Smart piece of legislation, will of course go nowhere

[CitizenBBN]

This will get filed under "crazy preppers" but it deserves better. The #1 threat to this nation's day to day operation is the failure of the electrical grid. If China or the NK wanted to really hurt us they'd detonate an EMP, but we can also be hit by one naturally from the sun, and we know there have been EM discharges from the sun plenty big enough to do the job more thoroughly than anything a terrorist could detonate.

Within the grid the #1 weakness is the backbone of transformers. This bill requires the power companies to work to put surge protection on the transformers so if the grid is fried they are protected as much as possible. We have limited production facilities for these things and can't possibly crank out the many thousands we'd need immediately in the event of a disaster.

It won't go anywhere though. No surprise Newt Gingrich is a supporter, just as he championed the simple and effective plan to scrap our existing procurement law and start over.

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/06/18/shield-act-to-protect-from-solar-catastrophes-electromagnetic-pulses/?intcmp=features

[dethbylt]

This will get filed under "crazy preppers" but it deserves better. The #1 threat to this nation's day to day operation is the failure of the electrical grid. If China or the NK wanted to really hurt us they'd detonate an EMP, but we can also be hit by one naturally from the sun, and we know there have been EM discharges from the sun plenty big enough to do the job more thoroughly than anything a terrorist could detonate.

Within the grid the #1 weakness is the backbone of transformers. This bill requires the power companies to work to put surge protection on the transformers so if the grid is fried they are protected as much as possible. We have limited production facilities for these things and can't possibly crank out the many thousands we'd need immediately in the event of a disaster.

It won't go anywhere though. No surprise Newt Gingrich is a supporter, just as he championed the simple and effective plan to scrap our existing procurement law and start over.

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/06/18/shield-act-to-protect-from-solar-catastrophes-electromagnetic-pulses/?intcmp=features

The sad thing is, there is science and documented history to support this. A solar flare in 1859 that was powerful enough to burn through telegraph wires would fry integrated circuit boards today. Even those with surge protection are in danger of localized damage if not shielded. Bad juju.

My only concern is making this a "law". Shouldn't the industry be motivated for asset protection and protect their systems better? Why does legislation have to be created? More government I suppose. The company that publicly hardens its systems now, pre-legislation, sees it's stock prices skyrocket.

[CitizenBBN]

The sad thing is, there is science and documented history to support this. A solar flare in 1859 that was powerful enough to burn through telegraph wires would fry integrated circuit boards today. Even those with surge protection are in danger of localized damage if not shielded. Bad juju.

My only concern is making this a "law". Shouldn't the industry be motivated for asset protection and protect their systems better? Why does legislation have to be created? More government I suppose. The company that publicly hardens its systems now, pre-legislation, sees it's stock prices skyrocket.

You are so a person after my own heart. :)

I agree, it frustrates my libertarian nature that we have to pass a law for such things, but IMO the reason the market wont' clear on its own and move to address this problem is that the utility industry is already so quasi governmental in nature it lacks the incentives to function properly. Their rates of return and pricing are all determined by government, and even if we were to have such a disaster and a given company had planned ahead and made the investments I seriously doubt the government would allow them to charge the premium they would have earned for having power when others don't. The government would I'm sure even step in to protect the companies that didn't plan ahead, maybe seizing equipment from the company in question or by economically protecting them in the long run.

IMO that eliminates a lot of the economic incentives for the companies. They can't charge more for use of their more reliable grid, and as with all utilities their physical nature limits the ability of people to choose to sign up with such a grid and pay a premium even if the government allowed it, which of course is why utilities are so regulated.

There is also a case to be made philosophically that this is national defense, a matter of the nation's security that justifies legislation but also tackles something with such a high set of barriers and externalities that it will take government action for something to happen. typically the largest barrier to market action on such things is the scale and resultant ROI.

So while I wish the market would move to address the concern, I think we have little choice given the extent to which the utility companies are already so quasi-governmental in nature.

I can't tell you how nice it was to have someone complain about adding more laws, even good ones. I'm all for fewer laws, and would love to achieve this goal by eliminating a bunch, but apparently I was born a good 100 years too late. lol.