    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2003, Book II)]
    [August 14, 2003]
    [Pages 1008-1009]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on the Power Blackout in Portions of North America and an
    Exchange With Reporters in San Diego, California
    August 14, 2003

        The President. Today our country--a major portion of our country was
    affected by rolling blackout. Canada was affected; over 10 million
    people in Canada were affected as well. And I have been working with
    Federal officials to make sure the response to this situation was quick
    and thorough, and I believe it has been.
        We're focused on two major things right now. One is to work with
    State and local authorities to manage the consequences of this rolling
    blackout. In my judgment, the Governors and mayors of the affected
    States and cities have responded very well. We've offered all the help
    they need to help people cope with this blackout. And they've--to this
    moment have said they've got the resources necessary to handle it. The
    emergency preparedness teams at the local level and the State level are
    responding very well.
        I also want to thank the people in the affected cities and States
    for their calm response to this emergency situation. It has been
    remarkable to watch on television how resolved the people are about
    dealing with this situation, and it's--I'm grateful for that. And I know
    their neighbors are grateful as well for the proper and calm response.
        The other thing, of course, we're working on is to get electricity
    up and running as quickly as possible. And Federal officials are working
    with State and local officials to get the electricity grid up and
    running. Our goal, of course, is to do this as quickly as possible.
    Obviously, the sooner we can get electricity up, the more normal
    people's lives will become.
        One thing I think I can say for certain is that this was not a
    terrorist act. I've heard reports about a lightning strike in Niagara
    Falls, New York, and we're--Federal officials, of course, are
    investigating the veracity of that. We'll find out here what caused the
    blackout. But most importantly, what we now need to do is fix the
    problem and to get electricity up and running as quickly as possible.
        I was pleased to hear that many of the airports up East are
    beginning to have flights leave, and that's good. So in other words,
    slowly but surely, we're coping with this massive national problem.
    Millions of people's lives are affected. I fully understand that their
    lives will not be normal for the short run and hope that they continue
    to cope with this in a manner that they have done so far. I'm confident
    we can get things up and running as quickly as possible, and people's
    lives will go back to normal.
        Yes.

    Security of the Power Grid

        Q. Mr. President, does this suggest that, even with all the
    attention paid to homeland security, that the electrical grid is still
    vulnerable, should it have been a terrorist attack?
        The President. Well, I think, you know, one of the things we'll have
    to do, of course, is take an assessment of why the cascade was so
    significant, why it was able

    [[Page 1009]]

    to ripple so significantly throughout our system up East. And that'll be
    a very important part of the investigation once we deal with the
    immediate--and the immediate, of course, is to take care of people.
        You know, for example, in New York City, Mayor Bloomberg has ordered out thousands of police officers on the
    street to help bring calm. Firefighters are working overtime. Emergency
    crews are out working well. My focus is to work with State and local
    authorities to help deal with the immediate problem. Of course, 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. But
    this will be--this is going to be an interesting lesson for our country,
    and we'll have to respond to it.

    Cause of the Blackout

        Q. Mr. President.
        The President. Yes.
        Q. Do we know why this happened?
        The President. Well, as I say, I saw a preliminary report. But we'll
    find out why, and we'll deal with the problem.

    Federal/State/Local Cooperation

        Q. Mr. President, you said that the State and locals had said they
    have all the resources they need. Can you talk about what the Federal
    Government might do or might already be doing to help them out?
        The President. Well, one thing, of course, we're doing is we're
    getting the airlines running. The FAA is--as I understand, has cleared
    flights out of LaGuardia and Newark, for example.
        The organization of Homeland Security is aimed at quick
    communications with State and local authorities, and I think that that
    communication was quick and thorough. I talked to Secretary Ridge several times. Governors have been notified, and mayors
    have been notified, and we're prepared to do anything that we can upon
    request.
        Q. But it doesn't sound like they've asked you yet to do very----
        The President. Not much, because they're well prepared. I mean, the
    first thing that I think Americans ought to be pleased about is the fact
    that we're better organized today than we were 2\1/2\ years ago to deal
    with an emergency, and the system responded well. Secretary Ridge was telling me 30 minutes ago how quickly the local
    authorities responded and how good the communications were between the
    Federal Government, the State government, the local government.
        It's a serious situation, but the people whose lives have been
    affected need to know there's a lot of people working to enable them to
    get on about their lives in a normal way. And hopefully, electricity
    will be restored soon. I can't tell you exactly when, but I know a lot
    of people are working overtime to get it done.
        Thank you all.

    Note: The President spoke at 5:24 p.m. at the Manchester Grand Hyatt. In
    his remarks, he referred to Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City.