Mary Tutwiler

Baton Rouge, hot and sticky, in New York Times

by Mary Tutwiler

While most of the national media has moved on from its coverage of Hurricane Gustav, the New York Times today has a story about the continued power outages in Baton Rouge. Reported by NYT New Orleans bureau chief Adam Nossiter, with help from Independent Weekly contributor Jeremy Alford, the story outlines how  nearly a quarter of customers in the capitol city are still without electricity, over a week since Gustav blew through the state. “It’s sort of paralyzed the economy of the state,” Foster Campbell, a member of the Louisiana Public Service Commission and former contender for governor told the NYT.

Campbell is focused on the “unacceptable” job Entergy is doing. The utility company says they cannot guarantee the entire city will have power before the end of September. Above ground power lines generated discussion, both by legislators and citizens. Senator Mary Landrieu is cited talking about enacting legislation to help government strengthen power lines, perhaps by encasing them in reinforced pipe. Meanwhile, in today’s Advocate, there are two letters to the editor, asking why power lines can’t be buried in the same way gas, water and sewer lines are.