The Oil Drum

When the secretaries of Energy and Interior went up to Capitol Hill last week, they were asked about energy reliability particularly as it relates to keeping the power supplied to refineries. Senator Domenici began

I would think there should be some possibilities for us to prevent the shutdown of the oil and gas industry. The problem seems not to be physical impacts from the storms, but making sure there's still electricity to keep these facilities running."

 Earlier, Sen. Mary L. Landrieu (D-La.) asked the two secretaries if they knew of any changes that would be made in electricity transmission systems along the Gulf Coast as a result of the two storms.

 "I don't have specific recommendations," Bodman replied. "I'm assuming that when the transmission lines are reconstructed in western Louisiana, they will be built to higher codes."

 Landrieu wasn't satisfied. "This is a very integrated energy system. You can have the most sophisticated production platforms, pipeline systems, and refineries," she observed. "But if we haven't spent two minutes considering how we get electricity to them during and following an emergency, we can't expect them to continue functioning reliably."

 One thing that was apparent down there was that in cases where the power lines started to fall, the weight of one collapse brought down the rest, like a row of dominoes. There was one place we saw where the burn scar ran for probably two or three blocks.