Department OF Energy Prepares For Hurricane Season
The Department of Energy outlined a number of steps being taken to prepare for hurricane season nearly one year after hurricanes Katrina and Rita knocked out electricity to a large portion of the Gulf Coast and damaged a number of oil and gas recovery platforms in the Gulf of Mexico and refineries along the shore.
The Department of Energy outlined a number of steps being taken to prepare for hurricane season nearly one year after hurricanes Katrina and Rita knocked out electricity to a large portion of the Gulf Coast and damaged a number of oil and gas recovery platforms in the Gulf of Mexico and refineries along the shore.
“Electricity and fuel are necessary to sustain the public’s health and grow the nation’s economy,” says Kevin Kolevar, director of the department’s Office of Energy Reliability. “After a disaster that shuts down energy supplies, the federal government, state and local leaders, and the industry need to work together to eliminate barriers and restore power. Our work in strengthening communications, improving our modeling systems, and coordinating overall response will help bring power back online as quickly as possible after a hurricane.”
Since the hurricanes of 2005, DOE has strengthened its hurricane response system through increased coordination between federal, state, and local leaders in a number of ways, including:
- Training an additional 30 employees for emergency response, bringing the cadre of specially trained DOE response coordination personnel to more than 70;
- Hosting the Energy Leadership forum in Tunica, Miss., in January, to review best practices and lessons learned with industry representatives and federal, state, and local government leaders;
- Updating and enhanced the hurricane modeling system for DOE’s Visualization Room;
- Working with states to improve their energy assurance plans; and
- Implementing a toll-free hotline for the 2006 hurricane season which will allow state and local leaders and representatives from the energy industry to improve communications with DOE during emergencies.
Related Topics:
