Super Bowl Blackout Could Energize A Debate On Power Grid

Questions remain over what caused the half-hour power outage during Sunday’s Super Bowl in New Orleans. What is clear is that advocates of improving the nation’s energy infrastructure see it as a metaphor.

“I think any of you who watched the Super Bowl last night know that energy is not only good, it's necessary. And whether it's keeping the lights on so that we can enjoy the game or whether it's keeping the lights on so that we can work, this is — this is essential to who we are as a prosperous nation,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the ranking member on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said at a press conference to unveil an energy proposal on Monday.

If there's a silver lining to be found to the partial blackout, it's this: the way the stadium's electrical system worked, at least according to an early official statement, shows how improvements to energy infrastructure can contain damage. “Power outages cost our country over $70 billion a year,” said Richard Caperton, an energy expert at the Center for American Progress. “Anything that draws attention to that problem and helps motivate people to deal with it is helpful.”...