Bill White: “In These Challenging Times, Enron Deserves Our Thanks”

“Enron also welcomed the challenge of responsible environmental stewardship, and called on industry to address the issue of global warming even as some companies feared the impact of pollution control on their bottom lines.”

- Bill White, “In These Challenging Times, Enron Deserves Our Thanks,” Houston Chronicle, October 26, 2001.

Former Houston mayor and current gubernatorial candidate Bill White is running away from his far Left energy/environmental past–one that he developed as deputy secretary of the Department of Energy in the Clinton/Gore Administration from 1993 until 1995. And when times were good and when Obama was cool,  Houston’s mayor flaunted his climate alarmism. But no more…

White now pretends to be a fiscal conservative and no longer supports cap-and-taxtrade. But isn’t this the same fellow that as Houston mayor created new staff positions and supported high-cost energy to promote his Climate Alarmism agenda? White, indeed, championed wildly uneconomic solar projects for Houston and has promoted industrial windpower at every turn. White tells as much in a toned-down interview with Mother Jones.

White proudly fronted the James Hansen event at Progressive Forum, even introducing the controversial NASA climate scientist who has called for show trials for oil company executives and compared coal trains to Holocaust death trains.

Mayor White also introduced Tim Flannery at the Progressive Forum, another wide-eyed climate alarmist who states: “If humans pursue a business-as-usual course for the first half of this century, I believe the collapse of civilization due to climate change becomes inevitable.”

With such dire prognostications, why not let government grow and the cost of energy and energy appliances rise in the name of ’stabilizing climate’ and ’saving mankind’.

This begs the question: What would Governor Bill White do through the back door to promote the Obama/Gore climate agenda.

Rick Perry Has Energy Issues Too

I am no particular fan of Texas Governor Rick Perry and have critically blogged on him at MasterResource. I remember standing just a few feet from him at a fundraiser some years ago where he criticized George W. Bush for losing his way in Washington towards big government–only to then launch into how great Texas was because of its windpower boom.

Dear Governor Perry–it was Enron that got the renewables mandate  in Texas back in 1999 to create the artificial boom (the tiger you are now holding by the tail: the CREZ (Competitive Renewable Energy Zones) transmission line monstrosity that is way over its $5 billion budget).

And Gov. Perry: the Texas Windpower Boom is what the Obama Administration and the American Wind Energy Association want to force on all of America. If you are a fiscal conservative as you say, can you work to remove the renewable energy mandates that cost Texans real money and have environmental negatives?

One other thing: it appears that Gov. Perry has presided over a government R&D program–the Texas Emerging Technologies Fund, that has steered money to some of campaign contributors–some of whom are supposed free-market types. Ouch!!)

I have never voted for Governor Perry although I wish him well and applaud his good moves such as Texas’s pushback against U.S. EPA’s CO2 crusade. (Perry is rethinking his windpower support too, from what I gather.) I have not voted for Bill White either but wish him well–and hope he becomes a fiscal conservative and climate realist in his post-election rethink.

The Real (or At Least Old) Bill White

In keeping with his worldview, Bill White was Enron’s last supporter. He probably wishes he had waited a little longer before throwing kudos to the sinking company.

But he said what he did–and in no small part because of the global warming, cap-and-trade issue that was so near and dear to White, Ken Lay, and, more recently, President Obama and his dream green team.

I reprint Bill White’s Enron op-ed in its entirely since it is very hard to find on the Internet (but can be found in an Enron document).

In These Challenging Times, Enron Deserves Our Thanks

Houston Chronicle, October 28, 2001

By BILL WHITE

Enron and its employees have blessed Houston, and many Houstonians should now take the time to say “thanks” when the company has experienced some highly publicized challenges.

Enron attracted thousands of great people to Houston and changed Houston’s economy forever. The company’s management encouraged their employees to be active citizens, and those folks responded by making a big difference in their community.

Enron’s lead in shaping a nationwide market for electricity gave birth to a multibillion-dollar new industry, with Houston as its hub. Even while it competed hard to win in the marketplace, Enron’s example helped show other natural gas pipeline and trading firms how to move into the even bigger market of electricity.

This explosive growth attracted bright young people — and they in turn helped fuel an explosion in residential growth in Houston’s downtown. This, in turn, helped revitalize downtown’s retail and restaurant scene. Enron’s construction of a large Class A office tower, still going up, is a milestone in Houston’s growth, an official end to more than a decade of large amounts of vacant office space.

Enron’s corporate success reflects the stories of so many of its employees who have lived the American dream. Enron rewarded innovation, while many firms afraid to alter the old formula wondered why their leadership eroded. Year after year, top executives throughout the country voted Enron our nation’s most innovative corporation. Enron recognized, even when financial markets do not, that innovative firms are secure enough to accept occasional failure and the inevitable price of other successes.

And so if Enron experiences problems, it will learn from them, just as strong people do. Let’s not prejudge Enron’s current challenges.

The more than a decade of my life that was dedicated to trying cases against companies who hurt consumers and investors taught me both to insist on the truth but never to jump to premature conclusions based on a headline or a news story.

Throughout its years of success, Enron folks have never forgotten to find so many ways to make the firm’s hometown of Houston a better place to live and work. As Enron enters a new phase of its life, let’s not forget to express thanks and steady support.

Read more at Master Resource