FirstEnergy Scrutinized in Outage Probe

FirstEnergy Scrutinized in Outage Probe

By THOMAS J. SHEERAN
Associated Press Writer
Published August 16, 2003, 3:28 PM CDT

AKRON, Ohio -- The effort to nail down the source of the massive blackout turned Saturday to northern Ohio, where the power system is operated by FirstEnergy Corp., the nation's fourth-largest investor owned utility.

Akron-based FirstEnergy has 16 power plants and an annual revenue of more than $12 billion, with a service area that stretches from Ohio to New Jersey.

The company is accustomed to scrutiny.

Its Davis-Besse nuclear plant east of Toledo has been shut down since February 2002, when it was closed for maintenance. A month later, a leak was found that had allowed boric acid to eat nearly through the 6-inch-thick steel cap on the plant's reactor vessel.

More (requires registration): http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ats-ap_business11aug16,1,3533313.story?coll=sns-business-headlines

Get this sumbitch bumped to the top of Yahoo. Rate it a 5.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030817/ap_on_re_us/blackout_firstenergy_2

was a memebr of Cheney's secert energy meetings along with kenny boy
both on cheney's energy task force

ill bet hes a team player.......

<U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (news, bio, voting record), a Democratic presidential candidate from Cleveland and a FirstEnergy critic, said he was closely monitoring the situation.

"If press reports are accurate, and FirstEnergy once again failed to comply by federal standards, then I believe serious questions must be asked about FirstEnergy's ability to effectively serve," he said.>

Wooo hoooo!!!!!

Go get 'em DK!!!!!!



:kick:

FirstEnergy won these concessions in the House
and Senate energy bills by helping to elect
industry-friendly Members of Congress, buying
access with campaign contributions and lobbyists,
and tapping into its high level of access with the
Bush administration

http://www.enronwatchdog.org/PDFs/badactors/FirstEnergy.pdf

http://www.bright.net/~dknox/clips/bush.html

Two weeks before Bush's decision, lobbyist Haley Barbour virtually papered the White House, from Vice President Dick Cheney on down, with a memo suggesting the president must provide a sound energy policy by not taking action against carbon dioxide.

At the time, Barbour represented the interests of several energy companies that gave substantially to Bush's campaign.

FirstEnergy was a top contributor to the Bush campaign.
As part of his presidential campaign, Bush proposed a "four-pollutant strategy" for curbing mercury, smog-causing nitrogen oxide, sulfur and carbon dioxide. The new Environmental Protection Agency administrator, Christie Whitman, embraced the strategy, but references to it were removed at the last minute from Bush's first address to a joint session of Congress.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/04.27A.Bush.Lies.htm

The Bush-Cheney Energy Plan
Players, Profits and Paybacks.

The Bush-Cheney energy plan, which the administration released in May, is the culmination of a process that hinged on cozy business connections, secret deals and industry campaign contributions. There were many points of convergence. Both President Bush and Vice President Cheney worked in the energy industry. They appointed pro-industry people to their transition teams and to key administration posts overseeing federal energy and environmental policies. They received generous campaign contributions from energy companies, which enjoyed easy access to the Cheney energy task force. The result? An energy plan that promotes industry-favored measures, including opening protected lands to oil and gas drilling, building more than 1,300 electric power plants, and weakening environmental standards.

http://www.nrdc.org/air/energy/aplayers.asp