For Immediate Release:
August 4, 2006
Contact: Ian Mathias 410-864-1652 imathias@agorafinancial.com www.dailyreckoning.com: Heat Wave Not Responsible for Nationwide Blackouts Baltimore, MD: Governing bodies across America have recently urged the populace to limit its energy consumption in an effort to ward off heat-related blackouts. Few would disagree that record-high temperatures have put a strain on U.S. power expenditures. However, many experts believe that the outdated, deteriorating, and inadequately maintained electrical infrastructure is the real source of concern. "The heat wave is really just a catalyst," said Chris Mayer. Mayer, an acclaimed market analyst, has spent much of this sweltering summer researching America's rapidly decaying infrastructure. "The real problem is the nation's electrical infrastructure," said Mayer. "The U.S. transmission grid is poorly maintained and this hot summer just exposes the frailty of that system." Mayer cites reports recently filed by the American Society of Civil Engineers, all of which claim that "the U.S. power transmission system is in urgent need of modernization." In a statement they entitled The 2005 Report Card for America's Infrastructure, the ASCE gave American energy infrastructures a staggering "D" citing outdated transmission facilities, decreased funding for repairs, and an ever-growing demand for consumer energy. "This same crisis seems to happen every year," said Mayer. "Temperatures soar and our leaders ask us to conserve, but once the heat wave ends we all go back to our lives as if no other problem exists." Mayer believes that eventually we will be forced to face the harsh reality that the U.S. electrical infrastructure can no longer meet current demands. In 2002, the U.S. Department of Energy bluntly agreed in a statement they released during a similar energy pinch: "Because the existing transmission system was not designed to meet present demand, daily transmission constraints or `bottlenecks' increase electricity costs to consumers and increase the risk of blackouts." "The heat puts an obvious strain on energy use," said Mayer, "but if the U.S. infrastructure isn't given serious attention within the next few years we could be feeling this pinch year-round." Mayer plans on releasing an issue of his newsletter, Capital & Crisis, in the upcoming weeks that will highlight our decrepit electrical infrastructure and provide U.S. investors with ways to benefit from this forthcoming crisis. Chris Mayer is a contributing editor to The Daily Reckoning and editor of Capital & Crisis and Mayer's Special Situations. Mayer has been seen on FOX News' weekly "Forbes on FOX" financial show and has been featured in a variety of print and Web publications. His views on financial matters have been widely quoted, including in the highly regarded Grant's Interest Rate Observer. A product of Agora Financial, The Daily Reckoning is written by New York Times best-selling authors, Bill Bonner and Addison Wiggin. The Daily Reckoning is a daily, free e-letter that weaves information about the financial world, investing, and everyday life into an educational and entertaining format that has been engaging readers for over seven years. SOURCE: http://www.dailyreckoning.com ### | 
