Power and Possums II

According to news reports, the U.S. has been hacking computer code into Russia’s electrical grid and other targets.  We hope Russia doesn't find out about this (nobody tell them!). Meanwhile, Homeland Security and the F.B.I. have alleged that Russia has inserted their own malware that could sabotage American power plants, oil and gas pipelines, or water supplies in any future conflict with the United States.

So it seems both the U.S. and Russia are weaponizing long-term blackouts against each other, making them ever more likely to occur.

This morning, the news tells us of that a massive power blackout stripped all of mainland Argentina and Uruguay of power yesterday, affecting tens of millions of people in an electrical failure of unprecedented scope.  The total population affected by the blackout was greater than that of California; Argentina has more than 44 million people and Uruguay about 3.5 million.  The total size of the area affected was four times that of Texas.

Fortunately, power had largely been restored to both countries as of last night, but the cause of the failure remains under investigation.  

This should cause no small alarm for Americans,  nay, for all the world. Here in the U.S., our power grid and infrastructure are antiquated and overstrained. At some point, significant swaths of the country could find themselves in a predicament similar to Argentina's.  We should be modernizing our infrastructure and investing in new power sources now instead of providing tax cuts for the already wealthy.

Power outages for a short time, like the one we experienced Saturday morning two weekends ago, are mere inconveniences. But outages for a longer period could cause a panic for lack of water and food -- most of us have only a few days worth of food on hand before it goes bad, and pretty much no one can grow their own in time for dinner.  When the power goes out for two days, not just 6 hours, food perishes, and after 8 to 12 hours, water pressure drops and then stops altogether.  No more tap water, no kitchen sink, no showers or baths, and no flush toilets. Generators will run out of fuel and there is no way to get more fuel after the pumps stop running.

It can take up to two weeks for stores to be restocked when an outage is longer than 12 hours because the laws require all perishable foods to be thrown away, and restocking such a huge quantity of goods requires a major logistics effort. Usually, each night trucks provide what was picked off during the day and the logistics for that are well organized.  But the multiple trucks required to restock every store would require weeks.

If the electricity went out for a prolonged period, the damage would be like a bombed out city. Eventually, even in the absence of opportunistic looting by bands of thugs, civil unrest starts when people get hungry and desperate.  Short term losses are no big deal, but those in the defense and police establishments know it's the length of time the power is out that matters.  

We'll repeat what we said at the top of this post - both Russia and the U.S. are weaponizing power outages for use in potential future conflicts.  It will happen.  Are we the only ones worried about this?