Jose Gonzalez at the Big Apple Meat Market in New York, points to hundreds of pounds of rotten meat on Sunday, August 17, four days after the blackout. Gonzalez said the blackout cost him tens of thousands of dollars. (Photo: Tina Fineberg/AP Wide World)

Wednesday, August 20—A joint task force between Canada and the U.S. took charge of investigating the reasons for the recent blackout. They want to know why a major power outage on August 14 left 50 million people in the Northeast, Midwest, and parts of Canada in the dark. The investigation was taken away from the North American Electric Reliability Council (NAERC) by the two governments.

"At the end of the day, we think the people of this country and Canada—all the people affected, certainly—deserve to have one final authoritative statement on what we believe happened," said U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham.

Congressional leaders, meanwhile, pledged to speed up action on a comprehensive energy bill. U.S. President George W. Bush wants one bill passed that would address the nation's failing power grid, as well as other energy issues. An energy bill supported by Bush has been held up by several controversial provisions. A major conflict is expected over a provision to allow oil drilling on federally protected lands.

Democrats want to break the energy package into several bills. That way, the issues can be addressed and voted on separately. They say legislation dealing with the blackout would "be held hostage" by the controversial portions of the energy bill.

No date has been set for completion of the investigation or passage of legislation.

Secretary Abraham has warned that modernizing the nation's electric grid will cost at least $50 billion. It will also mean 30,000 miles of new high-voltage transmission lines.