BILL MOYERS: All the talk of war, war, war is drowning out discussion of other things these days. But in fact, there are deeds afoot. While almost no one is paying attention, business lobbyists are trying to weaken pension reforms intended to protect workers. Reform that was supposed to be part of the government crackdown on corporate abuses following Enron and company. But Congress has gone A.W.O.L. even as it votes for war.

Furthermore, the deficit is soaring, and the budget process is in the worst mess since the government shutdown of 1995. Required spending bills haven't passed, Congress is in chaos.

But two of the administration's pet projects are going forward. Federal agencies are writing rules to implement, for example, those Faith-Based Charity Initiatives that Congress turned down. And out-of-sight and out-of-mind, big energy producers are getting the deluxe treatment.

Drilling for oil in Alaska's pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge…weakening auto emission standards…billions of dollars in tax breaks and subsidies. Just a few of the giveaways under consideration as part of the Bush Energy Bill now being hammered out by members of a House and Senate Conference Committee on Capitol Hill.

But wait. There's also something important you probably haven't heard about — the repeal of a law that has regulated electric utilities since 1935 — the Public Utility Holding Company Act, or PUCHA.

Industry wants the law repealed. They say it hampers new investment and competitive pricing.

DAVID OWENS, VICE PRESIDENT, EDISON ELECTRIC INSTITUTE: It's an outdated statute. It's retarding many things that the agencies are seeking to do to open up markets and protect consumers and to encourage investment.

BILL MOYERS: Consumer advocate Mark Cooper disagrees. The law is important, he says, because it prevents utilities from investing in risky business.

MARK COOPER, CONSUMER FEDERATION OF AMERICA: The industry needs to be focused on one thing, delivering electrons. You look back at Ken Lay, he didn't care about delivering electrons. He only cared about buying and selling electrons. But the American people need the electrons to be consumed.

BILL MOYERS: It's an audacious stroke — giving industry what it wants while the country is still sorting out the mess from energy scandals — which consumer advocates say prove the need for public oversight more than ever.

Take Enron. This Wednesday, one of the company's top enchiladas - Andrew Fastow - was charged in a criminal complaint with defrauding the company and its shareholders for millions of dollars. He denies the charge.

But it's not just individuals. In august, the federal energy regulatory commission opened a formal investigation after finding evidence that Enron … along with two other companies "may have manipulate[d] prices" at the height of California's energy crisis. With schemes named "Fat Boy" and "Death Star," the report said "Enron['s] trading strategies may have involved deceit...[and] false information... to 'game the system.'"

TELEVISION NEWS (FROM TAPE): "In California, the energy crisis..."

BILL MOYERS: Big news at the time...and now, it's been revealed that energy companies were gouging California consumers. Last week, a judge concluded that El Paso Corporation - the nation's largest natural gas company - jacked up prices by holding back "extremely large amounts" of gas needed to produce electricity. California is seeking to recover nearly $4 billion. El Paso denies the charge.

CONGRESSMAN HENRY WAXMAN (D-CA): I'm really skeptical...

BILL MOYERS: Congressman Henry Waxman is a member of the House Energy Committee.

CONGRESSMAN HENRY WAXMAN: Now the proponents of this energy legislation want to have electricity deregulation all around the country and they want to repeal the law that protects the consumers and rate payers from the kind of manipulation of the market that we'd already seen take place in California.

BILL MOYERS: Not to worry, says David Owens, Vice President of the Edison Electric Institute which represents electric utilities. Consumers will have protection from these kinds of scandals.

DAVID OWENS, VICE PRESIDENT, EDISON ELECTRIC INSTITUTE: By no means is the government getting shy about its enforcement in its oversight of the markets. And I can go on and on. State commissions themselves are becoming much more active and aggressive in behavior. And the industry is seeking to become even more self-policing.

BILL MOYERS: The industry has powerful friends. And consumer advocates say those friends are rewarding industry for millions of dollars in campaign contributions. According to the watchdog group Public Citizen, power companies pushing for the law's repeal gave more than $15 million to federal candidates.

Now, just a few politicians, often operating in secret, are deciding the future of public oversight. That has Henry Waxman worried.

CONGRESSMAN HENRY WAXMAN: This would be a major thing to do in a conference where you take something that was passed by the Senate but never fully considered in the House. Literally a handful of people, maybe two, one from Texas and one from Louisiana in the House sit down and decide what the energy policy's going to be without the members of the House having had a chance to evaluate it through the normal, legislative process.

BILL MOYERS: It's up for grabs now...and the public has an enormous stake in what's being decided behind these closed doors.