US, Canada to Jointly Probe Last Week's Blackout

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, August 21, 2003

US, Canada to Jointly Probe Last Week's Blackout

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The US and Canadian governments will work jointly with an industry-sponsored watchdog to conduct a single investigation of last week's massive blackout in a bid to prevent such a disaster from recurring, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

The paper quoted the US Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham as saying that the unified inquiry will provided "one, final authoritative statement on what happened."

The efforts will include hundreds of federal investigators, including personnel from the US Department of Energy, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the North American Electric Reliability Council and the power-grid monitoring group as well astheir Canadian counterparts.

The US secretary said that he hopes that the findings -- ratherthan merely identifying possible regulatory violations -- might help the US Congress pass an energy bill with several complex electrical-power provision to overhaul the way the three US power grids operate, and stimulate more utility efforts to modernize transmission systems.

The massive blackout hit eight US states in the Northeast and Midwest areas and part of Canada, paralyzing economic activities in the areas for dozens of hours.

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