Vulnerability of Electric Power System Assessed by CRS
The U.S. electric power system is vulnerable to a variety of threats, from natural disasters to operational errors to sabotage or terrorist attack, a newly disclosed report from the Congressional Research Service says.
Over the years there have actually been tens of thousands of recorded attacks on electric power targets, CRS notes, but usually due to “mischief” and with limited or no consequences.
“Most commonly, electric outages are caused by use of a weapon to shoot out transformers or use of simple tools to take down transmission towers.”
“As part of regular operating procedure, utilities make contingency plans for outages of one or two large components on their system. However, few systems make contingency plans for outages on as many as seven critical components. Under extreme scenarios, large portions the United States could be without power for several months.”
The CRS report is dated April 9, 2004. But for reasons that could not be immediately ascertained, the report was only issued last week with a new report number.
“This report identifies physical and cyber vulnerabilities in the electric transmission and distribution system. The role of government and industry in protecting infrastructure as well as in the restoration of damaged systems is analyzed and policy implications are discussed.”
A copy of the report was obtained by Secrecy News. See Electric Utility Infrastructure Vulnerabilities: Transformers, Towers, and Terrorism, April 9, 2004.
This is bigger than a singular elimination of race and ethnicity questions. It could accelerate the second wave of widespread reductions to demographic data, leaving public health officials with even less information to deliver better health outcomes for all Americans.
Soft law was never meant to be a permanent solution. Treating it as one, and letting the sandcastle stand in for the skyscraper indefinitely, is how we end up with a decade of voluntary commitments and no enforceable accountability to show for it.
FAS has partnered with ICLEI USA to launch the CRI Local Advisory Council.
We sat down with Dr. Max Moritz and Chief Rob Hazard to discuss how communities use time, money, and data to reduce the risk that wildfires pose.