Congressional Review of Blackout  By Jerry Taylor This article
appeared in The Washington Post on September 8, 2003.  Congress
is holding a two-day hearing focusing on the investigation of
the nation’s worst blackout. In his remarks, Energy Secretary
Spencer Abraham says that it is too early to identify the cause
of the northeast power outage.  Jerry Taylor, director of
Natural Resource Studies at the Cato Institute, will be online
Thursday, Sept. 4 at 10:30 a.m. ET to discuss whether the
Congressional hearing will improve deregulation and benefit
consumers.  The transcript follows.   Jerry Taylor: Hello
everyone. Thanks for stopping by to chat with me about
electricity policy, the recent blackouts, and what is likely to
come of it in Congress this session.  I have little hope that
the hearings launched yesterday on the Hill will shed any light
on the causes of the blackout or reasonable policy responses
thereto. Congressional hearings are essentially a combination of
“show trial” and “P.R. theater.” It’s not