00-5. Office of Policy; Availability of the Interim Report of the U.S. Department of Energy's Power Outage Study Team: Findings From the Summer of 1999 and Notice of Workshops

[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 2 (Tuesday, January 4, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Page 298]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-5]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY


Office of Policy; Availability of the Interim Report of the U.S. 
Department of Energy's Power Outage Study Team: Findings From the 
Summer of 1999 and Notice of Workshops

AGENCY: Office of Policy, Department of Energy.

ACTION: Notice of availability of interim report and announcement of 
workshops.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces the availability of The Interim Report 
of the U.S. Department of Energy's Power Outage Study Team: Findings 
From the Summer of 1999 as well as a series of technical workshops to 
be held seeking comments on issues identified in the report. In the 
report the team releases the results of its investigation into 
significant electric power outages and other power disturbances that 
occurred in various parts of the country during the summer of 1999. 
Developed in response to Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson's six-
point initiative to help prevent future power outages, the report was 
prepared by a team of experts composed of personnel from the Department 
of Energy headquarters staff, the Department's national laboratories, 
and academic institutions. The team is seeking input on issues 
identified in the report in workshops, over the Internet, and by mail. 
The team will then consider these comments in developing 
recommendations in its final report to the Secretary on what role the 
Federal government should play in addressing ways to avoid future 
outages. The final report is expected to be issued in March of 2000 and 
will be the focus of policy-level discussions among industry leaders 
and local and state government officials.

DATES: The Power Outage Study Team has planned three workshops for 
those wishing to comment on the issues identified in the report. The 
workshop schedule is as follows:

January 20, 2000--8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., San Francisco, California

Topics

Transition to Competitive Energy Service Markets (morning session)
Regulatory Policy for Reliable Transmission and Distribution (afternoon 
session)

January 25, 2000--8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., New Orleans, Louisiana

Topics

Information Resources (morning session)
Operations Management and Emergency Response (afternoon)

January 27, 2000--8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., Newark, New Jersey

Topic

Reliability Metrics, Planning and Tracking

ADDRESSES: The workshop locations are:

San Francisco: Clarion Hotel San Francisco Airport, 401 East Millbrae 
Avenue, Millbrae, California, 94030, [phone]
New Orleans: Radisson Inn, New Orleans Airport, 2150 Veterans Memorial 
Blvd, Kenner, Louisiana 70062, [phone]
Newark: Holiday Inn, Newark International Airport, 160 Frontage Rd. 
Newark, New Jersey 07114, [phone]

    All stakeholders are invited to register to participate in one or 
more of the workshops. A registration form is provided in Appendix B of 
the Interim Report and is also available in the electronic version of 
the report, which can be found on the Internet at: 
http://tis.eh.doe.gov/post/. There will also be an opportunity at each 
workshop for non-registrants to make recommendations. Those who cannot 
attend these workshops may also send their comments on the report to 
the Power Outage Study Team through January 31, 2000 via the Internet 
address listed previously or by mail to: Paul Carrier, PO-21, U.S. 
Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, DC 
20585.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For copies of the report you may 
contact the Department of Energy's Public Reading Room, 1000 
Independence Ave. S.W., Washington, DC 20585, on [phone]. The 
report is also available electronically on the Internet at http://
tis.eh.doe.gov/post/. For information on the workshops you may contact 
Regina Griego at [phone].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: During the summer of 1999, several heat 
waves in June and July led to record peak demand for power and capacity 
shortages. The heavy demand for power put enormous strains on many 
electric utilities and resulted in a series of power outages in 
Chicago, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, the Delmarva 
Peninsula, New Jersey, New York City, and Long Island, leaving millions 
of people without power for some period of time.

    Issued: December 20, 1999.
Mark J. Mazur,
Director, Office of Policy.
[FR Doc. 00-5 Filed 1-3-00; 8:45 am]
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