemson, a social scientist sent by the government to investigate the outbreak, said in an interview. "There is no doubt about that."

The seeds of the epidemic had been sown long before South Africa decided to take its deadly road to privatization. They were largely planted by an aggressive group of utility companies, primarily European, that are attempting to privatize the world's drinking water with the help of the World Bank and other international financial institutions.

The days of a free glass of water are over, in the view of these companies, which have a public relations campaign to accompany their sales pitch. On a global scale, and in many developing nations, water is a scarce and valuable and clearly marketable commodity. "People who don't pay don't treat water as a very precious resource," one executive said. "Of course, it is."

http://www.icij.org/water/report.aspx?aid=44

[Joanne98]

1. Bechtel Group, Inc.

Bechtel Group, Inc.
Company Presence: 6 Distinct Country(ies)
Financial Information: Financials for Year 1991-2001
Website: http://www.bechtel.com
Company Personnel
Name Title
Riley P. Bechtel Chairman and CEO
Company Information
Originally founded as a railway company in 1898, Bechtel Group is primarily an engineering and construction company. More recently, its operations have expanded to include environmental restoration, water services, energy and telecommunications. With 50,000 employees, Bechtel is working on 950 projects in 67 countries worldwide. Most of the international water operations of Bechtel have been conducted in partnership with United Utilities, with which Bechtel signed a memorandum of understanding in November 1994.

Organization Relationships
Organization Relationship
None Available
Major Subsidiaries
No Major Subsidiaries
Current and Former Subsidiaries
Aquas del Tunari
International Water (Adelaide I) Sarl
Manila Water Company, Inc.
Sofijska Voda A.D. (Sofia Water)
Talinna Vesi (Talinn Water)
U.S. Water


ICIJ researcher Daniel Politi coordinated work on this database.

[Joanne98]

2. Suez

Suez
Company Presence: 41 Distinct Country(ies)
Financial Information: Financials for Year 1990-2002
Website: http://www.suez.com
Company Personnel
Name Title
Gérard Mestrallet Chairman and CEO
René Coulomb Director
Gérard Payén Senior Executive Vice President
Jérôme Monod Former Chairman
Jean Monville Former Chairman, Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux
Hugh Speed Former Vice President, International Operations, Lyonnaise des Eaux Group
Company Information
French-based Suez was formed in 1997 by a merger between Compagnie de Suez and Lyonnaise des Eaux. After the merger, the company’s name became Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux and was subsequently shortened to Suez in 2001. Suez’s water and wastewater business, which is run through its subsidiary Ondeo, is the second largest in the world. Suez provides water-related services to more than 115 million people worldwide. Its other business areas are electricity, natural gas, water and waste management. Suez also maintains interests in television and broadband distribution. In 2001, Suez was ranked 99th on Fortune’s Global 500, and in the same year it was ranked 19th in the world among companies with the greatest international presence, according to the United Nations World Investment Report. In the summer of 2002, Suez merged its water and wastewater services into a division called Suez Environment.

Organization Relationships
Organization Relationship
European Services Forum Corporate Formal
World Economic Forum Corporate Formal
World Business Council for Sustainable Development Corporate Formal
International Office for Water Corporate Formal
World Water Council Corporate Informal
International Chamber of Commerce Corporate Informal
World Commission on Water for the 21st Century Individual
Global Water Partnership Individual
World Panel on Water Infrastructure Financing Individual
WaterAid Individual
European Roundtable of Industrialists Individual
Transatlantic Business Dialogue Individual
Major Subsidiaries
Ondeo
United Water Resources

