Energy Symposium at University of Richmond School of Law to Examine Lingering Questions of the 2003 Blackout
March 22, 2004
A major blackout on Aug. 14, 2003, plunged tens of millions of people into darkness and resulted in total costs of approximately $6 billion.
As a result, many people have called for fundamental change in the nation's electricity system. To examine questions that remain from the blackout, the University of Richmond School of Law's Robert R. Merhige Jr. Center of Environmental Law will sponsor a symposium April 2 on "The Blackout of 2003: What's Next?" The program will bring together leading power industry experts from federal, state, corporate, academic and legal fields.
The day-long program will begin at 9 a.m. in the law school. It is open to the public at no charge. Advance registration is not necessary. Five Virginia CLE credits are available to participants.
The keynote speaker will be Joseph T. Kelliher, newly appointed commissioner of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). He will speak at 9 a.m. Prior to becoming one of five FERC commissioners, Kelliher was senior policy adviser to Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham.
Other speakers and panelists include state regulators, chief executives of companies that operate the transmission grid, and academic and legal experts who are knowledgeable about the electric utility industry and its challenges.
Hullihen Williams Moore, former chairman of the Virginia State Corporation Commission, will be the luncheon speaker.
Three panel discussions will examine "Transmission Investment, Grid Management and the Role of RTOs," "The State-Federal Relationship and Related Issues," and "New Source Review and the Utility Industry." CEOs of New York Independent System Operator, PJM Interconnection, and ISO New England Inc., will speak in the first session.
Linda Stuntz, commissioner of the National Commission on Energy Policy, and John Walke, clean air director of Natural Resources Defense Council, will participate in the second and third sessions.
Joel B. Eisen, professor of law and director of the Merhige Center, stated, "We have gathered the nation's leading experts on the electric power industry to help us understand what we must do to ensure that this type of major blackout does not happen again. In the context of the ongoing efforts to restructure this industry, we must be able to count on it to be a reliable, safe, efficient, environmentally friendly source of power."
The Merhige Center is named for retired U.S. District Judge Robert R. Merhige Jr., who presided over the litigation of the 1970s involving the Kepone pollution of the James River. The center serves as a nonpartisan source of information and law reform proposals in the mid-Atlantic region on energy and environmental law and policy.
For more information on the symposium, call (804) 289-8740 or visit law.richmond.edu.