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Deja Vu? Texas NatGas Output Plunges Amid Cold Snap
Deja Vu? Texas NatGas Output Plunges Amid Cold Snap
U.S. natural gas futures rose late in the session on new data that showed a plunge in pipeline gas flows in Texas, which indicates the state’s power grid could be susceptible to failures amid a cold snap.
Front-month gas futures are up more than 3% to $3.84 around 1445 ET as commodity traders assess the situation in Texas.
“Production of the heating and power generation fuel in Texas fell on Sunday to the lowest since February’s freeze — when millions were sent into the dark for days — after temperatures plunged,” BloombergNEF pipeline data showed. Flows are expected to rebound when temperatures rebound.
Temperatures in The Lone Star State are expected to rebound in the coming days.
However, warmer weather might not return to much of the U.S. until next Tuesday. Mean temperatures will oscillate around a 30-year average for the next eight days, occasionally dipping to below-average levels. The coldest point is between Jan. 8-11.
Heating degree days for the U.S. show cold weather will increase the demand for energy to heat building structures.
A plunge in gas supplies comes right after the Electric Reliability Council (ERCOT) of Texas said the power grid is “winterized and ready to provide power.”
Last February, a cold snap froze wellhead across the state that parazyled gas flows. Power plants couldn’t get enough fuel to spin turbines, and combine that with extraordinarily high power demand from customers to stay warm, the grid was minutes from collapse — forcing ERCOT, the grid operator — to implement rolling blackouts.
Despite ERCOT’s confidence that grid stability can be achieved this winter, keep an eye on Texas and pray for warmer weather; if not, another energy crisis could be nearing.
Is Texas Facing A Humanitarian Crisis?
Is Texas Facing A Humanitarian Crisis?
Up to 15 million Texans remain without heat and electricity as temperatures across the state are well below freezing. Another round of winter weather is battering parts of the state Wednesday morning, as many Texans have been without electricity since Sunday are desperately scrambling to find shelters. Weather-related deaths have already been reported as one of the nation’s wealthiest states can barely supply electricity to its residents. And some of those residents have written to us to share their painful realities…
…my house is now resembling a refugee camp. yeah these are all my friends but crazy cause they all have young kids…
hence i’m escaping the chaos…
what’s insane is that big swathes of population in surrounding areas are without power and *water supply*
… bottled water flying off shelves & stores bout to run out.
… so much for Green New Deal shit… all our turbines and solar don’t work now in freeze, LOL
i live in an area behind a major hospital so i’m thinking that’s why my grid has been up and running this whole time.
The unprecedented polar vortex split, dumping Arctic air down to the Gulf of Mexico, resulted in frozen wellheads that impeded the flow of natgas to power stations, triggering electric shortages as demand overwhelmed the grid. Considering ERCOT, which manages 90% of the state’s electric load, has a high percentage of electrical generation produced via natgas, power has yet to be restored to millions of folks.
The cascading effect of blackouts and controlled power outages has resulted in some critical infrastructure such as cellular networks and water treatment plants going offline.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
A nationwide blackout lasting 1 year could kill up to 90% Americans
A nationwide blackout lasting 1 year could kill up to 90% Americans
Preface. What follows is the testimony of Dr. Pry at a 2015 U.S. House of Representatives session. I have cut, shortened, and rearranged the order of the 30 page original document. And hey, the truth is, the electric grid is coming down one way or another. Without natural gas, wind and solar can’t be balanced (no energy storage is in sight), and the electric grid is falling apart.
Related articles:
- Russian hackers suspected in attack that blacked out parts of Ukraine
- How the weapon works (pdf): CRASHOVERRIDE Analyzing the Threat to Electric Grid Operations
- The EMP Commission estimates a nationwide blackout lasting one year could kill up to 9 of 10 Americans through starvation, disease, and societal collapse
- Electromagnetic pulse threat to infrastructure (U.S. House hearings 2012 & 2014)
- The Devil’s Scenario – near miss at Fukushima is a warning for U.S.
- A Nuclear spent fuel fire at Peach Bottom in Pennsylvania could force 18 million people to evacuate
- The electromagnetic pulse EMP Threat. May 13, 2005 House of Representatives hearing
- The electric grid, critical interdependencies, vulnerabilities. House of Representatives 2003
- Electromagnetic Pulse EMP from solar flares or high-altitude nuclear weapon explosion
***
Testimony of Dr. Peter Vincent Pry at the U.S. House of Representatives Serial No. 114-42 on May 13, 2015. The EMP Threat: the state of preparedness against the threat of an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) event. House of Representatives. 94 pages.
“The EMP Commission estimates that a nationwide blackout lasting one year could kill up to 9 of 10 Americans through starvation, disease, and societal collapse”
A natural electromagnetic pulse (EMP) from a geomagnetic super-storm, like the 1859 Carrington Event or 1921 Railroad Storm, or nuclear EMP attack could cause a year-long blackout, and collapse all the other critical infrastructures–communications, transportation, banking and finance, food and water–necessary to sustain modern society and the lives of 310 million Americans.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Power Grid Failure in NY Causes Panic Highlights the Importance of Prepping
POWER GRID FAILURE IN NY CAUSES PANIC HIGHLIGHTS THE IMPORTANCE OF PREPPING
A recent power grid failure in New York caused panic and even stocked the fear of an alien invasion. With so many dependent on the electrical power grid, it is important to be prepared for the worst.