Current and Former Subsidiaries
Acque Toscane
Aguas Andinas
Aguas Argentinas
Aguas Cordobesas
Aguas de Barcelona
Aguas de Cartagena
Aguas de Guariroba
Aguas de Illimani
Aguas de la Costa
Aguas de la Habana
Aguas de Limeira
Aguas do Amazonas
Aguas Provinciales de Santa Fe
Aguas, Servicios e Inversiones de Mexico
Aquatim
Aquinter
Baoding Sino French Water Supply Company
Crea
Eau et Force
Equiventures
Essex & Suffolk Water
Eurawasser
Fovarosi Vizmuvek
Johannesburg Water Management Company
Kaposvar Water
Lusagua
Lyonnaise (SEA)
Lyonnaise Asia Water
Lyonnaise des Eaux (France)
Lyonnaise Des Eaux Casablanca
Lyonnaise des Eaux-MW Arabtech
Macao Water
Maynilad Water Service
Nanchang Shuanggang Water Supply Company
Norsk Vann og Avlop AS
North East Water
Northumbrian Water
Nuove Acque
Ostravske VAK
Pecsi Vizmu
PT Garuda Dipta Semesta
PT Pam Lyonnaise Jaya
PT Tirta Lyonnaise
SAGEP
Severomoravske VAK
Shenyang Water Company
Sino-French Water Development
Sistema Municipal de Aguas de Saltillo
Societe Anonyme de Gestion des Eaux de Paris
Societe des Eaux de Marseille
Stadtwerke Schwerin GmbH
Stephanoise des Eaux
Sumperska Provozni a Vodohospodarska Spolecnost
Tecnologia y Servicios de Agua
TVS
United Water Services
United Water Toms River
Urbana
VHS Benesov
Vilnius Water Works
Vodotechnicke akciova spolecnost Brno
Vodotechnicke sluzby Stribo
Vodovody a Kanlizace Karlovy Vary
VOK Davle
Water and Sanitation Services South Africa
White River Environmental Partnership
Zhengzhou Sino French Water Supply Company
Zhongshan Tanzhou Water Supply Company


ICIJ researcher Daniel Politi coordinated work on this database.

[AnOhioan]

3. Not only the Water Barons, the Water Wars as well

http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/natres/waterindex.htm

As demand for water hits the limits of finite supply, potential conflicts are brewing between nations that share transboundary freshwater reserves. More than 50 countries on five continents might soon be caught up in water disputes unless they move quickly to establish agreements on how to share reservoirs, rivers, and underground water acquifers.

[Joanne98]

5. The water wars will come first, then the water barons will SAVE US!

[Joanne98]

4. RWE AG

RWE AG
Company Presence: 14 Distinct Country(ies)
Financial Information: Financials for Year 1990-2002
Website: http://www.rwe.com
Company Personnel
Name Title
Dietmar Kuhnt President, CEO and Chairman
Company Information
Founded in 1898, RWE AG is a German utilities corporation that provides electricity, gas, water and wastewater, as well as waste disposal and recycling services to customers worldwide. Combined with its subsidiaries, RWE is now the third largest water services company in the world, supplying services to 70 million people worldwide. In 2001, RWE revenues exceeded $50 billion and the company was ranked 53rd on Fortune magazine’s Global 500. In January 2003, the company completed its acquisition of American Water Works, which provides water and wastewater services to 15 million people in the United States and Canada.

Organization Relationships
Organization Relationship
None Available
Major Subsidiaries
American Water Works Co. Inc.
Thames Water Plc

Current and Former Subsidiaries
Empresa de Servicios San. del Bio SA (ESSBIO)
E'town Corporation Inc.
Pathum Thani Water Company Limited
RWE Aqua GmbH
Thames Dick Superaquaduct Partners Inc
Thames Pam Jaya
United Water International Pty Limited


ICIJ researcher Daniel Politi coordinated work on this database.

[alfredo]

10. We are fighting them here in Lexington Ky They bought off

our city council the last election. The RWE toadies were able to stop condemnation of the water utility, then they were able to get the state supreme court (dominated by republican activist) to stop a vote on the issue.

We are fighting back in two ways. The first way is to promote local ownership by helping elect people who put their loyalty to the people of lexington above the profits of RWE. Second is the vote on local ownership. Both strategies stand a good chance of winning, but RWE has a lot of money and are pumping millions into defeating us.

