July 22, 2004 – Congressman Doyle called today for the rapid passage of legislation to prevent massive power blackouts like the one that hit the northeast last August.

“A year after the widespread blackout last summer, our nation is still at risk of experiencing devastating regional power blackouts,” Congressman Doyle said today. “Today, no one has the authority to make sure that our electricity transmission and distribution system is reliable and capable of meeting surges in demand like the ones we often see in the summer. We need to pass legislation to fix this problem.”

On August 14, 2003, a massive power outage affected more than 50 million people in eight northeastern and Midwestern states, Ontario, and Quebec. Many households were without power for several days. The blackout endangered public safety and cost businesses and households nearly $10 billion in property damage and other losses.

This blackout began in Ohio, where three transmission lines short-circuited. A subsequent investigation found that the energy company that owned those lines was in violation of at least four North Electric Reliability Council (NERC) operating standards. The NERC is a private sector institution that currently works to ensure the reliability of our nation’s electricity supply – but compliance with its recommendations and operating standards is voluntary.

As a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Congressman Doyle was actively involved in investigating the cause of this blackout and drafting legislation to prevent future blackouts – H.R. 3004, the Electric Reliability Improvement Act. This legislation, which was introduced almost a year ago, would establish a national Electric Reliability Organization (ERO) to enforce power reliability standards across the country. The establishment of such an organization – with the authority to set and enforce reliability standards for our nation’s electricity transmission and distribution system – would go a long way towards improving the reliability of our power grid and thus reducing the likelihood of future blackouts. H.R. 3004 was introduced on September 23, 2003, and identical language was included in H.R. 6, a larger energy bill. Unfortunately, H.R. 6 has been stalled for months, and the House leadership has stubbornly refused to consider H.R. 3004.

“I am, frankly, stunned that Congress failed to enact this legislation before summer began,” Congressman Doyle stated. “Everybody understands that summer is the time of year when demand for electricity peaks. We should have passed this bill months ago. That’s why I signed the discharge petition yesterday – to force the House to take up and pass the Electric Reliability Improvement Act before we have another blackout.”

Congressman Doyle joined a number of his colleagues in signing a discharge petition that would force the House leadership to bring H.R. 3004 to the Floor for a vote within two weeks. Normally, the Speaker of the House has total control over the Floor schedule. Discharge petitions are the only way that a majority of Members of Congress can force House consideration of a bill.

“I will keep fighting for as long as it takes to pass legislation making our electricity supply more reliable,” Congressman Doyle promised. “I hope for all our sakes that Congress passes this legislation soon.”