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Sierra Club Response to
Blackouts
Protect Consumers, Increase Efficiency,
Decentralize Energy Supply
Washington, DC: The Sierra Club today expressed its
sympathy and concern for those citizens affected by the blackouts in the eastern
U.S. and Canada. Noting that the Bush Administration and some Senators are
already pushing their outdated energy policy, the Sierra Club pointed instead to
workable solutions that will reduce the vulnerability of our current energy
delivery system, increase the efficiency and security of our energy supply, and
protect consumers in an environmentally responsible way.
"This blackout is a wake-up
call that our existing system needs to be updated. There's a better way,"
said Debbie Boger, Sierra Club's Washington Representative for Global
Warming and Energy. "The best way to prevent energy bottlenecks and grid
overload is to increase the efficiency of our buildings, homes, factories and
appliances, in addition to our transmission lines. Building more power plants
won't help because we're looking at transmission line bottlenecks. Instead, we
need to decentralize America's power sources, use more renewable energy like
wind and solar power, and ensure power companies aren't allowed to deregulate
and manipulate markets. Unfortunately, the Bush Administration's energy plan,
developed with the energy industry, will take us backwards on all these counts."
Once power is restored to all of the
affected areas, Americans can start looking at the steps to address America's
overall electricity problems:
- Increase Efficiency: There is some evidence
that the outage was due to the system being overloaded, and transmission lines
getting bottlenecked. This is not surprising given the heat wave in the
Northeast, with many air conditioners running. We can help protect
ourselves against these types of bottlenecks in the future by making
sure we have the most energy efficient buildings, air conditioners, factories
and appliances - this will ease the demand and prevent more bottlenecks. Last
year the Bush Administration weakened a provision to make air conditioners 30
percent more efficient. Enacting such provisions, and providing tax
incentives for buildings to increase their efficiency would go a long way to
reducing strain on the grid.
- Decentralize Power: Another factor in the blackout
appears to have been transmission failures in getting electricity to move over
long distances. It is important, both for security and reliability's sake, to
make sure that we have reliable local sources of power, such as solar and
wind. These types of decentralized, homegrown sources can increase the
reliability of the overall grid and lessen the chances that a problem in one
area of the country will affect other areas.
- Improve Power Lines: The Sierra Club supports
improving the efficiency of transmission lines and responsibly sitting these
lines after Environmental Impact Statements have been completed. New
technology allows transmission lines to carry 1.5 to 3 times as much power as
conventional transmission lines. In addition, they significantly reduce line
losses.
- Protect Consumers: The Bush Administration and
some members of Congress continue to push an energy policy that would actually
make these types of situations worse. The Bush Administration's plan
would severely weaken consumer protections in the electricity sector, further
exposing consumers to Enron-type manipulation. This is especially troubling
given the role that Enron played in manipulating the California electricity
markets. While there is no evidence that manipulation played a role in
yesterday's Northeast blackout, we certainly should not be weakening consumer
protections in the electricity sector and opening the door to further abuses
and manipulation.
David Willett
Associate Press Secretary
Sierra Club
(202) 675-6698
david.willett@sierraclub.org
             
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