Power Swings Caused Shutdown at Suburban Cleveland Power Plant, Congressman Says

Tuesday, August 19, 2003

(12:18 AM ET)

By Jim Krane

Associated Press Writer

LaTourette said plant officials were skeptical that the outage of a generator - or four of the company's nearby high-voltage power lines - could have snuffed out the lights across a huge swath of Canada and the United States. Generators shut down three or four times a year, the congressman said plant engineers told him.

EASTLAKE, Ohio -- AP
A generator along Lake Erie that was knocked offline may have been the first sign of serious problems that escalated into last week's epic blackout, a congressman said Monday.

The shutdown of generator No. 5 at FirstEnergy Corp.'s Eastlake Power Plant "may be a piece" of the puzzling 2 1/2 hour series of crashes that culminated in the blackout that knocked out power from Detroit to New York, Rep. Steven LaTourette told reporters Monday.

LaTourette, R-Ohio, who spent two hours touring the 1950s-era plant, said the generator failure early Thursday afternoon might be the first manifestation of the blackout - but probably not the cause. Reporters were not permitted inside.

Akron-based FirstEnergy, with 4.3 million customers in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, was also the subject of a lawsuit filed in Cleveland on Monday by a law firm claiming to represent all 50 million companies and individuals who lost power in the blackout. The utility did not return calls late Monday seeking comment on the lawsuit.
(More: Tampa Bay Online)
2003 © The Associated Press.

Dan