Contact: Sunny Mindel/Samantha I. Lugo (212) 788-2958
Former Deputy Mayor and former Chairman of the New York Power Authority, John Dyson, will chair the Task Force. Paul Gioia, former Chairman of the Public Service Commission, which regulates private utilities, including the reliability of their services; and former prosecutor Paul Curran, will serve as members.
The Task Force's primary goal is to examine the reliability of Con Edison's delivery system after the July black out. The Task Force is expected to make recommendations to the Mayor by the end of the year regarding the additional investments, services, structural upgrades, and back up equipment needed to insure that power outages do not recur in the future.
"The power outage of July 6th and 7th, could have been avoided. Con Edison's power failure endangered the welfare of 200,000 people in Upper Manhattan and caused millions of dollars in economic loss to the City, and it should not happen again," Mayor Giuliani said. "This Task Force will evaluate the reliability of Con Edison's capacity to supply power to New York City in an adequate and safe manner."
"I want to thank John Dyson and the members of the Task Force for their effort and dedication to serve the interests of New York City residents, and for their commitment to a professional and objective review of Con Edison's capability to secure uninterrupted service to its customers citywide," the Mayor added.
John Dyson said, "With the assistance of technical advisors, the Task Force will examine what steps need to be taken immediately and over the next few years to avoid further blackouts. Technical solutions exist if Con Edison will dedicate the personnel and capital funds to get the job done."
On July 6, 1999, at approximately 10:11 p.m., Con Edison cut all power to the local electrical distribution system serving the Upper Manhattan area north of 155th Street, jeopardizing the health and safety of hundreds of thousands of people. By the time power was restored almost 18 hours later, the City of New York had incurred millions of dollars in expenses to provide additional emergency services and thousands of residents and businesses suffered tremendous economic losses.
On July 15, 1999, Mayor Giuliani announced that the Corporation Counsel had filed a lawsuit against Con Edison on behalf of the City of New York, its residents and the Board of Education to recover damages resulting from the Washington Heights and Inwood blackout on July 6-7. The lawsuit seeks a court order requiring Con Edison to redesign its local electrical distribution system to meet the needs of the City and its residents in times of high temperatures and increased demand. The City also filed a complaint with the Public Service Commission seeking financial penalties against Con Edison for failing to meet its legal obligations under the Public Service Law.