'A REPORT ON HARVARD'S ENRON ENTANGLEMENTS'

History is the best indicator of the future...

A while back, I asked an investigative journalist to describe how he began his investigations.  He answered that he asked himself two questions. 

Questions:

"What's here that shouldn't be here?" 

And, "What's not here that should be here?"

Answer: 

Google:  Patrick Wood, III ENRON and note 257,000 results

Editor's note:  I have below underlined, capitalized, and changed font to add clarity to the subject, ENRON. 

TRADING TRUTH:  A REPORT ON HARVARD’S ENRON ENTANGLEMENTS

A HARVARD WATCH REPORT

January 31, 2002

HarvardWatch is a broad-based coalition of students and alumni across the University’s schools concerned with corporate governance at Harvard.  The independent and unaffiliated organization advocates a more transparent and accountable administration responsive to the concerns of Harvard students, alumni, and staff…”

Quote from this Report:

“Six of Enron’s highest-ranking executives and directors are Harvard graduates, as are all three members of Enron’s Special Committee, which has been charged with leading the company through its current crisis.  The prevalence of Harvard alumni in the Enron drama might be dismissed as coincidence were it not for a web of alarming institutional, personal and financial connections between Harvard and Enron…” 

Who's not here who should be here? 

Page 16 of 23 in the REPORT begins the Appendix “relevant biographical information” (18 are listed as Harvard affiliated with connections to ENRON; while Patrick Wood, III is not listed).  Yet, Patrick Wood, III is Harvard Law JD 1986-1989 "But Wood has always been Enron’s man."

And, ENRON CEO Ken Lay endorsed Pat Wood as TX PUC Chair and as Chairman of FERC 

http://www.dunwalke.com/resources/documents/ArticleScans/Sized/Harv...

‘How Enron Did Texas’

“Enron, maker of big promises and big donations, stands revealed as a four-flusher.”

By Nate Blakeslee

February 14, 2002

[a clip]:

A longtime supporter of the Bush clan, Lay was considered for a Cabinet post during the first Bush presidency. He then became a close adviser to W. and a key source of funds: $146,500 from Enron PACs and executives in the 1994 campaign. After Bush eked out a narrow win over Richards, the new governor gave the company a fundamental component of its Texas strategy in one of his first appointments: Public Utility Commissioner Pat Wood, a deregulator’s dream.

A Harvard law graduate from Port Arthur, Texas, Wood began his public career on the staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which was in the process of deregulating natural gas sales. Eyebrows were raised when Wood returned to Washington last summer, this time as Bush’s choice to head the FERC, because of revelations that Ken Lay himself had vetted the list of candidates and given Wood his approval. But Wood has always been Enron’s man. According to a report by Lowell Bergman in the New York Times, Lay endorsed Wood, just 32 at the time, for the PUC job in a letter to Bush in 1994. After four months on the commission, Bush made Wood the chairman, the most powerful regulatory position in the state. In an interview with the Houston Chronicle last year, Wood said that his orders from Bush were clear: “Get us to a market,” Bush told him.

By all accounts, Wood did not need any convincing. From the outset, the chairman’s pronouncements about the desirability of competition sounded strikingly similar to Enron’s growing public relations effort. “Pat Wood was Enron’s favorite PUC commissioner,” Woodson said. “He started the dereg process and really put the ball in motion for them. They were the biggest player politically and financially in the dereg movement, and Pat was with them every step of the way.” Wood has earned praise from some public interest lobbyists, like Public Citizen’s Tom Smith, for being amenable to their concerns. But even his supporters agree that competition always came first with Wood, before any other consideration. “They’ve got religion” became a common refrain about the PUC under Wood..."

http://www.thenation.com/article/how-enron-did-texas/

YURICA REPORT

Fraud Traced to the White House 

How California’s energy scam was inextricably
linked to a war for oil scheme

By Katherine Yurica

[clip]

James Baker was uniquely situated to fulfill Cheney’s commission, for among the many hats he wears, he is legal counsel to the Carlyle Group, one of the nation’s largest defense investment firms whose board consists of former high level government officials, including George Bush senior. Baker was also the “hired gun” for George W. Bush’s campaign in Florida, along with Karl Rove. But among the hats he wears, none is more valuable than his ability to become invisible and leave no fingerprints behind. James Baker courts the press and is hailed a statesman; he also serves as the honorary chairman of the James Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, a think tank that was involved in aiding the George W. Bush presidential transition teams.
 

Equally intriguing is the fact that Baker has ties with both the Bushes and Ken Lay. Years earlier, in 1993, after Baker stepped down from his stint as Secretary of State, he and Robert A. Mosbacher—Bush senior’s commerce secretary—signed a joint consulting and investing agreement with Enron. The two men began a lucrative career making joint global investments with Enron on natural gas projects. Baker Botts LLC, James Baker’s law firm, flourished in its specialty of international oil and gas counseling.

