06.17.04

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission web site hosts pornographic Enron emails

Cantwell says federal agency not doing its homework and should remove the offensive content

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) today called on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to thoroughly review its web site and remove pornographic emails written by Enron employees. Federal rules ban employees from even looking at the kind of material that FERC has published on the internet.

"It's just another example that FERC is not reviewing the Enron documents they have in their possession to build a case against Enron," said Cantwell. "Instead, FERC is posting pornographic email from Enron employees describing various lewd acts that are the inspiration for the codes names of their schemes to gouge ratepayers."

Evidence provided by Senator Cantwell and the Snohomish County PUD Monday revealed that Enron used an energy market manipulation scheme code named "Donkey Punch" – a crude pornographic term – to gouge Western ratepayers by load shifting electricity and creating congestion, therefore raising prices.

Senator Cantwell also called on FERC to release any other Enron documents they had to state and local governments and utilities pursuing contract relief from Enron. Several documents that could detail how Enron gouged ratepayers have been redacted from public records by the same federal regulators who posted the Enron pornography.

"It shows how amateur and ineffective FERC is in pursuing the case against Enron," Cantwell said. "They don't even know that their web site has pornographic content from Enron and at the same time they are fighting against ratepayers getting access to important evidence of market manipulation."

Cantwell's office believes FERC may be withholding documents that detail further market manipulation schemes by Enron that could help further prove the case against Enron by Snohomish PUD and others.