Preparedness Author Michael Mabee Warns of Grid Threats: “It is not enough to be the only prepared family”
In the U.S. we are literally on life support, plugged into the electric grid. If somebody unplugs us, everything necessary to sustain life stops: food, water, fuel, transportation, medical care, communications, financial – everything.
The grid is vulnerable to numerous threats. The U.S. Senate said that in a long-term nation-wide blackout, millions of citizens could die. After a few weeks, we would die in droves from waterborne diseases, starvation, and societal collapse. What if the grid went down for longer than a few weeks?
Why isn’t anything being done about this threat?
We have known this for over two decades from numerous federal reports and hearings, but nothing has been done about it. Why?
“The grid is self-regulated,” author Michael Mabee explained. “The only federal agency with the authority to act, FERC, is run by industry insiders.”
For the past 15 years, commissioners of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission have been cut from the same bolt of cloth. All but two were lawyers. Most go on to high power positions in law firms representing the utility industry. Some actually go to the utility industry itself. FERC is a stepping stone to a lucrative future position in the industry or representing the industry.
FERC Commissioners don’t want to upset the industry by requiring it to protect the grid from cyber attacks, electromagnetic pulse (EMP), geomagnetic disturbances (GMD), physical attacks and untrimmed foliage. The industry fights efforts to harden the grid. FERC Commissioners do not want to antagonize an industry dangling lucrative positions following their FERC terms.
The federal government has no plan for a long-term power outage. FEMA recently admitted this:
“Current planning does not include any contingencies for very long term or extremely widespread power outages.” –FEMA National Preparedness Symposium May, 2018
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
