WASHINGTON - Why is Enron Corp. still eligible to receive U.S. taxpayer money?

Instead of wallowing in bankruptcy, Enron continues to do business internationally. And the scandal-ridden and discredited corporation continues to pursue public funding for its global operations.

Reports about Enron's collapse have led people to believe that the corporation is defunct. Not true.

Enron's decision to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection forced the company to forfeit its energy trading operations in the United States and to sell some of its assets.

But a large number of its overseas ventures remain intact. Even as it faces shareholder lawsuits and congressional inquiries, Enron plans to emerge from bankruptcy by carrying on with its global energy services.

Through numerous consortia and subsidiaries, Enron continues to be involved in energy markets in countries throughout the world. Its present assets in Latin America alone include stakes in gas and electricity companies in Brazil and Venezuela, pipelines in Colombia and Bolivia and power plants in Panama, Guatemala and Puerto Rico. In many of these countries, assurances have been given that the problems Enron has in the United States will not affect its local operations.

U.S. taxpayer money has helped build Enron's global empire. A new report by the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington shows that since 1992, Enron-related projects have received more than $4 billion in U.S. government financing. Other public sources such as the World Bank and the European Investment Bank contributed an additional $3 billion.

By any standard, $7 billion is a lot of money. But now Enron wants more. The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), an agency operating with U.S. government money, is considering a $125 million loan for a Bolivian gas pipeline expansion that Enron is pursuing through a group called Transredes. Along with Shell Bolivia, the other key stakeholder in this consortium, Enron stands to profit in Bolivia by using public funds.

At the same time, the Bolivian government recently began investigating irregularities in the process by which Enron initially gained entry into the country's energy markets. Environmental and human rights organizations such as the Organization of Ethnic Communities of Santa Cruz (Bolivia) decry the fact that the proposed enlargement of the Transredes pipeline would cut through ever-larger sections of ecologically sensitive areas and the protected lands of Bolivia's indigenous peoples.

They point to a previous disaster in which the company's Sica Sica-Arica oil pipeline ruptured in January 2000, spewing thousands of barrels of refined crude into the Desaguadero River before officials got around to making repairs.

Why would the United States help bankroll such deals?

In the name of "free trade," the IDB and the World Bank, government-funded organizations, have spent more than two decades promoting privatization of energy and power sectors. They have forced countries that want development assistance to implement harsh "structural adjustment" measures and deregulate industries. At the same time, multinational corporations reap tremendous profits as poor governments vie with one another for much-needed foreign investment.

As a result, public utilities have increasingly fallen into private hands, and corporations such as Enron conduct their business with little or no public accountability. Ordinary people suffer as companies limit supplies and raise prices, spreading misery among those who can't afford to pay more for once-public services like electricity, water and health care. This also produces social unrest. For example, Enron's imposition of price hikes has resulted in blackouts that eventually led to riots in Guatemala and the Dominican Republic, among other countries.

Members of Congress will have an opportunity to stop the flow of government money to Enron when the IDB and other public financiers come up for reauthorization. Before approving more money for the banks, legislators can insist on prohibiting future loans for Enron-related projects. This would halt potentially destructive deals like the Bolivian pipeline expansion.

But more is needed to stop abuses. The rules governing global trade and investment need to be altered to protect the public interest. Congress needs to reject the drive by international financial institutions such as the IDB and the World Bank to privatize utilities and promote deregulation - policies that invite corruption and fuel injustice.

Nadia Martinez is a research associate with the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington. Mark Engler, a writer based in New York, has worked with the Arias Foundation for Peace and Human Progress in San José, Costa Rica.

Copyright © 2002, The Baltimore Sun

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