BTW, RWE wants to sell of its water holdings, but refuses to sell to us.

If you can help, go here:

http://www.bluegrassflow.org/

[Joanne98]

11. Your activists need to talk to these people CUPE

These are the best privatization fighters in the world. they can tell you everything you need to know. There are a lot of dirty tricks and they've been thru all of them.

CUPE Water Archives

Campaigning for public water
July 2006
Safe, affordable and publicly delivered drinking water and sewage treatment should be a right for all Canadians. But the systems that treat and deliver our water are under threat.
http://www.cupe.bc.ca/3025

I didn't give you the national site because you have to log in but this is an example of what they do. You can win. CUPE did.

The people in this town are fighting right now.

June 5, 2006

Whistler Residents Say No to Private Plant

Representatives of the Whistler Water Coalition will deliver over 1,400 Elector Response Forms to Municipal Hall on Tuesday, June 6.

More than 1,400 Whistler residents have participated in the Alternate Approval Process (AAP), indicating they have serious concerns with the public-private partnership(P3) for the upgrade of Whistler's wastewater treatment plant. The process, which began on May 4, continues through to June 12 and requires a minimum of 892 eligible voters' signatures. Whistler Water Watch formed in response to the proposed P3 and has been encouraging residents to participate in the AAP.

http://www.cupe.bc.ca/3439

[alfredo]

14. Thanks. We had a Canadian water activist visit last year.

She spoke at a meeting. RWE thugs showed up. They tried to block the drive in to the meeting, they then appeared with recorders and video cameras. They kept shoving microphones and video cams in our faces. Generally they were trying to intimidate us.

I told one that their efforts at intimidation is only making us fight harder.

[Joanne98]

15. IF you have any petitions. Let me know. I'll sign all of them.....

[alfredo]

24. thanks. We have won a place on the ballot, now we need volunteers

and money. I haven't decided where I will work this cycle. I have several choices, but so far the water activist have lobbied me the hardest.

[liam_laddie]

25. Hmmm...$50 billion for 70 million

Not sure how RWE financials break down, but on a macro basis,
if all income is based on water-related services, this is over $700
annually per person for water, sewage, whatever...family of four -
$2800+ for this "service." Am I missing something here?
Sounds like a slam-dunk honey pot to me! D'ya think some of that
income ends up in politicians' and their friends' pockets? It's not like
these pirates build much new infrastructure, do they? Just use the
already-built and paid-for-by-the-public plants and pipes?
Major kudos to the Canadians and others around the planet fighting
this outrage. Joanne98...terrific thread, thanks!

[Joanne98]

32. Bingo! Privatizing is the biggest bang for your buck ever!

They bid (coff) on infastructure already built. They buy it for pennies on the dollar. Then they form an IPO and make millions. All for doing NOTHING but buying off corrupt pols and tranferring paperwork. Pretty good gig, huh?

Oh BTW. If the infastruture needs fixing. They send the bill to the taxpayers. Privatize the profits, socialize the costs.

[Emit]

41. "Privatize the profits, socialize the costs" !! OMG! n/t

[Joanne98]

6. A global oligarchy of evil.......

A global oligarchy
The investigation also showed that the water companies have joined forces with the World Bank and the United Nations to create an array of international think tanks, advisory commissions and forums that have dominated the water debate and established privatization as the dominant solution to the world's water problems.

"What we have seen during the 1990s has been the setting-up of a kind of global high command for water," Riccardo Petrella, a leading researcher on the politics of water, wrote in the French daily Le Monde in 2000.

Global Goals for Water Access
The Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council presented these global targets, called Vision 21, at the Second World Water Forum in the Netherlands in March 2000 to address water supply and sanitation issues facing the developing world.

By 2015, the council proposed:

To halve the number of people without access to sanitation facilities.

To halve the number of people without access to adequate quantities of affordable and safe water.

