Columnist Jon Ralston: Energy debate is good theater

Friday, April 13, 2001 | 3:31 a.m.

Jon Ralston hosts the public affairs program "Face to Face" on Las Vegas ONE and also publishes the Ralston Report. His column for the Sun appears on Sundays and Wednesdays. Ralston can be reached at 870-7997 or by e-mail at ralston@vegas.com

CARSON CITY -- After a week spent here at Sausage Central, the overarching issue of Session '01 has provided a perfect illustration of what is euphemistically known as The Legislative Process. First the simple version: Bill gets written. Political circumstances change. Process comes to standstill. Serendipitous appearance of amendment written by powerful lobbyists. Political circumstances change. Process comes to standstill. Clandestine negotiations ensue. Bill gets changed and passes.

Now the long version. The construct of this session so far is a simple one. There is the energy issue -- and there is everything else. Oh, theater occurs elsewhere -- the delicate dance on construction defects between trial lawyers and builders, the humiliation of state Sen. Joe Neal by his colleagues who wouldn't even second his gaming tax legislation and the internecine local government conflagration over a complex tax formula.

But those are like one-act plays compared to the Shakespearean-like tragicomedy as Gov. Kenny Guinn and the Gang of 63 try to turn back the clock on power deregulation to deal with an incipient crisis amid rising rates, political opportunism from Democratic legislative leaders, and big users who want to keep deregulation on track. Add in a wheezing utility on the verge of financial collapse but provoking little sympathy from the public and you have all the ingredients for various Hamlets, King Lears and Richards (the sovereign not the speaker) to perform. I won't name names, but my guess is a few of the participants also see elements of The Taming of the Shrew (as I said, no names) and The Merchant of Venice (judge for yourself where the pound of flesh was extracted and from whom.)

Just look what happened during the last fortnight:

After the governor and the Republicans came around to the Democratic point of view on prohibiting Sierra Pacific/Nevada Power from selling its power plants, the battle focused on whether to allow the utility to recover so-called deferred energy costs to make up for the loss of revenue that had been expected from the plant sales.

Then, out of nowhere, a 59-page amendment was affixed to the measure that would allow the major users to leave within two years. Well, not quite out of nowhere. The measure clearly had been penned by gaming and mining lobbyists, who are under pressure from their clients to ensure they will be able to look elsewhere for cheaper power -- and soon.

Let me put this another way. My guess is a phone call occurred from Gaming and Mining Central to some of the lobbyists here that went something like this:

Hey, you told us you guys ran that place. Now get us the ability to leave, or there will be trouble."

This time, though, the timing was awful and gave the Democrats even more fodder to attack the Republican Senate leaders for kowtowing to big business at the potential expense of the ratepayers.

Forget for the sake of this discussion, which is all about politics, that the policy aspects of allowing the miners and gamers to exit are far from black and white. There may be -- even probably is -- a potential benefit to the system to freeing up a lot of power if the major users leave. But it depends on the circumstances of their departure, when they leave, who goes first and the explanation of why groups should be treated disparately.

The point is none of these issues were debated before this amendment appeared -- as amendments often do right as key deadlines appear. With Democratic senators ready to vote in lockstep and create a damaging political issue for Republicans, the process stalled.

So late last week, the governor and his unlikely allies in the Democratic leadership helped scuttle the amendment -- for now. Guinn sent a message to lawmakers that they had to pass the utility bailout provisions -- the power plant sale prohibition coupled with the deferred accounting piece. And Assembly Democratic leaders visited Guinn and told him they would sign off on the save-the-utility plan as long as the repeal of deregulation also was included.

So that left the power lobbyists in the lurch -- what could they tell their clients? That they don't run the place? So they scrambled to gain commitments from the Assembly leaders to give their proposal consideration. Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins told the lobbyists that this week they would have a chance to make their case for leaving the system. So the advocates could call their clients and tell them -- don't worry, be happy, we're still in control.

And they are. So thus we have a repeal of deregulation soon to be followed by an enactment of partial deregulation for the big users. They might even discuss some of the policy aspects this week in the Assembly. And then the so-called process will begin anew at Sausage Central.