Is Another Massive Blackout on the Way?

Does August 14th, 2003 ring a bell? It was the BIGGEST outage/blackout in U.S. history. More than fifty million people were affected in the Northeast, Midwest and Canada when transmission lines in Ohio automatically shut down because they were too close to trees. As you recall, that caused electricity to be rerouted to other transmission lines which, in turn, overloaded the lines and caused them to fail.

Do you remember where you were on that day? I was in New York City with my oldest son (who was 21 months old at the time) and was nine months pregnant with my second son. I was stranded in my apartment and couldn't get a hold of my husband who was out of town. My in-laws drove into New York City and took me to their home in New Jersey where they did have power.

The economic fallout from that blackout was estimated to be in the $5 to $6 billion dollar range. Hard to believe but it's true. A lot has changed since then and yet it's not enough, according to many experts.

This morning the current Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Joseph Kelliher and a former Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Branko Terzic, joined me to discuss the current status of the electricy grid, how susceptable we are to another blackout and how we need to address alternative sources of energy.

We split the interview into two parts. First with the acting chairman and second with the former chairman. Here's my takeaway from my discussions with them.

1. I had no idea until this morning how important the electricity grid, backup generators and progress or lack thereof of alternative energy is. I have spent way too much time focusing on oil and it's implications for the prices we pay at the pump. I now know that equal attention should be paid to our energy infrastructure in the United States as it relates to electricity.

2. The power of backup generation, which is our backstop if transmission lines fail, is not the FERC's responsibility, but the responsibility of the individual states. How well are they prepared? Are we policing their progress?

3. The current chairman emphasized our reliance on natural gas as the chief form of electricity in this country. He is in full support of wind power, but notes that the key to wind is storage. He also notes that cyberterrorism is something he is very concerned about and has little to no control over. That scares me.

I'll let you draw your own conclusions from these two interviews. I learned a lot from the two of them, but what I was most shocked by was the list Branko generated of reasons why energy demand is growing in this country. From his words, the population has increased 11% in 10 years, 50% more homes in the last 8 years, homes are 72% larger over this period, the number of air conditioners has exploded over the past 9 years, plasma TVs use 50% more energy and the MP3 players -- all 17 million of them! -- add up. The average household has 26 consumer electronic products!!!! Twenty-six....unbelievable!

My interview with current FERC Chairman Joseph Kelliher

My interview with former FERC Chairman Branko Terzic