"Is It an Enron Twin, or Just a Look-Alike?"

The New York Times, December 9, 2001

Calpine has been implicated in "questionable trading strategies" and the California energy scandal, and currently stands on shaky financial ground. Its indiscretions do not end with fiscal wrongdoings, however, as Calpine is also being charged with destroying sacred sites and acts of environmental racism.

In March 2003, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission called on Calpine and other companies engaged in "questionable trading strategies with Enron" to prove they did not manipulate western U.S. markets in the California energy crisis of 2000-01 and to turn over any unjust profits (Rueters, March 26, 2003). Calpine has derived a substantial portion of its revenue from Enron--$1.3 billion in the first nine months of 2001.

Calpine currently carries a debt of $16 billion, while its capitalization is only $1.63 billion. Moody's Investors Service downgraded Calpine's debt rating in October 2003 due this and the expectation that its financial performance will continue to be weak.

"Calpine says it is doing a feasibility study on [an LNG] receiving terminal near Humboldt Bay. Some may be surprised to see the recently troubled company embarking on such a large expenditure."

Dow Jones Business News, October 30, 2003

Generating Steam

Besides natural gas, Calpine uses geothermal power to produce electricity, claiming it is a renewable, clean source of power. However, like natural gas, geothermal power is a finite resource, and tapping it is not without great environmental harm.

Geothermal power production includes drilling 10,000 feet into the ground, and involves hazardous, dissolved chemicals like arsenic and chromium. Calpine is rapidly depleting the Geysers in Sonoma County, where the amount of geothermal power the area now produces is half its former level.

Calpine is also trying to drill for geothermal power on public lands in the Medicine Lake area near Shasta, a place considered sacred by Native Americans. The Clinton Administration blocked this project in 2000 due to concerns about intrusion on the lands, but the Bush Adminstration reversed the decision after Calpine sued for $100 million.

"It's a sacred place, and we don't want anybody drilling on or near it. There's been proof of people going in the lake, bathing, praying and getting cured."

Vernon Johnson, CA Council of Tribal Governments
and member of the Pit River Tribe, March 2001