Even president Donald Trump has taken it upon himself to sign an executive order declaring an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) could be “debilitating” to the United States’ power grid. Far too many Americans won’t know what to do when the inevitable finally happens. And things will get dire should we have to live without power for more than one week.
“It is the policy of the United States to prepare for the effects of EMPs through targeted approaches that coordinate whole-of-government activities and encourage private-sector engagement,” said the executive order released by the White House.
A congressional report warned that an EMP attack on the East Coast would kill 90 percent of those in the area over the course of ONE year due to the lack of food, money, fuel, electricity, and medical care.
The infrastructure is crumbling, and while the government claims they intend to secure the power grid, most of us know much better. The best the rest of us can do is make sure we are armed with knowledge and the survivalist mentality.
Americans, largely, have put their survival in the hands of the government, but if you’re reading this, you probably want to become more self-sufficient. And beginning by preparing for a lengthy power grid failure (regardless of whether it was an EMP attack or an infrastructure failure) is a great start and an excellent first step when fueling your “prepper’s mindset.”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
DOD Exercise to Simulate Nationwide Power Grid Blackout From Solar Storm During Antifa Protests in November
DOD EXERCISE TO SIMULATE NATIONWIDE POWER GRID BLACKOUT FROM SOLAR STORM DURING ANTIFA PROTESTS IN NOVEMBER
According to The National Association for Amateur Radio (ARRL), elements of the US Department of Defense (DOD) will simulate a “communications interoperability” training exercise across the United States on November 04-06. The announcement released on October 24 has not been widely distributed to the media, because the drill is simulating a total grid collapse and could spark public fear.
Explained by Army MARS Program Manager Paul English,
“This exercise will begin with a national massive coronal mass ejectionevent which will impact the national power grid as well as all forms of traditional communication, including landline telephone, cellphone, satellite, and Internet connectivity,”
In July, we warned about the US government quietly preparing for a massive coronal mass ejection with the passage of an Executive Order— “Coordinating Efforts to Prepare the Nation for Space Weather Events”.
Here is snippet of section 1 of the executive order:
Space weather events, in the form of solar flares, solar energetic particles, and geomagnetic disturbances, occur regularly, some with measurable effects on critical infrastructure systems and technologies, such as the Global Positioning System (GPS), satellite operations and communication, aviation, and the electrical power grid. Extreme space weather events — those that could significantly degrade critical infrastructure — could disable large portions of the electrical power grid, resulting in cascading failures that would affect key services such as water supply, healthcare, and transportation. Space weather has the potential to simultaneously affect and disrupt health and safety across entire continents. Successfully preparing for space weather events is an all-of-nation endeavor that requires partnerships across governments, emergency managers, academia, the media, the insurance industry, non-profits, and the private sector.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Sounding The Alarm On The Country’s Vulnerability To An EMP
Sounding The Alarm On The Country’s Vulnerability To An EMP
Last year, Elliott Management’s Paul Singer highlighted “one risk that stands way above the rest in terms of the scope of potential damage adjusted for the likelihood of occurrence”– an electromagnetic pulse (EMP). As Michael Snyder previously details, our entire way of life can be ended in a single day. And it wouldn’t even take a nuclear war to do it. All it would take for a rogue nation or terror organization to bring us to our knees is the explosion of acouple well-placed nuclear devices high up in our atmosphere. The resulting electromagnetic pulses would fry electronics from coast to coast.
As PeakProsperity.com’s Chris Martenson explains, the country is extremely vulnerable to an EMP…
In the past here at Peak Prosperity, we’ve written extensively on the threat posed by a sustained loss of electrical grid power. More specifically, we’ve warned that the most damaging threat to our grid would come from either a manmade or natural electromagnetic pulse (EMP).
A good friend of mine, Jen Bawden, is currently sitting on a committee of notable political, security and defense experts — which includes past and present members of Congress, ambassadors, CIA directors, and others — who are equally concerned about this same threat and have recently sent a letter to Obama pleading for action to protect the US grid.
Before we get to that letter, here’s a snippet from what we wrote on the matter roughly a year ago:
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Secret Homeland Report Warns Solar Storm Could Leave 100 Million Without Power: “We Are Running Out of Time to Prepare”
Homeland Security officials are warning that a major coronal mass ejection, solar flare or electromagnetic pulse may be inevitable and catastrophic to modern civilization. The devastation to the electric grid and modern infrastructure could impact the lives of more than 100 million, and cause untold casualties during prolonged outages.
Homeland Security conducted a study assessing the risks with these extreme solar events (as well as manmade EMPs).
Via Free Beacon
DHS’ Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) stated in an internal 2012 fact sheet outlining its response plan for severe “space weather” that the actual impact and damage from a future solar storm is not known.
[…]
The report outlines the scenario for a major “coronal mass ejection” from the Sun that will first be detected by U.S. satellites. The magnetic band reaches the earth within 24 to 72 hours, affecting up to 100 million people.
The largest such storms, called G-5s, would cause transformers and transmission lines to be “severely damaged.”
The storms last from hours to a day but can disrupt electric power grid operations, GPS satellites, aircraft operations, manned space flight, satellite operations, natural gas distribution pipelines, and undersea communications cables.
Though acknowledging they lack sufficient information about what exactly might happen, it is clear enough what kind of damage and disruption of service it might pose for the infrastructure that everyone depends upon.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
