Facing a dim future?

Five years ago today, a multiday power interruption originating in Ohio affected 50 million people in seven states and Canada. Lives were lost, and the financial cost was estimated at $6 billion. Maryland escaped with minimal consequences, but will we be able to avoid a major impact next time? Unfortunately, our state and nation have done little to ensure that such a disaster will not happen again.

Recently, there has been much discussion about the fact that Maryland faces a critical shortage of electricity. As a state, we consume more energy than we generate, and in a few years, because of a lack of adequate and reliable transmission infrastructure, we will not be able even to import all of the electricity we need. Since demand for electricity is growing, if this problem is not addressed, experts and authorities agree that it will result in brownouts or blackouts by 2012.

Unfortunately, most citizens are ignoring this problem. Some are focused instead on rising electricity costs; others assume that the problem will be fixed. Both attitudes are shortsighted. If the looming electric reliability crisis is not addressed, we will not only suffer power shortages, but our local economy will be harmed, and electricity prices will rise even faster.

Maryland's economy depends on electricity. All enterprises and organizations - whether a doughnut shop, a business office, the local hospital or a military base - require an uninterrupted supply of electricity to operate. Imagine not only the loss of productivity but also the loss of revenues to the state when commerce is halted, even temporarily. The shortage of electricity also threatens job growth and has led to plant closings or decisions not to expand facilities. Backup electricity supply systems, essential to some operations because of the critical nature of their services, are costly to install and maintain.

Moreover, Marylanders pay a "congestion tax" because the flow of electricity into Maryland is constrained by the aging and inadequate regional grid that transmits it. We pay higher rates because the congested grid makes it difficult to import cheaper (and greener) electricity from the Midwest, where it is abundant and available. The Maryland Public Service Commission, which regulates the state's utilities, has estimated that in 2006, grid congestion cost the state's ratepayers $500 million.