 

Since Baker walked in their circles, when he set out to select an energy team to advise the White House, he filled it with leaders of the oil, gas, and power industries. Three appointees stand out: Kenneth Lay from Enron, who was working on the Bush Energy Transition team under Dick Cheney at the time; Chuck Watson, the then Chairman and CEO of Houston’s Dynegy Inc., and Dynegy’s General Counsel and Secretary, Kenneth Randolf. Both firms were deeply involved in illegally manipulating the California energy market at the time and eventually faced criminal investigations.

http://www.yuricareport.com/PoliticalAnalysis/FraudinWhiteHouse.htm

(cut);

NOTE Below:  DYNERY and Baker Botts, LLC and Patrick Wood, III:

Chairman of the Board of Dynergy Patrick Wood III

 http://www.smartmoney.com/barrons/briefingbooks/?page=executives&am...

Patrick Wood Chairman of the Board

 

Held current title since: 2012

Director since: 2012

Officer since: 2012

Age: 50

Mr. Patrick Wood, III, is appointed as the Chairman of the Board of Dynegy Inc. He is serving as the Board's non-executive Chairman and has served as a principal of Wood3 Resources, an energy infrastructure developer, since July 2005. From 2001 until July 2005, Mr. Wood served as chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. From 1995 until 2001, he chaired the Public Utility Commission of Texas. Prior to 1995, Mr. Wood was an attorney with Baker & Botts, a global law firm, and an associate project engineer with Arco Indonesia, an oil and gas company, in Jakarta. Mr. Wood currently also serves on the Boards of Directors of Quanta Services Inc. and SunPower Corp.

First Wind Director Patrick Wood III is listed as Director of Quanta Services that in 2014 fell under SEC investigation related to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.  “On March 10, 2014, the SEC notified Quanta of an inquiry into certain aspects of Quanta's activities in certain foreign jurisdictions, including South Africa and the United Arab Emirates. The SEC also requested that Quanta take necessary steps to preserve and retain categories of relevant documents, including those pertaining to Quanta's U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act compliance program. The SEC has not alleged any violations of law by Quanta or its employees. Quanta has complied with the preservation request and is cooperating with the SEC.”

http://www.truthtechnologies.com/articles/display/fcpa-policies-of-...

Patrick Wood III serve(d?) as Director (part-owner) of bankrupt SunPower ($1.5 bn.); bankrupt Range Fuels ($80 mil., also reported $300 mil.); and bankrupt Xtreme Power (with at least $600,000 in stimulus grants).   

The term “Regulatory capture” comes to mind.  Pat Wood and First Wind Kurt Adams have each served as Chairman of their states’ Public Utility Commissions.  The Maine PUC Chair who accepted First Wind stock options and a VP position is the subject of:

Revolving door the norm in D.C. but rare in Maine’

ME Center for Public Interest April 23, 2010

http://www.windaction.org/posts/25879-revolving-door-the-norm-in-d-...

Patrick Wood, III (pdf)

Chairman

Public Utility Commission of Texas

Utilities industry

February 1995 – June 2001 (6 years 5 months)

Chairman

FERC

Renewables & Environment industry

2001 – 2005 (4 years)

Chairman

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

Government Agency; Government Administration industry

June 2001 – July 2005 (4 years 2 months)

Principal

Wood3 Resources

Renewables & Environment industry

July 2005 – Present (6 years 3 months)

Energy Infrastructure Development.

Director

SunPower Corporation

Public Company; SPWR; Renewables & Environment industry

August 2005 – Present (6 years 2 months)

Director

Quanta Services

Public Company; PWR; Construction industry

May 2006 – Present (5 years 5 months)

Director

Range Fuels, Inc.

Privately Held; Oil & Energy industry

May 2007 – Present (4 years 5 months)

Director

Xtreme Power

Privately Held; Renewables & Environment industry

October 2008 – Present (3 years)

Director

TPI Composites, Inc.

Privately Held; Renewables & Environment industry

January 2009 – Present (2 years 9 months)

DIrector

First Wind

Renewables & Environment industry

March 2010 – Present (1 year 7 months)

(end) 

KEEPING AN EYE ON ENRON EXECS IN THE WIND BIZ TODAY-

APEX EVP of business development Steve Vavrik is also listed as Apex Clean Energy, Inc., Chief Commercial Officer.  Vavrik was VP of First Wind, and Vice President of Risk Management for UPC in 2006 that changed its name to First Wind in 2008. Vavrik was with ENRON in London in a project development and gas trading capacity. His role at ENRON included trading natural gas forward contracts and negotiating structured power deals.

