2-10-09 by dugan
Last night, a few hours after Consumer Watchdog and Public Citizen sent out a news release that was highly critical of the California Energy Commission (along with a letter pointing out a key commissioner’s conflict of interest on
the "hot fuel" issue), the CEC canceled tomorrow’s showdown meeting.
The cancellation puts off a commission report that invites the
Legislature to ban any correction of the hot fuel ripoff in the sale of
gasoline.
An apologetic e-mail from commission staff said the
reason was lack of a quorum–discovered less than two days before the
scheduled meeting, and long after those of us who don’t live in
Sacramento or lobby for a living made travel plans.
When did
they discover the quorum was missing, I wondered. Should we send out a
search party? I was later told that of the five commissioners, one was
ill, another on maternity leave and another, appointed last week, wasn’t on the job yet. Ok, fair enough. But
abruptly canceling the meeting certainly dampens public and media
interest–the only kind of pressure that could affect the commission
and the Legislature, since consumer advocates (unlike major oil
companies and fuel companies) don’t have the lobbying clout or
political contributions. The oil and energy industry has given $4.3 million just to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who appointed every member of the current energy commission.
A
year-long study by the energy commission staff concluded that
Californians are indeed not getting all the gallons of gas they pay for
at the pump, because gasoline expands as it warms up, especially in
summer and warmer states like California, Arizona, Florida, Texas and
so on. Yet it’s sold by volume, with no adjustment for temperature. The
study staff agreed that Californians lose hundreds of millions of
dollars a year on the deal. It would be pretty easy to fix, using
temperature-adjusting pumps that are installed throughout Canada, at a
one-time cost. Such sales are currently legal in California, and some
big discount chains reportedly have shown interest.
Despite all
that, the final report of the energy commission abruptly adopted the
oil industry’s lobbying points wholesale–saying that the new pumps
wouldn’t really save consumers money, that state regulators aren’t
capable of regulating the new method of sale, and consumers haven’t
been educated enough. There’s more background on OilWatchdog.org.
The final report from the commission
to the Legislature recommends (page 116) that lawmakers could reverse
current law, banning temperature compensation indefinitely until all
the stars are aligned and the state’s gas-station regulators jump
through miles of unnecessary hoops. It’s an excuse to do nothing,
ever–exactly what the industry hoped for. The vote will still take
place, maybe at the commission’s scheduled Feb. 25 meeting. But the
delay sure does have the effect of dampening public interest.
Oh,
and that conflict of interest? Energy Commissioner John Boyd, the lead
commissioner on approval of the study, is married to the chief
operating officer of the Western States Petroleum Association,
Catherine Reheis-Boyd. WSPA’s members are the corporations that have
lobbied hard against a hot fuel fix, and Reheis-Boyd advocates to the
state for their interests. It’s like putting my husband in charge of
oil industry regulatory policy, which of course I’d love–but wouldn’t
expect to get away with.
So we’re waiting to hear back, and
hoping that the Feb. 25 meeting might show a little movement toward
consumers’ side. Otherwise, when summer rolls around, gasoline
temperatures rise and the pump price goes to $3.50 or $4.50 again,
we’ll all be stuck paying a nickel or even a dime a gallon for gasoline
we didn’t get. Chevron, Exxon and friends won’t care. Why should they?
They have allies in high places.