HEATH-NEWARK-LICKING COUNTY PORT AUTHORITY
                      PUBLIC INFORMATION PROGRAM


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE					CONTACT:
August 15, 2003		        Rick Platt, 740-788-5500 ext. 35

   STATEMENT OF PORT AUTHORITY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR RICK PLATT 
                CONCERNING AUGUST 14 BLACKOUT

The largest power outage in U.S. history did not even cause a 
flicker in Heath, Ohio.  The Central Ohio Aerospace and 
Technology Center (COATC) which the Heath-Newark-Licking County 
Port Authority manages was not impacted in any way from Thursday’s 
blackout that occurred in several Eastern U.S. states and Canada, 
including parts of twenty counties in northern Ohio.  

Ohio, particularly Central Ohio, has a well-deserved reputation 
for reliable electric service.  The blackout did not affect this 
region and is not indicative of the kind of service available in 
this region of the state.  Whereas rolling blackouts and brownouts 
are common-place in many Western and Eastern states, Ohio enjoys 
reliable electric service thanks, in part, to an adequate supply 
from Ohio-based power generating plants.

COATC is home to operations of four Fortune 100 companies and 
various growing high tech and aerospace firms.  COATC and its 
tenants are the beneficiaries of this reliable service.  

Reliability of electric service is a factor that drives corporate 
investment decisions.  What a shame if corporate officials in other 
states see Ohio among those affected by this incident and just 
assume that all of Ohio was impacted or come to view Ohio as less 
attractive for business development for misinformed reasons.

In one attempt to counteract this potential negative issue, the 
Port Authority is encouraging its tenants at COATC to assure their 
corporate headquarters that the lights were continually on at COATC 
and in Central Ohio.

Though we can’t take electric service for granted, COATC is power-
rich.  Our facilities  receive power via subtransmission lines to 
the campus and COATC has its own dedicated electric substation.  
COATC also has extraordinary redundancy in electric supply.  There 
are four substations which are easily accessible to the COATC campus. 
 
Additionally, the Port Authority maintains several backup generators 
that connect to critical systems to sustain them during the event of 
a short-term loss of electric service.

It’s a credit to our electric service provider, American Electric 
Power, that so few of their customers were impacted by this event.  
AEP has consistently helped prove that COATC offers its tenants 
access to reliable, cost-effective electric service. 

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