Posted on 12/29/2020 4:14:32 PM PST by devane617
The FBI has joined a criminal investigation of what police said appears to be an "intentional attack" on gas service lines in Aspen, Colorado, that left thousands of residents and businesses without heat as temperatures in the skiing mecca plunged to near zero degrees. Work crews are scrambling to restore gas service, and local authorities handed out electric space heaters to residents still without heat Tuesday, as a storm is forecast to bring up to 8 inches of snow in the Rocky Mountains region this week. Temperatures are forecast to fall to 2 degrees in Aspen on Tuesday night, according to the National Weather Service. Aspen police said the apparently coordinated acts of vandalism occurred Saturday night at three separate Black Hills Energy gas line sites, one in Aspen and two elsewhere in Pitkin County.
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Back in college (early 1980’s and school famous for oil and gas studies) one of my professors was big into abiotic oil formation. I think he had a theory relating it to fractal geometry as well.
Most/ all of the other professors thought he was a loon - but he made sense to me back then. Even more so now.
No problem; you mentioned worry and I wasn’t aware of your situation & depth of knowledge. I wish you well. :-)
Years ago, when I was skiing in CO, all of the places had fireplaces. Are such things now banned there?
Yep. And they can light campfires on the solar panels which will turn the light into electricity to run the space heaters.
That’s why one should have a wood stove and a couple cords of wood on hand.
In the mid 70’s I lived in northern Nevada. We had propane for cooking and heating but the Franklin stove in the living room was our main source of heat. Worked great and the cost of firewood was almost zero.
“In case you missed this part. There are 3500 customers. They have to go around and turn every meter off, then restart gas service, then turn meters on and check all pilots. Going to be a cold few days.”
A situation like that, it’s an all hands affair where the company pulls service techs from other districts, and they’ll get mutual aid from other gas utilities.
Back a few years ago when they had the over pressure incident up in Mass resulting in some explosions, there were gas utilities from as far away as Missouri and Texas that helped out in the recovery.
We recently move to an all electric house. Told My Wife the other day let’s ditch this POS electric stove/oven since We both hate cooking with electric. I’ll put a piece of Plywood over the stovetop and get a Camp Stove that uses the propane cans to place on top. The oven can stay for baking.
Then if the power goes out We can move the Camp Stove into one of the smaller rooms, use the camp stove to boil H2O, cook and heat the room. (with proper ventilation of course.)
It’s always this cold in Colorado in the winter.
Those heaters won’t work at high elevations (low oxygen). I used an Olympian Wave 8 heater at over 9,000 feet for a few years, though. Those heaters (Olympian) didn’t have low oxygen shutoffs back then.
I looked at some ads, looks like some models only need one adapter hose. You could contact a dealer to see what you need for you model.
9000 BTU heater
1 lb lasts 5 hr on low setting
1 lb 2 high
20 lb 100 low
20 lb 40 high
rationing your heater on and off will stretch it out.
Do you have a little money and some gas stations that sell K1 kerosene nearby? A kerosene heater will work, if you can make sure that there’s a little outdoor air ventilation (loose building, window open a little,...). The Dyna-Glo heaters are for sale now and pretty common. Try online sites such as Northern Too, Amazon, Tractor Supply,...
It might not work out in an apartment in a high-rise, though (especially without a window to the outside). You’d probably know best whether or not that situation would work for you.
If you use a kerosene heater, though, follow the warnings and instructions carefully. *And get a carbon monoxide detector and install it for sure* (very easily done and available at many of the Walmart stores).
You’ll need some 5-gallon (or more) fuel jugs to go with that. Blue kerosene jugs are best, although some stations will let you use other jugs in different colors. Call and ask a station attendant. I’ve filled diesel (yellow) jugs without anyone complaining.
K1 kerosene (a cleaner kerosene, mandatory for those heaters) can also be found at many hardware stores, but it’s terribly overpriced in those places. I got K1 at for 3.459 per gallon a few nights ago. And *don’t* use diesel fuel (messes up wicks something terrible, burns dirty, stops heaters from working). Use the K1 (or K-1) kerosene.
“How the heck did the bad guys know where the gas lines were located? Was it locals?”
There are locations all over the place that have pipes and valves sticking up out of the ground with big old no smoking signs with the company name, etc on them.
You might even drive by one every day and not realize it.
First thing I did 5 years ago when I bought an all electric house was to install a wood stove. Using it now as I type. :)
Now imagine an EMP attack. In addition to gas lines, it will take out electricity. Only a matter of time before food and water disappear.
Believe it or not, a couple burning candles in a cold room can raise the temp 10-15 degrees. Used that trick many times.
“Oil is the second most common liquid on Earth behind water. We have consumed trillions of barrels of oil, yet magically it never runs out.”
Another interesting fact for you.
Our known natural gas reserves is approximately 2,462 trillion cubic feet which should last at least a century. But like oil, natural gas replenishes itself.
This rock will be a cinder either through nuclear war, an asteroid, or the sun going supernova before both oil and gas runs out.
Snow will help. It insulates and reduces how much warmth is lost, and it recuces drafts letting cold air in. Those with fireplaces and wood heat will be ok. The rest have funds enough to acquire an alternate heat source.
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