Letter to LA: Boycott in the dark

PHOENIX -- Arizona Corporation Commissioner Gary Pierce has suggested that if Los Angeles pursues a boycott of Arizona over its immigration law, Arizona could retaliate by taking back some of the electricity it generates for southern California.

In a letter to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Perce said he was "dismayed" by the vote of the Los Angeles City Council to boycott Arizona.

Pierce quoted from a Villaraigosa statement that the goal of the boycott was "to impact the economy of Arizona. Our intent is to use our dollars or the withholding of our dollars -- to send a message."

Pierce said that approximately 25 percent of the electricity consumed in Los Angeles is generated by power plants in Arizona.

"If an economic boycott is truly what you desire, I will be happy to encourage Arizona utilities to renegotiate your power agreements, so Los Angeles no longer receives any power from Arizona-based generation," Pierce wrote to Villaraigosa. "I am confident that Arizona's utilities would be happy to take those electrons off your hands. If, however, you find that the City Council lacks the strength of its convictions to turn off the lights in Los Angeles and boycott Arizona power, please reconsider the wisdom of attempting to harm Arizona's economy."

Pierce said that people of good will can disagree over the merits of SB1070, the Arizona law, but, "A statewide economic boycott of Arizona is not a message sent in goodwill."

The Arizona Corporation Commission regulates utilities, including the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station west of Phoenix, the nation's largest nuclear plant. Southern California Edison Co. owns 15.8 percent of Palo Verde, the Southern California Public Power Authority 5.9 percent and the City of Los Angeles 8.7 percent.

Los Angeles gets about 6 percent of its electricity from hydroelectric power, most of that generated by Hoover Dam on the Arizona-Nevada border. It also gets power from some coal-fired plants in Arizona.

The new Arizona law, which has spawned controversy across the nation, requires local law enforcement officers to question the immigration status of anyone they stop for another reason and then have reasonable suspicion that the person is in the United States illegally.