Updated Legislation Will Likely Prevent Another 2003 Blackout (10/06/03)

Francis Dietz
ASME Government Relations

WASHINGTON — The current transmission system in the United States was designed to serve local, heavily regulated monopolies, not the deregulated system we have today, Joe Barton, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality, said during a briefing about the blackout of 2003 that was sponsored by ASME in mid-September.

The briefing was held on Capitol Hill. During the briefing, Barton, R-Texas, who is also a major figure in the comprehensive energy legislation making its way through the legislative process, explained that the Energy Policy Act of 1992 deregulated wholesale power generation. That deregulation unintentionally caused some of the transmission difficulties the U.S. faces today.

Rather than go back to the heavily regulated system, however, Barton said, what the government needs to do is "do with transmission what we did with power generation."

Barton also stressed the need for mandatory reliability standards, adding that the Public Utility Holding Company Act of the 1930s needs to be repealed in order to get capital flowing toward improving transmission capacity. The repeal of the 1930 PUHCA was recommended by several other panelists.

Streamlining the process for getting new transmission lines sited and built would also relieve the strain on the current power grid, Barton said. Currently, he said, getting transmission lines sited and built "doesn't take an Act of Congress; it takes an Act of God."

Barton and other panelists said that, currently, siting and building takes from 15 to 18 years.

The House energy bill, H.R. 6, would give the Department of Energy and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission the right to designate eminent domain if states that want to site power lines are unable to do so. The president and the energy secretary currently have emergency power to site transmission lines.

Barton's address was followed by panel discussions on technology and policy priorities to improve reliability of the transmission grid. The briefing was co-sponsored by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the U.S. Energy Association.

Richard Laudenat, ASME vice president for Energy Conversion, chaired one of the panels. Marc Goldsmith, a former ASME vice president and an expert in distributed energy technology, chaired the other. ASME President Reggie Vachon gave opening remarks.

The recommendations outlined by the panelists also included improving the "islanding" capability on the eastern grid. Islanding keeps grid problems from spreading to other areas.

The panelists disagreed on what constitutes the proper level of regulatory authority. A panelist from Southern Co., Bruce Edelston, told the audience that his company is fully regulated, operates under the old model of vertically integrated and regulated structure, but has among the highest customer satisfaction rates in the nation. Edelston made it clear that Southern Co. is opposed to being forced to join a Regional Transmission Organization.

Other panelists were much more in favor of RTOs and the continued trend toward deregulation.

A task force convened by ASME following the briefing will review the recommendations and make a determination regarding follow-up actions for the Society.

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