And by 2025:

To provide water, sanitation and hygiene for all.

Source: Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council



The leading think tank on water issues and the principal adviser to the World Bank and United Nations is the World Water Council, which was established in 1996 by the World Bank and the United Nations. It is headquartered in Marseille, France, and one of its three founding members is René Coulomb, a former Suez vice-president.

In 1998, the WWC created the World Water Commission to promote public awareness of water issues and to help formulate global water policies. The commission holds water conferences around the world and channels its policy statements through international forums held every three years.

Men with strong privatization backgrounds run the commission. These include former Suez CEO Jérôme Monod, Enrique Iglesias, president of the Inter-American Development Bank and Mohamed T. El-Ashry, CEO of the World Bank/U.N. Global Environment Facility. Commission chairman is World Bank Vice President Ismail Serageldin.

Both of these institutions strongly support privatization and a user-pay policy. "Global experience shows that money is the medium of accountability," the commission said in a 2000 report.

The commission has held two international forums on water with a third planned for Kyoto, Japan, in March 2003. At its forum at The Hague in March 2000, the commission issued a policy statement that said water management was the main problem facing mankind and the solution was to treat water like any other commodity and open its management to free market competition.

Serageldin stated that water delivery should be in private hands, but publicly regulated, in the same way as private companies run the food industry.

The ties that bind the World Bank to the major water companies include shared membership on the boards of various policy institutions as well as personal and business relations.

Monod was special counselor to the International Monetary Fund's director, Michel Camdessus, when Monod was Suez's CEO. After Camdessus retired in 2000, he was named chair of the "International Panel for New Investments in Water," an initiative organized by the water companies. The panel's directors include William Alexander, group chief executive of RWE's Thames Water of London, and Suez Vice President Gerard Payen.

At its first meeting in Paris in February 2002, the panel focused on "how to increase the rate of return on water projects, and the related difficulty of implementing the full cost recovery pricing of water."

Another panel member is the Global Water Partnership (GWP). The chairwoman of its steering committee is Margaret Catley-Carlson, a former Canadian deputy health minister. She is also chairwoman of the Suez Water Resources Advisory Committee. The GWP is a partnership of government, corporate and professional organizations examining water issues. It claims: "The water crisis is a governance crisis, characterized by a failure to value water properly and by a lack of transparency and accountability in the management of water. Reform of the water sector, where water tariffs and prices play essential parts, is expected to make stakeholders recognize the true cost of water and to act thereafter."

On another front, water companies are working closely with the European Union to enforce trade barriers against any country that refuses to open its water utilities to privatization.

Working with the EU trade officials, the water companies are also trying to persuade the World Trade Organization to force countries to open their utilities to free market forces. Documents obtained by ICIJ show that the European Commission trade office works closely with Thames, Suez, Vivendi and other private water companies to push for a reduction in trade barriers with the WTO.

In a May 2002 letter, EU trade commissioner Ulrike Hauer wrote to Thames, Suez and Vivendi, thanking them for their contribution toward negotiations to reduce trade barriers in "water and waste water services" with a view to open these markets to European companies.

On a third front, the French government recently made a proposal to the quasi-governmental International Organization for Standards (ISO), a regulatory branch of the WTO, to set international standards for water utilities. Effectively, the committee would develop rules on how to manage all aspects of water service and delivery. Critics believe this will help the WTO forge trade rules that would force countries to open their public utilities to privatization.

"The companies have a clear strategy based on three things: the WTO, the WIPO (World Intellectual Property Org) and the ISO," Petrella told ICIJ. "Through trade, intellectual property and standardization they are going to conquer the water world."

[Joanne98]

7. Financial titans, bribery and fraud

Financial titans, bribery and fraud
In addition to their political connections, each of the three leading companies has enormous financial resources. Each is among the top 100 corporations in the world. Together they had revenue in 2001 of $156.7 billion and continue to grow at a rate of about 10 percent a year, outpacing the economies of some of the countries in which they operate. The gross domestic product of Bolivia, for example, is $21.4 billion.

