December 26, 2000

New York Power Authority's plan to install 10 temporary generators around New York City to meet power needs next summer faces staunch opposition, particularly in Queens, where community and business leaders fear setback to redevelopment of Long Island City waterfront; map; Silvercup Studios, major television and film facility that is preparing lawsuit, will abandon plan to build new studios because of proximity to noisy gas turbine generators; opponents charge state agency is railroading proposal through without even cursory environmental study; authorities cite urgent need to have plants in place by summer, for two or three years, until private companies can supply energy; four plants are planned for Bronx, three for Brooklyn, two for Queens, one for Staten Island and one for Islip on Long Island; authority says there are no sites in Queens other than those on East River near Queensboro Bridge; Boro Pres Claire Shulman disagrees (M)

Profile of and interview with author Alice Walker, whose new book of stories is The Way Forward Is With a Broken Heart; photo (M)

News analysis of proposals to reduce number of flights at La Guardia Airport in New York, using free-market system rather than traditional rationing based on incumbency (M)

Electric utility stocks are plunging in California; share prices of Edison International and PG&E Corporation, parent companies of Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas and Electric, have fallen one-third in December and risk bond downgrades to junk status; analysts are concerned that companies will not be able to collect from customers because of rate freeze in effect until March 2002; Southern California Edison will eliminate fourth-quarter dividend and trim $100 million in spending, including elimination of 400 jobs to try to avoid bankruptcy; report issued by Merrill Lynch says rate increases, if approved, would make companies financially viable, but not financially strong, concluding bankruptcy is real possibility; electricity shortages are expected to continue; graph (M)

Demand for bankruptcy lawyers increases as expectations of corporate insolvency rise; in recent years, few lawyers have honed skills in bankruptcy law, so firms are raiding each other and using recruiters to staff up, intensifying competition; Harvey R Miller, partner at law firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges, says corporate restructuring work has picked up and sees it as reflection of softening economy; while dot-coms lack assets to make them attractive clients, creditors are hiring lawyers to help them recover what is owed; graph shows business bankruptcy filings from 1994 through 2000; graph (M)