LD 1363: “An Act To Secure the Maine Electrical Grid from Long-term Blackouts”, sponsored by Sen. David R. Miramant (D-Knox), was referred to the Energy, Utilities, and Technology Committee on April 23. This bill “gives the Public Utilities Commission the authority to require transmission and distribution utilities to take necessary actions to ensure that their systems are protected from or able to negate effects of geomagnetic disturbances and electromagnetic pulses. This bill provides that any costs incurred by a transmission and distribution utility as a result of a directive by the commission are just and reasonable for rate-making purposes; however, the costs of a failure of a transmission and distribution system resulting from geomagnetic disturbances or electromagnetic pulses are the responsibility of the transmission and distribution utility and may not be borne by ratepayers. The bill also directs the Public Utilities Commission, by July 1, 2016, to direct transmission and distribution utilities to undertake mitigation measures, including, but not limited to, the installation of additional geomagnetic ally- induced current monitoring sites, neutral current blocking devices and supervisory control and data acquisition system protectors and the holding of sufficient spare transformers on site to more quickly replace damaged transformers. Identified measures were included in the Public Utilities Commission report dated January 20, 2014, entitled Report to the Legislature Pursuant to Resolves 2013, Chapter 45, Regarding Geomagnetic Disturbances (GMD) and Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP).”
According to www.legislature.maine.gov, the Energy, Utilities, and Technology Committee recommended on June 9, 2015, that LD 1363 ought not to pass. On June 11, 2015, the Senate endorsed the ought not to pass recommendation; but the House rejected it. Two amendments were proposed by the Energy, Utilities, and Technology Committee to replace LD 1363, Amendment C-A (S-215) and Amendment C-B (S-216), both of which would significantly weaken the impact of this important bill.
Amendment C-A (S-215), was passed by the House on June 11, 2015, which reads as follows: “The amendment is a minority report of the committee. It removes the directive to the Public Utilities Commission to order transmission and distribution utilities to undertake actions to ensure their systems are protected from or able to negate effects of electro-magnetic pulses and limits the directive to severe geomagnetic disturbances only. This amendment specifies that any action directed by the commission must be cost-effective and at a minimum consistent with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s reliability standards. It removes language that prohibits a transmission and distribution utility from collecting from ratepayers costs to address the failure of the system due to geomagnetic disturbances or electromagnetic pulses. This amendment changes the specific mitigation measures the bill required for the Public Utilities Commission to direct transmission and distribution utilities to undertake to protect their systems from geomagnetic disturbances and electromagnetic pulses and instead requires that the commission order transmission and distribution utilities to install and operate equipment to protect and monitor their 345-kilovolt transformers and other critical equipment against severe geomagnetic disturbances. This amendment requires the work to protect the 345-kilovolt transformers be completed no later than December 31, 2020, but the time frame for that work is to be determined from a collaboration between the commission and transmission and distribution utilities.”
Amendment C-A (S-215) appears to limit protection to severe geomagnetic disturbances and exempts electro-magnetic pulses; yet ratepayers would still have to pay for damages due to both geomagnetic disturbances and electromagnetic pulses.
Amendment C-B (S-216) is also a minority report of the committee. In addition to the above, “this amendment would also remove section 2 of LD 1363, which would require the commission by July 1, 2016 to direct transmission and distribution utilities to undertake specific mitigation measures to protect against geomagnetic disturbances and electromagnetic pulses.”
If adopted, Amendment C-B (S-216) would ignore the Public Utilities Commission Report dated January 20, 2014, regarding identified measures to protect the Maine power grid against geomagnetic disturbances (GMDs) and electromagnetic pulses (EMPs).
Many notable authorities have spoken out about the threat of solar storms and cyber attacks by China and Russia with sophisticated computer hackers capable of interfering with the computer systems that control the North American power grid or the detonation of a small nuclear device on a long-range missile by a hostile country, such as North Korea, high above the mid-western section of the United States, which could generate an electromagnetic pulse strong enough to shut down the entire power grid. It is predicted that a partial or complete shutdown of our aging power grid could last for days, weeks, months, or even four to ten years before power could be fully restored to the United States.
According to the website, www.mainecampaignfinance.com, four lobbyists for Central Maine Power were paid a total of $41,416.65 to lobby the Maine legislature since the beginning of 2015. Judging by the downward spiral of LD 1363, it appears that some legislators are unwilling to mandate that the CMP protect the public against a possible national disaster on an unprecedented scale in Maine and throughout this country with an estimated 300 million people in the United States and one million people in Maine vulnerable to such an attack and the ensuing chaos that would soon follow. Find your elected officials at http://legislature.maine.gov/house/townlist.htm.
— Val Philbrick works in the production department of the Journal Tribune as a pre-press person. She is a member of PETA and the Humane Society of the United States.
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