KKR buyout of TXU is imploding

The tanking investment banks in particular and economy in general have folks like JPMorganChase at the throat of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and allies who took over Texas utility company TXU in 2007.

And, we ain't seen the worst yet:

The company ... it still faces a $20 billion balloon payment coming due in 2014. To leap that hurdle, the private equity owners have a handful of options: persuade bondholders to swap their debt at a discount for debt that matures later; sell a stake of the company in an I.P.O.; or sell assets.

Since KKR et al bet on natural-gas prices, this is one of the best arguments for commodities speculation regulation I can think of.

Second, it's a great argument for not giving a dime to Gang Green environmentalists like NRDC and Environmental Defense who endorsed the takeover. (EDF is now providing green flak for Walmart, among others.)

Third, it's a call for more regulation of the broader financial industry. You know that KKR, Texas Pacific and Goldman Sachs' investment arm will do anything and everything they can to dodge more losses.

Fourth, it's a call to re-regulate utilities.

Boo hoo for Gang Green enviros

First, another e-mail from the National Resources Defense Council, wanting money to help the polar bears that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar refuses to better protect.

I e-mailed back that not only is money a bit tight for me right now, I wanted to see Gang Greeners like the NRDC eat some crow first for their “access embrace” of Salazar when Obama nominated him.

Then, the Sierra Club wanted money to help the endangered Florida panther. I e-mailed back, asking if it would also protect the possibly-extinct independent Florida Chapter of the Sierra Club, too.

Sierra goes anti-enviro AGAIN!

Apparently Carl Pope doesn’t understand the word “environmentalism.” The Sierra Club was one of five major environmental organizations to not only sign off on, but help negotiate the environmental metrics of, the sale, for commercial development, of parts of California’s Tejon Ranch.

And, I don’t care if non-comment “handshake” agreements, albeit without contracts, have been common in the past. The original practice, even without a contract, is a crock. It’s unprofessional, in my opinion, for a wildlife biologist, unless he or she wants to be on the take, to sign off on such a deal in advance.

Ditto for the environmental organizations lining this up.

The hypocrisy is squared by the gag order also extending to how much money each of the scientists was paid.

It would be the equivalent of me, as a newspaper editor, agreeing in advance of the first words of an interview to let someone go off the record.

Joining Sierra in the Green Hall of Shame?

First, shock me that Sierra signed off on this. Carl Pope probably thought he could use some Sierra-branded Clorox to bleach away bad PR.

I’ve blogged my displeasure, including my refusal to renew my Sierra membership, here, here and here.

Shock me also that Natural Resources Defense Council was one of the five groups. After getting snookered here in Texas by William O’Reilly and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts on the TXU buyout, and giving KKR priceless greenwash, it makes me wonder about any corporate dealings NRDC has too.

The third biggie? Audubon California.

As for Audubon, the last time I got an offer to join it, I e-mailed back, to the appropriate department, asking if its free tschotschke du jour was made in China or not. (WWF burned me on that one a few years back.)

No answer from Audubon means no membership from me.

More people who are knowledgeable are going to stop participating in major environmental organizations and get more active in smaller, more pristine ones.