The companies also have more employees than most governments. Vivendi Environnement, alone, employs 295,000 worldwide; Suez employs 173,000.

Both Suez and Vivendi have doubled their customer base in the last 10 years with Suez serving 125 million water customers and Vivendi 110 million. RWE's Thames Water is a distant third with 51 million but its recent acquisition of American Water Works Co. Inc. will increase it to 70 million.

In France, both Suez and Vivendi have close political ties with the national and local governments. Executives of the two companies have been charged and, in some cases, convicted of illegal campaign contributions to politicians and of using bribery and fraud to obtain water and other municipal contracts. In one case, witness testimony implicated former Suez CEO Monod, who is now chief adviser to French President Jacques Chirac. Monod has never been charged and has denied any wrongdoing.

Though competitors, the companies often form joint ventures to obtain water concessions in foreign countries. The ICIJ investigation, for example, revealed that Thames and Vivendi formed a business alliance in 1995 to capture the Asian market. Suez and Vivendi share interest in Buenos Aires. And Thames and Suez, with the support of the former Indonesian dictatorship, divided up Jakarta.

Finally, the private water companies make promises they often can't keep – a tactic one World Bank water official called "over selling." Essentially, they promise to deliver a better service at a lower price. The ICIJ investigation found, however, that governments often drive up water prices just prior to privatization to give water companies room to immediately reduce prices and win popular approval. Once a company has won the contract and lowered prices, it often quickly attempts to renegotiate for higher rates and reduced performance targets. The fact that the companies now control the city's waterworks gives the company tremendous leverage in these negotiations. In many cases, water prices soar and original targets for expanded water and sanitation systems are not met.

In Buenos Aires, for instance, Suez-controlled Aguas Argentinas almost immediately put pressure on the government to renegotiate the concession contract for more favorable terms.

Thames Water executive Peter Spillett complained to ICIJ that his company has lost contracts because of this tactic. "What we find a bit hard is that in many cases our competitors seem to go in much lower, and then within a year or two of having successfully gotten that contract, they seek to re-negotiate with the government of the city."

Since the companies prefer to be paid in American dollars, falling local currencies usually lead to demands for rate increases. Despite earning substantial profits, Aguas Argentinas recently canceled expansion plans and threatened to curtail services unless the government agreed to higher rates to compensate for foreign exchange losses.

The companies claim privatization is good because it brings the latest ideas and technology to tired public utilities and clarifies the responsibilities and mission of the water utility.

"In many cases, when only public servants are involved with delivering water services or sanitation services, the goals which are expected by the political decision-makers are not visible, they are not explained," Suez Vice President Gérard Payen told ICIJ. "When you involve the private sector, the community has more information and the situation is more transparent."

But the ICIJ investigation showed that companies frequently insist that all or part of their contracts remain secret. Regulatory authorities in Buenos Aires, Manila and Jakarta told ICIJ they often feel powerless in the face of demands from the water companies because they don't have access to company figures.

When companies are fined for not achieving performance targets, they often don't pay, preferring to appeal rulings in lengthy and expensive arbitration and court proceedings.

Even in developed countries, such as Australia and Canada, which generally have stronger regulatory bodies than poorer countries, privatization has weakened public accountability. In Sydney and Adelaide, Australia, major sewage treatment and water quality problems were kept secret from the public as regulatory authorities and the private companies argued over responsibility. In Hamilton, Ontario, a private company took several years before it agreed to settle fines after millions of gallons of sewage spilled into the streets and flooded basements.

Nor is there any assurance that the private companies are financially reliable. Since 1998, when Hamilton privatized its utility, the city has had five different operators. Two of the companies, one of which was Enron Corp., collapsed under the weight of fraud scandals. In a period of just five years, the concession has been owned by the city government, one local company, two American companies and was recently taken over by the German utility RWE.

