- WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush
administration on Tuesday moved to consolidate the investigation into the
nation's worst power blackout, saying that an industry watchdog group would
forgo its independent probe and work with a U.S.-Canadian task force.
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- Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, a co-chair of the task
force, would not speculate on what might have caused the blackout that
cascaded across a vast region from Michigan to New York City last Thursday.
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- "It is way too early to engage in speculation about
the role any (incident) might have had in the overall problem," Abraham
told reporters at a news conference.
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- The North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC),
an industry-sponsored group that monitors power grid reliability, so far
has been in the forefront of the investigation. The group has pointed to
problems in a number of high-voltage transmission lines in Ohio, belonging
to FirstEnergy Corp., saying that is where the power cascade that led to
the blackout apparently began.
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- "It's important that we withhold judgment before
all the facts are in," said Abraham.
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- Abraham said it was felt that there needed to be "one
ultimate finding" by a single investigation.
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- He said that the NERC "has agreed to work with the
task force and forgo its own investigation of the incident."
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- Abraham said, "We applaud ... what they have done
so far" but it was felt "the public would not want two or three
entities producing their versions of what happened."
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- Abraham said the task force would use "all the resources
at our disposal," including the federal research laboratories as well
as experts in private industry.
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- Abraham gave no estimate on when any findings would be
made public.
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- Other government sources said the task force might issue
an interim report by mid-September. Abraham said there was no time table,
but that the task force would find answers "as quickly as possible
and begin implementing solutions."
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- "We owe our citizens an explanation of this incident
and an assurance that steps will be taken to address the cause," he
said.
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