Vavrik is/was Chair Managing Director of SunPower Corp.  Loss to investors, taxpayers, and ratepayers approaches $10 Billion dollars combining ENRON and SunPower losses

UPC First Wind President Michael Alvarez is responsible for First Wind operations and assets.  After beginning his energy career with GE Capital, he joined ENRON in London.

DeepWATER WIND Board of managers

DeepWater Wind Board Member Brian Redmond is Founder of Paragon Energy Holdings, LLC; former President of Houston Pipe Line Company and President of Louisiana Resource Company, Managing Director of ENRON, and Executive Director of UBS Warburg Energy

Michael Alvarez

http://dwwind.com/about/board-of-directors

is President of Kenetech Energy Systems (that formed EcoElectrica)

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/807708/0000807708-98-000020.txt

 
EcoElectrica is a Bermuda limited partnership formed by affliates of KENETECH Energy Systems, Inc. (KES) and Enron Development Corporation (Enron).  EcoElectrica’s general partners are KES Bermuda, Inc., and Buenergia, B.V., each which holds one percent interest.  Ecoelectric’s limited partners are KES Puerto Rico, L.P. and Buenergia Enron de Puerto Rico, C.V., which are both indirect wholly-owned subsidiaries of KENETECH Corp., which also owns KES.  Buenergia B.V. and Buenergia Enron de Puerto Rico, C.V. are both indirect wholly-owned subsidiaries of Enron Corporation, the Parent Company of Enron Development Corporation. 

http://www.fossil.energy.gov/programs/gasregulation/authorizations/...

Mike Cutbirth is former head of Global Finance for Zond Corporation and ENRON Wind.  He served 4 years as the first CEO of Clipper Windpower (bankrupt) formed by ENRON.   

The first customer of the $40 million dollar, publicly-funded, Charlestown, MA Wind Turbine Testing Center was Clipper Wind, founded by ENRON Director James Dehlsen.  Clipper Wind has since filed for bankruptcy protection.  MA Wind Turbine Testing Center Executive Director  Rahul Yarala is a staffer at MA Clean Energy Center (MassCEC), and the former Director of Engineering at Clipper Windpower, Inc., formed by ENRON. 

 

CGEI Wind is jointly owned by Good Energies and Champlin Windpower, LLC and is lead by Mike Cutbirth. Mike was formerly head of Global Finance for Zond Corporation and ENRON Wind and served 4 years as the first CEO of Clipper Windpower.  

ENRON Energy Services Chris Wissemann is Fishermen’s Energy Chief Executive Officer and General Manager of Freshwater Wind.  Wissermann is Chief Operating Officer of Winergy Power, LLC and the Founder of DeepWater Wind, and past President of Garden State Offshore Energy.  Wissermann spearheaded legislation to create long term power purchase agreements for DeepWater Wind which he founded. 

http://www.fishermensenergy.com/leadership.php

NOTES: 

*“Regulatory Capture” is a term attributed to Chicago School of Economics Professor George Joseph Stigler whose theory is that regulators eventually identify with and aspire to join the well-heeled people they regulate. 

*Note the “Revolving Door” where the Executive Vice President and Chief Development Officer at First Wind, Kurt Adams, had served as Chairman of the Maine Public Utilities Commission and former Chief Legal Counsel for ME Governor BalducciAdams,  according to  Naomi Schalit of the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, “…negotiated a pretty sweet deal for himself about a month before leaving the state's employ, with  first-year compensation at the firm totaled $1.3 million, which included $315,000 in salary, $658,000 in stock, $29,000 in "other" compensation and $315,000 in "non-equity compensation." Source:  Revolving door the norm in D.C. but rare in Maine’ by the Editorial Board of the Sun Journal [4/23/10].

*In 2002, GE with CEO Jeffrey Immelt, spent $358 million to buy the assets of the bankrupt ENRON  Corporation, Zond Wind, founded by James Dehlsen in 1980.  Months later, GE petitioned the courts for the return of over half the money they spent on ENRON assets claiming the value of these assets wasn't worth the price GE paid.  GE’s Immelt led President Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.

INSIDER TRADING PATRICK WOOD, III

http://www.secform4.com/insider-trading/1344507.htm

 

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Comment by Martha thacker on February 7, 2016 at 6:35pm

Kinda' amazing that Harvard was 1 billion in the red after Larry Summers advised them on investments.

Interesting that as Clinton's unders sec. of treasury , he was instrumental in obtaining a loan for Mexico...then requiring quick repayment. Mexican loans for houses , farms and vehicles shot up from around 7 or 8% to 30%. The enormous flood of immigrants to the US followed. Alan Greenspan, said in his memoirs, that he had enormous respect for Reuben and Summers after that. The suffering caused by quick repayment didn't seem to make any difference. America had a new slave class.

