Blackouts Hit California
From a news story by
CNN San Francisco Reporter Don Knapp
January 18, 2001
Note: This article is the fourth one in a series on this subject.
See Related Stories section for links to the other stories. It would
be helpful to read these stories first.
California authorities pulled the plug on nearly two million homes
and businesses, as the state's critical shortage of electricity reached
the breaking point.
Firefighters worked to rescue passengers trapped in an elevator caught
between floors when a rolling blackout hit San Francisco's Mission district.
The blackout may have figured in this accident at a San Francisco intersection
after traffic lights went out.
Rolling power outages shut down sections of communities across much
of northern California, an hour and a half at a time.
Sabina Fowler, a sales assistant could do little 'till the power came
back on. "There's really not a whole lot I can without having my
computer to do my spreadsheets, and word processing and my email."
No power presented new challenges for receptionist Neysa Gordon. "Now
I have to get up and let people in the door, whereas I used to use a
buzzer."
California has been locked in a power crisis for the past two months
as supply failed to keep up with demand, and debt-ridden utilities couldn't
get suppliers to sell them electricity on credit.
Thursday's crisis was blamed, in part, on a lack of water for hydropower
in the Pacific Northwest.
Now California is trying to legislate a solution with a dozen emergency
bills making their way through the state legislature. The state would
buy power at long term low rates, and sell it at cost to utilities.
"All my refrigerators went off. My cash register went out..."
Says Greg Miller.
But even after Thursday's blackout threatened his home brewery shop
business, Greg Miller isn't convinced there's a power crisis. "It's
manipulated; they sit up there in their board rooms and try to figure
out how they're going to get more money than they've already got."
Political leaders are confident they'll have a legislative fix by February,
but concede the crisis won't really be over until new power plants come
on line.
Additional Notes:
A blackout means that
certain customers have no power for a certain length of time. The blackouts
have been caused because there isn’t enough power to meet the demands.
January 27th was the 12th straight day that many Californians were under
a Stage 3 power alert. There was a brief respite Thursday when it was
called off for a few hours. Rolling blackouts have hit the central and
northern regions of the state twice after the California Independent
System Operator ordered utilities to start them.
A Stage 3 Alert
means that reserve power on the California electricity grid has dropped
to 1.5 percent or less.
The California legislature is taking steps to temporarily solve this
problem and to stop the necessity of blackouts.
Related Stories:
Other Stories in the
series:
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