WASHINGTON (Capitol News Wire)�"With about four
and a half months to go till the Y2K rollover, we should be
focusing less on the remediation of the problems in the systems
and more on the contingency planning, on how to mitigate problems
that can occur," the U.S. Energy Department�s Jim Caverly
said on a recent USIA WorldNet program on "Y2K and the Energy
Sector."
Mr. Caverly is deputy director of the Office of Science and
Technology Policy, as well as deputy director for international
energy and Y2K planning and preparedness at the Department of
Energy (DOE). From Worldnet�s studio in Washington, he answered
questions posed Aug. 26 by journalists in St. Petersburg and
Moscow.
The biggest problems that could result on January 1, 2000 and
beyond, according to Mr. Caverly, are related to
"interdependencies"�in other words, "the systems
that depend upon other systems to function. Electricity systems
can�t function without telecommunications; telecommunications
can�t function without electricity."
Mr. Caverly pointed out that because the American system
"is so reliable and so efficient, small Y2K interruptions
will probably have a far greater impact than in systems that are
not as reliable, that are used to routinely having interruptions
in their service�electricity and natural gas. So there is a risk
that a small problem in the United States could be a much bigger
problem for the U.S. than a large problem in some other
country."
If a country is dependent upon a Russian energy export that
occasionally is interrupted, and a Y2K interruption occurs that is
within the boundaries of these normal problems, "your systems
are capable of dealing with it," he said. For example,
Eastern European countries "have a lot of gas storage to deal
with temporary interruptions of gas deliveries. The question for
Y2K is whether this is going to be a greater interruption than
what people have the contingency for dealing with, which is why we
place the emphasis on contingency planning."
