elevangelist Pat Robertson, at a news conference today with Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) , accused oil companies of trying to sabotage his efforts to obtain bank financing and open the old Powerine Refinery near Santa Fe Springs, California. Robertson told reporters that he is mulling an anti-trust lawsuit, and when asked which companies he would name, the Christian Coalition founder replied, "Pretty much all of them doing business in California."

   Robertson's allegations, though, may have more to do with the fact that last evening the state Energy Commission rejected his fast-track application to construct a 40-megawatt to 75-megawatt power plant on the site of the refinery which he has owned since 1998. Last week, Robertson's CENCO refining firm quickly established a corporate subsidiary, CENCO Electric Co., and made application for emergency certification under new fast-track granting procedures established by Gov. Gray Davis.

   An AANEWS investigation has revealed numerous shortcomings with Robertson's application. A letter and attached memorandum to J. Nelson Happy of CENCO Electric reflects that out of 68 categories in the "Emergency Permit Completeness Checklist," Robertson's company failed to provide any information, or gave incomplete information, or failed to meet other guidelines in 32 of them. The checklist covered areas such as the project and site description, construction, biological resources and problems connected with air emissions and noise.

   It was unclear why Sen. Wyden joined Robertson's press conference. Robertson had contacted the Oregon lawmaker about his fight "against the behemoths controlling the oil industry" in connection with financing problems for the Santa Fe Springs project.

   "Since the Spring of 1999," Wrote Robertson, "CENCO Refining, in order to raise capital for its restart, went out to the bond market and found that our efforts were being stymied. In one case involving a financial center bank, we were told that the head of a major oil company had sent work to the bank that if it helped finance the restart of the Powdering Refinery (sic), now CENCO, that the oil company would possible withdraw its business."

   The American Petroleum Institute responded that the allegation were unfounded, and pointed to a Federal Trade Commission report issued earlier this year on the California gas market.

   Painting himself as an underdog, Robertson told the New York Times, "I feel a little like David vs. Goliath. The majors are extremely big, and it looks like they are trying to stop our restart."

   Robertson declined, though, to identify either of two banks which supposedly refused to loan money for the CENCO/Powerine project, or name the oil companies which he says are the culprits in limiting competition.

   Referring to Mr. Wyden's probe into the oil industry, Robertson suggested that some of the senator's finding may "provide the basis of a serious antitrust suit against the (oil industry) majors." When pressed, the Christian Coalition founder admitted, "I don't have a hard case yet, but we're getting there."

   The real opposition to Robertson's effort to cash in on the lucrative energy market in California, though, may not be "the majors" but residents in and around the proposed Powerine redevelopment project who say that the plant is dirty, dangerous and another example of "environmental racism." Santa Fe Springs is a blue-collar town in southeast Los Angeles County, with a population 71% Hispanic. Since he acquired the Powerine facility three years ago, Robertson's company has faced continued opposition from neighbors, who are now re-doubling their efforts to stop any further "fast track" schedule for the plant.

   CENCO is already the target of a lawsuit from the nonprofit Communities for a Better Environment. An attorney for the group, Scott Kuhn, told the Los Angeles Times that the new CENCO Electric Co. project "is an abuse of the emergency orders."

   On Wednesday, organizers trying to stop the Robertson project were urging local residents to rally at the Santa Fe City Hall. Several told the Times of serious health problems they had encountered when the refinery was in operation. The plant has been described as one of the most dilapidated and polluting facilities in the region.

   Whatever the merits of Sen. Wyden's investigation into oil firm collusion and intrigue, the AANEWS examination of documents on file with the California Energy Commission revealed numerous problems with CENCO Electric's "emergency permit" application. The Evaluation Checklist revealed that CENCO:

   ¶    Gave "no information" on water supply pipeline routes and "No profile" information on structure dimensions and sizes. Despite being asked for color photos of the site and renderings of construction plans, only black and white photographs were provided.

   ¶    Provided no information on the treatment system which CENCO claimed would provide reclaimed water. Nor did CENCO give data on where it would pipe water from.

   ¶    Gave no information "on relationship of CENCO Electric Company (project applicant) and CENCO Refining Company (site owner)."

   In several sections, state investigators cited the failure of CENCO Electric to provide information on points having to do with water supply, availability, and pipeline routing. The company gave no information on "wastewater volume and quality" that the proposed power plant would generate.

   The flap over Robertson's proposed oil refinery/generating plant is just the latest in a long history of business dealings linked to the American televangelist which have attracted public scrutiny, and often controversy.

