northeast power outage

[Collins Richey]

As interesting as this off-topic thread may be, please continue it on
general at linux-sxs.org, so that those who are more interested in linux
questions don't need to follow along.

[ snips ]

On Sat, 16 Aug 2003 05:55:24 -0700
Tom Marinis <tmarinis99 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Jack Berger wrote:
> > Well, could be, but...
> > 
> > Ted Kopel interviewed FORMER fed cyber security czar Richard Clark.
> > What a self serving piece of work this guy is, insinuating that this
> > is the work of terrorist hackers, since the electrical system was
> > designed to contain this type of outage to a small area. (Yeah under
> > the load conditions of 20-30 years ago!) Sensationalism at its best.
> > 
> > The truth is that everyone wants/loves/needs electricity, but no one
> > wants to pay for it in terms of building the necessary
> > infrastructure to support it (NIMBY). Large portions of the existing
> > electrical grid are operating at or near the operating limits and
> > stability margins they were designed for. 
> >
> > Maybe this is the wake up call that we need to upgrade the existing
> > system to (at least) current demand.
> > 
> > -jhb-
> 

> I don't agree with you.
> 
> However, the case for modernization for something is made
> everyday in government circles.  Government has always
> been slow to change.  Only real political will has
> ever moved government along.
> 
> 
> I'm pretty sure that the governments from both countries will 
> adopt a new policy for power interconnection to be agreed upon, 
> but those developments will never address the current issue I 
> believe is occuring out there.
> 

> 
> 
> The problem, I believe,  could be that the existing system
> between Ontario and the US simply ran out of power, and
> the failure was due to the power drain because of the
> excessively hot weather.
> 
> ( that, and around 4 million stoves turning on to
>    cook dinner, because it was 4:00pm after all )
> 

> 
> You people not from Canada may not be aware of what happened in 
> Ontario, May to Sept 19th 2002 last year, so I will try to
> give as many facts, with as little space as possible;
> 

[ typical deregulation scenario snipped ]


> ONTARIO has been since then for the last year saving money
> trying to re-purchase the parts to try and reactivate the
> 6 gas burners and re-condition the 2 nuclear plants, but
> it will not happen before the next provincial election.
> [ 2004 late ]
> 

The combination of greedy private enterprise (there is no other kind,
that's just the nature of the beast) and the radical environmentalist
fringe (horses and bicycles are good enough for me; sorry about the
rest of you folks) is always fatal to the public interest.  Somewhere in
the golden middle between these two extremes lies a public policy that
can insure adequate power for all of us.  Unfortunately, in this
country, the Republican contingent frequently only caters to the private
enterprise side of the equation, and the Democract contingent only has
eyes for the radical environmentalist fringe (if your only concern is
global warming, who really cares if there is no electric power?).

I'm afraid that there may be no good "in the middle" solution.

-- 
Collins Richey - Denver Area
if you fill your heart with regrets of yesterday and the 
worries of tomorrow, you have no today to be thankful for.