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Blackout Stamp a Worthy Cause, But Here's The Truth Folks!



 
 
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Old August 15th 03, 10:53 PM
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Default Blackout Stamp a Worthy Cause, But Here's The Truth Folks!

Blackout stamp is a silly idea. Even Monty Python wouldn't have used it.
I always wonder, because Europe & Japan had the crap bombed, blown up
& destroyed out of them, wouldn't it go along that everything to replace
what was destroyed in the war is more modern than what we have. Much of the
power equipment & plants at Niagara falls dates from the end of the 1890s to
1920s and is still in use. Just one example cause the wife is calling me to
supper so must go! Bye.
Dave

"A.Melon" wrote in message
news:2e408e7f7c7dcde1df18ca71eca8704c@melontraffic kers.com...
Blackout Stamp a Worthy Cause, But Here's The Truth Folks!


August 15, 2003

If Bush Really Wants to Investigate the Cause of the Largest
Blackout in
American History, He Should Start with the Vice-President, Tom
DeLay and Himself

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS

The following BuzzFlash news analysis was developed using
material provided by
alert BuzzFlash readers:

CLAIM

"We'll have time to look at it and determine whether or not our
grid needs to be
modernized. I happen to think it does, and have said so all
along."
- George Bush, 8/14/03 [LINK]

SAN DIEGO - President Bush said he will order a review of why so
many states
were hit by a massive power blackout Thursday and said he
suspects the nation's
electrical grid will have to be modernized. [LINK]

FACT

In June of 2001, Bush opposed and the congressional GOP voted
down legislation
to provide $350 million worth of loans to modernize the nation's
power grid
because of known weaknesses in reliability and capacity.
Supporters of the
amendment pointed to studies by the Energy Department showing
that the grid was
in desperate need of upgrades as proof that their legislation
sponsored by U.S.
Rep. Sam Farr (D-CA) should pass.

Unfortunately, the Bush Administration lobbied against it and
the Republicans
voted it down three separate times: First, on a straight party
line in the U.S.
House Appropriations Committee, then on a straight party line
the U.S. House
Rules Committee, and finally on a party line on the floor of the
full House
[Roll Call Vote #169, 6/20/01].

As AP reported at the time, the amendment would have amendments
that would have
doubled the bill's money for energy assistance for the poor to
$600 "provided
$350 million to support loans to improve the capacity of
transmission grids.
'It's pure demagoguery,' House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Texas,
said in a brief
interview regarding the Democratic amendments. 'If Democrats had
an energy
policy, they'd have had one in the last eight years. They have
no credibility on
this issue whatsoever. They are responsible for the energy
crunch more than
anybody I know.' Spotlighting the high political stakes, House
Minority Leader
Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., took the unusual step of issuing a written
statement about
the committee's energy votes. He said President Bush and
Republicans are
'committed to helping the Big Energy special interests' and
accused them of
obstruction." [AP, 6/14/01].

FY02 energy and water bill - 6/25/2001

FARR AMENDMENT: Electric Power Grid Improvement Loans
AMENDMENT DESCRIPTION:
Total cost: $350 million
Authorize the Secretary of Energy to make loans and loan-
guarantees for the
purpose of improving existing electric power transmission
systems, reliability
or capacity. These loans must be repaid in full within 25 years,
such that the
long-term cost to the government is zero.
BACKGROUND:
- GROWING DEMAND NOT MATCHED BY GROWING TRANSMISSION CAPACITY:
Over the next 10
years, the Department of Energy predicts that demand for
electric power will
increase by 25%, requiring more than 200,000 megawatts of new
capacity. However,
under current plans electric transmission capacity will not be
nearly enough to
keep pace.
- CALIFORNIA'S PATH 15 ALREADY PROVES THAT BOTTLENECKS ARE A
PROBLEM: Path 15 in
California consists of two 84 mile 500 kilovolt transmission
lines between the
northern and southern parts of the State. There is complete
agreement that Path
15 is a major bottleneck that contributes to blackouts in the
State, costing the
consumers $222 million in 2000 alone. The one-time cost to fix
the Path 15
problem is $250 million, which would increase transfer capacity
over Path 15 by
approximately 1500 megawatts. The Secretary of Energy himself
testified, that
constructing the 3rd Path 15 line within the existing pathway
would increase
system reliability, reduce the likelihood of blackouts, and lead
to greater
competition and lower prices.
- EXISTING BILL UNDERFUNDS EFFORTS TO ADDRESS BOTTLENECKS: The
supplemental bill
before you today includes $1.6 million, not requested by the
Administration, for
the Department of Energy to study the power grid problem. While
that's a
positive first step, the fact is that the project has been
studied for years and
there is consensus among all parties that upgrades are
desperately needed - and
needed now.
- AMENDMENT WOULD DEAL WITH ENTIRE GRID: This amendment is
designed to deal with
all of the major power grid vulnerabilities.

