Following Weeks of Major Power Outages In NY and Across the Country, Schumer Demands Federal Investigation of Power Grid Capacity

Following Weeks Of Major Power Outages In NY And Across The Country, Schumer Demands Federal Investigation Of Power Grid Capacity And Infrastructure

Senator Calls Full Audit of Power Grid to Identify Weaknesses in Queens, Throughout NY and Nationally, Find Structural Damage and Report on any Problems that are in Need of Remedy

Schumer "It's Clear We Need an Independent Assessment of What Ails the Power Grid Before We Have Another Blackout"

Over the past two weeks, power outages have crippled the country from New York to California, as extreme summer heat taxed the power grid and resulted in blackouts in cities across the country. With major power outages in Queens, St. Louis, various parts of California, and cities throughout Arkansas today Senator Charles E. Schumer called for the Department of Energy to conduct a full investigation into the capacity and infrastructure of the entire power grid. Schumer's call for an investigation is to prevent what could easily become another blackout. "We need a thorough assessment of what ails the power grid. The recent heat wave had disastrous effects across the country and left tens of thousands of New Yorkers without power for far too long. This is warning shot across the bow. How are we to be sure that next time, the entire system won't shut down?" Schumer said. "The Department of Energy needs to thoroughly assess where and whether there are weaknesses and find the structural problems, so that we can fix them and avoid what could easily become a citywide, or worse, a countrywide blackout." Over the past two weeks, enormous strain has been placed on the nation's power grid. A combination of sweltering temperatures and crippling storms left cities across the country saddled with power outages and residents in the dark. In New York Queens got the brunt of the problem. 25,000 customers and up to 100,000 people were left without power, some for as many as ten days, causing many businesses to close, and leaving families without food. As soon as the power was restored in Queens, the lights went out for 16,000 people on Staten Island, but the outage was remedied in just a few hours.

In St. Louis, Missouri, a fierce storm knocked out power to over 500,000 customers, leaving nearly 250,000 homes and businesses without electricity for up to a week. In the South, Arkansas' largest electric utility scheduled rolling blackouts to mitigate pressure on its power grind caused by a scorching heat wave. Last weekend on the West Coast, record temperatures cut electricity to parts of Northern California and the Central Valley, leaving 180,000 Californians without power. On Tuesday, 26,000 Los Angeles residents were without electricity after hundreds of the city's transformers exploded, overwhelming the local power grid. And in the Northwest, a utility company serving sections of Idaho, Washington and Utah came the closest ever to issuing a "red alert" after stifling heat strained their power system.

Schumer said today that a full investigation of the Power grid's infrastructure and capacity must take place to prevent this from happening again, or worse. "Now that the power has been restored to we cannot just go on our merry way," Schumer said. "We need to find out what went wrong, where it went wrong, and fix it." Schumer today called for a Federal investigation into the outages and for full audit of the power grid by the Federal Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (within the Department of Energy), to assess the system, see where the weaknesses are and find any structural problems. Schumer asked the agency to report back on what is found so they can fix it quickly, before there are more blackouts. "The bottom line is, its summer and 100 degree heat shouldn't cause power problems throughout the city and across the country. Something is wrong here and we need to fix it before we see scenarios that are even worse," Schumer said.

http://schumer.senate.gov/SchumerWebsite/pressroom/record.cfm?id=260028&&year=2006&