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POWER ENGINEERS SUPPORTING TRUTH
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THE REVOLT OF THE ENGINEERS Jack Casazza March 13, 2004
Engineers are a peaceful lot, preferring to focus on their technology, mathematics and computer software. But this is changing. They are becoming increasingly disturbed by the declining role of the engineers responsible for planning, designing and operating our electric power systems in the setting electric power policy. They now recognize they have failed in their professional responsibilities by failing to speak up about government and business policies that have harmed all users of electricity and about the unethical schemes that were developed to take extra profits from consumers. Those who did speak up were often punished, being denied pay raises or promotions and in some cases even demoted. Many others, fearing such punitive actions just kept quiet. The tide is changing. A revolt is beginning. We think this is a story worthy of additional publicity. The severe decline in the role of the engineering profession in the development of national electric policy over the last 10-15 years is demonstrated by the attached page from the March, 2004, issue of the IEEE newspaper “The Institute” (circulation over 300,000). This “Market Place of Ideas” section posed the question on how to prevent future blackouts. The unanimous response was a group of letters from engineers deeply concerned about the lack of understanding of power systems and the dominance of economists and lawyers in setting policies. I have received hundreds of personal E-mails thanking and encouraging me to speak out about this problem. Also attached is material on ethics summarizing the ways in which a few unethical engineers participated in Enron type activities. The rising tide of engineering opposition to what is happening in the electric power industry is shown by these letters to “The Institute’. An ever-increasing number of engineers now believe they need to speak out about the harm being done electricity consumers by flawed government and industry policies. Many are very concerned by the lack of technical competence in government, particularly appointments of a lawyer and fund raiser to head the highly technical DOE Office of Electric Transmission and Distribution and two more lawyers as new FERC Commissioners, and by the appointment of a politically oriented government task force to be responsible for the investigation of the recent blackout under forced confidentiality agreements. Appointments are made based on political patronage. Support is gained through having decision makers in power that have views favorable to specific commercial interests. Our electric power policy was, and is continuing to be, established by people lacking vital technical knowledge. These “stakeholders” are concerned with enhancing the business prospects of their organizations, their political positions, and their personal power. These are the ones invited to testify at Congressional hearings. This lack of technical competence needs to be recognized. This approach has badly hurt this country, perhaps costing our economy more than $100 billion a year. As an example of this lack of technical competence, the DOE in its past work and in all of its past reports has focused exclusively on developing future transmission requirements for enhancing operation of the market. Their proposals for reinforcing the grid have been to remove economic constraints. They have not recognized, and do not understand, that these locations and causes are often not the sources of the greatest reliability risks, as evidenced by the August 14, 2003, blackout. They do not recognize that these reinforcements are often not the best ones in the long run; economic requirements can change considerably in the future since they are dependent on unforeseen future energy requirements, the unknown locations of new sources of generation, and changes in fuel availability and prices. There are techniques used in the past to help identify the greatest reliability risks that have not been considered. These have been suggested in the past with no attention on their part. What solutions do engineers suggest? Increasing recognition is needed about the failure of technical policy makers to have the necessary technical experience. We need to appoint to key positions people with extensive technical experience and managerial skills. We need to review the 1977 recommendations of the Ribicoff Committee on Government Operations concerning appointment to key positions. We need an investigation sponsored by Congress of what has gone on and the results. This should include reviews by leading national engineers of the roles of the various government and industry organizations involved. (The result of an investigation of the UK situation was published on March 10, 2004, by the Trade and Industry Committee of the House of Commons.) New engineering organizations are being formed to fill the vacuum left by some of the existing professional organizations. Employers to pay the expenses for participation in the existing professional organizations, such as the Power Engineering Society (PES) of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). These professional societies are concerned with decreased participation and membership if the companies and government find their activities contrary to their commercial or political interests and cease financial support. In fact, USA membership in the PES has been dropping and less than 20% of the members of these organizations voted to select their new officers. One new organization being formed to overcome this weakness is the “Power Engineers Supporting Truth” (PEST) (www.PEST-03.org). This non-profit organization will not accept finding from any group having a commercial or political interest. Its officers are not paid. It is financed by contributions from individuals and foundations concerned with the overall public welfare. Similar organizations are being discussed for other engineering disciplines. We believe this is an emerging story worth telling. My hope is you will be interested in telling it. If you need more information, please do not hesitate to contact me at 703 568 3579.
Jack Casazza |
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