June 13  Region's electric grid operator wants to armor against
winter blackouts  ISO-New England urges fuel stockpile, power
conservation to avoid repeat of 2012's headaches  By Tux Turkel
tturkel@pressherald.com Staff Writer  Worried that there might
not be enough natural gas in New England this winter to keep all
the lights on reliably, the region's electric grid operator
wants oil-fired power plants to stockpile 4.2 million barrels of
oil by Dec. 1, for backup.  click image to enlarge  Tom Welch,
chairman of the Maine Public Utilities Commission  Staff file
photo by Joe Phelan   ISO-New England is seeking to avoid a
repeat of last winter, when a five-day cold snap in late January
and a blizzard in early February tested the region's power
supply. During the cold snap, some big businesses were told to
cut back energy use. During the blizzard, more than six gas-
fired power plants informed ISO-New England that they couldn't
get fuel. At the same time, some oil-fired units reported only a
few days of fuel left