[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 62 (Thursday, May 6, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4989-S4990]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        THE NEED FOR NATIONAL ELECTRICITY RELIABILITY STANDARDS

  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I rise to express my strong support for 
the Electricity Reliability Act of 2004, S. 2236. I am proud to be an 
original cosponsor of this legislation and I hope that the Senate acts 
on this bill soon. Although we cannot agree on the comprehensive energy 
bill that has been before the Senate, we can agree on

[[Page S4990]]

many provisions in the bill. Mandatory reliability standards are a 
perfect example of what we all agree should be part of our national 
energy policy.
  Our citizens deserve a reliable, safe power grid. This is one of the 
country's most pressing energy needs. We have to do all that we can to 
prevent blackouts like the one that hit the east coast and Midwest last 
August and the Electric Reliability Act of 2004 takes a crucial step 
toward that goal. The bill grants the Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission--FERC--the explicit authority to create mandatory electric 
reliability standards. FERC can also approve the formation of electric 
reliability organizations, which will, subject to FERC review, enforce 
these standards. Strong and enforceable electric reliability standards 
will help ensure that our citizens and businesses do not have to worry 
about their respective lives and livelihoods being disrupted by 
blackouts.
  In fact, a joint investigation by a United States-Canadian task force 
found that the lack of mandatory reliability standards contributed to 
the August 14, 2003, blackout. This massive outage affected 50 million 
people in eight U.S. States and parts of Canada. The task force report 
found that an Ohio-based utility and regional grid manager together 
violated at least six reliability standards on the day of the blackout. 
Examples of the reliability violations that contributed to the blackout 
included: not reacting to a power line failure within 30 minutes, not 
notifying nearby systems of the transmission problems, failing to 
analyze what was happening to the grid, inadequately training 
operators, and failing to adequately monitor transmission stations. 
Since the industry is largely self-regulated, violations of these 
voluntary reliability standards carry no penalties. This legislation 
would hold utilities accountable for reliability violations.
  Let's act now and pass this legislation before we face a blackout 
like we saw last summer. We should work together to pass the elements 
of the broader energy bill that are necessary and widely supported. I 
urge my colleagues to support Senator Cantwell's bill and to join me in 
asking that this legislation come to the floor.

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