Bush calls for upgrading US electricity grid

[NNN0LHI]

Where you going to get the money George? You gave all the money to your rich friends with your welfare for the rich program of tax cuts. What are you going to do now George? Maybe raise taxes on working families to pay for it?

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N15352874.htm

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif., Aug. 15 (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush on Friday called the worst blackout in North American history a "wake-up call" and said the nation's electricity grid must be modernized.

"I view it as a wake-up call," Bush told reporters during a visit to the Santa Monica mountains, adding that the blackout was "an indication we need to modernize the electricity grid." snip

He did not say how the electricity grid should be modernized or much it would cost.

more

[cprise]

1. 'Modernization' is the codeword for privatization

If you speak neo-con.

[benfranklin1776]

6. Yep which is the hackneyed stupidity that helped create the problem.....

......to begin with. Every Democratic Presidential candidate and Congressperson should remind people that it was the Rethugs who blocked improvements to the grid in the first place because President Clinton wished to require utilities to adhere to performance standards and they should follow Bill Richardson's lead in saying we need to modernize by insitituting mandatory performance requirements AND turning to alernative energy generation methods.

[rucky]

30. Hillary Said it on CNN this Morning

...hope it sticks.

[salin]

33. Worse - means TAX PAYERS pay for improvements

and the businesses absorb NO costs (don't most businesses have to absorb the costs of doing business ala modernization).

More Busholism: Socialize the COSTS BUT Privatize the Profits. Tax payers and citizen/consumers lose both times around.

[section321]

2. And my friends at Halliburton are the ones for the job.

But seriously folks, upgrading infrastructure would have been a good use of deficit spending. It would have been an investment in the future.

Unfortunately, we've already given all the money back in tax cuts.

Anyone for a $600 billion deficit?

[Rose Siding]

3. I need NEXIS!

The repubs opposed this during the CA energy crisis- a $350 milion upgrade. I can practically hear him saying the same thing then.

[CogitoErgoDem]

4. Hm. 1/1000th of your $350 billion tax cut would about cover it...

http://www.buzzflash.com/analysis/03/08/15_blackout.html

[gratuitous]

5. Gee, we'd do that in a second, Georgie . . .

But under "deregulation," all those power lines and distribution structures are now owned by private companies. Are you saying that the U.S. taxpayers should be subsidizing those private companies?

I'll tell you this: If my tax dollars pay for it, it belongs to me. Tell Kenny Boy and his cronies to put their greedy, grasping hands back in their pockets. They get no government handouts from me.

[onehandle]

7. "Bush calls for upgrading homeland security"......

Always a day late and a dollar short, eh George?

You were warned about this and about 9/11.

We need some responsible grownups back in the White House.

[patdem]

14. Every REAL threat post-emptive...only HYPED threat pre-emptive?

9/11 - Bali - Saudi Arabia - the black outs. NONE forseen, but the threat of Iraq...whooooaaaaahhhhh turned out to be NO THREAT? A set up by the FBI on some NON threat of shoulder fired missles? Is there a pattern emerging here? Real threats ignored, (spin uncontrolable?) false threats hyped? (lookie see what we did?)

[diamond14]

8. NYT: power failure caused by enron/bush policies (link)

-snips-

The problem of preventing such power failures has been that, for the most part, no one has an incentive to invest billions of dollars in new wires, new towers and new transformers, which are often opposed by residential neighbors. The old utilities have sold off their power plants but still hold a highly regulated monopoly on the network of lines, and they would only invest in new transmission if state regulators would guarantee them rate increases to pay for it.

That is the last thing the regulators, who deregulated much of the industry in hopes of lowering rates, would be willing to do.

After deregulation in the late 1990's, there was a burst of interest from many power companies in building new plants, but the collapse of Enron and the markets it had pioneered dried up much of the capital for such investments, and the recession curbed demand slightly.

During the California blackouts of 2001, several members of Congress proposed spending $350 million to improve the nation's transmission system, but the measure was opposed by the Bush administration and was voted down by Congressional Republicans.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/15/nyregion/15GRID.html?hp

[wabeewoman]

9. Thanks for posting this.

When this administration first got in, I started keeping a list of what they said and what they did. Unfortunately it got to be too much of a chore - I couldn't keep up with all their follies. Anyway, I hope someone in the democratic party is keepiing tabs on this. It would be a perfect Jon Stewart segment like bush debating himself. If we lose in 2004, it'll be incompetence because bush is giving us plenty to work with. Couse, I thought we couldn't lose in 2000 or 2002 so what do I know.

[huckleberry]

10. Thanks for posting this!

[fortyfeetunder]

18. $hit!! Enron could be resurrected?

What is the likelihood that Kenny Boy and his cronies could be reinstated as energy czars and get Enron to restructure the power transmission structure????

[Jacobin]

11. This would be the same proposal that Bush and Repub Congress

defeated on a party line vote in 2001? The bill sponsored by Dems in Congress to upgrade the electrical grid for $650 million in loan guarantees?

Geeze...Smirk is being his usual incompetent self.

[Katie]

12. RECALL PATAKI

He's a waste of time! Come on NY wake up!

