Blackout '03: Lights Out

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"We have known for a long time now, a decade, that the utility industry is underinvesting in the reliability of the grid," says Charles Curtis, a Deputy Energy Secretary under President Clinton. "We can't tolerate a system that's this brittle. The social and economic costs are terrific." Congress has tried writing energy legislation that would give the NERC federal authority to enforce grid standards, and the Administration wants to provide financial incentives for putting up more wires. But so far, such language has not made it into law because it has always come bundled with other energy initiatives that are deal breakers, like opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil development. When New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, who made the rounds of talk shows last week declaring the U.S. was "a superpower with a Third World grid," was Energy Secretary during the Clinton Administration, a blue-ribbon commission identified several areas of the country that had transmission problems. Congress effectively ignored the report. "Congress has pretty much neglected the day-to-day operation of the system because we're so focused on this religious battle over whether to deregulate or not deregulate," says a House energy expert. And it has been hard to get lawmakers to override vocal constituents. "If the accepted policy continues to be 'Not in my backyard,'" says Ken Johnson, a spokesman for the House Energy and Commerce Committee, "there are going to be a whole lot of people walking home from closed businesses to dark houses in the future."

Last week's crisis looked sure to change the landscape when lawmakers return next month and take up competing versions of an energy bill that gives the NERC enforcement power and encourages states to coordinate their electricity policies in wider regions--not to mention $13 billion in goodies for the oil, gas and nuclear industries. G.O.P. Congressman Billy Tauzin, who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee, also announced that it will launch an investigation into what happened.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who walks the streets in Rudy Giuliani's large shoes, began his mayoral training years ago on the trading floors of Wall Street, where an ability to stay calm amid chaos can make you very, very rich. That skill set served him well in those first blackout hours, as he briefed White House chief of staff Andrew Card; assembled his police and fire chiefs; phoned the head of Consolidated Edison, New York's power company; and declared that terrorism was not involved, soothing the city's nerves. Bloomberg advised people to treat Friday as a snow day--a charming image on a day when temperatures were heading into the 90s. He asked essential workers to go in but everyone else to stay home: "There are worse things than taking a summer Friday off from work."