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CNN Live Today
Power Hungry Workers Return to Their Jobs
Aired August 18, 2003 - 11:07 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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Power hungry workers are returning to offices and factories all across the Midwest and the Northeast this morning. It's the first full business day since the big blackout of 2003.
So, let's see how things are shaping up.
CNN's John Zarrella is in East Lake, Ohio, which is near Cleveland. And we've also got our Jason Carroll standing by at New York's Penn Station.
We'll start with John Zarrella in Cleveland -- John.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Leon, you know, early on, after the blackout there, of course, there was very quick speculation and movement to pin all of the blame on four power transmission lines here in the Ohio area. Well, a report in "The New York Times" is saying that a Wisconsin software company noted and detected some voltage fluctuations within the power grid as early as Wednesday -- not all that unusual, except that the duration of those fluctuations was longer than usual.
We talked to the Midwest ISO -- that's the Independent Transmission System Operator -- a little while ago, and they told me that they're looking into that report to see what weight that might carry. But they, too, do not believe that you can pin all of the blame on what happened with the four transmission lines here in Ohio going down.
But, still, at this point, Ohio remains the focus of attention.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZARELLA (voice-over): 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 co-owned 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.
The Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator, which monitors the region, says there may be more to it than four Ohio lines. Quote -- "What is unknown is the relationship among the events in the Midwest and what was occurring elsewhere in the Eastern interconnection at that time" -- end quote. FirstEnergy added that other events were happening simultaneously outside its operating system.
But for now, the focus remains on Ohio and the transmission lines in the Erie loop.
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 -- quote -- "FirstEnergy determined that its computerized system for monitoring and controlling its transmission and generation system was operating, but the alarm screen function was not."
FirstEnergy added -- quote -- "Customers experienced no service interruptions resulting from these conditions; therefore, no isolation of FirstEnergy's system was called for."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZARRELLA: What still remains very unclear at this time is what other events might have been taking place outside of the Ohio region that could have contributed to the massive blackout. That is another one of those many unanswered questions that still remain -- Leon.
HARRIS: All right, thanks, John -- John Zarrella in East Lake, Ohio.
All right, let's go back across the country to the East now, where subways and trains were rolling once again in New York City this morning. And it was a normal rush hour, which is not normally a headline, but it is this morning -- a far cry from the morass we saw of last week.
Let's check in now with our Jason Carroll, who is at Penn Station this morning to give us a look at how things are shaping up there this morning -- Jason.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And hello to you, Leon.
In terms of how things are shaping up here, it looks like an average Monday to me. You know, you have lots of commuters out here, lots of trains. The big difference is, as you said, the trains and the subways are running on time. And, as you can imagine, that is a great relief to thousands of commuters who depend on the city's subway and trains as well.
Right now what's going on is the city is trying to put a price tag on what the crisis has cost. The New York City transit can say at this point that the cost of the crisis is going to cost them about $7 million. When you add everything up and look at the state as a whole, it could end up costing the state of New York several hundred million dollars. The same can be true of Detroit and Michigan when everything is all added up. They're also saying that that could take several days before they get an exact figure.
Also, New York City's Health Department has put out a warning, Leon, to consumers, because what happened is, over the weekend, they saw a spike in the number of food-related illnesses. And they think that's because people are not checking the food well enough. They say if it looks at all questionable, you should throw it out, get rid of it. In fact, the motto that they're trying to put out there is, "When in doubt, throw it out."
Also at this point, cities like New York, Detroit, portions of Ottawa, Canada, are going to be reviewing their emergency plans that went into effect during the crisis. Apparently, there were some problems in those areas with police communications. So, officials are going to be looking at their emergency plans, trying to figure out what worked and what didn't.
Also at this point, New York City's mayor, Michael Bloomberg, is also stressing, saying, look, we don't have an unlimited amount of power out there, so conserve, conserve, conserve, especially on this day, Monday, the first business day, where you've got lots of businesses that are open, lots of electricity use. So, he is also stressing for people to conserve whenever you can -- Leon.
HARRIS: All right. Probably good advice at any time of the year. Thanks, Jason -- Jason Carroll live in New York.
