Blackout Feedback Posted, Seeks Further Comment

WASHINGTON -- - As it prepares to issue its final report, the U.S.-Canadian Power Systems Outage Task Force has announced that a summary of the comments received on the Interim Report: Causes of the August 14th Blackout in the United States and Canada is now available at the Department of Energy (DOE) website: http://electricity.doe.gov.

"We are happy to provide the citizens of the U.S. and Canada another opportunity to review the recommendations submitted to the Power System Outage Task Force, and encourage them to participate," Jimmy Glotfelty, co-chair of the task force and director of DOE's Office of Electric Transmission and Distribution said.

The summary incorporates comments and recommendations received thus far from industry officials as well as the general public during the open comment period. This new comment period focuses on evaluating the abovementioned recommendations and comments. This review period will close on Feb. 11, 2004.

The Joint Task Force was created to determine the cause of the August 14 power outage that left 50 million people in 8 U.S. States and 1 Canadian province without power. Preliminary findings were published in an interim report in November 2003.

Public meetings were held in Cleveland, New York, and Ontario seeking public comment. Individuals are encouraged to submit further comments and recommendations to the Task Force electronically or by mail. Electronic submissions may be sent to poweroutage@nrcan.gc.ca or blackout.report@hq.doe.gov.

Paper submissions may be mailed to:

-- Dr. Nawal Kamel, special adviser to the deputy minister; Natural Resources Canada, 21st Floor, 580 Booth Street, ON K1A 0E4

-- Mr. James W. Glotfelty, director, Office of Electric Transmission and Distribution; U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue, S.W. Ottawa, Washington, D.C. 20585