Rutland Daily Herald du lieu suivant : Rutland, Vermont • 19

Sunday, October 4, 1998 3 The Sunday Rutland Herald jjommentar The Sunday Times Argus Independent Power: A Legal Fleecing Candidate Contrast Is Strikingly Clear CHRIS GRAFF Vermont View Falls. The role of government is making life a little more fair. The first debate between Dean and Dwyer provided ample evidence that Vermonters have a clear choice in November. Dwyer says hers is a candidacy that favors people over bureaucracies: Trusting people at the local level is the best way to have compassion, not trusting programs. Dean says the choice is whether the state puts its resources into roads or people: I dont think as were building roads we should turn our back on the poor and elderly.

Dwyer is like Reagan in another way: She doesnt let the facts get in the way of a good argument. Reagans speeches were shaped by the anecdotes hed heard in casual conversations. And so are Dwyers. Shes been told child abuse is up so she says so. It doesnt matter statistics say otherwise.

Shes been told farmers are being crushed by regulations contained in the new large farm bill. It doesnt matter if the law doesnt contain those regulations. She believes it and recounts it. She is as distrustful of statistics as she is of government, saying at one point Thursday night, The governor can hold up all the statistics he wants, but it wasnt going to change her mind. A telling moment in Thursdays debate came when Dwyer continued her long-standing attack on Success by Six, a Dean priority designed to help young children get a good start in life.

A woman in the audience, Barbara Ternes, director of Parks Place, the local community resource center, provided a ringing endorsement of the program. Its doubtful her comments swayed Dwyer, though. By VINCENT ILLUZZI A the debate over electric rates and restructuring continues, one important part of the dis- JLeussion is missing: the responsibility of Independent Power Producers (IPPs) for Vermonts high power costs. In order to bring Vermont electric rates back in line, government and industry leaders must develop an action agenda that includes at least three items. First, the Public Service Board (PBS) must continue taking its lawful and appropriate action in keeping pressure on Vermont utilities to renegotiate their wholesale power purchase contract with HydroQuebec (HQ) by continuing to deny rate hike requests.

Second, the Vermont Legislature must do what it can to force the IPPs to renegotiate their power production contracts by taxing their windfall profits. Third, Vermont utilities must file a Chapter 1 1 bankruptcy reorganization to force the IPPs to renegotiate their contracts, which today are keeping Vermont electric rates high and helping to drive the utilities out of business. In the meantime, they are causing Vermont electric rates to remain high. Until the IPP contracts are renegotiated, Vermont rate payers will continue to be legally fleeced. Most IPPs are small hydroelectric facilities located throughout the state.

Federal law mandated Vermont utilities buy power from IPPs. The law was enacted at a time of rising oil prices and the growing concern over the ability of Mideast oil cartels to cut off supplies. As a result, the hydroelectric IPPs built generation plants. And today, I believe IPPs are earning unreasonable profits, resulting in a tremendous expense to Vermont electric rate payers. While the financial consequences will get worse if no action is taken, there are environmental consequences.

Most IPPs dont meet Vermonts water quality standards, which are imposed on other Vermont businesses. Not only IPPs Have Escaped Review Avoiding the same kind of critical review thus far have been the IPPs. If one believes the HQ contract is bad, and it is, the rates being paid by Vermont utilities to the IPPs are worse. And if the IPP contracts are allowed to run their course without being renegotiated, certain IPPs will be receiving around 23 centsKWH, compared to the market price for electricity, which I expect could be lower than todays market price of 3 centsKWH. VPIRG The Vermont Public Interest Research Group (VPIRG) has been a vocal critic of the HQ contract.

As a consumer watchdog, I hope it will with equal vigor begin to carefully scrutinize and demand concessions from the IPPs. VPIRG seems to be inching toward that direction, already beginning to argue that IPPs should meet Vermont water quality standards, just like all other businesses. One of the hydro-IPP owners is Matt Rubin, chair of VPIRG board of directors. VPIRG must continue its leadership role on electric restructuring. Bringing IPPs rates back into line with the market price for electricity should be VPIRGs next goal.

