This time, let’s prevent the next potential catastrophe before it’s too late…
What’s The Threat?
Every day, we all face the risk that the US electric grid, our keystone critical infrastructure, could suddenly suffer damage that could affect the entire US and take months or even years to repair.
As a report by The President’s National Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIAC) said in 2018, “Significant public and private action is needed to prepare for and recover from a catastrophic outage that could leave large parts of the nation without power for weeks or months, and cause service failures in other sectors— including water and wastewater, communications, transportation, healthcare, and financial services—that are critical to public health and safety and our national and economic security.
In testimony before a Congressional Committee, it has been asserted that a prolonged collapse of this nation’s electrical grid—through starvation, disease, and societal collapse—could result in the death of up to 90% of the American population.
A Lack of Attention
These dangers, which include deliberate and natural electromagnetic disruptions; cyber- and physical attacks, and even mismanagement of efforts to decarbonize our electric grid have been well-documented.
Many remedies have been studied, discussed, and proposed, but very little has been done to prevent such unexpected and catastrophic threats. Even the 2021 infrastructure bill allocates almost no money to harden and improve the resiliency of the grid from such threats.
After interviews with dozens of senior leaders and experts and an extensive review of studies and statutes, NIAC found that existing national plans, response resources, and coordination strategies would be outmatched by a catastrophic power outage.
There are many government and private organizations that are trying to address this problem.
And yet, efforts to anticipate and prevent such threats have gotten bogged down by gridlock and misplaced priorities at the Federal level, and lack of popular awareness and demand at the state and local level (where most utilities are managed and regulated)
We’re no better prepared than we were for 9/11 or COVID-19. And the consequences to society could be worse.
A New Approach
We at Resilient Utilities Now are taking a different approach, one that relies on ordinary citizens to get involved and help protect their own communities without waiting passively for their state or Federal representatives to lead the way.
Specifically, we want to mobilize local citizens to become activists to advocate for public policies that can address such threats.
The Potential Causes
Outages could be caused by a variety of events, both man-made or naturally occurring. Use the links below to access additional information and other resources regarding each cause.
The Potential Costs
“Estimates of how many people would die from hunger, starvation, lack of water, societal disruption are that within a year or so two-thirds to ninety percent of the US population would die. We’re talking about total devastation. We’re not talking about just a regular catastrophe.”
- Former CIA Director James R. Woolsey testifying in July 2015 before a US Senate Committee about the consequences of long-term electric grid outage
Our Vision
We can save millions of American lives and trillions of dollars by anticipating and mitigating the threat of widespread, prolonged infrastructure failure
Our Mission
Mobilize a critical mass of ordinary people to demand their state regulators take action.
Support capital investments and operational improvements by utilities that will protect our critical infrastructure against man-made and natural risks of long-term, widespread outages.
Do this primarily by influencing state regulators to incentivize or require utilities to make such improvements.
Next Steps
Build a national team
Recruit and support activists in every state
Secure action commitment from local utilities and regulators
Monitor compliance
Let’s talk.
Whether you’re a student or retiree, or anyone in-between, we need your time and skills to help us build this citizen movement.
If you’d like to find out more about thwarting this risk, who we are, or the help we need, tell us a little about your interests and how you’d like us to contact you by using the form below.
Write us at:
Richard@StopTheNextOne.com
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