Posted on 07/04/2012 4:08:25 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
WASHINGTON (AP) - In the aftermath of storms that knocked out power to millions, sweltering residents and elected officials are demanding to know why it's taking so long to restring power lines and why they're not more resilient in the first place.
The answer, it turns out, is complicated: Above-ground lines are vulnerable to lashing winds and falling trees, but relocating them underground incurs huge costs - as much as $15 million per mile of buried line - and that gets passed onto consumers.
(Excerpt) Read more at gopusa.com ...
This just shows how unprepared we are for these type of events. God help us if we ever get hit with an emp or the entire power grid fails.
Bet O’Malley is kicking himself now that any funds he stole from the people went to free higher education for illegals. /hahaha.... now that’s funny right there I tell you.
Anybody that lives in DC is most likely a weak whining leftie. Out in the Virginia/Maryland suburbs, a few are prepared, but many have little clue how to survive when something nasty happens. If you haven’t left Maryland, or moved further out in Virginia, do it now.
But preppers are kooks and terrorists, right?
eyes rolling...
.
The Pree-zee likes it under 70 dee-grees, if I remember a stupid interview from way back when.
Has anybody heard from Gore lately? You’d think he whip the...RIGHT! IT’S GLOBAL WARMING! thang out about now.
Hmmmmm....Old Algore has been quiet lately....Wonder what crap is going to come out. Quite the scumball that guy!
People have become too used to air conditioning and always being at 77 degrees.
Remind me which shovel ready projects the Stimulus money was spent on? Did it all just get corrupted away?
How many trillions of dollars have we spent on FEMA since Katrina?
Just imagine if a really major catastrophe hits us.
“as much as $15 million per mile of buried line - and that gets passed onto consumers.”
Underground lines are $15 MILLION a mile??
That is absolutely! insane and ridiculous!
Union labor rates
Featherbedding
OSHA
EPA
bribes to local pols
millions to attorneys to negotiate right of way contracts
yadda yadda
Potomac Edison had me up in about six hours.
You might want to consider the cost to ratepayers. Here’s a report on recent estimates to do just what you’re suggesting:
http://www.newhampshire.com/article/20111106/NEWS02/711069975
Since all these estimates for public works projects ALWAYS end up being on the low side, let me ask you this: If you were offered to have your lines buried, would you put, oh, $75K+ where your mouth is? Would your neighbors? Because it’s an “all or nothing” proposition.
Yea, I thought not. Americans are too goddamn cheap to buy consumer products under $20 that were made in the US, preferring some piece of crap made in China, and you’re going to tell me with a straight face that your neighbors are going to pony up 50+ large to bury their power lines?
And then let’s assume you put only the local distribution underground - you still have higher voltage regional transmission lines to put underground, otherwise you end up with power outages from upstream failures. OK, so what’s involved in burying higher voltage transmission lines?
Furthermore, if you think repairing above-ground transmission lines is expensive... heh. If you’ve not seen the complexity of repairing a below-ground transmission line, then you might want to check into it before hopping on the “bury the lines” bandwagon.
I think our power folks have beter abilities and work ethics - they had most of us up in 3-4 days after Katrina and Katrina made what happened up north look like an April shower.
We imported a bunch of help and I saw a convoy of power trucks heading east on I-10 the other day. Maybe they'll get it under control with some of us southerners helping out.
And put a lot of people OUT of work ...
Come out here to West Virginia and try to sell your New York Snake Oil ...
It's called a "gasoline powered generator".
You can buy one off the shelf at your local home improvement store.
And the required wiring and transfer switch to hook up said generator to a well pump. It is not just a matter of plugging it in. Take your sarcasm somewhere else.
Putting lines underground makes a lighting strike easier. I have been in many homes after a major storm with underground power lines. It destroys more items in the home.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.