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Blackout Probe: Whose Fault Is It?
Aired August 20, 2003 - 14:33 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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Con Edison customers in New York will have to eat the costs of all that spoiled food cause by last week's blackout. The utility usually pays up to $350 for food losses suffered in power outages. This time, though, Con Ed says it's not responsible since the problem originated somewhere in Ohio.
Well, Con Ed might be blaming Ohio for last week's massive failures. CNN's John Zarrella reports investigators are warning against jumping the gun.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Power industry experts are looking at four tripped transmission lines in Ohio as a possible starting point of the cascading blackout. Three of the lines are owned by FirstEnergy. One is co-owned with American Electric. Federal energy officials say it is still too soon to blame last Thursday's events on FirstEnergy or anyone else.
WILLIAM MASSEY, FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION: It should not have cascaded like this. So there was a failure somewhere. But we do not know where that failure was yet. And I have not prejudged that.
ZARRELLA: But FirstEnergy has had its share of other difficulties. Earlier this month, a federal judge ruled FirstEnergy violated the federal Clean Air Act by not installing anti-pollution equipment at its Sammis coal-fired plant while making other upgrades.
In his summary, Judge Edmund Sargas Jr. (ph) wrote -- quote -- "by any standard, the enforcement of the Clean Air Act with regard to the plant has been disastrous" -- endquote.
And the company's Davis-Bessey (ph) nuclear plant has been down since 2002, when acid corrosion was found in the reactor.
DOROTHEA MATTHEWS, CREDITSIGHTS UTILITIES ANALYST: What we're looking at is, you know, a series of what people are calling bad luck. But after a while, when you get that much bad luck, you have to start looking around and wondering why they're having all this bad luck and other people aren't.
ZARRELLA: A FirstEnergy spokesman says the company believes it is in full compliance with federal air pollution rules at its Sammis plant. Regarding its Davis-Bessey nuclear plant, the company says -- quote -- "we are look to restart in the fall. We have made good progress there. We've changed out the management to make sure it doesn't happen again" -- endquote. And FirstEnergy say it's premature to be pinning last Thursday's events on them.
Energy officials say the data from the affected power companies is so good, there's no doubt they'll find the root cause of the blackout.
John Zarrella, CNN, Cleveland.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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 20, 2003 - 14:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Con Edison customers in New York will have to eat the costs of all that spoiled food cause by last week's blackout. The utility usually pays up to $350 for food losses suffered in power outages. This time, though, Con Ed says it's not responsible since the problem originated somewhere in Ohio.
Well, Con Ed might be blaming Ohio for last week's massive failures. CNN's John Zarrella reports investigators are warning against jumping the gun.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Power industry experts are looking at four tripped transmission lines in Ohio as a possible starting point of the cascading blackout. Three of the lines are owned by FirstEnergy. One is co-owned with American Electric. Federal energy officials say it is still too soon to blame last Thursday's events on FirstEnergy or anyone else.
WILLIAM MASSEY, FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION: It should not have cascaded like this. So there was a failure somewhere. But we do not know where that failure was yet. And I have not prejudged that.
ZARRELLA: But FirstEnergy has had its share of other difficulties. Earlier this month, a federal judge ruled FirstEnergy violated the federal Clean Air Act by not installing anti-pollution equipment at its Sammis coal-fired plant while making other upgrades.
In his summary, Judge Edmund Sargas Jr. (ph) wrote -- quote -- "by any standard, the enforcement of the Clean Air Act with regard to the plant has been disastrous" -- endquote.
And the company's Davis-Bessey (ph) nuclear plant has been down since 2002, when acid corrosion was found in the reactor.
DOROTHEA MATTHEWS, CREDITSIGHTS UTILITIES ANALYST: What we're looking at is, you know, a series of what people are calling bad luck. But after a while, when you get that much bad luck, you have to start looking around and wondering why they're having all this bad luck and other people aren't.
ZARRELLA: A FirstEnergy spokesman says the company believes it is in full compliance with federal air pollution rules at its Sammis plant. Regarding its Davis-Bessey nuclear plant, the company says -- quote -- "we are look to restart in the fall. We have made good progress there. We've changed out the management to make sure it doesn't happen again" -- endquote. And FirstEnergy say it's premature to be pinning last Thursday's events on them.
Energy officials say the data from the affected power companies is so good, there's no doubt they'll find the root cause of the blackout.
John Zarrella, CNN, Cleveland.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
