August blackout was 'preventable' - Nov. 19, 2003

August blackout was 'preventable' - Nov. 19, 2003: "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Aug. 14 blackout that cascaded across eight U.S. states and part of Canada was largely the fault of FirstEnergy Corp. and could have been prevented, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said on Wednesday.

'One major conclusion of the interim report is that this blackout was largely preventable,' Abraham said in a statement accompanying release of an investigative report prepared by a U.S.-Canadian task force.

'However, the report also tells us that once the problem grew to a certain magnitude, nothing could have been done to prevent it from cascading out of control,' Abraham added."

They didn't keep trees trimmed or disaster software current and their cost-cutting helped the bottom line....and set up a quarter of the country for power loss.