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September 9, 2003 HELP PREVENT
FUTURE BLACKOUTS Dear Colleague: The blackout of August 14th provided a stark reminder of our dependance on a reliable electricity grid to power our everyday lives and a disturbing demonstration of the hardships encountered when the grid experiences a disruption. Living in the Congressional district that was blacked out longer than any other part of the country, you can be sure I understand the human and economic costs of this crisis. While the investigation continues into the precise sequence of events as well as the reasons for the cascading nature of the blackout, last week's hearings in the Committee on Energy and Commerce did expose at least one issue that needs to be addressed: stand-alone electric reliability legislation. Currently, the reliability of North America's transmission grid is encouraged through voluntary rules set forth by the North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC). In the years since its establishment in 1965, NERC has adopted and encouraged the use of "rules of the road" for the transmission grid in order to avoid blackouts. The problem is that NERC's rules are not mandatory and it does not have the ability to enforce its standards through penalties. For example, in last week's hearings we learned that in 2002, NERC recorded over 500 violations of its rules that would have resulted in over $9 million in fines if the ability to impose such penalties had been in place. The fact that some of the violations occurred in areas of the country that were later effected by the August 14th blackout is an ominous sign that perhaps those events could have been avoided. I have introduced stand-alone legislation that will give NERC the authority it needs to further protect our grid and our citizens from future blackouts. This legislation is virtually identical to language that was included in last year's House and Senate energy bills, and indeed is included in both bills again this year. These provisions enjoy broad bipartisan and bicameral support and deserve to be quickly passed and not held hostage to the more contentious provisions currently before the energy bill conference. I urge you to take a step towards ensuring that August 14th does not happen again and co-sponsor the "Electric Reliability Improvement Act of 2003." Details on the bill can be found at www.house.gov/energycommerce. If you require additional information about the bill please contact Sue Sheridan or Bruce Harris of the Committee on Energy and Commerce Democratic staff at ext. 6-3400. To cosponsor the bill, please contact Turney Hall at ext. 6-3400. Sincerely, JOHN D. DINGELL
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