GridMore states tell utilities to protect the grid from EMP
Recent storms and floods have highlighted the vulnerability of the U.S. electrical grid. There has been an increase in storm-related power outages in the United States affecting 50,000 customers or more. Between 2000 and 2004, there were 149 storm-related power outages affecting 50,000 customers or more, but between 2005 and 2009, the number increased to 349. Should an electromagnetic burst blow out transformers, shutting down the electrical grid, radio communications, and global positioning systems (GPS) used in cell phones, then airplanes and automobiles would not be able to operate. Law enforcement and emergency responders would lack communication, electric traffic signals would malfunction. The banking system and many sectors of the economy would grind to a halt.
Twelve states have launched initiatives to protect the electrical grid from the dangers of an electromagnetic pulse (EMP), which could be generated by a nuclear explosion in space or a solar storm. Electromagnetic energy from an EMP can disrupt electric signals on which the electrical grid relies.
Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Kentucky, Maine, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and Washington have, in different ways, demanded that utilities upgrade their systems to protect against EMPs. “There is a lot of activity at the state levels, growing activity I hope,” executive director of EMP Task Force on National and Homeland Security, Peter Pry told Watchdog.org, “and all of it kind of driven by frustration that Washington has had half a decade, and it hasn’t done anything.”
The Examiner reports that upgrading the current electrical systems is expensive, so industry watchers believe that resistance from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) is the reason for federal inaction. “The main problem as far as I can tell is that the electric utilities don’t even want anyone to know that this is a problem, let alone require them to do anything about it,” said Frank Gaffney, founder and president of the Center for Security Policy.
A recent report from the National Governor’s Association, titled “The Governor’s Guide to Modernizing the Electric Power Grid,” notes that roughly 70 percent of the transformers and transmission lines in the current electrical systems are at least twenty-five years old, and 60 percent of circuit breakers currently used in the system are thirty years old. Much of America’s power grid infrastructure was built in the 1950s, before microprocessors, so “utilities have had to adapt electromechanical systems to work with digital operations outside of their intended design,” the report noted.
Recent storms and floods have highlighted the vulnerability of the electrical grid. There has been an increase in storm-related power outages affecting 50,000 customers or more. The examiner reports that between 2000 and 2004, there were 149 storm-related power outages affecting 50,000 customers or more, but between 2005 and 2009, the number increased to 349. Should an electromagnetic burst blow out transformers, shutting down the electrical grid; radio communications, and global positioning systems (GPS) used in cell phones, airplanes, and automobiles would not be able to operate. Law enforcement and emergency responders would lack communication, electric traffic signals would malfunction.
Even a small attack on the East Coast power grid would impact surrounding areas.
Last year, Maine passed the “Act to Secure the Safety of Electrical Transmission Lines,” requiring utilities to protect the electrical grid against an electromagnetic pulse. “This is the first major success for those who have been fighting to get grass roots Americans to take this existential threat seriously and to deal with it,” said former Ambassador Henry Cooper, the first director of the Strategic Defense Initiative under former president Ronald Reagan.
— Read more in “What If the Biggest Solar Storm on Record Happened Today?” National Geographic (2 March 2011)
