The massive amount of internal memos, notes and other energy company documents that have been popping up since May are prompting experts andregulators to rethink the causes of the state's energy crisis.

As power prices shot up last year and the state endured rolling blackouts, the common wisdom was that a flawed deregulation plan created a dysfunctional power market.

But revelations, including memos from power trader Enron outlining a series of strategies to manipulate the state power supply, are leading former skeptics to question their understanding of what caused the crisis.

"I didn't walk in here thinking we needed to do a names, numbers, times and dates and `Who's your alibi?' investigation of the California market, and now I do," said Patrick H. Wood III, the former Texas regulator who late last year was appointed chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission by President Bush.

Wood initially considered the California debacle the result of flawed deregulation. Now he's not so sure.

[link|http://www.newsday.com/business/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-power-paper-trail0617jun17.story?coll=sns%2Dap%2Dbusiness%2Dheadlines| Source ]

Gee.. elections are coming up. Expect to see an 'investigation' start right around August...Talk of charges in late October...and complete dismissals (sorry, we were wrong, nothing to see there) around early December.