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Well, it's a long time since 1977 and 1965.

I'd guess that (Niagara Falls!) step-by-step, inch-by-inch, the bean-counters whittled the safeguards away.

Maybe it is a situation where what is "acceptible" kept getting reduced. Kind of like the space shuttle Columbia. Seems like we kept "dumbing down" the acceptible margins for safety.

I can see it now: "So what if the specs say we need relays that react in 1 second? We put in a relay that reacts in 2 seconds, and it's been just fine. And then we put in one that reacts in 3 seconds. Again, it's just fine. Stop worrying about the specs -- look at the cost savings!"

So the standard for acceptible relays goes down. And all is well -- until the day when that 1 second relay is needed, and it isn't there.

This is just speculation on my part, but, no doubt, congressional hearings about the blackout are coming -- can't stop those guys (and gal). And the story will slowly leak out, explaining why the damage was so widespread -- and it will greatly resemble the post-mortem on Columbia.

Meanwhile, I want the focus to be on what caused the problem more than on why the safeguards failed. I am concerned that the scenario outlined in the Post story (see #2893) is what has occurred. If the terrorists could have caused the blackout, you know darned well they would.

By the way, on a lighter note, I find it interesting that the cascading stopped at Valley Forge. Perhaps the ghost of George Washington still watches over us! I sure hope so.

Regards!

By the way, on a lighter note, I find it interesting that the cascading stopped at Valley Forge. Perhaps the ghost of George Washington still watches over us! I sure hope so.

Good point!

As was the rest of your post. I can definately see spec creep happening just as you described, a cheap part being replaced by a cheaper part being replaced by an even cheaper part...

Read post 3080, why it stopped at Valley Forge. It's an excellent article.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/964250/posts?page=3080#3080

Safety steps stopped spread of outage

Technicians in Valley Forge saw the sudden power surge. Circuit breakers tripped. And within four minutes, the electricity grid that serves Pennsylvania and New Jersey had clamped off the spike that blacked out much of the Northeast today, shielding Philadelphia and points south from the disruption.

As a result, the Mid-Atlantic grid, operated by Valley Forge-based PJM Interconnection L.L.C., experienced only a few spillover blackouts in sections of northern Pennsylvania and northern New Jersey.

It was the kind of moment PJM's technicians practice for, company president Phillip G. Harris said: "Coordination is rehearsed and drilled several times a year."

"Meanwhile, I want the focus to be on what caused the problem more than on why the safeguards failed. I am concerned that the scenario outlined in the Post story (see #2893) is what has occurred. If the terrorists could have caused the blackout, you know darned well they would. "

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Check out this post on another related thread, it has links to some interesting articles aong the lines of how terrorists can use cyberattacks to cripple powergrids and so on.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/964353/posts?page=46#46

And here is an excerpt from one of the articles listed there:

""One al Qaeda laptop found in Afghanistan, sources said, had made multiple visits to a French site run by the Societé Anonyme, or Anonymous Society. The site offers a two-volume online "Sabotage Handbook" with sections on tools of the trade, planning a hit, switch gear and instrumentation, anti-surveillance methods and advanced techniques. In Islamic chat rooms, other computers linked to al Qaeda had access to "cracking" tools used to search out networked computers, scan for security flaws and exploit them to gain entry -- or full command.

Most significantly, perhaps, U.S. investigators have found evidence in the logs that mark a browser's path through the Internet that al Qaeda operators spent time on sites that offer software and programming instructions for the digital switches that run power, water, transport and communications grids. In some interrogations, the most recent of which was reported to policymakers last week, al Qaeda prisoners have described intentions, in general terms, to use those tools."
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