December 23, 2003
The Honorable J. Dennis Hastert Dear Mr. Speaker: I am writing to encourage you to bring up H.R. 3004, the "Electric Reliability Improvement Act of 2003," at the earliest possible opportunity when the House returns. This bill, introduced in September in the wake of the August blackout and sponsored by 34 Members, embodies consensus provisions included in the conference report on H.R. 6 and every major electricity reform bill in recent memory. As you know, the economy and welfare of my home state of Michigan, seven other states, and parts of Ontario were severely jeopardized by the electricity blackout that began on August 14, 2003. Public safety was compromised and businesses alone suffered millions of dollars in losses. While we have begun to learn more about what caused this emergency, experts tell us we remain at risk for another blackout. The report recently issued by the U.S.-Canada Power System Outage Task Force indicated that contributing factors to the blackout included violations of voluntary rules issued by the North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) by both FirstEnergy Corp. and the Midwest Independent System Operator (MISO). Enactment of H.R. 3004 would not address all risks associated with potential blackouts, including the need for stronger regional transmission organizations (RTOs). As I indicated at the September 3, 2003, blackout hearing held by the Committee on Energy and Commerce, my experience with past energy bills counsels against assuming the enactment of H.R. 6 on any given timetable. Several months have already been wasted in terms of the ability of NERC and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to begin implementing this new authority. Regardless of what happens with H.R. 6, there is no justification for continuing to hold reliability reform hostage to comprehensive energy legislation. Making NERC's transmission grid rules mandatory and enforceable is a common sense first step that Congress should take at the earliest opportunity. To do otherwise would be both unnecessary, unfair, and regrettable. I urge you to schedule H.R. 3004 on the House Floor as soon as possible, and look forward to working with you to ensure the bill becomes law. Sincerely, JOHN D. DINGELL
cc: The Honorable W. J. "Billy" Tauzin, Chairman The Honorable Joe Barton,
Chairman The Honorable Rick Boucher, Ranking
Member
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