Thursday February 1, 1:12 pm Eastern Time

"No way" US taxpayers paying Calif power debt -lawmaker says

WASHINGTON, Feb 1 (Reuters) - A top energy lawmaker in the U.S. House said Thursday that federal tax dollars would not be used to pay any of the $12 billion-plus debt accrued so far by California electric utilities to keep the lights on in that state.

``That will not happen. There is no way on God's green earth that is going to happen, for U.S. taxpayers to pay,'' said Rep. Joe Barton, a Texas Republican and chairman of the House Commerce Energy and Power Subcommittee.

Barton told Reuters that Californians, not the American taxpayer, must settle the debt since the power crisis was created in the state and must be solved there.

Barton spoke a day after Sen. Frank Murkowski, the Alaska Republican who heads the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, warned that the federal government may end up paying generators to keep supplying the power-starved state.

Murkowski said federal liability could result from an order originating in the Clinton administration, and recently extended to Feb. 7 by President George W. Bush, forcing regional power generators to sell electricity to near-bankrupt utilities Southern California Edison (NYSE:EIX - news) and Pacific Gas & Electric (NYSE:PCG - news).

Barton said it would likely be up to California consumers to pay for utility debts, which accumulated over the last months due at least partially to a faulty deregulation plan, which does not allow wholesale power price spikes to be passed on to electricity consumers.

Separately, the California Assembly was expected to try again later on Thursday to pass an energy rescue bill after the body rejected a measure earlier in the day by three votes.

California is in the throes of an unprecedented power crisis, with daily threats of rolling blackouts as the state fails to meet demand.

Executives from SoCal Edison, a unit of Edison International, and Pacific Gas & Electric parent PG&E Corp, told Murkowksi's committee on Wednesday both firms were unable to pay their bills due to the power crisis.

Barton said he would travel to California with House Commerce Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin -- a Louisiana Republican - for private discussions on the electricity situation later this month or in early March.

Barton also said a hearing would be conducted in Washington D.C. in his subcommittee later in February, centering both on the California crisis and contrasting that situation with states which successfully moved to deregulate power markets.

-- Swissrose (cellier@azstarnet.com), February 01, 2001