"You don't know who you are dealing with," said Hamilton city councilor Sam Merulla. "When you deal with the private sector on behalf of the public sector, you need stability. In Hamilton, it has been a revolving door of international corporate owners dealing with one of the most precious things we have – water."

[Joanne98]

8. Global expansionists

Global expansionists
Having established firm footholds on six continents, the big three water companies say they now intend to concentrate most of their efforts on the potentially lucrative markets of North America, China and Eastern Europe. All three told ICIJ they hope to more than double their revenue and their client base in the next 10 years.

Thames' Spillett said China is opening up because the World Bank is ready to spend money there, which makes it more attractive to private companies.

"China is a bit of a sleeping giant because for people at the World Bank there has always been a bit of difficulty regarding financing issues. They tend to have gotten a bit clearer just recently."

Some countries are definitely not on the privatization agenda any more. Yves Picard, managing director of Vivendi in South Africa, said his company is not interested in concessions in southern Africa unless the World Bank or other institutions finance the capital costs. Otherwise, he said, there is no payback for the company because people are too poor to pay the high water rates private companies charge to cover their capital costs.

Dependence on the World Bank appears to be increasing. There is rising concern among the companies that capital markets are not open to them because water is such a volatile political issue and many poorer countries have unstable local currencies.

In a presentation on private sector involvement in the water business before the World Bank in February 2002, J.F.Talbot, chairman and CEO of France's third-largest water company, Saur, warned that without increased financing from institutions like the World Bank major international water companies will "stay at home."

Much of their expansion plans depend on whether people ultimately accept the idea of water as a commodity. In other words, the days of the free glass of water are gone. Everyone must pay for water is the principal message sent out by the World Water Council and its affiliate organizations. The fact that people are increasingly accustomed to buying bottled water can only be encouraging for the big water utilities.

Yet, concerned about the backlash from privatizations such as Cochabamba's, the companies are beginning to couch their words in less mercantile terminology. After all, what makes water different is that, like air, it's irreplaceable. There are no choices allowing customers to reject one for another. How can anyone market something that is both vital to life and has no alternative? As the cholera victims of South Africa know only too well, nothing can replace clean water.

"Everybody who thought water was a commodity lost," Vivendi's President Olivier Barbaroux told ICIJ. "We do not sell water. You take the water and you give it back. Exactly the same amount. What we are doing is bringing the water to your home, making it clean for you to use, and then taking it back and putting it back in nature clean. And that is the service we are bringing."

Suez's Payen flatly stated: "Water is not a commodity. It is a public good. It is also a social good. It is essential for life." So what does Suez sell? "We provide the essentials of life."

Thames, however, is sticking to the commodity message. "Water is both a commodity and a service," Spillett said. He then compared the water business to a brewing company.

"Clearly people do not understand the value of water and they expect it to fall from the sky and not cost anything. But if we use an analogy with beer – that's 99 percent water – but breweries have added their hops and malt, and it has gone through a lot of processing and the end product has a lot of added value and people are prepared to pay a lot of money for it. In a sense purifying water from the raw state, then treating it and bringing it to people and taking it away again is almost the same industrial product. You have a lot of value-added there and people, if they don't realize it's got a value and don't pay for it, don't treat it as a very precious resource. Of course, it is."

The companies also claim that they are not really privatizing water, but rather managing utilities under in partnership with governments. They call these "Public Private Partnerships" or PPPs.

For critics of privatization, however, the essential issue is not water itself, but access to water. And the key to access is control – who has their hands on the tap.

[Joanne98]

9. PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS (the very definition of fascism)

PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS DEFINED
A Public-Private Partnership is a contractual agreement between a public agency (federal, state or local) and a private sector entity. Through this agreement, the skills and assets of each sector (public and private) are shared in delivering a service or facility for the use of the general public. In addition to the sharing of resources, each party shares in the risks and rewards potential in the delivery of the service and/or facility.
http://www.ncppp.org/howpart/index.html#define

[glitch]

28. "shared" all right: public gets the risk, private gets the reward.

details details.

