Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live Sunday
Investigation Of Power Outage Will Last A Long Time
Aired August 17, 2003 - 18:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: Turning now to this week's massive blackout, the power is back on and all of the states and provinces plunged into darkness by the outage. Now the focus is on how and why the blackout happened. CNN's John zarrella is following the investigation and joins us now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: These power transmission lines outside Cleveland, Ohio, may hold clues and perhaps answers to why the power went out. Last Thursday afternoon, three lines owned by Ohio's Firstenergy Corporation and a fourth coowned line tripped out of service. The problem occurred before the blackout.
The North American Electric Reliability Council says the blackout began when the Ohio lines failed. But On CNN's "LATE EDITION WITH WOLF BLITZER", the nation's energy secretary said it is way too early in the investigation to draw conclusions.
SPENCER ABRAHAM, SECRETARY OF ENERGY: I mean, there's hundreds of thousands of miles of transmission grid. There's countless substations where the electricity gets rerouted. It's impossible at this point to definitively say.
ZARELLA: But the focus is squarely on Ohio, and the transmission lines and facilities that are part of what's called the Eerie loop.
GOV. BILL RICHARDSON, (D) NEW MEXICO: I think the cause of this blackout, the Ohio companies, was because of overload.
ZARELLA: In a statement, Firstenergy, a holding company for electric utilities in Cleveland, Toledo and Akron, reported that early Thursday afternoon, a generating unit at this East Lake power plant tripped off. The plant is 20 miles outside Cleveland.
In its release the company said "FirstEnergy determined that it's computerized system for monitoring and controlling its transmission and generation system was operating, but the alarm screen function was not." FirstEnergy added "Customers experienced no service interruptions resulting from these conditions, therefore, no isolation of FirstEnergy's system was called for."
No matter where the cascading loss of electricity began, there is a larger question.
MICHAEL GENT, CEO NERC: Well we know the sequence of events. So what we've started focusing on is why didn't the area in trouble separate from the rest of the system and keep the entire grid whole?
ZARELLA: That may prove more difficult to answer than where the blackout began.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZARELLA: Now, late this afternoon, the midwest independent system operators, which monitor transmissions in this region, issued a news statement, and in that statement, they're saying that what is unknown at this time is the relationship among the events in the Midwest and what is occurring elsewhere in the Eastern interconnection at that time. And FirstEnergy told us just a little while ago that other events, Andrea, were taking place in and out of FirstEnergy's operating area -- Andrea.
KOPPEL: So John, does that mean that the problem did or did not originate in Ohio?
ZARELLA: That remains the question, and what we're hearing now from these people is that perhaps it was wider spread, and simultaneous to what was going on with the four transmission lines here in Ohio. So both Meso, the Midwest independent operators and FirstEnergy are saying, wait a minute, the problem may have been broader than simply these four transmission lines here -- Andrea.
KOPPEL: John, any idea how long this investigation is supposed to last?
ZARELLA: Boy, it could take quite some time, because, for instance, FirstEnergy itself has 14,700 miles of transmission lines, and some of the independent investigations that are going to be going on say they need to pour through some 10,000 pages of data relating to what happened. So in fact, it may take quite some time -- Andrea.
KOPPEL: I guess so long as the AC folks can be a little patient to find out exactly what was behind it. John Zarella, thanks very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired August 17, 2003 - 18:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: Turning now to this week's massive blackout, the power is back on and all of the states and provinces plunged into darkness by the outage. Now the focus is on how and why the blackout happened. CNN's John zarrella is following the investigation and joins us now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: These power transmission lines outside Cleveland, Ohio, may hold clues and perhaps answers to why the power went out. Last Thursday afternoon, three lines owned by Ohio's Firstenergy Corporation and a fourth coowned line tripped out of service. The problem occurred before the blackout.
The North American Electric Reliability Council says the blackout began when the Ohio lines failed. But On CNN's "LATE EDITION WITH WOLF BLITZER", the nation's energy secretary said it is way too early in the investigation to draw conclusions.
SPENCER ABRAHAM, SECRETARY OF ENERGY: I mean, there's hundreds of thousands of miles of transmission grid. There's countless substations where the electricity gets rerouted. It's impossible at this point to definitively say.
ZARELLA: But the focus is squarely on Ohio, and the transmission lines and facilities that are part of what's called the Eerie loop.
GOV. BILL RICHARDSON, (D) NEW MEXICO: I think the cause of this blackout, the Ohio companies, was because of overload.
ZARELLA: In a statement, Firstenergy, a holding company for electric utilities in Cleveland, Toledo and Akron, reported that early Thursday afternoon, a generating unit at this East Lake power plant tripped off. The plant is 20 miles outside Cleveland.
In its release the company said "FirstEnergy determined that it's computerized system for monitoring and controlling its transmission and generation system was operating, but the alarm screen function was not." FirstEnergy added "Customers experienced no service interruptions resulting from these conditions, therefore, no isolation of FirstEnergy's system was called for."
No matter where the cascading loss of electricity began, there is a larger question.
MICHAEL GENT, CEO NERC: Well we know the sequence of events. So what we've started focusing on is why didn't the area in trouble separate from the rest of the system and keep the entire grid whole?
ZARELLA: That may prove more difficult to answer than where the blackout began.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZARELLA: Now, late this afternoon, the midwest independent system operators, which monitor transmissions in this region, issued a news statement, and in that statement, they're saying that what is unknown at this time is the relationship among the events in the Midwest and what is occurring elsewhere in the Eastern interconnection at that time. And FirstEnergy told us just a little while ago that other events, Andrea, were taking place in and out of FirstEnergy's operating area -- Andrea.
KOPPEL: So John, does that mean that the problem did or did not originate in Ohio?
ZARELLA: That remains the question, and what we're hearing now from these people is that perhaps it was wider spread, and simultaneous to what was going on with the four transmission lines here in Ohio. So both Meso, the Midwest independent operators and FirstEnergy are saying, wait a minute, the problem may have been broader than simply these four transmission lines here -- Andrea.
KOPPEL: John, any idea how long this investigation is supposed to last?
ZARELLA: Boy, it could take quite some time, because, for instance, FirstEnergy itself has 14,700 miles of transmission lines, and some of the independent investigations that are going to be going on say they need to pour through some 10,000 pages of data relating to what happened. So in fact, it may take quite some time -- Andrea.
KOPPEL: I guess so long as the AC folks can be a little patient to find out exactly what was behind it. John Zarella, thanks very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
