Financial Times: Cheney Kicks Me Out of National Press Club

The Financial Times, June 14, 2001

Addressing the Energy Efficiency Forum yesterday at the National Press Club, Vice President Dick Cheney and FERC Chairman Curt Hebert both pledged to stay the course when it comes to energy policy. But while Cheney and Hebert faced a friendly audience in Washington, their remarks seemed aimed more at winning over a skeptical audience in California.

Not surprisingly, both emphasized the importance of market remedies -- and reaffirmed their opposition to price controls. Hebert, for one, was adamant that recent FERC measures would suffice to create a better functioning market out West.

"California does not mean an end to competition," he said.

Cheney repeated the main selling points of the administration's recently introduced national energy policy. And while he warned of the possible economic impact of the current supply situation, the vice president said the nation's energy problems can be fixed with a dose of "resolve, ingenuity and clarity of purpose."

Among the remedies that Cheney listed included the construction of a new gas pipeline that would run from Alaska's North Slope, a proposal that Cheney called "relatively non-controversial."

He also gave a strong endorsement to combined heating and power technology. CHP systems, said Cheney, "are the way to go."

The vice president also ticked off a list of efficiency measures that the administration is promoting, including reduced consumption by government agencies. The federal government, he said, can "lead by example."

Not every audience member was convinced. One Greenpeace supporter, Glenn Hurowitz, shouted out a question about President Bush's rejection of the Kyoto Protocol on global warming. Hurowitz was hustled out of the press gallery by conference security guards; Cheney, however, took up his question, responding that, while the administration believes the Kyoto Protocol is flawed, "we're really concerned about global warming."

Taking the podium before the vice president, Hebert touted his agency's recent efforts to introduce price mitigation for western power markets. "California's getting there, but there's more work to be done," said Hebert.

The chairman also pointed to FERC's rapid turnaround of new pipeline certificates. Even without a full complement of commissioners, Hebert noted, the commission had been able to respond to requests to expand California-bound pipeline capacity with "absolutely unheard of" speed.

On the retail competition front, however, Hebert said that state regulators would have to take the lead. "We can provide leadership," Hebert said, but retail competition "is the state's job."

Hebert also got in a dig at Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., who has summoned FERC members to appear next week before the Senate Committee on Government Oversight to testify about the commission's oversight of California energy markets. While commissioners are ready to appear on Capitol Hill, Hebert said, frequent testimony "does take us away from our duties" at FERC.

The FERC chairman also sought to deflect blame away from his agency, saying he and his fellow commissioners had "taken a lot of heat" in the media.

His remarks also threw Senate testimony by influential economists in sharp relief. Alfred Kahn, the architect of airline deregulation, testified yesterday before the Senate that California urgently needs temporary caps on wholesale prices.