[SpiralHawk]

12. k and r

the republicons love this shit.

Soon they will figure out a way to sell us "clean air" after they have finished fouling up the free stuff.

[elehhhhna]

13. Guess what market was Enron's next big thing? Yep. WATER.

Be afraid.

[Joanne98]

16. Yep. Here's a snippet....

Nor is there any assurance that the private companies are financially reliable. Since 1998, when Hamilton privatized its utility, the city has had five different operators. Two of the companies, one of which was Enron Corp., collapsed under the weight of fraud scandals. In a period of just five years, the concession has been owned by the city government, one local company, two American companies and was recently taken over by the German utility RWE.

"You don't know who you are dealing with," said Hamilton city councilor Sam Merulla. "When you deal with the private sector on behalf of the public sector, you need stability. In Hamilton, it has been a revolving door of international corporate owners dealing with one of the most precious things we have – water."

[lonestarnot]

17. Evidence?

[elehhhhna]

18. Lookie here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azurix

[lonestarnot]

21. Looks like it flopped.

[Joanne98]

19. transcript from the trial.....

http://blogs.chron.com/enrontrialwatch/archives/2006/04/water_posit_1.html

April 25, 2006
Water posit
Ken Lay said he could not recall a meeting detailed in the testimony of former Arthur Andersen accountant Tom Bauer.

Bauer told jurors on March 20 that he attended an Oct. 12, 2001, meeting with Lay and others to discuss the issue of goodwill and Enron businesses Elektro and Azurix.

David Duncan, the head of Andersen's relationship with Enron, asked Lay what the future was for Azurix and its subsidiary Wessex, Enron water concerns, according to Bauer.

Lay said water was "the commodity of the 21st century" and Azurix would be the platform for it for Enron, Bauer said.

"I do not recall making that statement. I well might have made the comment that water was the commodity of the 21st century," Lay said, adding that the water industry has done very well in the last six years.

Lay disagreed about whether the issue of growth strategy was requested by Duncan.

"I don't recall any request from Mr. Duncan as to whether we had a growth strategy, certainly not the growth strategy thrown out in the indictment . . . to avoid this goodwill adjustment."

Lay continued that Duncan simply "wanted to know whether we had plans to sell Wessex, i told him we did not."

One of the ways Enron could avoid having to write-down the Azurix goodwill -- the difference between the value of the business's hard assets and what Enron actually paid for it -- was to say they intended to continue to invest in the business to expand.


Posted by John Roper at April 25, 2006 04:32 PM

Comments
Isn't it convenient for both Mr.(s) Lay and Skilling to forget to recall meetings that had an impact on the bottom line of the company that was paying them millions in salaries and bonuses. I think the board of directors should explain why they kept these guys on. They should be accountable to the shareholders and the employees for their poor judgement.

Posted by: ana pacheco at April 25, 2006 05:35 PM

[lonestarnot]

22. Thanks Joanne98

[elehhhhna]

23. Lay had a Ph.D. in economics. Sure, he forgot or didn't understand,

Yup I b'lieve it.

[earth mom]

20. Water is going to be the next Oil...

"The real motive is WATER. And the real villain -- the NEOCONS." -DUer Delusional

See his thread here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1698430

[DELUSIONAL]

26. Great resource info on our most vital resource -- Water

Bolivia won a water war

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/South_America/Bolivia_WaterWarVictory.html

At 10am, President Hugo Banzer places Bolivia under martial law. This drastic move concludes a week of protests, general strikes and transportation blockages that have jerked the country to a virtual standstill, and follows the surprise announcement of government concession to protesters' demands to break a $200 million contract selling Cochabamba's public water system to foreign investors.
The water system is currently controlled by Aguas del Tunari, a consortium led by London-based International Water Limited (IWL), which is itself jointly owned by the Italian utility Edison and US-based Bechtel Enterpriercent. That untenable hike sparked the protests.

