California Expected to Keep Power On
S A C R A M E N T O, Calif., Jan. 20 -- The lights were expected to stay on inCalifornia through the weekend as lawmakers attempted to fashion aplan to put the state's electricity system on track and keep itsutilities from going broke.
Problems from the power crisis continued to ripple across thestate Friday, with independent gas stations along the coast runningout of fuel because power shortages kept California's main gasolinepipeline in operation only part of the day.
"I have just confirmed that there are independent stations thathave run out of fuel. It's not a very good situation," JimMcCaslin, president of the California Independent Oil MarketersAssociation, told The Associated Press on Friday night.
The California Independent System Operator shut off power tohundreds of thousands of homes and businesses on Wednesday andThursday. The agency said blackouts weren't expected over theweekend, but it called on people to conserve energy wheneverpossible.
Emergency Measure
In a stopgap effort to keep electricity flowing, Gov. Gray Davissigned emergency legislation Friday allocating $400 million instate funds to buy power and provide it to cash-strapped utilities.
However, lawmakers acknowledged it that was only a "Band-Aid"solution expected to provide the state with adequate supplies for aweek or two while they try to work out a long-term solution to thecrisis. They were meeting Saturday to discuss a rescue plan.
It's a crisis that has driven the state's two largest utilities,Southern California Edison and the Pacific Gas & Electric Co., tothe verge of bankruptcy. But the state Public Utilities Commission,ruling insolvency is no excuse, barred both from cutting off powerto their 25 million customers, at least until a Jan. 29 hearing onthe matter.
Many businesses across the state had to shut down for hours at atime Friday because they had signed contracts agreeing to turn offpower voluntarily in exchange for much lower utility rates.
That forced the gas pipeline to run part-time and caused dairyfarmers to dump fresh milk into wastewater ponds because industrialcreameries that had turned off power could not process it. SiliconValley companies complained that the week's rolling blackouts hadcost them millions of dollars in lost production.
