California Gov. Gray Davis Tuesday announced the formation of a statewide task force, under a Democratic appointee whose most recent job was reconstruction in Bosnia and Kosovo, to speed the development of more power plants in the state. It came on a day when California’s weather began to heat up, power plant capacity idled for maintenance remained high (10,000 MW) and the state grid operator began pleading for stepped up conservation.

The “Governor’s Generation Implementation Task Force” is designed to accelerate and coordinate ongoing efforts to get more power plants built by streamlining the state’s cumbersome permitting, siting, finance, design and construction efforts under the leadership of Richard Sklar, who most recently was former President Clinton’s special representative for economic reform and reconstruction in southeast Europe, leading U.S. efforts to build market economies and rebuild infrastructures in the Balkans.

“Ambassador Sklar has a proven record in cutting red tape and getting results,” said Gov. Davis, noting that he will continue work headed for the past two months by a loaned Southern California Edison Co. executive, Larry Hamlin. “Now it’s time to take our efforts to the next level.”

Sklar has an extensive private sector background, but also served as general manager of San Francisco’s Public Utilities Commission (1979-83) and the city’s director of capital projects (1976-83). He will be joined on the governor’s task force by project management executives loaned from various California-based international engineering/construction companies (Bechtel; URS; Fluor-Daniel; Parsons, Brinkerhoff, Quade and Douglas; and A. Teichert and Sons. Sklar’s 35 years in the private sector included ownership and leadership of a major construction equipment manufacturer and a leading project management firm.

On another note, Gov. Davis also announced that his chief energy advisor, John Stevens, is leaving the administration, but will continue to be available to work with the governor on energy-related issues. Last week, Gov. Davis announced that David Freeman, head of the nation’s largest municipal utility in the city of Los Angeles, will become the governor’s chief adviser on energy conservation, and longer term, he is the better favorite to eventually be named to head a state power authority once one created by the state legislature later this year.

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