In January, "Cochabambinos" staged strikes and blocked transit, effectively shutting their city down for four straight days. The Bolivian government then promised to lower rates, but broke that promise within weeks. On February 4, when thousands tried to march in peaceful protest, President Banzer had police hammer protesters with two days of tear gas that the 175 people injured and two youths blinded.
Ninety percent of Cochabamba's citizens believed it was time for Bechtel's subsidiary to return the water system to public control, according to results of a 60,000-person survey conducted in March. But it seems that the government has come to Bechtel's rescue, insisting the company remain in Bolivia. President Banzer, who ruled Bolivia as a dictator from 1971-78, has suspended almost all civil rights, banning gatherings of more than four people, and severely limiting freedom of the press. "We see it as our obligation, in the common best interest, to decree a state of emergency to protect law and order," Banzer trumpeted.

Bechtel Crumbles, Flees Bolivia

The World Bank's Role

http://www.democracyctr.org/waterwar/

With more details . . .

Corporations > Neocons > World Bank (headed by a Neocon)

[Joanne98]

33. Boliva put up a big fight and WON! Viva Boliva!

[hang a left]

27. I think this what Moonie is doing down in

Paraguay. He is buying up all the land where that aquafier is. It is supposedly the world's largest fresh water source.

I don't think this is confined to Republicans, as a poster stated upthread. It is the brainchild of those new world order facist types.

[glitch]

29. Moon and his good good buddies the Bush family.nt

[Joanne98]

34. Yes. Moonies are big in Paraguay. They seem to be forming colonies.

[Stargazer99]

30. It sure takes a long time for the average man

to put two and two together. Privatizing is not the solution for everything. This administration wants to sell your tax paid roads to foreign enitites now so you can also pay a toll to them. Privitizing you know....get down and worship your god (mammon).

[Joanne98]

35. The average man gets his info from the tee vee. Tells him nothing.

[Joanne98]

31. Thanks everyone. My cable went down and while I was out...

You put this on the greatest page. I'm really happy because it's an important topic. Thank you.

[DELUSIONAL]

36. You are welcome -- and here's a kick.

[blogslut]

37. T. Boone Pickens

Oilman, asshole, Swift Boat financier and now he's trying to grab suck the water from largest aquifer in the United States:

"The notorious oilman has acquired land overlying the Ogallala aquifer and wants to pump and sell as much as 200,000 acre-feet of groundwater annually to one of Texas’ metropolitan centers.

A new undertaking by Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens is even more disconcerting. Pickens has been acquiring acreage overlying the Ogallala aquifer with hopes that he could pump and sell the as much as 200,000 AFY of water to one of the state’s metropolitan centers – El Paso, Lubbock, San Antonio, or Dallas-Fort Worth. Ogallala is already severely depleted. The West Texas farmers rely on the aquifer for water. The aquifer’s minimal recharge rate of less then one AFY means that its users are mining fossil water that will not be replenished...

http://www.citizen.org/cmep/Water/us/bulksales/texas/

[alarimer]

39. Texas groundwater laws are based on the rule of capture

or, "He with the biggest straw wins". And they can sell it to the highest bidder. What Pickens is doing is legal right now. Doesn't make it right though.

[blogslut]

42. Yes, that's true

What's he's doing is legal. The PRPC is buying up as much land as they can. Just the same, Pickens is buying our water out of spite. We voted his crony mayor out of office and he's never gotten over it.

[kimchi]

38. Important pieces of the puzzle.

Thank you for compiling the info, Joanne98.

[Joanne98]

43. Your very welcome.

[rman]

40. k&r

[liberalitch]

44. This book is really for kids, but we should all read it.....

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0374465363/104-2368501-3129528?v=glance&n=283155

[SpiralHawk]

45. "All your water are belong to us." - Corrupt republicon corporate cronies

"Won't be long until you are buying your "clean" air from us, too. Hardy har har." - Corrupt republicon corporate cronies