Letters To The Editor

Reader: If Grid Goes Down, It Won’t Be Pretty

 

To read the referenced story, “Large-Scale ISIS Attack On US Power Grid ‘Imminent,’” click here.

 

To put a high tech country like the USA out of action and create total chaos all you would have to do is knock out the cities’ electrical supplies, with maybe a handful of trained men. If they knew what they were doing it could be weeks before the power was back on. As soon as it got dark the looting would start. There is a saying: 72 hours to anarchy. After this time people will do anything to get water and feed their families. Very hard to find gas — no pumps in service stations without generators. Supermarkets cleared out in 18 hours, and no way to restock. No way to get fuel to hospitals, so emergency generators stop. Think Gaza and Iraq all in one with no rules or help. So listen to what people who know say, not what you see in the movies.

Ron

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Here’s the facts of how prepared the USA infrastructure is. There are several universities which are part of a nationwide emergency network who have been running emergency training seminars across the country for the past several decades. These trainings cover how to harden utility infrastructure against EMPs, and other man-made and natural disasters. Most utilities know that it’s not just a matter of IF an EMP might happen; it’s a matter of WHEN it will happen. Utilities (and the US military) have been getting prepared (advanced protections and hardened infrastructures) for not just this likelihood but many others. The people who are responsible for running the utility infrastructure are highly intelligent people who are well-informed about what might happen and how to best keep the lights on, water running, etc. It’s fine to conjecture that ISIS could be funded by the Mexican drug cartels but then given the likelihood that Mexico, South American and Canada would likely be affected by an EMP targeting the USA, do you think they would risk losing their electricity, all those customers, and their supply chain?

There has been some failures in the past (New Orleans) but these incidents have proven that every infrastructure provider needs to do all they can to have measures in the place to avert loss of service.

Lisa