The recession is here. Some say it arrived in August of 2007. All admit that it is causing job losses by the tens of thousands weekly. Suggestions range from public works projects, particularly highway bridges, to other areas of the Nation’s infrastructure.
Few remember the days of the Great Depression, when Public Works Projects were created. One such project was the Works Progress Administration or WPA. Before long a caricature was invented for cartoons. It was a man leaning on a shovel and the new meaning of WPA became “We poke along.” The program lacked proper supervision. The one project that proved successful was the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).
The Nation’s wonderful State and National Parks are a tribute to the CCC. In Yellowstone, for example, CCC built the majority of the early visitor centers, campgrounds and roads. One other credit to CCC was the fact that the organization was created along military lines with the participants in uniform and subject to military discipline. Many went directly into military service at the beginning of World War II, receiving immediate promotions as non-commissioned officers.
In 1964, a less successful organization was formed, known as the Jobs Corps. The Jobs Corps was begun as the central program of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty. Its purpose was to attract eligible young people, teach them the skills they need to become employable and independent and to place them in meaningful jobs or further education. Like so many programs planned and activated in the War on Poverty, the Jobs Corps was not recognized as a great success; however, it still exists.
Most of the failures of previous programs designed to provide mass employment were due to the fact there seemed to be no central purpose, other than the earlier programs CCC developed.
There can be a central purpose developed today for the use of the balance of the $700-billion-dollar bailout fund now languishing on the sidelines. The remainder of the bailout fund could be used for the repair and upgrading of America’s electrical power distribution system, which needs serious attention. This use could benefit all Americans. Although the system is functioning much better since America’s biggest blackout in history on August 14, 2003, there remain weaknesses which appear during peak loads, particularly during extremely hot weather.
According to the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Relationship, there are more than 3,100 electric utilities in the nation.
Control of these utilities covers a spectrum of ownership and management. Stockholder-owned utilities account for 213 of the total and serve 73% of the country’s customers. Utilities run by State and local governments account for 2,000 of the electric companies and provide service for 15% of the customers. The balance of electricity consumers is served by 930 cooperatives. About 10,000 individual power plants are operated by the nation’s utility companies.
The Nation’s power transmission grid is only as strong as its weakest link.
For what better use could the balance of the bailout fund be designated than a project to provide employment of possibly hundreds of thousands for the revamping and upgrading of the entire electrical transmission and distribution system in the country?
DOE points out that “because of the expected near-term retirement of many aging power plants in the existing fleet, growth of the information economy, economic growth and the forecasted growth of electricity demand, America faces a significant need for new power generation.” The DOE report concludes: “In summary, the North American world class electric system is facing several serious challenges. Major questions exist about its ability to continue providing citizens and businesses with relatively clean, reliable and affordable energy services. The recent downturn in the economy masks areas of grid congestion in numerous locations across America. These bottlenecks could interfere with regional economic development. Unless substantial amounts of capital are invested over the next several decades in new generation, transmission and distribution facilities, service quality will degrade and costs will go up.”
Apparently overlooked in the studies will be the necessity of bringing alternate energy production generation to market. Wind energy, for example, will be developed in the areas where wind corridors exist.
These corridors are not necessarily located conveniently in areas bordering on large population centers. The principal wind corridors with winds in Class 5 are located in the Great Plains area, over elevated regions of North Dakota and the High Plains of northwestern Montana. These sections of the nation are not large population centers and therefore will require fairly long transmission lines to bring the power to larger populated areas. The same will be true of the desert regions of southwest New Mexico, Arizona and Southern California, where the radiant energy of the sun will be collected over many square miles. The population in many of these areas is sparse and the energy will need to be transported to more populated sections of the region.
By upgrading the nation’s power transmission grid the nation could save from $25 billion to $180 billion lost annually in power outages.
E. Ralph Hostetter A prominent businessman and publisher, also is an award-winning columnist and Vice Chairman of the Free Congress Foundation Board of Directors.
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