Enron Reps Met Cheney or Staff 6 Times

Enron Reps Met Cheney or Staff 6 Times
By Susan Cornwell

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Representatives of the collapsed energy giant Enron Corp. met six times with Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) or his staff involved in crafting energy policy, the White House has told a Democratic lawmaker.

California Democrat, Rep. Henry Waxman (news), said the contacts were ``extensive'' and the last came in October, just six days before Enron announced a charge against earnings, the first hint of its spectacular unraveling.

Waxman, the ranking member of the Government Reform Committee, released the White House's Jan. 3 letter on Tuesday, along with his reply addressed to Cheney.

He said the material ``raises additional questions about the extent to which Enron may have influenced the administration's energy polices or provided information about its own operations.''

Waxman had written the White House last month, asking it to reveal what contacts its energy task force, directed by Cheney, had with Enron in developing the administration's energy plan.

The plan announced in May called for more oil and gas drilling and a revived nuclear power program.

But until now the White House has largely rebuffed all requests for information about the task force meetings, including a request by the General Accounting Office (news - web sites), the investigative arm of Congress.

ENRON'S LAY AND OTHERS

In the letter to Waxman, vice presidential counsel David Addington said that Enron Chairman Kenneth Lay met Cheney once during the development of the energy plan, for half an hour on April 17. Cheney has already acknowledged this meeting.

But Addington's letter revealed five further meetings with Cheney's energy task force staff, three of which took place before the energy policy was announced, and two afterwards.

``Enron did not communicate information about its financial position in any of the meetings with the Vice President or with the National Energy Policy Development Group's support staff,'' the Addington letter said.

It added that in their private meeting in April, Lay and Cheney discussed ``energy policy matters, including the energy crisis in California.''

In his reply to Cheney, Waxman noted that the day after the Lay-Cheney meeting, the vice president told a reporter he opposed the imposition of federal price caps on wholesale energy sales in California -- something that, Waxman observed, Enron also strongly opposed.

A Wall Street darling just a few months ago, Enron on Dec. 2 made the largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history after a rescue takeover by rival Dynegy Inc. fell apart amid investor concerns about Enron's murky finances.

Thousands of Enron employees have lost their jobs and much of their retirement savings in the collapse.

Waxman wrote back that the information released by the White House was not enough. He asked for a ``full accounting'' with details such as names of persons attending and any Enron requests for changes in policies, as well as any telephone, e-mail or other contacts with Enron and White House officials.

The White House gave no indication it planned to provide more information.

``We have cooperated fully with Rep. Waxman as we always do, provided that members are not engaging in open-ended investigations and fishing expeditions,'' said White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan.

MEETINGS UP UNTIL OCT. 10

Environmentalists say they were shut out of most sessions the White House task force held to craft the energy policy.

The environmental groups suspect private sector experts influenced the plan announced by President Bush (news - web sites) -- himself a former oil man -- and drafted by a task force headed by Cheney, formerly head of Halliburton Co., the world's No. 1. oilfield services company.

Congress adjourned in December without approving key parts of Bush's energy policy, such as allowing drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. But the administration says some sections are being implemented by government agencies.

In his letter addressed to Cheney, Waxman noted that the meetings with vice president or his energy task force staff had stretched from last Feb. 22 to Oct. 10, just a few days before Enron announced a reduction in shareholder equity ahead of its spectacular collapse.

``For the first time, the letter from Mr. Addington provides some limited details about the contacts between Enron and the energy task force,'' Waxman told Cheney.

``It reveals that Enron had extensive access to the task force, meeting in person six times with you or the task force staff to discuss 'energy policy matters'.''

The Natural Resources Defense Council filed a lawsuit last month against the Energy Department for not turning over records on who participated in discussions on the White House energy plan. Comptroller General David Walker, head of the General Accounting Office, is considering a similar lawsuit.