Overview of Who gets to keep the lights on?
This NPR It’s Been a Minute episode examines why power outages and other utility failures hit some communities harder than others, using the two-week blackout in Gary, Indiana as a starting point. Host Brittany Luse speaks with health and environment reporter Janae Barnes and climate policy expert Shalanda Baker about how aging infrastructure, climate change, historic disinvestment, and new energy demands are exposing deep inequities in the U.S. power system.
Why the Gary, Indiana outage mattered
A disaster layered on top of vulnerability
- On August 11, a derecho hit northwest Indiana and knocked out power in Gary for 14 days, one of the longest outages in modern U.S. history.
- Gary is a predominantly Black city with fewer resources and less infrastructure resilience than surrounding areas.
- Residents were left in “survival mode,” relying on relief drives for:
- ice
- flashlights
- batteries
- toiletries
- diapers and wipes
- nonperishable food
Unequal restoration
- Gary was the last city in its service area to get power restored.
- That delay raised questions about whether response times and recovery efforts are shaped by race, class, and place.
How the power grid works — and why it’s fragile
The grid in three parts
Shalanda Baker breaks the system into:
- Generation: where electricity is produced
- Transmission: high-voltage lines that move electricity across regions
- Distribution: local delivery to homes and businesses
Why the system is vulnerable
- Much of the U.S. grid is old and underinvested.
- Climate change is making storms, heat waves, flooding, and wind events more severe.
- New demands, including data centers, are adding pressure to an already strained system.
Inequity in outages and utility access
Race and class shape outcomes
- Studies show poor communities wait longer for power restoration after outages.
- Black and brown communities often face:
- slower response times
- higher utility burdens
- lower-quality service
- The episode links these patterns to historical redlining and decades of uneven infrastructure investment.
Outages become public health crises
The guests explain that power loss can trigger cascading harms:
- spoiled food
- interrupted dialysis or respirator use
- sanitation and sewage problems
- inability to charge phones or access information
- displacement and trauma
Real-world examples
- Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria: prolonged blackout led to major health and survival issues.
- Texas during Winter Storm Uri: research found majority-Black and brown communities experienced longer outages.
- New York City / Sandy: outages in high-rise buildings caused toilet and sewage problems.
- Flint and Detroit: the episode draws parallels to water access and trust issues in other essential services.
Data centers and the next wave of grid strain
New demand, new pressure
- Data centers are increasing electricity use in some communities and can raise local electric bills.
- They also require large amounts of water for cooling, adding strain on water systems.
Hidden environmental costs
- When companies promise to “bring their own power,” that often means building fossil-fuel facilities nearby.
- That can create new air quality and environmental justice problems, especially in rural or already burdened communities.
What it would take to fix the system
The guests’ main policy prescriptions
- Massive federal investment in infrastructure, funded by taxpayer dollars.
- Transition away from fossil fuel generation toward clean energy.
- Decentralize power generation so more communities can produce their own energy.
- Expand rooftop solar, especially on homes, churches, schools, and municipal buildings.
- Upgrade transmission and distribution systems for greater flexibility and resilience.
- Use batteries and demand response to balance load during peak times and outages.
- Create local economic benefits, including jobs and lower energy costs, for the communities hosting new infrastructure.
Community resilience hubs
- Churches and community centers can serve as emergency power and cooling hubs during storms.
- In Gary, one solar-powered church functioned as a resilience center during the outage.
Key takeaway
The episode argues that power outages are not just technical failures — they are reflections of structural inequality. Climate change is exposing an aging, unevenly maintained grid, and the burden falls hardest on Black, brown, and low-income communities. The solution, the guests say, is not just repair, but a major reimagining of how energy is produced, distributed, and shared.
Update from NIPSCO
- NPR notes that on October 4, NIPSCO said it would:
- hire an independent third-party expert
- review its storm response
- publicly release the findings
- make changes to how it prepares for and responds to severe storms