Newt Gingrich’s Plan to Stave Off the Apocalypse – NationalJournal.com
Within a year, nine out of 10 Americans could be dead. And whatever causes the national apocalypse—be it North Korean malice or the whims of the sun—the downfall will ultimately be our own fault.
That’s the fear of Newt Gingrich and other members of a high-profile coalition who are convinced that our fragile electrical grid could be wiped out at any moment.
Their concern? Electromagnetic pulses, the short bursts of energy—caused by anything from a nuclear blast to a solar flare—that can wreak havoc on electrical systems on a massive scale. And the coalition believes it’s coming soon.
“I think we’re running out of time,” said Peter Pry, a former CIA officer and head of a congressional advisory board on national security. And if the worst happens? “This gets translated into mass fatalities, because our modern civilization can’t feed, transport, or provide law and order without electricity,” he said.While some see the coalition as alarmist—and others dismiss them as out-and-out quacks—the coalition boasts some prominent and influential names. Pry and Gingrich are joined by former CIA Director James Woolsey.
Anybody who dismisses this as quackery is a moronic ignoramus. If you want to know what a major EMP strike would really be like, check out my new book Lightning Fall: A Novel of Disaster
As someone who works in power generation, I have to say that your characterization of what would happen to the grid due to an EMP was pretty much spot on. But I guess it doesn’t buy enough votes, along with other civil infrastructure projects, which is why we have bridges collapsing.
I’ve actually started to increase my preparedness preparations. Something bad is coming, sooner or later.
Big transformers? We don’t need any spares. Nothing will happen to them. Not EMP or overloads or a truck driving into the substation. No-o-o-o-o-thing to worry about, you betcha!
Power distribution companies could buy spare transformers right now and have them in place in a few years. But, I speculate that governmental oversight and licensing boards won’t let them add those costs to current electric bills.
Such charges supposedly amount to charging customers for speculative redundance and waste. We have to keep costs low, unless those costs come from solar and wind power generation. (smile)
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