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CNN Crossfire

Blackout Started In Ohio

Aired August 16, 2003 - 18:33   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 again to this week's blackout. Investigators say the problem apparently started in Ohio. CNN's Jason Carroll is following that investigation, and he joins us from Times Square in New York.
So they think that it started in Ohio? Do they have any idea exactly where, Jason?

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They do. They're basically saying that it started basically because of three transmission lines that failed. They're still trying to figure out the reasons why those transmission lines failed. As you can imagine, a lot of people out here on the streets of New York asking the same question, trying to figure out exactly why it all happened.

In terms of life here in New York, though, you can look around here at Times Square, looks like any other weekend in Times Square, lots of people out in the streets. The businesses are open. New York's governor saying today that there is virtually 100 percent power in the state, that the state is also still under a state of emergency. That will probably remain in effect for the next few days.

Much has been said, Andrea, about the way New Yorkers responded to this crisis. I want to show you something here. This pretty much says it all, "bravo, New York." This is in response to the fact that New York City saying that basically there was not a spike in crime, very little reports of price gouging. What you basically saw here in New York are people sort of pitching together to see themselves through this crisis.

In terms of transportation here in the city, the city's subways, the trains are running on weekend schedules. That's certainly good news for a lot of the commuters. As you know, many commuters, thousands of them, everywhere between 3,000 and 4,000 commuters at one point, had to spend the night on the city's streets, simply because they had no way of getting home.

Businesses are open, trying to recoup the costs that were lost, since they had to -- many of them had to stay closed since Thursday, although I have to tell you, there were some restaurants that I saw on Thursday night that simply pulled tables out into the sidewalk, lit a few candles, served cold salads and wine and did their best in that way.

Earlier today, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the key word is "conservation, conservation, conservation." He says there is very little extra power out there, so he's asking New Yorkers to conserve as much as possible, but he also used a little bit of humor when it came to describing the current state of the city.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK CITY: Pretty much everything is back to normal after the power outage, with one exception, and that is that the Mets have now won three in a row. I wish that were normal, but it's not. Subways are back on a weekend schedule. Power is back every place. Let me urge everybody, conservation, conservation, conservation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: In terms of the investigation, which you had mentioned earlier, again, energy officials have traced the source of the problem to three failed transmission lines. Again, they don't know if they failed because of human error or because of some sort of a technical error. Energy officials say also that at this point they don't know why that then triggered that massive power failure that we saw on the Eerie loop, that is the power grid that runs across several states, as well as portions of Canada.

At one point during the crisis, there was some sort of a heavy power surge. The energy and power began moving in a wrong direction, counter-clockwise, and what that created was a chain reaction. Generators started shutting down.

There is a computer system that is in place that's supposed to prevent something like that from happening. Obviously, that computer system failed as well. So investigators are going to be looking at that trying to determine why that part of the system failed as well.

And officials are warning also today that what we saw on Thursday could happen again if they can't get to the bottom of exactly what went wrong out here.

Also they're telling us that there is the possibility of rolling blackouts that could take place as they bring more generators online if people are not out there and conserving as much power as possible.

The U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham also spoke today. He will be meeting with his Canadian counterpart on Wednesday, and they will be getting together, once again trying to get to the bottom of exactly what happened. Back to you.

KOPPEL: In the meantime, I guess a lot of folks are happy to see all those lights of Broadway and Times Square glittering behind you. Jason Carroll, 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 16, 2003 - 18:33   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: Turning again to this week's blackout. Investigators say the problem apparently started in Ohio. CNN's Jason Carroll is following that investigation, and he joins us from Times Square in New York.
So they think that it started in Ohio? Do they have any idea exactly where, Jason?

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They do. They're basically saying that it started basically because of three transmission lines that failed. They're still trying to figure out the reasons why those transmission lines failed. As you can imagine, a lot of people out here on the streets of New York asking the same question, trying to figure out exactly why it all happened.

In terms of life here in New York, though, you can look around here at Times Square, looks like any other weekend in Times Square, lots of people out in the streets. The businesses are open. New York's governor saying today that there is virtually 100 percent power in the state, that the state is also still under a state of emergency. That will probably remain in effect for the next few days.

Much has been said, Andrea, about the way New Yorkers responded to this crisis. I want to show you something here. This pretty much says it all, "bravo, New York." This is in response to the fact that New York City saying that basically there was not a spike in crime, very little reports of price gouging. What you basically saw here in New York are people sort of pitching together to see themselves through this crisis.

In terms of transportation here in the city, the city's subways, the trains are running on weekend schedules. That's certainly good news for a lot of the commuters. As you know, many commuters, thousands of them, everywhere between 3,000 and 4,000 commuters at one point, had to spend the night on the city's streets, simply because they had no way of getting home.

Businesses are open, trying to recoup the costs that were lost, since they had to -- many of them had to stay closed since Thursday, although I have to tell you, there were some restaurants that I saw on Thursday night that simply pulled tables out into the sidewalk, lit a few candles, served cold salads and wine and did their best in that way.

Earlier today, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the key word is "conservation, conservation, conservation." He says there is very little extra power out there, so he's asking New Yorkers to conserve as much as possible, but he also used a little bit of humor when it came to describing the current state of the city.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK CITY: Pretty much everything is back to normal after the power outage, with one exception, and that is that the Mets have now won three in a row. I wish that were normal, but it's not. Subways are back on a weekend schedule. Power is back every place. Let me urge everybody, conservation, conservation, conservation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: In terms of the investigation, which you had mentioned earlier, again, energy officials have traced the source of the problem to three failed transmission lines. Again, they don't know if they failed because of human error or because of some sort of a technical error. Energy officials say also that at this point they don't know why that then triggered that massive power failure that we saw on the Eerie loop, that is the power grid that runs across several states, as well as portions of Canada.

At one point during the crisis, there was some sort of a heavy power surge. The energy and power began moving in a wrong direction, counter-clockwise, and what that created was a chain reaction. Generators started shutting down.

There is a computer system that is in place that's supposed to prevent something like that from happening. Obviously, that computer system failed as well. So investigators are going to be looking at that trying to determine why that part of the system failed as well.

And officials are warning also today that what we saw on Thursday could happen again if they can't get to the bottom of exactly what went wrong out here.

Also they're telling us that there is the possibility of rolling blackouts that could take place as they bring more generators online if people are not out there and conserving as much power as possible.

The U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham also spoke today. He will be meeting with his Canadian counterpart on Wednesday, and they will be getting together, once again trying to get to the bottom of exactly what happened. Back to you.

KOPPEL: In the meantime, I guess a lot of folks are happy to see all those lights of Broadway and Times Square glittering behind you. Jason Carroll, 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