Liquid Assets: Enron's Dip into Water Business Highlights Pitfalls of Privatization A special report by Public Citizen’s Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program Washington, D.C. March 2002 Liquid Assets: Enron's Dip into Water Business Highlights Pitfalls of Privatization A special report by Public Citizen’s Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program Washington, D.C. March 2002 This document can be viewed or downloaded at www.citizen.org/cmep. Public Citizen 215 Pennsylvania Ave., S.E. Washington, D.C. 20003 202-546-4996 fax: 202-547-7392
[email protected] www.citizen.org/cmep © 2002 Public Citizen. All rights reserved. Public Citizen, founded by Ralph Nader in 1971, is a non-profit research, lobbying and litigation organization based in Washington, D.C. Public Citizen advocates for consumer protection and for government and corporate accountability, and is supported by over 150,000 members throughout the United States. Liquid Assets: Enron's Dip into Water Business Highlights Pitfalls of Privatization Executive Summary The story of Enron Corp.’s failed venture into the water business serves as a cautionary tale for consumers and policymakers about the dangers of turning publicly operated water systems and resources over to private corporations and creating a private “market” system in which water can be traded as a commodity, as Enron did with electricity and tried to do with water. Enron’s water investments, which contributed to the company’s spectacular collapse, would not have been permitted had the Public Utility Holding Company Act (PUHCA) been properly enforced and not continually weakened by the deregulation initiatives advocated by Enron and other energy companies.