Posted on 02/03/2011 8:14:16 AM PST by bestintxas
As brief power outages rolled across the state on Wednesday, certain places were intended to be exempt from a temporary loss of electricity. That included hospitals, nursing homes, fire stations, police stations, other emergency response facilities… and Cowboys Stadium?
When officials with Oncor said that the Arlington site of Sunday’s Super Bowl XLV would not be a part of the rolling outages, many residents became furious. But this was not entirely a choice made by the local utility company.
With thousands of reporters huddled in North Texas hotels and thousands of rabid football fans attending the NFL Experience at the Dallas Convention Center, and two football teams preparing to do battle on the field of Cowboys Stadium this Sunday, the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee had a big request to make. “It is vitally important we don’t have blackouts,” said committee vice president Tony Fay.
Fay asked the City of Dallas, the City of Fort Worth and the City of Arlington to ensure that rolling blackouts did not prevent planned events from happening at Super Bowl venues. That news really steamed up some homeowners who were left without power for hours. “We’re not prioritizing,” said frustrated Plano resident Allen Hooser. “Hospitals and the grocery store, which is out. But for a PR stunt, where you can go throw a football, you have power and heat.”
“Not because of any preferential treatment. Not because we’re trying to protect VIPs or celebrities,” Fay explained. “It is a public safety issue.” According to Fay, if there was to be a blackout at an NFL venue, then there would be no way to screen for security.
(Excerpt) Read more at dfw.cbslocal.com ...
“Why Was Cowboys Stadium Exempt From Blackouts”
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Well folks... It’s called.. “The Golden Rule”.
Those who have the gold make the rules.
Do you realize the importance of positng the correct link at the top of the thread?
there is more than one link. I cannot post them all as per rules here.
BTW, answering a Q with a Q generally means you have no argument.
Sorry, I’m a football fan and I don’t see how keeping the power on for football is “vitally important” when compared to hospitals and other public health and safety offices.
It’s all a matter of perspective on what is viewed as “vitally important”, but IMO, the people of the Arlington, D-FW areas should have top priority over the visitors.
Sure you can. Post as many as you need to make your point.
I find it interesting that the utilities cannot keep up with the demand during the cold but have little or no difficulty keeping up with the demand in the summer when all the A/C is running. Just saying.
If TX is like the utilities in CO the monopoly of gov’t regulated utilities may be the issue.
The rolling blackouts are bad but the low gas pressure in residential lines is stunning!!
DFW is sitting atop a huge natural gas reserve called the Barnett Shale. It’s almost too funny. Some of the customers
that were affected like in Colleyville and Grapevine might be the folks who got gas contracts for their neighborhoods!!
Ha! The irony.
My wife works at Methodist Hospital in Richardson, which is a suburb directly north of Dallas. They have 4 blackouts yesterday and she said that each time all of their equipment (she works in a lab) had to be reset and tests had to be restarted.
You missed the some people are more equal than others clause, just ask queen Nancy. “You’ve got to be kidding me!”
I can't speak to hospitals, but most commercial buildings have a back up generator. These generators only supply specific loads, however. In an office building this would include emergency lighting, some elevator service and emergency equipment like fire alarms, fire pumps and emergency fans.
Putting in generators that could supply all the power to everything would be extremely expensive. Huge generators, huge transfer switches, lots of big expensive wiring. Also, if you use the generators for anything but power outages, like during price spikes, you then fall under all the regulations of a utility. You need emmissions controls, more inspections, licenses, etc.
It's a government thing.
the article says hospitals were exempted and not blacked out?
look the Super Bowl (and I rarely watch thug sports now...not since Terry and Roger days) but it brings in enormous revenue and work to Dallas, Fort Worth and north central Texas and tax reciepts
after critical places it should have been kept up given the magnitude of benefit it brings
*I love Dallas ..as a Jackson Miss boy..Dallas and New Orleans were always my Big Cities
there is more than one link. I cannot post them all as per rules here.
BTW, answering a Q with a Q generally means you have no argument.
“Not because of any preferential treatment. Not because we’re trying to protect VIPs or celebrities,” Fay explained. “It is a public safety issue.” According to Fay, if there was to be a blackout at an NFL venue, then there would be no way to screen for security”-
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They are called G-E-N-E-R-A-T-O-R-S and they usually have wheels and a tow bar...... YOU TARD!!!!
How about the NFL just has some backup generators on-site and on-standby on their own dime? Problem solved.
Well, per the discussion from Centerpoint (who owns the transmission lines here in Houston), hospitals, fire, police, water treatment facilities are on the ‘exempt’ list. Everything else is not. So, in HOUSTON, the stadium would (and did) lose power.
My understanding is this is a Texas wide policy from either the PUC or the ERCOT.
This is ALL about image, MONEY and future Superbowls. The local elites want to be on the regular Superbowl circuit like Miami, Arizona and Nawlins.
If there seems to be too many problems associated with North Texas then we will not be on the short list.
Having most of Jerry World blacked out, with generators running all the media laptops, would be a media image disaster. Hence... Jerry World gets the electricity.
Really? Wow. I’m in Austin at present and basically staying in, not going anywheres. I don’t trust the roads or the other drivers.
Too many people from other states have been moving here, and the EPA refused every request to build new technology coal fired plants. Gov Perry ran for reelection that the state would build more plants, and Elmer Fudd ran against more energy. Perry wiped the floor with EF.
Texas usually doesn't have cold snaps like this. This cold snap froze several water pipes at some coal fired plants and the natural gas plants had low pressure supply in the lines, due to businesses using gas for heat. Also, the NIMBY people have not allowed the utility companies to build enough 385000 v power lines from the wind farms into the main parts of the grid.
Several of our buildings had the rolling blackouts, but ours stayed on the entire time. My computer was still on this AM when I got to work. We were sent home at noon due to power issues.
A hospital is just a concrete box full of sick people waiting to die!
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