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WHO'S TO BLAME?
The Department of Energy is leading U.S. federal agencies in an investigation of the causes of last week's electricity blackout, President George W. Bush and Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham announced last week. Codirecting the investigation is Canadian Minister of Natural Resources Herb Dhaliwal, with whom Abraham met last Wednesday. DOE takes over the investigation from the North American Electric Reliability Council, which administers U.S. voluntary standards for electricity transmission reliability, Abraham said at a briefing. He stressed that the DOE investigation is already under way and fully supported by the council, energy industry leaders, and state and federal energy regulators. He offered no timetable for completion, however. Others predicted a report by late September or sooner. Also last week, the House Energy & Commerce Committee scheduled two days of hearings on the outage for Sept. 3 and 4. Testifying will be top energy officials from utilities and federal, state, and local agencies. And President Bush said Republican leaders in the House and Senate had told him that within 20 days a House-Senate conference committee would take up pending energy legislation that will include grid reliability standards as well as financial incentives to encourage infrastructure investments. Officials representing power associations and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission voiced support at a press briefing last week for mandatory grid reliability standards as well as provisions to speed transmission line siting and investments. However, unity waned among these officials as details were discussed. Indeed, writing energy legislation language that improves operation of the nation's electricity grid and is acceptable to all regions of the country may prove difficult through a broad energy bill, even when support is driven by a blackout of an area populated by 50 million Americans. |
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Chemical & Engineering News |
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