Political finger pointing started before the lights did, following the Great Blackout of '03. President Bush said we need to modernize the energy grid, and folks dusted off the 2001 Cheney Energy Commission Report and a 2002 House Minority Report challenging its findings. The New York Times, in "After 2 Years, Energy Bill Is Getting New Urgency in Congress" and other articles in a special Saturday August 16 section called "The Blackout," noted that both Democrats and Republicans were accusing the other party of responsibility for the problems. All before a cause of the blackout had been determined.
The Times notes renewed urgency for a federal energy bill, proposals for which grew out of the Cheney Report, but have been stalled in controversy. The Times cites controvery over proposals to require utilities to link together in national power-sharing systems. The Times quoted Howard Dean as taking credit for saving New England from the blackout by his opposition to such linking. Senator Charles E. Schumer (D., NY) was cited as urging the feds to drop the electricity parts of the energy bill until a blackout cause is determined, to avoid making matters worse.
The bills in the hopper call for boosting the power of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
Electric companies in the US are overseen by the North American Electric Reliability Council (NAERC).
An electric industry lobby organization, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), is based in Palo Alto.
A useful list of Energy Links
A primer on electricity, with links to deeper reading is available from The Environmental Literacy Council: Electricity. The Council also has a backgrounder on the California Energy Crisis
The California Energy Commission, in preparation for a November 2001 hearing to be facilitated by EPRI, released a collection of white papers available in a hearing handout titled “Exploring Alternative Wholesale Electricity Market Structures for California”
DougSimpson.com/blog
Posted by dougsimpson at August 16, 2003 01:40 PM | TrackBack