Will Congress Send Us Back To The Dark Ages?
If long-overdue improvements to the nation’s electric power grid are not made, life as we know it could end. Does that sound like an exaggeration? It’s not.
In 1859 a solar flare or coronal mass ejection hit Earth’s magnetosphere and induced the largest known solar storm in history. It was observed and recorded by a British amateur astronomer named Richard Carrington and has since been known as the Carrington Event.
Aroras were seen as far south as the Caribbean. People in the northeastern United States could read newspapers by the aurora’s light. Gold miners in the Rocky Mountains got up in the middle of the night, thinking it was morning.
The voltage in the telegraph lines was so high that some operators in the United States and Europe received electrical shocks. Some systems continued to send and receive messages even though their power supplies were disconnected. What would happen if a solar flare or coronal mass ejection on the same scale as the Carrington Event happened today?
Avi Schnurr, CEO and President of the Electric Infrastructure Security Council said, “If a Carrington Event happened right now it probably wouldn’t be a wake-up alarm – it would be a goodnight call.”
Power surges caused by solar particles could blow out giant transformers. Another Carrington Event could blow out hundreds of them. They’re time-consuming and expensive to replace – and spare transformers are in exceedinly short supply.
Commerce would grind to a halt. Grocery stores and pharmacies would be emptied within hours. Without spare transformers, your power company would be helpless to do anything about it. Much of the world could be plunged into a blackout lasting years. Life, as we know it…READ MORE
Click here for reuse options!Copyright 2014 Liberaland
By: Dave
Dave is the webmaster of StrangerAmerica.com, a website devoted to the greatness that is Dick Cheney.
He is also the creator of RonnieReagan.com, a site devoted to a man considered by some to have been one of the better B-grade actors to portray a U.S. president.
You will find the complete writings of Dave at LookAmerica.com, including his quest for the perfect meatball and his encounters with Pat the Nazi and the Psycho Dentist.
20 responses to Will Congress Send Us Back To The Dark Ages?
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Tom Ward June 18th, 2014 at 17:25
It’s good to see this on a liberal site instead of only on supposed crackpot conspiracy theorist sites like Alex Jones infowars.com. The vulnerability our grid has to a nuclear EMP attack and a devastating solar flare are one and the same. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like anything will be done until something very bad happens…
“Last June, Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) and 24 co-sponsors (23 Republicans, 1 Democrat) introduced the Secure High-voltage Infrastructure for Electricity from Lethal Damage Act (HR 2417)—the Shield Act, which would empower the FERC to more effectively deal with these issues. But despite considerable support from past and present ranking Intelligence Community and defense officials, the proposed Shield Act has languished for lack of action by both the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Power and the House Committee on the Budget where the legislation had been referred.”
http://acdemocracy.org/grid-ex-ii-an-exercise-in-wishful-thinking/
H.R.2417 – Secure High-voltage Infrastructure for Electricity from Lethal Damage Act
http://beta.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/2417
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_electromagnetic_pulse#Common_misconceptions
“Extremists: Some general emphasis of comments fall into either “the world as we know it will come to an end” if there is a high altitude nuclear burst, or the other extreme: “it’s not a big deal, nothing much will happen”. Since we really have never had a nuclear burst over anything like our current modern infrastructure, no one really knows for sure what would happen, but both extremes are not very believable.
TerryW June 19th, 2014 at 05:58
As an Arizonan, that’s the only useful thing I’ve heard of Trent Franks doing. I’m very surprised. And usually the most useful and beneficial bills die in these various committees.
Tom Ward June 18th, 2014 at 17:25
It’s good to see this on a liberal site instead of only on supposed crackpot conspiracy theorist sites like Alex Jones infowars.com. The vulnerability our grid has to a nuclear EMP attack and a devastating solar flare are one and the same. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like anything will be done until something very bad happens…
“Last June, Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) and 24 co-sponsors (23 Republicans, 1 Democrat) introduced the Secure High-voltage Infrastructure for Electricity from Lethal Damage Act (HR 2417)—the Shield Act, which would empower the FERC to more effectively deal with these issues. But despite considerable support from past and present ranking Intelligence Community and defense officials, the proposed Shield Act has languished for lack of action by both the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Power and the House Committee on the Budget where the legislation had been referred.”
http://acdemocracy.org/grid-ex-ii-an-exercise-in-wishful-thinking/
H.R.2417 – Secure High-voltage Infrastructure for Electricity from Lethal Damage Act
http://beta.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/2417
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_electromagnetic_pulse#Common_misconceptions
“Extremists: Some general emphasis of comments fall into either “the world as we know it will come to an end” if there is a high altitude nuclear burst, or the other extreme: “it’s not a big deal, nothing much will happen”. Since we really have never had a nuclear burst over anything like our current modern infrastructure, no one really knows for sure what would happen, but both extremes are not very believable.”
TerryW June 19th, 2014 at 05:58
As an Arizonan, that’s the only useful thing I’ve heard of Trent Franks doing. I’m very surprised. And usually the most useful and beneficial bills die in these various committees.
Obewon June 18th, 2014 at 19:36
$100 B spent now strengthening our infrastructure prevents $1 T to $2 T in losses caused by 3-4 weeks without power from a high intensity solar storm having a 10%-20% probability within the next decade. However NASA estimates a similar 1859 Carrington event occurs just once every 500 years.
Ben Ghazi June 18th, 2014 at 20:23
Read this article from NASA. http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/02may_superstorm/
“If it had hit, we would still be picking up the pieces,” says Daniel
Baker of the University of Colorado, who presented a talk entitled The Major Solar Eruptive Event in July 2012: Defining Extreme Space Weather Scenarios.
Baker made those remarks two years after a close call with a Carrington-class CME.
Obewon June 18th, 2014 at 21:12
It’s inevitable we’ll be caught with our pants down by today’s unhardened grid
GWB’s X45 Solar Flare: On Oct. 28, 2003 the sun unleashed a whopper of a solar flare. The intense sun storm was so strong it overwhelmed the spacecraft sensor measuring it. The sensor topped out at X28, already a massive flare), but later analysis found that the flare reached a peak strength of about X45, NASA has said. The solar storm was part of a string of at least nine major flares over a two-week period. http://www.space.com/12584-worst-solar-storms-sun-flares-history.html
Obewon June 18th, 2014 at 19:36
$100 B spent now strengthening our infrastructure prevents $1 T to $2 T in losses caused by 3-4 weeks without power from a high intensity solar storm having a 10%-20% probability within the next decade. However NASA estimates a similar 1859 Carrington event occurs just once every 500 years.
Ben Ghazi June 18th, 2014 at 20:23
Read this article from NASA. http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/02may_superstorm/
“If it had hit, we would still be picking up the pieces,” says Daniel
Baker of the University of Colorado, who presented a talk entitled The Major Solar Eruptive Event in July 2012: Defining Extreme Space Weather Scenarios.
Baker made those remarks two years after a close call with a Carrington-class CME.
Obewon June 18th, 2014 at 21:12
It’s inevitable we’ll be caught with our pants down by today’s unhardened grid
7 months after GWB invaded Iraq an X45 Solar Flare attacked a satellite. On Oct. 28, 2003 the sun unleashed a whopper of a solar flare. The intense sun storm was so strong it overwhelmed the spacecraft sensor measuring it. The sensor topped out at X28, already a massive flare), but later analysis found that the flare reached a peak strength of about X45, NASA has said. The solar storm was part of a string of at least nine major flares over a two-week period. http://www.space.com/12584-worst-solar-storms-sun-flares-history.html
fancypants June 18th, 2014 at 20:24
Did we ever get out of the dark ages since we arrived in Iraq ?
Not too much cash left over when our gop knows how to spend more then we can make
Ben Ghazi June 18th, 2014 at 20:32
$1.7 trillion spent on the war in Iraq. $100 million to strengthen our creaky power grid is a bargain.
fancypants June 18th, 2014 at 20:41
Im all for it !
However your about to hit a stone wall with our legislators on a unanimous vote when it comes to who is more important. The middle east ? or a power upgrade
fancypants June 18th, 2014 at 20:24
Did we ever get out of the dark ages since we arrived in Iraq ?
Not too much cash left over when our gop knows how to spend more then we can make
Ben Ghazi June 18th, 2014 at 20:32
$1.7 trillion spent on the war in Iraq. $100 million to strengthen our creaky power grid is a bargain.
fancypants June 18th, 2014 at 20:41
Im all for it !
However your about to hit a stone wall with our legislators on a unanimous vote when it comes to who is more important. The middle east ? or a power upgrade
Dwendt44 June 19th, 2014 at 00:30
As our infrastructure deteriorates from neglect we won’t need a solar flare to knock the grid down. It will soon fail/fall on it’s own.
But we can’t do anything about it because it might create jobs and Obama just might get credit for the improved economy.
Dwendt44 June 19th, 2014 at 00:30
As our infrastructure deteriorates from neglect we won’t need a solar flare to knock the grid down. It will soon fail/fall on it’s own.
But we can’t do anything about it because it might create jobs and Obama just might get credit for the improved economy.
fahvel June 19th, 2014 at 04:34
oh we can only hope – it might just be the cleanser that this putain planet really needs – nature is bigger than the teeny weeny bipeds who think they control it all. FLARE AWAY Sol.
fahvel June 19th, 2014 at 04:34
oh we can only hope – it might just be the cleanser that this putain planet really needs – nature is bigger than the teeny weeny bipeds who think they control it all. FLARE AWAY Sol.