Posted on 08/14/2014 8:38:26 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
WASHINGTON — A persistent failure by federal lawmakers to protect the nation’s electric grid from attack isn’t stopping private sector efforts to prevent damage from a nuclear blast.
An Obama administration initiative to spend $7 billion on the development of the electric grid in six African nations, as Watchdog reported, earned a stern rebuke from a security expert concerned about the administration’s priorities.
But state level efforts are under way to protect the grid against solar flares and electromagnetic pulses.
As security experts work to raise awareness about surviving the potential destruction — caused by a shockwave after an explosion on the surface of the sun or nuclear weapons detonated in the Earth’s upper atmosphere — private companies are building technologies aimed at preventing the resultant damage.
Applied Energy, LLC., for example, is looking to test technology that prevents the electrical surge caused by an EMP.
Dan Princinsky, president of the fourteen-year-old Michigan-based company, wrote to Watchdog.org in April, saying his company’s technology was “the only patented product on the market that operates at the speed of current flow which is the only way to prevent the problem from occurring.”
“The only way to protect the grid is to get ahead of the event by using a product that works electro-magnetically so it can mitigate the problem as it is forming,” said Princinsky.
In a follow-up email, Princinsky told Watchdog.org he wondered why security experts appeared more concerned about surviving the damage created by an EMP than by preventing the damage in the first place.
Princinsky’s company is hardly alone.
EMP GRID Services, a consortium of electricity technology companies formed in April, began building in Pennsylvania for a Fortune 500 company a data center that could shield against EMPs and solar flares. On Aug. 8, the consortium announced a partnership with military contractor Armag Corporation to expand the kind of services it offers to protect electrical infrastructure.
Concern over the destruction inflicted by an EMP attack from North Korea has heightened since Congress created the first Congressional EMP Commission in 2001, but the electric grid’s vulnerability to disruptions associated with solar flares has been known for more than 150 years.
Industry watchers attribute the grid’s poor security to turf wars involving the federal government’s Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the international nonprofit North American Electric Reliability Corporation, as well as a lack of urgency by both organizations.
The Foundation for Resilient Societies, in a July op-ed in the Capitol Hill publication The Hill, for example, blasted NERC and FERC for a May 2013 vote against improving the physical security standards for the grid after six men with AK-47 machine guns shot up a substation in California.
Only after FERC report about leaked almost a year later did the agency pressure NERC to improve physical security.
During his bid for the presidency during the 2012 election cycle, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich popularized the EMP threat as he countered political opponents who mocked his ideas.
George Noory, host of the popular late night radio show Coast to Coast AM, announced Aug. 4 the launch of a campaign, with the help of Joseph Farrah, founder and editor-in-chief of WND.com, to raise awareness about the EMP threat and urge Congress to act to protect the grid.
“It is not a matter of if, but when we will experience an EMP event or attack,” said Noory in a press statement.
CNBC reported at the end of July that billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Singer warned investors in a letter about the dangers of EMPs and solar flares.
“Why are we writing about this topic?” Singer wrote, “Because in any analysis of societal risk, EMP stands all by itself.”
It behooves them to address the subject.
Just think. No more tax bills.
But what kind of deaths will occur? For instance, some auto manufacturers have faulty ignition switches and were sued because of a few dozen accidents where people died - now picture thousands of cars going fast and simultaneously losing power. Freeways and busy thoroughfares will be death zones as cars careen out of control. Lots of people can't handle a car that loses power steering and power brakes; accidents are certain if people judge car separation distances and stopping length based on power steering. Then of the accidents that happen, there may be fires that will not result in a response of emergency vehicles. Remember, response teams will face the same problem of uncertain use of their equipment.
This is a small fraction of the problems that will ensue. Think of airplanes and helicopters falling out of the sky. Dead refrigeration equipment and rotting food in big and little stores and trucks. A lot of trucks may be restartable, and some companies may be able to get generators online. But there will be problems.
So it's a good thing to push for prevention of damage before it even happens.
“DC would be in big trouble in the event of an EMP that took out all electronics in buildings and houses and cars the grid. Millions of employees in an instant jungle....”
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Just for the first day. Then the government would decide almost all of them could do “flex” place and “work” from home. Most would find they could pretend to work from home just as easy as they pretend to work at the office.
My apologies to those of you who are government employees who actually work hard and serve the public. I know that many fit in that category and, unfortunately, have their reputations spoiled by the many slackers among your work force.
I'm not sure that is going to help.
“Just a little pre-strike to hopefully scare the ‘trolls’ away.”
Glad you clarified. Not like you to downplay legitimate threats - especially this one, when things have already been zapped by nukes (things much, much, more robust than just about anything today). Odd though, for people that claim to be conservatives and not only live in denial (which is actually not that odd), but to also impugn anyone one else trying to help others be prepped. But then, I think, often it’s their defense mechanism. If they can convince others that the problem really doesn’t exist, then they (themselves) won’t have hear about it and deal with it.
Death is not a welcome topic to discuss for many people. Many refuse to think about it or prepare for their eventual passing. Then there’s the ones who believe they can’t afford to prepare for it, who are in a whole different class.
Ebola and EMP are both serious killers that will reduce the number of human beings on Earth very rapidly. So don’t be naughty and insist on talking about things that kill people. Okay? Keep that smile on your pretty face and nobody will suspect that you even think about such things.
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