Here's part of a news release (from June 21, 2001) by a
Democratic Congressman
who saw the Republicans fight against and defeat his effort to
have the
government provide loans to upgrade the nation's electrical grid
[LINK] :

REPUBLICANS DENY REP. FARR'S AMENDMENT FOR ELECTRIC POWER GRID
LOANS

'I'm disheartened that some Republicans continue to play
politics while the
energy crisis wreaks havoc on our lives,' Rep. Farr says

(Washington, DC) - Rep. Sam Farr tried to offer an amendment to
an
appropriations bill today that would provide funding for
electric power grid
improvements. The Republican-dominated Rules Committee refused
to allow the
amendment on the bill.

"One thing that's aggravated the energy crisis in California is
the antiquated
power grid infrastructure," Rep. Farr said. "Power gets
generated in Southern
California and squeezed up an 85-mile stretch of high-voltage
wires in the
Central Valley called Path 15. The demand for energy in the
Silicon Valley and
San Francisco far outstrips the capacity of Path 15, which is a
dangerous
bottleneck and needs to be overhauled."

Rep. Farr vowed to continue offering the amendment to other
legislation this
year. The amendment authorizes $350 million to fund direct loans
and loan
guarantees to improve electric power transmission systems in the
United States.
Under the amendment, the loans and loan guarantees can only be
made after the
Secretary of Energy approves them; determines that other
commercial financing is
unavailable and that an emergency exists, and finds that the
projects they fund
would maintain or improve electricity transmission.

Borrowers would have up to 25 years to repay the loans.

"This loan program would benefit people of all political
stripes," Rep. Farr
said. "And the loans could be used by public or private-sector
groups to improve
an electrical grid that is clearly outdated and overburdened in
California and
elsewhere. That's why I'm disheartened that some Republicans
continue to play
politics while the energy crisis wreaks havoc on our lives."

Rep. Farr said that while many Republicans are gradually coming
to see the
wisdom of intervening in what is obviously a dysfunctional
energy market in the
West, the Republicans on the Rules Committee that rejected his
amendment is out
of touch with the damage caused by the California energy crisis.
Families are
facing soaring energy costs, businesses are fighting for
survival and political
leaders who continue to ignore their plight do so at their own
peril, he added.

And how does this illuminate Cheney's refusal to help California
when it
suffered rolling blackouts from the predatory behavior of the
power companies
and Gray Davis asked for help? Well, the Bush administration's
and Tom DeLay's
refusal to upgrade the electrical grid had a similar -- but even
more dramatic
-- impact on August 14, 2003

And what about Arnold Schwarzenegger? Read on:

"In order to counter the virtual public consensus that
deregulation ought to be
dumped, Ken Lay, during the spring of 2001, began a series of
high-powered
meetings to salvage the deteriorating argument for his energy
scheme.... He met
privately with Vice President Cheney in the days leading up to
the
administration's publication of what became an extremely Enron-
friendly National
Energy Plan. Successful on the national front as a result of his
longstanding
relationship with key Republicans, Lay hoped to regain his
footing in California
by forging ties with prominent Republicans in the state. In May
of 2001, Lay
convened a private meeting with junk bond king Michael Milken,
Los Angeles'
then-Mayor Richard Riordan and Arnold Schwarzenegger, at which
Lay reportedly
presented his vision of solving the state's energy deregulation
crisis by,
absurd as it sounds, expanding deregulation. The meeting, about
which the public
still knows very little, may become a major issue now that
Schwarzenegger is no
longer just a Republican movie star..." [LINK]

Now Bush wants to "review" the electrical grid problems. Well,
he only need look
in the mirror and call Tom DeLay and Dick Cheney to get to the
bottom of the
issue. With those three people in hand, he won't have to look
any farther for
the primary culprits in our government.

And when he's finished, he might have John "KGB" prosecute the
real villains
behind all of this -- including the past problems in California -
- starting with
Ken Lay.

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS


http://www.buzzflash.com/analysis/03..._blackout.html



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