[curlyred]

13. Yup-same one: From Buzzflash

In June of 2001, Bush opposed and the congressional GOP voted down legislation to provide $350 million worth of loans to modernize the nation's power grid because of known weaknesses in reliability and capacity. Supporters of the amendment pointed to studies by the Energy Department showing that the grid was in desperate need of upgrades as proof that their legislation sponsored by U.S. Rep. Sam Farr (D-CA) should pass.

Unfortunately, the Bush Administration lobbied against it and the Republicans voted it down three separate times: First, on a straight party line in the U.S. House Appropriations Committee, then on a straight party line the U.S. House Rules Committee, and finally on a party line on the floor of the full House .

[QuietStorm]

15. but of course texas oil does not have much portofolio interest in electric

they could care less. It doesn't serve their interests.

[The Backlash Cometh]

16. The Supremo Capitalist is Socializing Risk AGAIN!

The public will bear the cost of the modernization and George's Phony Capitalist buddies will reap the profits.

[bowens43]

17. The idiot handled this crisis a lot like he handled 911.

He was told it was going to happen and he did nothing to prevent it. Once again the Dems had prepared and tried to get legislation to prevent this, the repubs voted it down. After the first WTC attack the Clinton administration tried to pass sweeping anti-terrorism laws and they were SEVERELY watered down by the repubs. Typical. They should learn to listen to their betters.

[preocupied]

19. Where was this jackarse when California had their problems? nt

[Unknown Known]

20. Why does Texas have it's own power grid?

And since it is between both eastern & western power grids, could it possibly CONTROL both??

If you read one thing today, read Greg Palast!!

POWER OUTAGE TRACED TO DIM BULB IN WHITE HOUSE --- The Tale of The Brits Who Swiped 800 Jobs From New York, Carted Off $90 Million, Then Tonight, Turned Off Our Lights


http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=257&row=0

[sandnsea]

23. Dim Bulb in White House - rotfl

This article is really informative, thanks.

"Is tonight's black-out a surprise? Heck, no, not to us in the field who've watched Bush's buddies flick the switches across the globe. In Brazil, Houston Industries seized ownership of Rio de Janeiro's electric company. The Texans (aided by their French partners) fired workers, raised prices, cut maintenance expenditures and, CLICK! the juice went out so often the locals now call it, "Rio Dark."

So too the free-market British buckaroos controlling Niagara Mohawk raised prices, slashed staff, cut maintenance and CLICK! -- New York joins Brazil in the Dark Ages." ~snip

"Sitting in the dark, as my laptop battery runs low, I don't know if the truth about deregulation will ever see the light --until we change the dim bulb in the White House." ~snip

[FormerOstrich]

28. Hey.....Unknown Known..

Thanks for posting this. I saw that somewhere last night and about choked. Why is it Texas stands alone? I am really curious???? Maybe you should start a thread in GD about this. I think it worthy of some discussion.

[StandWatie]

21. wtf..

I think he is going to blow a gasket when he finds out that the "free market" doesn't reward building infrastructure it penalizes it and that deregulation is the reason the thing sucks in the first place.

[kentuck]

22. It's not a "grid" problem...

There is plenty of electricity...there is not enough transmission lines to carry the "juice".

[sandnsea]

24. Thought the lines was the grid

The whole delivery system as opposed to supply system. Help??

[Mari333]

25. This site helped me a LOT

http://science.howstuffworks.com/blackout.htm

[sandnsea]

29. 'Modernize Transmission System'

Your site helped explain the load problem. But in reading this report, it seemed to me that the transmission lines was more of a concern and that their solution was more 'free market' economics.

"Investment in the transmission system has not kept pace with the growth in generation and the increasing demand for electricity."

That's why I was thinking in the northeast, power generation isn't so much the problem, it's the actual distribution of the power.

I really don't know, the lightswitch in my dining room doesn't work and I don't even know how to fix that!

http://tis.eh.doe.gov/ntgs/reports.html

[Fovea]

26. George Bush is advocating

building a bigger mess that will fall harder and longer, necessitating greater investments from end users to corporate owners.

Build the grid down, and start getting local renewable aux. power generation online!

[rucky]

31. You mean like what 95 other third wold countries do better than US?

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/ene_ele_pro_by_sou_hyd

Map & Graph: Energy: Top 100 Electricity - production by source (hydro)

Country Description Amount
1. Bhutan 100%
2. Paraguay 100%
3. Burundi 99%
4. Congo, Republic of the 99%
5. Norway 99%
6. Uganda 99%
7. Zambia 99%
8. Congo, Democratic Republic of the 98%
9. Ethiopia 98%
10. Laos 98%
11. Tajikistan 98%
12. Namibia 98%
13. Albania 97%
14. Cameroon 97%
15. Malawi 97%
16. Rwanda 97%
17. Mozambique 96%
18. Uruguay 93%
19. Kyrgyzstan 92%
20. Nepal 90%
21. Brazil 89%
22. Benin 83%
23. Costa Rica 83%
24. Iceland 83%
25. Fiji 82%
...
96. United States 7%

[joshdawg]

27. Upgrade???

Little late to close the gate after the horses have got out.

[LEFTofLEFT]

32. Sounds like more socialized infrastructure - whats up with that???

And more money for his friends.

Socialize the cost and privitize the profits.

We must fight the rightwing monsters like the future is at stake. IT IS !!!