Posted on 09/29/2011 1:21:40 PM PDT by george76
It's bewildering. Pathetic. Frightening. And it seems that the mainstream media avoids talking about it for fear that Americans will panic. Well, Americans ought to be panicking -- anything to get them to bang on Congress's door and force our representatives to immediately act on the pending legislature now in Congress called the SHIELD Act -- a bill based on the previous HR 5026 -- that unanimously passed in the House of Representatives on June 9, 2010.
The disaster I am referring to is an electromagnetic pulse (EMP), which can easily be caused either by Mother Nature as a geomagnetic solar storm or by an enemy with a low-cost, short range, ship-launched missile armed with a nuclear warhead. The national consequences of an EMP destroying our electrical grid are far-reaching, with long-lasting, continent-wide crippling effects to our electricity-dependant infrastructure.
At the press conference organized by EMPactAmerica on September 23, 2011, this dangerous threat to our national security was exposed for what it truly is -- the most likely event to happen to the U.S., naturally or man-made, that has the potential to bring the country to its knees.
The National Academy of Science points out that protecting the grid against this threat is critical, and getting a bill passed is necessary to do that. An EMP, if not deflected, will shut down and paralyze our country. Just think about the role electricity plays in water, food, heating and cooling, communications, transportation, distribution, the economy and banking.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
the grave threat of an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) in America is not being talked about
Some variation of this article appears every 6 months like clock work. It’s being talked about plenty, more than the actual threat when you get right down to it. In order to nail the entire country you’d need a very large bomb at a very high altitude (EMP is line of sight, it doesn’t turn corners, and it loses strength very quickly). Anybody that can do that has easier means to take us out.
Every literate American needs to read "One Second After."
Not to mention total annihilation. A massive EMP strike would involve nukes. The military is hardened against EMP, not to mention all those boomers out there chock full of Uncle Sam’s finest. No...an EMP strike against us would be cause for a devastating nuke strike....think cold war type strike.
An errant tree limb in rural Ohio did a pretty good job a few years ago — took down the entire NE US and E Canada power grid.
[I still have a hard time believing that was the cause, however.]
Living in Ohio and seeing how the power system is here, I believe it.
Your 30 mile circle only takes out the farm belt. Your circle that covers the entire continental US is a burst altitude of 300 miles. And actually 30 miles is pretty high, that’s the top of the stratosphere, twice the altitude plains fly at in weather balloon territory.
Emergency Procedures: H.R. 5026 would permit FERC to issue emergency measures to protect critical electrical infrastructure from a threat, if the president notifies FERC of any imminent grid security threat. The emergency measures issued by FERC would apply to the electric reliability organization, a regional electric entity, or any owner, user or operator of the bulk-power system within the U.S. The bill would permit FERC to create a mechanism to allow owners, operators or users of the bulk-power system to recover any "substantial costs" that are incurred as a result of complying with the emergency procedures in the event of a grid security threat.
The emergency measures would be effective for one year, unless the president or FERC issues a determination that measures are no longer needed to address any grid security threat.
Grid Reliability Standards: The bill would allow FERC to issue regulations to protect against any grid security vulnerability that the agency determines has not been adequately addressed. Such vulnerabilities would include cyber attacks or an electromagnetic pulse that would pose a substantial risk of disruption to the bulk-power system. The measure also requires FERC to issue regulations that address a vulnerability in which an attacker could hack into the control system infrastructure connected to the electric grid and cause severe physical damage to the equipment.
Critical Defense Facilities: The bill would direct the president to designate up to 100 facilities in the U.S. that are critical to defense and vulnerable to interruption of the supply of electricity. If FERC determines that such facilities have not addressed vulnerabilities with respect to power interruptions, the agency would have the authority to issue regulations requiring that such vulnerabilities be addressed.
Protected Information: H.R. 5026 would permit FERC to designate certain "protected information" that would be exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act or under state or local disclosure laws.
Judicial Review: H.R. 5026 specifies that any party seeking judicial review of provisions included in the bill would have to file legal actions in the federal appeals court for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Technical Assistance: The bill would direct the Department of Energy to provide technical assistance to owners, operators and users of electrical systems to help protect the grid against attacks using electronic communication or electromagnetic pulse.
The U.S. electric power grid consists of interconnected transmission lines, local distribution systems, generation facilities and related communications systems. The bulk-power system in the U.S. and Canada includes more than 200,000 miles of transmission lines and serves over 300 million people. According to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, concerns about the vulnerability of the electric grid have increased in recent years, particularly with respect to cyber-attacks.
The Energy Policy Act of 2005 required the development of mandatory reliability standards for the bulk-power system, including standards addressing the potential for cyber-attacks. Under current law, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) designates an electric reliability organization, which then develops reliability standards that are subject to FERC approval. FERC has designated the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) as the electric reliability organization. FERC is responsible for enforcing the NERC standards.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that implementing the version of H.R. 5026 being considered on the floor would have a "negligible effect on net direct spending over the 2010-2020 period."
planes, fingers got a mind of their own today.
Here you go, http://zapatopi.net/afdb/
It has become very non-PC to suggest that anything at all can happen that won’t be announced in advance by government or cannot be fixed by government.
Obama, and the creeping collectivism taking over the country is about 1000 times bigger threat.
” Obama, and the creeping collectivism taking over the country is about 1000 times bigger threat. “
Similar net effect....
That was a mere inconvenience. Within the limited radius an EMP attack is pretty massive, especially in our modern silicon age, our cars, microwaves and even toasters would all be fried (it’s amazing how many things we stick computer chips in these days). But of course the radius is pretty small, especially given that it’s caused by a nuclear attack, if you’re close enough to the blast for your microwave to die you probably don’t have much longer.
I think Costco has both of those on sale this week.
Now, I think the extent of the damage inflicted by an EMP attack may be overblown in the book. But I also think that a much-reduced version of that damage could roll this country in just a week into the a horror show not seen since the Civil War. Civilization is a veneer that is only so thick and we *are* vulnerable as a result of our over-reliance on electronics.
There are very, very few Americans who do any amount of prepping, let alone the amount necessary to deal with the worst case scenario.
Buy an old car with no electronics. Maybe a Jeep CJ or an old 1960s pickup.
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