The United States power grid is at risk of a major blackout that could last up to 18 months, according to a new report. Concerns are heightened as one U.S. city has been without power for more than a week.
Jon Wellinghoff, former chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), told The New York Times Magazine that America’s aging infrastructure is badly outdated and potentially vulnerable to a coordinated attack. He first raised the alarm in 2013 after gunmen shot up 17 transformers at an electrical substation near San Jose, California
Wellinghoff said the FERC did an analysis that determined the U.S. power grid could be seriously disrupted if similar incidents targeted the 10 most important substations in the country’s three sections: Western, Eastern and Texas Interconnections. Substations are where multiple high-volate lines meet, routing electricity between power plants, transmission lines, and local neighborhoods
I’m kind of over all these articles saying the world is soaked in gasoline and someone is about to strike a match. I feel like every day for the past 10 years at least we have been on the verge of some societal collapse-level catastrophe and it never fucking happens. Quit edging the apocalypse and just get it over with. Let it burn so we can get to rebuilding better.
It’s happening, just not evenly and wildly under-reported. To quote Carlin “they got you by the balls” and the people who have us by the balls don’t really keep the wildfires front-and-center, but it’s not even that, you can just see it with your own eyes. Year-after-year hottest year on record.
People are waiting for a giant meteor, but instead it’s trillions of tiny meteors spread over decades that gets gradually worse over time. You get used to the tragedy because it’s so incremental until you look around and realize that there didn’t always use to be meteor holes in every building.