What would you do if the power went out with no immediate sign that it would return? Some public officials are concerned by a recent discovery that power marketing agencies in some states, including those in the west, are not doing enough to protect transmission lines and substations from physical attacks. One of these agencies, WAPA, is responsible for electricity in 15 states and operates 17,000 miles of transmission lines. Moffat County Commissioner John Kinkaid believes that this threat needs to be considered seriously. “We need to take a long hard look at electrical grid security,” shares Kinkaid. “If we do nothing, it will go down and then there will be mass panic. We don’t know how to live and function without power to run our cash registers and scanners.” Kinkaid emphasizes that the grid “must be hardened” and that there needs to be contingency plans in place to keep society functioning if the power goes down, whether for a short time or months on end.
