Reuters
People in California and other West Coast states where the four-year-drought continues to worsen may have more to worry about than water, says the U.S. energy secretary. Our access to electricity is threatened, too.
Power brownouts are coming as hydroelectric power stations struggle, the U.S. energy secretary said Monday. The outlook for climate change could mean additional problems for power plants, he added.
"That is certainly a risk," Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz told reporters at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast on Monday, when asked whether the region could see a summer of power brownouts, or reductions in availability of electricity supply.
"Hydro power is a renewable (form of energy) but if you look historically there is actually quite a bit of fluctuation from year to year, depending upon what happens over the winter," he said.
"Drought may bring West Coast brownouts this summer: energy secretary" [Reuters]
Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam are seen in Nevada and Arizona, United States April 23, 2015. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson
