The U.S. power grid is extremely vulnerable to an attack by an EMP weapon or a solar event.
North Korea claims to have a “Super-EMP” weapon and Iran has tested ballistic missiles in an EMP mode, claiming success. It is believed by our experts that these countries are working in tandem to create such a weapon because their scientists in the field regularly travel back-and-forth between the two countries.
John Holdren and his British counterpart, Joh Beddington, have stated in an oped of 3/10/11 that a solar flare could have catastrophic events. Space weather can affect human safety and economies anywhere in the world, sending blasts of electrically-charged gas from the sun at up to five million miles an hour and it can happen with little warning.
Holdren wrote, “Their impact could be big — on the order of $2 trillion during the first year in the United States alone, with a recovery period of 4 to 10 years.”
While Holdren and Beddington said there was commitment on both sides of the Atlantic to implement the technology fixes to shield our electric grid from such a catastrophe, nothing has happened and they have not evaluated the dangers of solar flares or a nuclear EMP attack.
The governments have chosen to study the lucrative cyber-warfare instead.
The Shield Act would prepare us for an EMP attack or a solar event. Not preparing could lead to the obliteration of our power grid, leaving us helpless before our enemies.
- It is a public-private partnership, requires no taxpayer money and its purpose is to protect our electrical grid.
- The Act would require US utilities to harden large transformers and other key elements of the nation’s power.
- It calls on the federal government to establish protection standards and hardware solutions in concert with industry, and includes a provision for cost recovery should industry incur substantial costs.
The EMP Commission and the Strategic Posture Commission have warned in detailed reports of the catastrophic destruction an EMP attack or similar solar event would have on the American way of life. Similar reports have been issued by the administration’s own Department of Energy, and by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
Not protecting against such events is like playing Russian roulette, EMP expert John Kappenman told Frontpage magazine, “If you play Russian roulette long enough, you will lose.” In this case, Congress is playing Russian roulette with the entire American people.
The EMP Commission and the Strategic Posture Commission, the U.S. DOE and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission have warned of the catastrophic destruction in the event of an EMP attack or solar event.
A report from 2004, EMP Commission to Assess the Threat of An EMP Attack to the United States determined that a single EMP warhead exploded over the center of the US could bring down the entire power grid. A solar event could do the same.
EMPact America believes it would cost a mere $60-$100 million to protect the 300 largest transformers running the grid, and another $400 million to $600 million to protect an additional 3,000 transformers. It would be a one-time cost.
How distant such an event is cannot be known but isn’t it better to be protected? Foreign enemies launch attacks on our grids regularly. It would be their dream to destroy it.
Source: Front Page Magazine, please click the link for the entire story which I have paraphrased.
ONE SECOND AFTER
Listen to more from William Forstchen here.
THE EMP NIGHTMARE
Discovery Channel – Pt. 3 a mix of documentary and fiction to give people an idea of what a solar flare would do to our country if we are not prepared. It can happen.
An actual solar flare from March of this year