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Senator Casey, Senator Toomey and Lt. Governor Cawley Briefed by PPL on Outages in Allentown
Hurricane Sandy Leaves 800,000 in Pennsylvania without Power
Senator Assesses Situation in Lehigh Valley
WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) along with Senator Toomey (R-PA), Lieutenant Governor Cawley and other members of the congressional delegation today met with top officials at PPL in Allentown to assess current outages and determine the need for any appropriate federal resources.
“As of this morning, there were over 800,000 Pennsylvanians without power,” said Senator Casey. “It is imperative that Federal, State, and local authorities work in coordination with utilities and others to ensure that power is restored and debris is cleared to help the communities across the Commonwealth recover as quickly as possible.”
"We appreciate Sen. Casey's visit today and his support and concern for all those affected by this unprecedented storm," said William H. Spence, chairman, president and chief executive officer of PPL Corporation. "We have more than 4,000 experienced, dedicated people working on restoring service to PPL Electric Utilities customers in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy and are making significant progress today."
"We greatly appreciate the coordination with federal and state officials, as we, at PPL are fully committed to ensure the proper resources and attention are given to get all our customers back in service as safely and quickly as possible," Spence said.
Senator Casey urged the Administration to grant a pre-landfall disaster declaration for Pennsylvania, which was approved. Yesterday, Senator Casey asked President Obama to expand the scope of the pre-landfall disaster declaration for the Commonwealth. While the pre-landfall disaster declaration provided crucial resources to the state, the devastation from Hurricane Sandy warrants the need to ensure additional services are available. Specifically, amending the pre-landfall disaster declaration to include emergency protective services and debris removal would be a major help to the Commonwealth. This addition to the declaration would allow the state to receive additional direct resources and aid to move forward on the recovery effort. The text of the letter can be found here.
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