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From: Democracy Now!
Re: Rundown 8-18-03
PRSS Channel: A67.7
8:00-8:01 Billboard:
8:01-8:15 Headlines
8:15-8:16 One Minute Music Break
8:16-8:30 Presidential Candidate Dennis Kucinich
on the Blackout of 2003, Deregulation and Howard Dean's Campaign
Power has been restored to tens of million in the Northeast
after the nation suffered its worst blackout in history on
Thursday and Friday. New York City, Cleveland, Detroit, Toronto
and Ottawa were among the cities to lose power Many energy
experts now believe the blackout began in Ohio where a series
of line failures and plant shutdowns spread rapidly across
the region..
Much of the blame has been placed on the nation's antiquated
energy grid. Former Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said
the country is running on a"third world grid."
A proposal to strengthen the nation's power transmission
center has been stalled by Senate Republicans for months.
On Thursday President Bush said the blackout should serve
as a "wake up call." But the Washington Post reports that
President Bush plans to side with opponents of the plan and
delay an upgrade of the system by three years.
Among the groups investigating what happened is the North
American Electric Reliability Council, which was formed after
the 1965 blackout to monitor energy utilities.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the Council had been
warning Congress for four years that deregulation of the energy
industry has made its job harder to monitor and enforce rules.
But Congress has so far refused to give the energy Council
enforcement powers.
Investigators examining the cause of Thursday's blackout
are centering specifically on the company FirstEnergy Cop.
based in Akron Ohio though Representatives from First Energy
say it is too early to determine if its plant caused the problem.
The energy firm has had a history of past problems since
1997 when it was formed from the merger of Ohio Edison, the
Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co. and Toledo Edison. In
2001, it acquired General Public Utilities, which owned Pennsylvania
Electric Co., Metropolitan Edison near Redding, Pa., and New
Jersey Central Power and Light.
- Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), presidential candidate
and former mayor of Cleveland, Ohio.
Link: www.kucinich.us
9:30-9:45 Did Deregulation of the Energy Sector
Cause the Blackout of 2003? A Debate Between Greg Palast,
the Competitive Enterprise Institute and a Former Utility
Co. Executive
" Major Midwest blackout of seven states. Essential services,
water supply, sewage, interrupted for up to four days; 176
deaths attributed to power interruption" This is not a news
report from Thursday of last week when most of the North Eastern
US and parts of Canada were plunged into darkness in the fourth
and biggest blackout in US history but the prediction that
power engineer Jack Casazza formerly with the PSE & G
of New Jersey made in his 2001 book 'Sham? Shame!Inside the
Electric Power Industry'- He quit PSE&G dissatisfied with
the management and now heads the American Education Institute
in Washington, DC. As we examine the de-regulation debate
and the reasons for the blackout we are joined by Jack Casazza
and Greg Palast bestselling author of 'The Best Democracy
Money Can Buy' and also co-author of 'Democracy and Regulation'.
- Fred Smith, president of the Competitive Enterprise Institute
in Washington D.C., a public policy group dedicated to the
principles of free enterprise and limited government
Link: www.cei.org
- Greg Palast, investigative reporter with the BBC and
author of the books'The Best Democracy Money can Buy' and
'Democracy and Regulation'
Link: www.gregpalast.com
- Jack Casazza, engineer and former utility executive with
Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G) in New
Jersey. He is the author of "Sham? Shame! Inside The Electric
Power Industry," a book he wrote in 2001 book in which he
predicted a major blackout similar would happen in August
2004. He serves as the president of the American Education
Institute in Washington, D.C.
8:45-8:58 Will Reliance on Fossil Fuels & Nuclear
Energy Cause More Blackouts? A Discussion on Alternative Energy
sources.
Energy expert Harvey Wasserman wrote a column last week:
"This is the fourth---and worst---completely unnecessary
major regional blackout in this country in forty years, dating
back to 1965. It's scope---from Detroit to Ottawa to New York
and New Jersey---is absolutely awesome, especially since it's
due to total stupidity and corruptionŠ The culprits in
this latest northeastern disaster are basically the same---the
barons of fossil and nuclear power and their cronies in the
electric utility business.
"Their "weapon" is an ancient electric grid that's
obsolete if not obscene. It is a massively fragile Rube Goldberg
device that dangerously and inefficiently carts around electricity
from expensive, polluting and extremely unsafe central generating
plants to buildings that waste massive amounts of energy and
generate none.
"That the grid will crash again and again and yet again is
absolutely certain. The only question is who are the real
terrorists: errant crazies who blow things up, or entrenched
interests that refuse to change?
"The technology now exists to transcend this mess. In the
mid 1990s California's green energy advocates proposed a 600-megawatt
mosaic of solar, wind and other renewable generators that
would have entirely prevented the fake deregulatory crisis
of 2000-1. It was approved by the California Public Utilities
Commission, but then killed by Southern California Edison
and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
"Today, the Bush Administration wants to further subsidize
its fossil/utility friends with a bad energy bill, and by
pouring billions into "upgrading" the electric grid.
The only thing certain is that every cent of that money will
be wasted."
- Harvey Wasserman, senior advisor to the Nuclear Information
& Resource Service and author of The Last Energy War.
He is a senior editor at the Free Press in Ohio.
- Greg Palast, investigative reporter with the BBC and
author of the books 'The Best Democracy Money can Buy' and
'Democracy and Regulation'
Link: www.gregpalast.com
- Jack Casazza, engineer and former utility executive with
Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G) in New
Jersey. He is the author of "Sham? Shame! Inside The Electric
Power Industry," a book he wrote in 2001 book in which he
predicted a major blackout similar would happen in August
2004. He serves as the president of the American Education
Institute in Washington, D.C.
8:58-8:59 Outro and Credits
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Kris Abrams, Mike Burke, Angie
Karran, Sharif Abdul Kouddous, Lenina Nadal, Ana Nogueira,
Elizabeth Press and Parvez Sharma. Mike Di Filippo is our
music maestro and engineer.
[Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Rafael delaUz, Gabriel Weiss, Johnny Sender,
Rich Kim, Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Jenny
Filipazzo and Ionnis Mookas.]
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