IPP owners have been enjoying healthy profits for years, and its time for the Department of Public Service, the PSB and consumer groups to encourage IPP owners to renegotiate their contracts. If they have not received a fair return on their investments, the federal government should provide a buyout to ensure that IPP owners have enjoyed a fair and reasonable return on investment. In the meantime, the General Assembly must consider a windfall profits tax, or a gross receipts tax, on the profits of the IPPs, allocating those tax revenues to utility rate payers as a way to reduce power costs. If HQ and the IPPs dont lower their rates, the very real prospect of bankruptcy for Vermont utilities looms. As long as the environmental community and the Vermont Legislature give a free pass to the otherwise politically correct IPP owners, Vermonters will continue to be burdened with some of the highest electric rates in America.

Sen. Vince Illuzzi, R-Essex-Orleans, is the assistant Republiapn leader of the Vermont Senate. Photo by Jeb Wallace-Brodeur The high prices being charged by independent power producers (this dam on the Winooski River in East Montpelier is owned by Winooski Hydroelectric) must be brought under control to protect the states fiscal future. sible for between 19 to 28 percent of the unnecessary added costs to purchase power. Vermont Yankee is expected to provide will over one-third of the states power, but will be responsible for between 12 to 17.5 percent of the states unnecessary added costs to purchase power.

HQ will provide about one-third of the states power for the next 14 years, and is expected to account for approximately 30 to 33 percent of the states unnecessary added costs to purchase power. In 1997 and 1998, the Vermont Legislature and PSB correctly focuses on the stupidity or imprudence, in utility jargon of Vermont utilities executives in signing the HQ contract. Incidentally, it was the PSB, not the Vermont Senate or the governor, that came to the rescue of Vermont rate payers by denying utilities exorbitant rate increase requests because the HQ contract. can the dams adversely impact on fish populations, many IPPs can legally run the streams low or dry. For rate payers, consider that in 1997, IPPs charged rates (10.7 centsKWH) that averaged more than double the HQ price (4.56 centsKWH which itself is terrible.

(Electricity on the open market is currently about 3 centsKWH.) I believe the price IPPs receive do their electricity clearly exceeds their cost of production. Central Vermont Public Service and Green Mountain Power are able to generate their own hydroelectric power on some projects for as low as 1 centKWH. IPPs account for a disproportionate share of utility stranded costs, or power purchases above the current wholesale market price for electricity. According to Department of Public Service (DPS) projections: IPPs will provide only about seven percent of the states power needs over the next 17 years, but will be respon The most surprising comment in the first debate between Gov. Howard Dean and Ruth Dwyer came from Dwyer: I think government can do wonderful things, she said in her closing statement.

You wouldnt know it. Dwyer spent the previous hour absolutely trashing everything government has done. Dwyer is the Ronald Reagan of Vermont, sharing his belief that government doesnt solve problems, it creates them. She is the anti-government candidate, seeking to tap into the always-present perception among residents that governments are inefficient and ineffective and peopled by lazy workers who love to promulgate regulations on just about everything. Vermonts government is going in the wrong direction, she said.

Speaking on farmers, They are being ground into the ground by paperwork and foolishness by bureaucrats. On the Housing and Conservation Trust Fund, Its not working the way it is supposed to work. Speaking against the need for a state commission on women, We shouldnt need special help. On the state Human Rights Commission, Another good idea run amok. Gov.

Howard Dean proudly trumpets the fact his administration has filled up state reserve funds, a move wildly applauded by Wall Street. Dwyer dismisses the accomplishment: A lot of people I talk to would rather keep money in their pocket than stashing it in the states piggy bank, she said. Almost every answer to every question was couched in anti-government terms: Strong communities are reinforced by people depending on each other, not depending on bureaucrats in Montpelier; Ive really heard a strong current out there for more freedom, more individual rights. And quoting a comment shed heard from a woman: Big organizations have no head and no heart; people have heads and hearts. What is ironic here is that Dwyers opponent, cast as the champion of big government and big spending, is Howard Dean, who on the grand scale of things is a moderate at best on social issues and a clear conservative on fiscal issues.

