Gene's attitude is amazingly callous, at this late date? We spend all this time wondering exactly where the 'local' disruptions will be - NERC seems to know, but stonewalls????? (Apologize if this is a re-post).

Senate Y2K chair calls for utility disclosure
By Patrick Thibodeau

U.S. Senate Y2K Committee Chairman Robert Bennett (R-Utah) has criticized electric utilities for failing to disclose Y2K readiness information and wants laggards publicly exposed. Bennett, appearing Thursday before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, said 75% of the 3,200 electric utilities don't routinely share information about their Y2K readiness.

Despite that concern, Bennett said a prolonged nationwide blackout will almost certainly not occur because of the Y2K efforts by the nation's 250 bulk power producers to ensure that the national power grid will work. But local and regional outages are possible if smaller utilities aren't prepared, he said.

Bennett has asked the U.S. Department of Energy and North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) to release the names of utilities that haven't shared Y2K information.

But an NERC official said the council has no plans to release that information. "Is something like this being asked of all the other infrastructures?" said NERC spokesman Eugene F. Gorzelnik.

In any event, less than one half of 1% of all electric utilities are not Y2K-ready, said Gorzelnik, based on information NERC has received from various utility trade groups. "I don't think anyone can find fault with all the work the utility industry has done," he said.

Most utilities are reluctant to publicly list Y2K status. "A lot of lawyers are concerned about liability," said Gorzelnik.

Anyone with a concern about the Y2K status of a local utility should call the utility, NERC advises. link

-- lisa (lisa@work.now), September 27, 1999

Answers

WE are all about to find out WHY lying matters!!!!

Just imagine if everyone would have said 2years ago,

"there is no way we are going to make it?"

-- D.B. (dciinc@aol.com), September 27, 1999.

"But an NERC official said the council has no plans to release that information. "Is something like this being asked of all the other infrastructures?" said NERC spokesman Eugene F. Gorzelnik."

Answer: No. This is where I assign heavy responsibility to government. Government is making no real independent inquiry into infrastructure readiness. Government may be right in saying that the infrastructure is ready, but if it's right, it's purely coincidence.

-- Puddintame (achillesg@hotmail.com), September 27, 1999.

Wonder if those utilities are the same as those in Lord's June Navy spreadsheet.

Seems like Ohio was mentioned fairly often.

Talk about laying the groundwork for a witchhunt for any utility that does go down.

-- lisa (lisa@work.now), September 27, 1999.

Hey, aren't more vapor dates coming on September 30th?

Mike

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-- Michael Taylor (mtdesign3@aol.com), September 27, 1999.

Puddintame - This is where I assign heavy responsibility to government. Government is making no real independent inquiry into infrastructure readiness. Government may be right in saying that the infrastructure is ready, but if it's right, it's purely coincidence.

Good point. One thing gov't officials shouldn't worry about is being held accountable for any success that happens in spite of their lackluster efforts, funny numbers games, and PR spin.

-- Linda (lwmb@psln.com), September 27, 1999.