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Great.
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Thanks.
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Enron to cut one-fifth of jobs at broadband unit.
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Reuters English News Service (C) Reuters Limited 2001.
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HOUSTON, April 6 (Reuters) - Energy trading giant Enron Corp. said on Friday it will eliminate some 250, or roughly 20 percent, of the jobs at its broadband telecommunications unit, detailing a move which it has previously described as an internal redeployment of staff.
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Enron Broadband Services spokeswoman Kelly Kimberly said the company is cutting jobs at the unit, which now employs 1,150 people, because it has completed the build-out of its 18,000-mile (29,000 km) fiber-optic network and because of slow demand for streaming media products delivered to personal computers.
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"The network is substantially complete now, so that means fewer people are required for technical positions," she said.
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The job cuts also reflect Enron Broadband's decision to play a less active role in the market for streaming media services, such as video of corporate events delivered to personal computers, where demand had been slower than expected, she said.
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However, Kimberly said Enron Broadband will continue to pursue entertainment-on-demand services actively.
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Kimberly said employees whose jobs are being eliminated will be eligible for redeployment to other positions at Enron Broadband Services or other Enron units, although there could be some involuntary terminations.
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Previously Enron officials had dismissed rumors about job cuts at Enron Broadband Services and had spoken instead of an internal redeployment of staff within the unit without detailing its impact on overall employment there.
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The company's stock, which peaked at just above $90 last year and was trading in the $80s as recently as mid-February, has recently fallen into the $50s in line with broader weakness in the stock market and among technology and telecommunications stocks in particular.
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On Friday it was up 95 cents at Since early last year Enron has been building a high-speed broadband communications network that it plans to use as a base to build a bandwidth marketing and trading business similar to its huge natural gas and electricity trading operation.
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Excitement among investors about the broadband business and about Enron's success in developing a strong Internet-based trading platform for energy and other commodities drove an 87 percent rise in the company's share price last year, outpacing a gain of 54 percent for the S&P utilities index.
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Kimberly said Enron's bandwidth trading operation is continuing to perform strongly, with more than 500 trades carried out in the first quarter, exceeding the total for all of 2000.
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Despite the jobs cuts at Enron Broadband, she said, the unit is recruiting to fill some other positions.
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This thing's been floating around the web for a while.
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Show's what's wrong with good ol' California.
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To wit: We want federal water subsidies so we can kill the fish and grow rice and grapefruit in the desert ("and we'll keep it all for us?").
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Let's drive our freakin' gas-guzzlin' SUVs all over, but hey, who needs to invest in roads; and somebody else come quick and clean up our air from all those emissions.
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And we're 49th in the nation for spending on education.
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Great stuff.
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Now, we've decided we want other state's with less sophisticated people (in places like Nevada, Montana, Oregon, Washington, New Mexico) to build power plants (and pollution) in their states to feed electricity, and dam their rivers and kill their salmon so that we can heat our hot tubs and STILL pay 3 cents a kilowatt hour.
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And oh, by the way, it's federal taxes and the military industrial complex which has funded CA's weapons industry and communications industry.
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As no big fan of the military industrial comples, I'm just crying crocodile tears.
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Generally the kind of self-righteous doo-doo that turns people off to what is an otherwise great place to be.
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Yours in tender diatribes, Jeff PS Scott, I think that you're absolutely right: drilling in the Arctic Refuge in good for America....
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Greetings Diane: Disappointed to see that Rich Lyons isn't teaching in the Fall.
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Will he be teaching in the Spring?
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Best, Jeff
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Greeatings Tom: I'm looking at hard copies of documents titled: Emergency Measures for Western Power Markets Possible Western electricity emergency plan elements Could you send me electronic versions?
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Much appreciated.
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I'll get back to you with more siting information (per your email) on Monday.
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Best, Jeff
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Janel: My apologies.
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PG&E declared bankruptcy today, and, well, things got hectic.
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Here are some materials that might be helpful for chronology.
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Let me know if you need more, etc. Best, Jeff
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I've focused my attention on editing the outline, which is about 60-75% complete.
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Haven't touched the slides---they'll require substantially more work; but we shouldn't have any problem putting it to bed by end of next week.
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Have a good weekend.
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Best, Jeff
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you bet.
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you're on.
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best, Jeff
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Kern Gets Speedy OK; Breathitt Questions Action FERC moved with record speed to issue a certificate last week to Kern River Gas Transmission for its 135 MMcf/d, mostly compression, expansion to the natural gas-starved California market, but not all of the commissioners were happy with the expedited manner in which the project was approved.
