Bad news on power grid

January 11, 1999

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, the National Guard and other federal agencies engaged in Y2K planning are now expecting loss of electrical power and other related problems before the year 2000.

Nuclear power plants will begin to shut down in July, according to government sources.

“As far as I’m concerned, the public has a right to know on this. It
isn’t classified, so I’m not violating any rules that I see. I might
be hampering somebody’s planning, but this needs to get out,” an
officer from the National Guard Bureau in Washington told
WorldNetDaily in an exclusive interview.

The officer, and several others who continue to provide information,
believe they will be reassigned or disciplined if their identity
were made known.

“Then I’d be out of the loop,” said one.

The National Guard is planning COMEX/MOBEX, an exercise to practice
a full mobilization of all 480,000 members of the National Guard. It
will take place May 1 without the use of phones, television, or radio. The exercise is planned to prepare for a possible mobilization in the event computer failures from the Y2K bug cause major disruptions of power, telecommunications, transportation and banking.

The officer believes the government should be warning people now
rather than later. He says there is still time to prepare if the
correct warnings are given. If people wait until the last minute,
the disaster and panic will be greater.

“The government is planning on keeping their yap shut,” explained
one of the officers. “They will keep saying everything is fine. They
don’t want the panic to begin before they are ready.

“If I was running the show, I’d tell everyone in July. I’d rather
have everything go to hell in a handbasket while it’s warm and
people aren’t running around looking for shelter, than in the middle
of winter.”

Problems for the nation’s power system will begin in July, right at
the time of highest demand for power because of long sunlight hours
and the need for air conditioning.

Not one nuclear power plant is Y2K compliant today, and there is strong
indication that they will not be compliant by the end of the year.
It takes at least four months to shut down a nuclear power plant,
and power is needed to do it.

“The NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) sent out a memo saying you
will shut down on July 1, 1999, unless you’re compliant,” explained
the officer. “That is 20 percent of the power grid, which is also
equivalent to our strategic reserve for power.

“It’s also equivalent to 40 percent of all power generated east of
the Mississippi. So now you’ve got the power grid maxed out already
because the nukes are shut down, and if anything else goes wrong
that’s it.”

The National Guard believes the nation’s power grid will collapse
and is making plans accordingly, according to the sources. Panic and wide spread unrest are expected. Plans now call for a recall of all guard members placing an average of 4,000 soldiers in each of the 120 largest cities. The
COMEX/MOBEX exercise will simulate that recall with the use of a special High Frequency radio system.

“They’re going to be toast,” said one of the officers who spoke to
WorldNetDaily over the weekend, speaking of the nation’s power
plants.

“The latest plan I’ve heard,” said another, “is to break the power
grid into several hundred little grids. Right now it’s one major
grid broken into four subgrids. If they don’t break it into several
hundred little grids, in conjunction with the phone system not
working properly, they won’t get their feedback mechanism right and
they’ll burn up the lines.”

It is expected that there will be rolling blackouts and brownouts of
power in the cities, with no power at all in rural areas. All
available power will be directed to cities with nothing left to send
to lower populations.

Coal-fired power plants are also faced with a significant problem.
Even if the power plants are Y2K compliant, which they are not says
the source, they still may not produce power.

“It takes a mile-long train per day to feed a coal fired power
plant,” the officer explained. “If the train system goes down,
forget it. The trains are going to work, but you won’t be able to
track anything.

“Say you’re trying to get from St. Louis to Chicago, well you might
end up in Des Moines, because the switches aren’t working properly.
If the switches go haywire you get derailments.

“Your average power plant only has a four day supply of fuel. So
even if the grid works properly, they can’t get the fuel there,” he
predicted.

Reports used by the planners at FEMA indicate that the train system
will be shut down by the Y2K bug, and power plants will not be able
to stockpile enough coal to keep going while the problem is fixed.

Oil will be another problem. The National Guard and FEMA have plans
to protect and control oil depots and refineries.

“We’re looking at the strategic oil depots around the country, and
we’re going to make plans to commandeer them. This is going to be a
joint FEMA, U.S. Government type thing,” explained one of the
officers who has participated in the planning.

A form of rationing is expected to take place. Supplies will be
greatly diminished, so what is available will be given first to the
federal government, then to the state governments, and if there is
any left there will be long lines at public gas pumps with
astronomical prices.

“It will be a shared thing between the federal government and state,
but as far as Joe Public getting his piece of the oil, he can forget
it,” predicted the guard officer.

Much of the foreign oil that is imported into America will stop
coming because of Y2K problems in foreign countries. Transportation
problems combined with problems at foreign refineries will
significantly impact the flow of oil

He gave an example of oil imported from Venezuela. That oil makes up
17 percent of the nation’s supply. At least three of the five
refineries in Venezuela are planning to shut down at the end of the
year. That loss will impact a minimum of 10 percent of the nation’s
oil, and Venezuela is only a small oil supplier. Larger nations
sending refined oil to the U.S. are in a similar situation.

The Alaskan pipeline is also a major concern. Unless the oil is kept
flowing, it will freeze in the Alaskan winter.

“We know right now that if the power is shut off for more than an
hour, in the middle of winter, the oil will freeze solid because it
will be too damn cold. Periodically along the way there are heating
plants to maintain the viscosity,” he explained.

The power plants along the pipeline may not be able to operate
because of Y2K, creating another danger. If the pipe freezes it
could burst. To avoid a dangerous situation in the winter, the
pipeline may be shut down before the Year 2000 even begins.

Oil refineries are another problem. The National Guard has
information which indicates that few of the refineries will be able
to operate in the Year 2000, and they too will need to shut down
early to avoid a dangerous situation.

“When this hits (Y2K), some of the valves are automatically going to
shut off and you’re going to get similar to what a water hammer is,”
he warned. “You’ll get pipes bursting at these plants. They
(National Guard and FEMA) expect most of the refineries to shut
down. It’s cheaper to build a new refinery than it is to pull all
the imbedded chips out of the old one.”

Much of the Y2K problem deals with computer chips that are
permanently programmed incorrectly. The chips will not function
correctly when the year 2000 arrives.

Why isn’t the public being informed officially of the problems
detailed by the officers who spoke with WorldNetDaily?

“They’re worried about panic. Plain and simple. They’re worried
about panic. Put the panic off for as long as possible. That way
people will continue to work, and programmers are in there working.
Everyone else is happy. The economy is chugging along, and then all
of a sudden wham it hits,” explained one of the officers, and the
others agreed.

“We had pretty good intelligence that the Japanese were going to
attack Pear Harbor, however it caught the common public off guard,”
said another. “It’s the same type of situation for this.

“Suddenly Clinton’s going to be our Savior and rescue us. Well,
that’s not going to happen. He’ll be the good guy just as Y2K is
hitting, or he may do it a month ahead of time. It won’t matter
because it will be too late.”

The National Guard officers believe the public will learn a great
deal about the real problems coming before the year 2000 because of
the work of environmental groups to expose the safety issues related
to nuclear power plants and other issues. The main message they
conveyed is that the problems of Y2K will surface long before New
Year’s Eve.

“The deck of cards has already been set up. Your house of cards so
to speak. We’re sitting on one, and a number of the strategic cards
will have already been pulled out,” he warned.

“Our whole society is a three legged stool of power, telecom, and
banking. Take any of those legs out – it’s gone. The whole thing
collapses underneath of it. You complicate that with just-in-time
manufacturing, consumer confidence, and then you start looking at
the other critical nodes and start seeing, especially in the power
production, the dependencies which are required. You need power to
generate power and if any time you have a logistical situation where
dependencies loop in on themselves – that’s always bad.”

David M. Bresnahan, a contributing editor for WorldNetDaily.com, is the author of “Cover Up: The Art and Science of Political Deception,” and offers a monthly newsletter “Talk USA Investigative Reports.”
He may be reached through email and also maintains a website.