This is, after all, the governor who has at times tried to cut benefits for the aged, blind and disabled, whose No. 1 priority is a balanced budget. This is a man who seems most comfortable with 50s values, who is very patriotic, strong on law-and-order and families. In this campaign he is the defender of social programs, the champion of children. The central issue in this campaign is not the size of government.

Its how much compassion the government has, said Dean in Thursdays debate here in Bellows The first debate between Dean and Dwyer provided ample evidence that Vermonters have a clear choice in November. State Finally Gets Tough With Utilities It has always been curious to me that Vermonts utilities propped up Hydro-Quebec and saved the Quebec provincial utility from financial disaster, only to fall into their own quagmire. Dean and Dwyer both did well telling their stories. They offer very different views of government and even of where Vermont is today. The governor is proud of the state economy, proud that the long-festering problem of property tax inequities has been tackled, proud to have cut government and taxes, and proud of his programs to help children.

Dwyer says its all hogwash. The economy isnt as good as he says, the property tax fix is all wrong, incomes are down and taxes are up, and the programs arent working. Their views are as different as black and white. As are they. Chris Graff is Montpelier bureau chief for The Associated Press.

because of the New York cancellation, Hydro-Quebec was very fortunate that Vermont utilities made an earlier than necessary decision to lock-in Vermonts deal. After all, Vermont utilities had until November of that year to reconsider or renegotiate our contract, which was very similar to New Yorks. It has always been curious to me that Vermonts utilities propped up Hydro-Quebec and saved the Quebec provincial utility from financial disas-tervonly to fall into their own quagmire. The contract turned out to be as much as a billion dollars too expensive, just as New York state officials had predicted. But all indications are that Hydro-Quebec has been less than generous in attempts to renegotiate a fairer deal for Vermont.

And now our utilities financial position has deteriorated on the bond market as a result of the decision that helped Quebec. This past winter the Vermont Public Service Board, the semi-judicial regulatory body that oversees utility rates, finally ruled that management at Green Mountain Power Company had acted imprudently when it rushed to lock in the Hydro-Quebec power contract in 1991. The PSB also decided that GMP should not be allowed to fully recover tens of millions if dollars in excess HQ costs. This stopped the company from inflicting double-digit increases in electric rates on its customers. It is assumed that in upcoming rate cases CVPS would likewise be prevented by the PSB from passing its imprudent costs on to consumers.

As a result, there is now a growing possibility that the Vermont utilities will have to slash dividends to their By BEN PTASHNIK It is heartening that Vermont state officials have finally stopped insisting we must protect the states private electric power utilities from bankruptcy. This tough position by the Dean administration will force the Vermont utilities and Hydro-Quebec to renegotiate their power contracts, and Vermonters might finally see a resolution 'to this highly I expensive boondoggle. In August of 1991 Vermonts utilities, led by Central Vermont Public Service and Green Mountain Power, gave Hydro-Quebec a great gift. Rushing to and announce the finalization of 'a $4 billion power deal on the very same morning that Gov. Cuomo of New York announced cancellation of New Yorks $12 billion contract.

At the time a growing glut of electric power had depressed power costs in Northeast markets and New York asserted that its HQ contract, as negotiated, was as much as 30 per cent too expensive. Vermonts utility planners were aware, or should have been aware, of the rapidly changing market conditions. With tens of billions of dollars in Hydro-Quebec bonds floating on Wall Street, and its credit rating in danger as Hydro-Quebec managers think that our utilities might succeed in passing this faulty contracts costs onto the back of consumers, they will have no incentive to renegotiate more favorable terms for Vermont consistent with current market prices. On the other hand, if Vermonts utilities are forced to the edge of bankruptcy, Hydro-Quebec would be wise to intervene before it loses the contract value in protracted and costly bankruptcy litigation. Vermont is one of Hydro-Quebecs best customers, so saving the contract and the good will of Vermonters might be a prudent action for Hydro-Quebec.

