In Cornish, New Hampshire, Pacific Gas & Electric released four billion gallons of water from the Wilder dam on the Connecticut River so that Vice President Al Gore could float in a canoe on the otherwise parched river as part of an environmental photo opportunity. Noting that drought-stricken New Englanders would have to pay up to $7 million to use the amount of water that was wasted, the state's Republicans asked the Federal Election Commission to investigate the water release as an illegal corporate campaign contribution. Gore spokesman Roger Salazar responded that the canoe trip "wasn't a campaign event."

†