   ¶    Robertson was an unabashed supporter of the tyrannical African dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, who ruled Zaire with a iron fist and boasted a shabby record on human rights. It is estimated that during his three-decades of rule, Mobutu plundered over $2 billion which he transferred to foreign bank accounts. Robertson, though, developed a close personal and business friendship with the thuggish Mobutu, portraying him a stalwart in the cold war struggle against "godless Communism." He also established the African Development Company to take advantage of special diamond mining and lumber concession obtained from Mobutu's corrupt administration. Robertson claimed that revenues from ADC would benefit his "Operation Blessing" missionary and emergency medical aid outreach, but allegations surfaced that it was the other way around. A former pilot for Operation Blessing stated that he made flights to transport mining supplies and drilling equipment. Time Magazine quoted one aide worker in the region, who said that Operation Blessing personnel "were laying on hands, speaking in tongues and holding services while people were dying all around."

   ¶    In 1996, Robertson's media flagship, International Family Entertainment, Inc. entered into a joint business venture with two giant Asian financial powerhouses. One was the Lippo real estate conglomerate, which curiously later emerged at the center of a flap over illegal political campaign donations to the Democratic party campaign. Along with Lippo -- owned by the powerful Riaddy family of Indonesia -- Robertson linked up with the MUI group, Malayan United Industries, with everyone investing tens of millions of dollars for shares of a Hong Kong-based enterprise known as China Entertainment Television Broadcast, LTD. Despite defending Mobutu as an ideological prophylactic against Communism, Robertson's new venture entered into a deal with the Peoples' Republic of China to carry "no news, no sex, no violence" cable programming on over 500 systems throughout the country, and in neighboring Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia. Robertson also began operation of a China-based internet portal.

   ¶    Robertson later unloaded International Family Entertainment, which controlled the lucrative "Family Channel" in a surprise sale to Australian media mogul Rupert Murdoch. The deal, which included huge payments to Robertson, family members and entities controlled by Robertson such as Regent University, was estimated to be worth somewhere between $400 million and $1.2 billion.

   ¶    In the summer of 1999, Robertson was back in Africa in the wake of the exile and collapse of the Mobutu regime, doing business with the controversial President of Liberia, strongman Charles Taylor. Robertson established a for-profit venture known as Freedom Gold, Ltd. based in the Cayman Islands, with himself as President of the firm and its only director.

   Taylor had been under scrutiny by human rights organizations, after emerging at the top of a power struggle in 1989. Curiously, Taylor was a fugitive from U.S. justice. After fleeing to America in 1983 from an earlier coup in Liberia, he was arrested by U.S.Marshals and put under lock and key in Plymouth, Mass. to await extradition. He somehow managed to escape, and no public account has given of his activities between then and 1989 when he suddenly entered Liberia at the head of a guerrilla unit, and established his National Patriotic Front. The 1999 Human Rights Watch report says that Taylor's government displays "an intolerance of losing factions in that country's civil war," and mentions "huge profits earned in royalties" from foreign companies and other outsiders.

   ¶    Also in the summer of 1999 were revelations of Robertson's efforts to hatch an internet banking deal "potentially worth billions" with the Bank of Scotland. The Bank withdrew from the partnership, though, after Robertson appeared on his "700 Club" programming and described Scotland as a "dark" country overrun by powerful homosexuals. Bank of Scotland had to pay Robertson an undisclosed amount -- at least several millions of dollars -- for severing ties with the brash TV evangelist.

   Robertson's proposed oil refinery -- and now, suddenly, an electric power generating plant -- have failed "fast track" certification, and face continued opposition from environmental and community groups. There may be additional problems, especially if CENCO again attempts to obtain "emergency certification." The original application was for a so-called "peaker plant" and would have provided power during hours of peak electricity demand.

   "But these peaker plants -- and the fast-track process with which they are permitted during the energy crisis -- are running into opposition from homeowners and environmentalists, who say the facilities are disproportionately located in minority areas..." noted Joe Mozingo, staff writer for the LA Times.

   Scott Kuhn of Communities for a Better Environment, also questioned whether the CENCO Electric facility, and other rush-job power generation plants, were really being limited to "peak" hours. "We think this is an abuse of the emergency orders," Kuhn said. "These are plants actually licensed to run full time for three years, not just peaker plants."

   In the meantime, CENCO officials say that even without the emergency dispensation, they will press forward with plans for a full-scale power generation facility at Santa Fe Springs. Neighbors continue to protest, citing the noise, pollution and other environmental threats from the aging plant -- although CENCO says that it will be environmentally friendly. Spokesman Donald Brown dismissed concerns from local residents, and told the Times, "We're not putting it (the plant) in the middle of a park."

[text only]