Friends of the Aquifer, Inc. Appeal of Denials of Petitions to DEP, ,
 ----- Forwarded by Steven J Kean/NA/Enron on 10/31/2000 07:29 AM -----

	Wiley Cauthen
	10/30/2000 05:29 PM
		 
		 To: Shelley Corman/ET&S/Enron@ENRON
		 cc: Steven J Kean/NA/Enron@Enron, Rockford Meyer/FGT/Enron@Enron, Joe 
Hillings/Corp/Enron@ENRON, Cynthia Sandherr/Corp/Enron@ENRON
		 Subject: Friends of the Aquifer, Inc. Appeal of Denials of Petitions to DEP, 
DCA, and PSC

Chris Jensen, Executive Director of the Florida Energy Pipeline Association, 
has learned from some DEP agency contacts that the Alliance (operating behind 
the front organization known as Friends of the Aquifer, Inc.) has decided to 
drop their lawsuits appealing the denials of their petitions to more severely 
regulate pipelines in Florida.  While this is good news for those of us 
fighting the war here in Florida, the reason for this withdrawal of their 
appeals of failed efforts on three different petitions at the state level in 
Florida is because of their belief that their current activity at the Federal 
level holds greater promise of success and their desire to concentrate their 
resources in that effort.

My thoughts on this is that the pipeline industry should get organized and 
execute a "full court press" defense which is proactive as we move into 
increased future efforts at the  Federal level by the Alliance through their 
other front organizations.  These organizations have been created to burden 
pipeline competition to benefit the maritime interests.

From my vantage point I am limited to mostly what I see in the press, but  
these front organization are winning the battle in the national press that I 
have seen and heard.  AOPL and INGAA do not come across in the press as being 
equipped or prepared to handle the shaping of the pipeline safety issues in 
the press that these Alliance front organizations have been doing.

 Our Enron government affairs folks in Washington are knowledgeable, 
experienced and capable. They have been through this battle and other battles 
in the past.  So this is not a criticism, but just a friendly observation 
from a remote vantage point, that if the entire pipeline industry does not 
develop a proactive plan to shape the issues in the national media during the 
next year, we will find it very difficult or perhaps impossible to come out 
of Congress with legislation that is reasonable and workable from a safety 
regulation perspective.  It has been my experience with the Alliance in the 
past, that to any extent they are successful,  they will then multiply their 
efforts and broaden their field of attack.

The issue is not safety of pipelines, but competition for the transportation 
of energy.  We have an industry that can be very proud of it's record of 
safety, economic benefits, reliability, public service, energy efficiency and 
environmentally favorable service when compared to any other mode of 
transporting energy.  We have learned from our experiences, research and 
mistakes in the past and will continue to learn in the future so that future 
pipeline service will be even better for our people whom we serve.  

Our entire energy pipeline industry (natural gas and petroleum) needs to 
shape the issues in the national press and tell our very good story so the 
politicians are not overrun with public opinion shaped by our maritime 
competition. 

Thanks for your interest.  This is a "heads-up" that is probably not needed, 
but I felt that there might be something in it that would help with a very 
difficult current and future issue.
jeffrey.keeler@enron.com, michael.terraso@enron.com