Switch to Desktop Site  Energy Trading on the Sly  About these
ads  California's rolling blackouts and other power emergencies
in 2000 and 2001 weren't solely the result of the state's faulty
deregulation plan. Memos just divulged by Enron indicate that
market manipulations by energy traders also contributed,
aggravating the problems if not causing them.  To its credit,
Enron's new management gave the memos to government regulators
soon after they were discovered, though they could have been
held as privileged lawyer-client communication. The company, say
its current lawyers, wants to cooperate with ongoing
investigations.  Thus new light is thrown on practices that
until now were mainly a matter of speculation by state officials
who were sure they'd been conned by Enron and other traders. The
memos detail strategies such as artificially creating congestion
on power lines so traders could collect fees to relieve it, or
buying power at a capped price in California, then selling it
much higher out of state, the