A huge solar superstorm fries hundreds of high-voltage transformers, shutting down the nation’s electrical power grid. A hostile nation or a group of terrorists detonates a nuclear weapon above the U.S. atmosphere, raining gamma rays and causing massive blackouts.
While these sound like sci-fi movie plots, Governing magazine reports some scientists and government officials think either scenario could actually occur and end up disabling the country’s electrical grid for weeks, months or years, leaving telecommunications and emergency services severely disrupted and affecting the food supply, sanitation and drinking water.
Congress has commissioned reports and held hearings over the years on bills focused on protecting the grid from such catastrophic disturbances, but it hasn’t taken any action. So a number of state legislators have decided to file their own grid-related measures, and in some cases, the legislation has been adopted.
Kristy Hartman, senior energy policy specialist for the National Conference of State Legislatures, says that since 2013, electromagnetic pulse or solar storm-related legislation has been filed in at least 11 states. It was enacted in five, including Louisiana, failed in three and is pending in the rest.
The measures have ranged from establishing commissions to study the potential threats and make recommendations to requiring electric providers to install certain technology to protect the infrastructure. Among those that have passed, Louisiana last year asked the governor’s emergency preparedness office to study the potential threats and consequences of a sudden burst of electromagnetic radiation caused by a natural or man-made event.
“This is an area in which we are extremely vulnerable. It’s a real problem. What if the power doesn’t come back on?” says Virginia Republican state Sen. Bryce Reeves, who sponsored a measure that passed last year mandating a legislative commission to study the issue and come up with ways to protect against such threats.
Other experts and scientists are skeptical of the dire warnings, saying the chances of such doomsday scenarios are extremely remote. And utility companies argue that they are already highly regulated and prepared for disasters and that the electrical grid is safe.
“We are the only sector with mandatory and enforceable cyber and physical security standards,” says Scott Aaronson, senior director of national security policy at the Edison Electric Institute, a trade association for investor-owned utilities. “I bristle at the assertion that the industry is moving too slowly on this. Instead, we are moving deliberatively to ensure the reliability of the electric grid.”
