Does anyone know of a gov't. or utility policy statement as to whether or not rural areas will be cut off to direct juice to the cities? By rural, I mean small to medium size cities as well. Entire counties, in our part of the West fear could be deprived. For example, here in the Idaho Panhandle, Bonners Ferry and Sandpoint could be left "dark", in order to send some hydropower to Coeur d'Alene/ Spokane. As is probably the case everywhere, denial in our city/ county officials in a matter of course. "We have our own dam on the river, we have no worries." Yet a microhydro facility here on a minor tributary to the (Kootenai) river sends its juice all the way to Eugene, Oregon. Point is, selectivity of destination and isolation of circuits is routine, and that ability may survive Y2k, or the civil/military authorities may have the ability to do a work-around to accomplish same? So has anyone heard if such a diversion is officially in gummint contingency plans?

-- Ben Corson (bcorson@dmi.net), October 17, 1999

Answers

I don't know if it's official policy, but bypassing the rural areas to get power to the major cities is certainly what happened in the Northeastern US and Canada during recovery from the big ice storm. In fact in upstate New York there were some farms which didn't get power service restored for up to six months after the storm. But the major towns and cities had power as soon as the lines could be repaired.

As I recall one town in Maine had an operating power plant, but all the power was being sent downline to major populations and the town was dark. I'm sure it didn't make the locals, especially those who worked at the plant, very happy to be living in the cold and dark and not to get to share the fruits of their work while the folks in the state capital were assured to get power.

Such a situation sounds like breeding grounds for a battle of the electrical haves versus have-nots to me. Makes one wonder how long the rural populations, where most power plants are located, would sit back and allow whatever power is generated to be shipped away to cities while they are left in the dark. Or how long the plant workers who live in those rural area would put up with the situation themselves.

If things get really bad and these situations arise it could get very interesting indeed.

WW

-- Wildweasel (vtmldm@epix.net), October 17, 1999.

Wildweasel--Thank you for your response. I was wondering how they handled distribution during the NE icestorm. Very likely that will be the case all over the continent in 2 1/2 months. You paint an ominous picture of the envy of haves vs. haven'ts, and sadly, I'm sure that will largely be accurate. In discussions here, though, there are other veins of thought, both self-serving and selfless. Maybe I should mention these to round out the view. One point--the urban masses are notoriously dependent and helpless, both on a personal level and as a group forced to depend on remote systems. Some of us bumpkins realize that the gov't. would have to provide power to cities as a humanitarian move, even if more cynical motives on the part of our fearless leaders weren't a factor. (Gov't. cheap food policy--consumer & corporate welfare at the expense of the family farm--has long proven to us serfs on the land that we are an expendable component part of keeping the bread & circuses going for the larger voter bloc.) Secondly, also heard is the sentiment that if we have to give up power to keep starving, freezing, and probably dangerous masses away from our doorsteps, then so be it. That is a minority view at this point, however, even among the y2k aware, which is a very small and very silent minority here. So, Weasel, you're probably right about the times that are coming proving to be quite interesting. Most, almost all, rural people are in denial and almost as unprepared as citydwellers; I just hope that more of us are installing woodstoves again and wiring in backup generators than meets the eye. If they are, it's definitely being done on the Q.T. --Ben

-- Ben Corson (bcorson@dmi.net), October 17, 1999.

In this small city, as power was being restored after Fran, electricity was turned on first in high-crime areas. . . It was never reported by the media--I heard reports on my police scanner as various sections were placed back in service. It was noted several times that Duke Power had been requested to light up high-crime areas first.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), October 17, 1999.

I live in Texas, and according to all the hype, Texas' electrical utilities are in the best shape. However, I feel that living in a medium-sized municipality, I may be subject to power rationing to "feed" other areas not in such good shape. I predict we'll be rationed to about 8 hours of power a day, in 4 hour intervals. But heck, that's just my guess.

Gerald

-- Gerald R. Cox (grcox@internetwork.net), October 22, 1999.