On Thursday, August 14, 2003 I was at JFK airport in New York City, trying to catch the last plane leaving for the West Coast. I almost made it. I was on the jet way getting ready to enter the plane when the power went out. We were ordered back into the terminal. At first it didn’t look that bad. But it was bad. I ended up camping out in the baggage claim area for a couple of days. Then the toilets started to back up. Finally, in desperation some of us pooled resources and bribed a passenger van to take us to Philadelphia. Unfortunately many people spent the weekend waiting to get out of JFK.
A lot has changed since 2003, but if anything our dependence on our power system has increased. I am sure a lot has been done to correct the problems that caused the 2003 blackout, but fear another major event is all too likely. A recent news report confirms that fear. Last April there was an alleged terrorist attack on a PG&E site in San Jose:
Few people noticed because the FBI is still claiming that no terrorism was involved. But the FBI probably doesn’t believe there was terrorism involved in Benghazi either and it sees no evidence of IRS corruption. Sadly the FBI has lost most of its credibility.
Jon Wellinghoff, former chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, says that he believe this was an act of domestic terrorism. He has an argument. There were more than 100 shell casings found at the scene, none of which had finger prints. Someone lifted the lid to an underground vault and severed six fiber optic cables. The weapons involved were AK-47’s and the facility may have been marked with small rock piles to help the snipers find the right targets. While this is not exactly proof that al Qaeda was involved it is evidence that someone worked hard to plan this little adventure.
The good news is that even Democrats are paying attention. Henry Waxman said this incident makes it clear our electric grid is not adequately protected. I am relatively sure that the administration did not report this as a terrorist attack because they refuse to admit anything is a terrorist attack. The theory is that if they call it something else, it isn’t really terrorism. The good news is that it does appear as though the power industry is taking this seriously and is working to beef up security.
There is more to the story. The perfect time for such an attack would be when alternative power sources are reduced. Say for example when there is a major drought in California reducing the availability of hydroelectric power. Or say when a cold wave in the Midwest diverts natural gas from California power plants . Sound familiar?
I am certainly not predicting an attack. Terrorists are not stupid and they usually attack when it is least expected. If anything releasing this story now reduces the potential for an attack. That is probably why these people went public with the information. As for me, it is probably time to get around to fixing my backup generator.
TDM