And certainly Hydro-Quebec owes it to Vermont to return the favor we did them seven years ago in their hour of need when they lost their New York contract and our utilities propped up their financial position. After all, Vermont has never been properly thanked for that rash act of neighborliness. Ben Ptashnik is a Democratic senator representing Windsor County. WINDCHAFF By BARNEY CROSIER stockholders and that this might lead to insolvency. The utilities have been desperately pleading for a bailout by Vermonts Legislature and have conducted an alarmingly successful misinformation campaign denying that they were aware at the time of the lock-in that the contract was too costly.

For a while some of Vermonts public officials were lending a sympathetic ear to the utilities claims that they are not culpable for the pricey HQ contract. There were a number of potential deals cooked up for bailing out the utilities which would have cost Vermont ratepayers up to $30 million per year in increased power rates. Finally the states regulators got it right; Richard Sedano, our Department of Public Service Commissioner stated last week that bailing out the utilities was notin the best interest of Vermonts consumers. The department took a solid position in favor of Vermonts businesses and homeowners, but also stated that the utilities will not necessarily have to go into bankruptcy. This course of action is prudent and I fully support the department in their decision.

I firmly believe that as long Despite Their Hunger, Deer Always Welcome DOONESBURY By GARRY TRUDEAU ORmtKm! or thb iran-contra AFFAIR! THOSCU0RFRBAL SCANMIS 06, BRAWNY. ARROGANT ABUSCS OF POUBR BY IAR6BR-1HAN-UFB MTH A ROBUST OONTBHtn FORTH LA)- MVTHGSCAN- OH.COMBON-UHBR& oat. Keeps your sense op pro- B9CAIATIN9 PORVON, KtPr YOU CALI MONICAGAJEA SCWWLBJ LYING ABOUT THBGULF OF TONKIN TOJuwspmTHvmNAMm-rz berry bushes. They'll even eat the brambles of roses and raspberries briars and all. Still, I like them, especially when I see the spotted fawns.

Some years we have had twin fawns eating within a few feet of the driveway. And weve seen two velvety-antlered bucks snipping weeds near our bed of cosmos. Theres nothing much more cuddly than a spotted fawn. But we dont cuddle them. We just look.

Vermont folks are seeing many deer much closer to the house than they did when I was growing up on a hill farm 60 years ago. Only a starving, very sick deer would have eaten on our Ray Hill lawn in the 1930s. Now neighbors are seeing does with twins and triplets, and seeing them up close. John Buck, deer biologist, says a newborn triplet fawn would probably weigh no more than five pounds, perhaps as little as three pounds. A twin would weigh six, while a singleton might go as high as eight pounds at birth.

He says half of them will die before the end of their first winter. Its not easy for a deer that small at birth to reach sustaining browse during its first winter. So I cant begrudge them the womans roses, raspberries, asparagus or geraniums. Theyve got some growing to do before February. CW ur house wasnt a happy place one morning not so long ago.

In fact, there was a good bit of stewing and sputtering when the woman looked out the front door and saw that the color was gone from her little patch of geraniums beside the stone steps. There were deer tracks nearby. Yup. Deer had come in during the night and nibbled off her best blossoms. Im real glad those were deer tracks instead of man tracks.

Even so, I kept my mouth shut while reading the paper and sipping coffee that morning. The deer around our place have become so exasperating over the past decade that we now grow only those vegetables that we can grow inside a fence. Excepting the onions. Even a deer wont eat an onion. But they do eat beans, beets, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, peas, squash and the tenderest shoots of asparagus the ones we like on toast under a cheese sauce.

And they clean the buds off poppies, the leaves off sunflowers and new growth off blue 1 THOSe pm ARB BONG, KIP. A0YBSOTRMAL-IZBPSCAMML SO BMASCUlATBPOURlBAPERS THAiTNBYBR AGAIN ARB UB UKBUY TO SCO BUT THAT'S A SOOP THING, iBNTrrr NOT FORDS. KIP-FROM NOR ON, ITS NOTHIN' BUT LOVB PRBSSB6! i 4.