Press Release
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Dennis Olshove
2003-08-20
(517) 373-8360

SEN OLSHOVE: TECHNOLOGY & ENERGY COMMITTEE SEEKS ANSWERS TO POWER OUTAGE

Warren Democrat Praises DTE Employees for Dedicated Efforts to Restore Power
LANSING- State Senator Dennis Olshove (D-Warren) announced today that the

Michigan Senate Technology & Energy Committee is determined to find the cause

of the widespread power outage which impacted much of Michigan and the

Northeast United States last week. The Vice-Chair of the Technology & Energy

Committee, Senator Olshove announced that hearings are being scheduled to

investigate the cause of the massive power outage and develop strategies for

preventing future occurrences.

“Considering the personal and economic loss associated with such a massive

power failure, it’s imperative that we get to the bottom of what occurred,” said

Sen. Olshove. “We need to determine how an event that appears to have been a

local incident was allowed to snowball into the largest power outage in our

nation’s history.”

The committee heard today from the recently appointed chairperson of the

Michigan Public Service Commission, J. Peter Lark, as well as several people from

the power industry. While the root cause is not yet known, it is widely believed

that the outage resulted from a power plant and transmission line that went out in

northern Ohio.

Senator Olshove said that there was no evidence to indicate that DTE was in any

way responsible for the outage and complimented the employees of DTE for their

diligent efforts in quickly restore power. “The fact that DTE was able to beat their

own predictions and have all customers back with power by Saturday morning

shows what a dedicated workforce they have,” said Sen. Olshove.