President Bush and Congress need to drop the gamesmanship and approve legislation that strengthens oversight of the national power grid.
Published August 25, 2003
Emerging from the biggest blackout in the nation's history, Americans don't want political gamesmanship to get in the way of a fix. When the power failed from Ohio to New York and through parts of Canada, 50-million people were left in the dark. Yet the White House and Congress are refusing to deal directly with the problem, choosing instead to link an upgrade of the frayed electrical grid to passage of a bloated energy bill.
Legislation in the House runs to nearly 800 pages and would allow, among other things, oil wells in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, an important breeding ground for caribou. That issue alone has been controversial and could threaten passage of the measure. The House and Senate have filled their separate versions of the bill with misguided tax breaks. Companies that own nuclear power plants would be shielded from liability for radiation spills, and ethanol producers would be heavily subsidized, a giveaway that is little more than corporate welfare for corn farmers.
Meanwhile, members of both parties have refused to deal with the key issue in responding to the blackout: strengthened federal oversight of the national power grid. In Congress, regional and state interests have prevailed over the common good. The South and West don't want to risk their low-cost power supply by having to bail out the North and East. Oil producers such as Texas and Alaska are mainly interested in relaxed regulations on drilling, but increasing domestic oil production has nothing to do with addressing an antiquated transmission system.
Deregulation of the power industry has failed, as well, yet Republican leaders still tout it as a panacea. Instead of reducing costs and increasing electricity supplies, deregulation has created a crazy quilt of independent operators who don't communicate with others along the wire. And because there is less profit in the transmission of electricity, some utility companies have failed to make necessary investments in their infrastructure.
It's unfortunate that President Bush has insisted on linking a plan to improve the nation's power grid with such flawed policies. Why tie up an issue of great immediacy in an unnecessary political battle? We hope the president is not being opportunistic, seeing a way to weaken drilling regulations under the guise of resolving a national crisis.
More oil derricks in the arctic and another pay day for the agriculture industry have nothing to do with the problems that caused the blackout. The Bush administration and Congress should take up modernization of the nation's power grid on its own, free of political distractions.