Comment by Barbara Durkin on February 4, 2016 at 1:56pm

P.S.

RE:  Mentioned above is the YURICA piece-"Carlyle Group"

YURICA REPORT

Fraud Traced to the White House 

How California’s energy scam was inextricably
linked to a war for oil scheme

By Katherine Yurica

[clip]

"James Baker was uniquely situated to fulfill Cheney’s commission, for among the many hats he wears, he is legal counsel to the Carlyle Group, one of the nation’s largest defense investment firms whose board consists of former high level government officials, including George Bush senior..."

DOJ Google alert....hmmm..

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/bba-aviation-divest-facilities-six-ai...

Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, February 3, 2016

BBA Aviation to Divest Facilities at Six Airports in Landmark Aviation Acquisition

Divestitures Avoid Creating Monopolies or Duopolies for Critical Fueling and Support Services
The Department of Justice announced today that it will require BBA Aviation plc, the parent company of Signature Flight Support, to divest fixed‑base operator assets (FBOs) at six U.S. airports in order to proceed with its $2.065 billion acquisition of Landmark Aviation.  
The department’s Antitrust Division filed a civil antitrust lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to block the proposed acquisition, and simultaneously filed a proposed settlement that, if approved by the court, would resolve the competitive harm alleged in the lawsuit.  The department said that without the required divestitures, the transaction would have created a monopoly for FBO services at three airports and reduced the number of full-service FBO providers from three to two at three others, resulting in higher prices and lower quality of FBO services for consumers.
“The merger would have subjected general aviation customers at six airports to a monopoly or duopoly for critical fueling and support services,” said Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.  “Higher prices and lower quality services were the likely result.  Today’s proposed settlement will ensure that customers at these airports will continue to receive the benefits of vigorous competition.”
FBOs provide fuel and related support services to general aviation customers, which include charter, private and corporate aircraft operators.  Signature and Landmark own or operate full-service FBOs at airports throughout the United States.  Signature and Landmark are the only two full-service FBOs at Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) in Dulles, Virginia; Scottsdale Municipal Airport (SDL) in Scottsdale, Arizona; and Fresno Yosemite International Airport (FAT) in Fresno, California.  Signature and Landmark are two of only three full-service FBOs at Jacqueline Cochran Regional Airport (TRM) in Thermal, California; Westchester County Airport (HPN) in White Plains, New York; and Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC) in Anchorage, Alaska.  At each of these three airports, the third FBO is much smaller than Signature and Landmark.
Under the terms of the proposed settlement, BBA Aviation must divest Landmark’s FBO assets at each of the six impacted airports to a buyer approved by the Antitrust Division.
BBA Aviation plc is a United Kingdom public limited company headquartered in London.  Its subsidiary, Signature Flight Support, a Delaware corporation headquartered in Orlando, Florida, has the world’s largest FBO network and operates approximately 70 FBO facilities in the United States.  BBA had worldwide revenues of approximately $2.3 billion in 2014, of which over $900 million were derived from Signature’s U.S. FBO business.
Landmark U.S. Corp LLC and LM U.S. Member LLC (collectively doing business as Landmark Aviation), are Delaware limited liability companies headquartered in Houston and are owned by investment funds managed by the Carlyle Group.  Landmark operates approximately 60 FBO facilities in the United States.  Landmark had worldwide revenues of over $700 million in 2014, of which over $500 million were derived from its U.S. FBO business.
As required by the Tunney Act, the proposed settlement, along with the department’s competitive impact statement, will be published in the Federal Register.  Any person may submit written comments concerning the proposed settlement during a 60-day comment period to James J. Tierney, Chief, Networks & Technology Enforcement Section, Antitrust Division, U.S. Department of Justice, 450 5th Street, N.W., Suite 7100, Washington, D.C. 20530.  At the conclusion of the 60-day comment period, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia may enter the proposed final judgment upon finding that it serves the public interest.
BBA_Landmark CIS (86.52 KB)
BBA_Landmark PFJ (84.97 KB)
16-131
Antitrust (including FTC antitrust)
Updated February 3, 2016

end

 

Maine as Third World Country:

CMP Transmission Rate Skyrockets 19.6% Due to Wind Power

 

Click here to read how the Maine ratepayer has been sold down the river by the Angus King cabal.

Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT

******** IF LINKS BELOW DON'T WORK, GOOGLE THEM*********

(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/

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Sign up today and lend your voice and presence to the steadily rising tide that will soon sweep the scourge of useless and wretched turbines from our beloved Maine countryside. For many of us, our little pieces of paradise have been hard won. Did the carpetbaggers think they could simply steal them from us?

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Hannah Pingree on the Maine expedited wind law

Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future

"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."

https://pinetreewatch.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/

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