It's About the Grid, It's About the Grid...
Now, we are on a dangerous path of Net-Zero Carbon. Yes, decarbonizing our energy industries will cause Blackouts and worse if not reversed.
Energy Security and Freedom
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It's About the Grid, It's About the Grid...
MAR 16, 2024
Guest Post from Dick Storm.
It has now become noticed by the mainstream news that much of the U.S. will suffer Blackouts and electricity shortages as a result of insufficient reliable, dispatchable, affordable generation being built to replace the coal plants that are currently out of favor by government Regulations and climate policy. I have been predicting this and preaching for common sense energy policies for years.
Now, even the MSM has acknowledged this unfortunate truth. There is insufficient new electricity generation 24/7 capacity to replace the reliable, affordable and dispatchable coal plants that have been shut down and many demolished. No one likes an “I Told You So.” Nonetheless, I did start warning folks with paid energy advertisements in the newspaper, published presentations and energy fact minutes (my friend Matt Smith and me called them EFM’s) on the local radio station WSPC.
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This was between the years 2008-2015 when President Obama escalated the “War on Carbon.” It was Obama who mandated electric vehicles during his second term in office. These were then later codified by the Pelosi led, Democrat controlled House to force the “Green New Deal” on us, as the so called, Inflation Reduction Act.” Now, we are on a dangerous path of Net-Zero Carbon. Yes, decarbonizing our energy industries will cause Blackouts and worse if not reversed.
Here are my thoughts on the ranking, in my opinion, of some of the threats to America’s Lifeblood of electricity from the “Largest Machine Ever Built,” the U.S. electric grid. Credit the Smithsonian Institute for coining the name, “Largest Machine Ever Built.” It took over a 100 years to build and the Green’s want to destroy it in a decade or less. So, who are these anti-American organizations?
Threats to Grid Reliability
The top 10 are ranked in my opinion, with the greatest risks first.
Government Agency Climate Policies, EPA at the top, SEC, BLM, DOD, DOJ and all of government is wrongly applying “Climate First” policies rather than the Best policies for America and younger Americans to experience the “American Dream” as my generation did
Creation of RTO’s that absolved most utilities from planning for future electric generation growth
Environmental Extremist/Activists that use enormous wealth against the Best interests of the U.S.A.
Wealthy Business people who fund NGO’s to Decarbonize the western world
The United Nations IPCC, Agenda 21, Agenda 30 and other so called “Climate Policies”
The World Economic Forum and the members who under the guise of saving the planet are forcing policies of de-Growth, de-Industrialization and energy poverty on all of the people of the western world, but not the BRICS, and other countries aligned with Russia and China
“Woke” or “Politically Correct” companies including electric utilities and cooperatives that espouse solar and wind power as being capable of replacing coal, oil, gas and nuclear energy
Public Education, K-12 and Universities that promote climate scare tactics to sway public opinion toward accepting higher energy costs and reduced reliability of energy and electricity
World Bank, IMF, Large Banking and Investment companies that determine which infrastructure projects to finance
Terrorists or criminal acts of sabotage
Physical Damage Vulnerability
Extreme weather has created rare but occasional blackouts, such as Texas in Feb. 2021. That blackout and winter storm killed over 240 people.
Then, there is another concern, I have thought about for years. That is, criminal and terrorist acts on our Grid and quite honestly, I did not want to write about it because I was concerned that it would give ideas to criminal minded individuals or groups to use for nefarious purposes.
But, then, in checking for references on Grid vulnerability, I easily found over a dozen references including the widely watched CBS 60 Minutes TV show done in February 2023, technical society organizations and Congressional Research Service reports.
So, what I am about to say should be no surprise to anyone in the industry. As for protecting America, we have a massive government agency with 260,000 employees in Homeland Security. Certainly, they are aware and are engaged in protecting the grid. At least, that is what they are supposed to be doing as their name implies?
What Could Happen?
The open border of the U.S. is a concern for all of us. Maybe not a concern for President Biden or the Political Science trained Democrats in Congress, but all of the rest of us are concerned. Let me paraphrase ex FERC Commissioner John Wellinghoff, in his statement on the Feb. 2023, 60 Minutes program.
Wellinghoff was asked, “How many substations would need to be damaged to create a U.S. wide Blackout.” His answer, less than 20. Take a look at the 60 Minutes video here. This nationally distributed TV program is not the only wake up call. There are six reports below in the references for confirmation of the risk. Including a IEEE report which states 9 major substations could create a nationwide Blackout.
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It has been widely documented that the open border has allowed many “Military Age Men” from 170 nations to enter the U.S.
My concern for this article is, what if, say a task force of 100 military and energy infrastructure trained individuals are in fact in a sleeper cell within our country, waiting for the command to act? Let’s suppose that the 100 men disperse across the country and position themselves to coordinate attacks on crucial sub stations and transmission lines. Yes, it is unthinkable. So was 911.
Conclusion
America’s electric grid is vulnerable and at risk from, not only wrongly imposed regulations for forcing renewable energy on us, but also from foreign actors that wish to harm our country. It is not just my warning. Kindly read the references and view the videos listed below.
It is my belief the 2020 election was heavily influenced by COVID and perhaps not by a lab accident half way around the planet. This is an election year and a very small group of trained individuals could create loss of critical electricity for nefarious reasons. The individuals could be surrogates for a nation state, a religious movement or a military act. I feel that the RTO’s and increasing interconnectivity of utilities is playing into the hands of our enemies to make the Grid more vulnerable, not less.
Compounding the risk is the move towards more dependence on “just in time” pipeline supplied natural gas. This exacerbates the risk of Blackouts because so much backup power is provided by pipeline provided primary energy.
If I had two wishes, One would be that all of our electric utilities were once again independent, regional utilities in the model of Carolina Power & Light for eastern North Carolina (NC). Duke Power for western NC, SCE&G for portions of South Carolina (SC), Santee-Cooper for the east coast of SC, etc. The regional utility model is more secure than connecting the grid as many proponents of green energy wish to do, in my opinion.
My second wish would be that all of our electric generation was from a balanced portfolio of varied fuel supplies, with at least 75% coal and nuclear to provide the base load. Nuclear and coal can store months or years of fuel on site. That is good for grid resilience, reliability, affordability and improved national security. That is how I see it.
See original post here for references and sources.
#Grid #Electricity #Blackouts #EnergySecurity
Thank you for posting!