White House Denies US Energy Plan Benefits Enron

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, January 18, 2002

White House Denies US Energy Plan Benefits Enron

The White House on Thursday denied that the U.S. government's energy plan was crafted to benefit Enron Corp., the biggest political contributor to President George W. Bush.

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The White House on Thursday denied that the U.S. government's energy plan was crafted to benefit Enron Corp., the biggest political contributor to President George W. Bush.

Commenting on a Democratic Congressman's report that the energy plan benefited Enron, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said that this report was "one more partisan waste of taxpayers' money. "

"If others want to play the blame game, that's their prerogative," he said.

"The energy policies were developed because the president and vice president came to the conclusion that these energy policies were best policies to serve a country that relies on energy," he said, adding that the beneficiary is the American consumer.

A report by California Representative Henry Waxman, ranking member of the House Government Reform Committee, found that at least 17 policies in the White House energy plan were advocated by Enron or benefited the company, including deregulation initiatives, support for trading in energy derivatives and proposals to facilitate natural gas project.

Fleischer also rebuffed calls for the release of information about contacts between Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force and energy companies.

The General Accounting Office, Congress' investigative arm, is threatening to sue the White House over its refusal to provide the information.

The White House is trying to distance itself from Enron, which filed for bankruptcy on December 2.

Bush administration has close ties to Houston-based Enron and its chairman Kenneth Lay. Enron and a number of its executives had contributed more money to President Bush over his political career than anyone else, an amount exceeding 550,000 dollars.

The White House disclosed on Wednesday that Bush's top economic adviser, Lawrence Lindsey, had conducted a review in mid-October of whether Enron's collapse would affect the U.S. market and economy.

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