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 18, 2003 - 11:07 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Power hungry workers are returning to offices and factories all across the Midwest and the Northeast this morning. It's the first full business day since the big blackout of 2003.
So, let's see how things are shaping up.
CNN's John Zarrella is in East Lake, Ohio, which is near Cleveland. And we've also got our Jason Carroll standing by at New York's Penn Station.
We'll start with John Zarrella in Cleveland -- John.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Leon, you know, early on, after the blackout there, of course, there was very quick speculation and movement to pin all of the blame on four power transmission lines here in the Ohio area. Well, a report in "The New York Times" is saying that a Wisconsin software company noted and detected some voltage fluctuations within the power grid as early as Wednesday -- not all that unusual, except that the duration of those fluctuations was longer than usual.
We talked to the Midwest ISO -- that's the Independent Transmission System Operator -- a little while ago, and they told me that they're looking into that report to see what weight that might carry. But they, too, do not believe that you can pin all of the blame on what happened with the four transmission lines here in Ohio going down.
But, still, at this point, Ohio remains the focus of attention.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZARELLA (voice-over): 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 co-owned 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.
The Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator, which monitors the region, says there may be more to it than four Ohio lines. Quote -- "What is unknown is the relationship among the events in the Midwest and what was occurring elsewhere in the Eastern interconnection at that time" -- end quote. FirstEnergy added that other events were happening simultaneously outside its operating system.
But for now, the focus remains on Ohio and the transmission lines in the Erie loop.
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 -- quote -- "FirstEnergy determined that its computerized system for monitoring and controlling its transmission and generation system was operating, but the alarm screen function was not."
FirstEnergy added -- quote -- "Customers experienced no service interruptions resulting from these conditions; therefore, no isolation of FirstEnergy's system was called for."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZARRELLA: What still remains very unclear at this time is what other events might have been taking place outside of the Ohio region that could have contributed to the massive blackout. That is another one of those many unanswered questions that still remain -- Leon.
HARRIS: All right, thanks, John -- John Zarrella in East Lake, Ohio.
All right, let's go back across the country to the East now, where subways and trains were rolling once again in New York City this morning. And it was a normal rush hour, which is not normally a headline, but it is this morning -- a far cry from the morass we saw of last week.
Let's check in now with our Jason Carroll, who is at Penn Station this morning to give us a look at how things are shaping up there this morning -- Jason.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And hello to you, Leon.
In terms of how things are shaping up here, it looks like an average Monday to me. You know, you have lots of commuters out here, lots of trains. The big difference is, as you said, the trains and the subways are running on time. And, as you can imagine, that is a great relief to thousands of commuters who depend on the city's subway and trains as well.
Right now what's going on is the city is trying to put a price tag on what the crisis has cost. The New York City transit can say at this point that the cost of the crisis is going to cost them about $7 million. When you add everything up and look at the state as a whole, it could end up costing the state of New York several hundred million dollars. The same can be true of Detroit and Michigan when everything is all added up. They're also saying that that could take several days before they get an exact figure.
Also, New York City's Health Department has put out a warning, Leon, to consumers, because what happened is, over the weekend, they saw a spike in the number of food-related illnesses. And they think that's because people are not checking the food well enough. They say if it looks at all questionable, you should throw it out, get rid of it. In fact, the motto that they're trying to put out there is, "When in doubt, throw it out."
Also at this point, cities like New York, Detroit, portions of Ottawa, Canada, are going to be reviewing their emergency plans that went into effect during the crisis. Apparently, there were some problems in those areas with police communications. So, officials are going to be looking at their emergency plans, trying to figure out what worked and what didn't.
Also at this point, New York City's mayor, Michael Bloomberg, is also stressing, saying, look, we don't have an unlimited amount of power out there, so conserve, conserve, conserve, especially on this day, Monday, the first business day, where you've got lots of businesses that are open, lots of electricity use. So, he is also stressing for people to conserve whenever you can -- Leon.
HARRIS: All right. Probably good advice at any time of the year. Thanks, Jason -- Jason Carroll live in New York.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