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"The speed with which the Commission has acted in this proceeding is something which will no doubt be touted as a great effort," but the "precedent we have created could be a double-edged sword," warned Commissioner Linda Breathitt in a partial dissent of the decision.
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Although she voted in favor of the certificate in the end, she questioned whether FERC "should...be willing to sacrifice careful review for speedy action."
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Breathitt further said she seriously doubted the so-called California Action expansion of the 900-mile,Wyoming-to-California Kern River system merited the "extraordinary regulatory treatment" that the Commission gave it.
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Critics claim that the $81 million project will not flow any more gas to the Wheeler Ridge Interconnection in California than is currently available there, she noted, adding that it would simply displace existing gas.
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"...[I]t will not necessarily result in any net increase of natural gas in the California marketplace. This makes it difficult to understand just how our approval of Kern River's proposal is going to assist in increasing electric generation in California this summer," Breathitt said.
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If anything, she noted the project could make the congestion problem at Wheeler Ridge even worse than it is.
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There should have been a "fuller airing of this issue" at FERC before the project was certificated, she noted.
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"It would be counterproductive for this Commission to act precipitously on projects related to California without ensuring that they will, in reality, benefit specific markets --- and more importantly, that they will cause no further harm."
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The Commission majority, however, readily dismissed protests of Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), Southern California Gas and other California customers, that claim the Kern River expansion would degrade service to existing customers.
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They requested that existing customers be given priority over expansion shippers.
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"We conclude that the California Action Project will not have undue negative impacts on existing shippers or competing pripelines," the order said [CP01-106.
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For starters, "the record does not show that pro-rata allocations of primary firm capacity have been a problem at Wheeler Ridge."
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Kern River reports that the aggregate primary firm delivery rights of its shippers at Wheeler Ridge will increase to about 527 MMcf/d from 450 MMcf/d as a result of this project.
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At the same time, the design delivery capacity at the Wheeler Ridge Meter Station will be increased to about 800 MMcf/d from 598 MMcf/d to accommodate existing shippers, new expansion shippers and Mojave Pipeline shippers, it noted.
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"Therefore, the expanded delivery point capacity at Wheeler Ridge will be greater than the sum of the combined Kern River and Mojave contract volumes. The Commission recognizes that this does not factor in the volumes attributable to both PG&E and local production that are also delivered to Wheeler Ridge. However, our emphasis is on Kern River being able to provide sufficient delivery point capacity for its customers," the order said.
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"The solution to the problem of pro-rata allocations of any services at Wheeler Ridge lies not with the interstate pipelines, but rather in fixing the problem with the take-away capacity and the lack of firm transportation path rights on SoCalGas, a matter which is beyond our jurisdiction."
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The project would increase the "limited-term, incremental transportation capacity" of Kern River by 135 MMcf/d from Wyoming to California to help address the urgent need for additional gas in the West.
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An estimated 53,900 horsepower would be added to the pipeline, including three new compressor stations, and upgraded facilities at three existing compressor stations and an existing meter station.
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The project, which has been fully subscribed, has a targeted in-service date of July 1 of this year.
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Kern River plans to use a mix of permanent and temporary facilities on the project, with the temporary facilities intended to be subsequently replaced by permanent 2002 California Expansion Project facilities (which is pending at FERC), and the permanent facilities to be incorporated into the design of the pipeline's 2002 and 2003 California Expansion Projects.
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The 2003 project recently went through an open season
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Hmm.
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Interesting.
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Thanks for the info.
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Do we know who got to Breathitt?
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Forgive me, but what time did we pick to talk today?
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And will you call me?
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Best, Jeff
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Hey buddy.
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The first hearing in the ch.
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11 is today.
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Is one of our agenda items to make sure that someone's attending any such hearings and reporting back?
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Best, Jeff
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you know, i'm afraid to say that I have no idea.....
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Sorry, thought that he'd been added.
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Unless Cisco did a complete 180, they are opposed to the plant.
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Give a call if you want to talk more about siting in CA.
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415.782.7822.
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Best, Jeff
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I'll take a look.
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You listen in on the call?
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In SF all week.
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you didn't send me the version of the PP presentation that you sent Rick and Steffes on Friday.
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To work on it, I need a copy.
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Can you send it when you can?
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Thanks.
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Best, Jeff
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My apologies.
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Just been "ordered" to be on a 1 PM (PDT) call.
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Possible to do our call at 2:30 Houston time.
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Sorry about that.
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Best, Jeff
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Most interesting.
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Thanks very much.
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