Got Power? The Threat is Real and the Maine PUC is Directed to Investigate

Over two-hundred Mainer's continue to come to terms with their very personal experience with terrorism in the wake of the Boston Marathon attack. The nation unites to mourn not only the loss of life, but once again, the loss of innocence and tranquility.

A loss of life and tranquility is precisely what a Maine legislator is trying to prevent in Maine in the face of the extreme threats to our electrical infrastructure.

Representative Andrea Boland of Sanford, District 142, has taken the time to research, and bring in the national experts to testify before the legislature's Committee on Energy, Utilities and Technology. Memers of that committee learned our power grid is extremely vulnerable to the effects from a massive solar flare, cyber attack, or nuclear detonation in our atmosphere, creating an EMP. The committee also learned from these national experts that there are ways to protect our electrical infrastructure to help mitigate the damage and aid in recovery should one of these events occur.

Boland's bill, LD 131 An Act to Secure Safety of Electrical Transmission Lines, was replaced with a resolve by the Committee on Energy, Utilities and Technology directing the PUC to further investigate the threat, and what it would take to harden the infrastructure. The initial report is due back to the committee in June.

Above is a portion of my interview with Representative Boland about the advancement of her initiative. Representative Boland planned to brief Governor LePage this week on the issues and provide him with some of the research that has been presented to the legislative committee.

Representative Boland suggests the citizens of Maine do more research about the EMP threat and contact your legislators, and the Maine Public Utilities Commission, asking them to seriously consider implementing strategies to secure our power infrastructure from threats.

Now to that threat. With the Boston Marathon attack, and now news breaking that a U.S. Senator may have been threatened with the poison ricin, the nation once again is asking why? Why would someone deliberately murder and maim in the name of advancing a political or religious ideology? Who is responsible? What is our Government providing for answers to the public? How accurate is our intelligence?

I've been reporting for the past few weeks, in my series of reports Got Power?, that a former Iranian Revolutionary Guards member, turned CIA operative, continues to report information that he says is coming from leaks from those in Iran who are fighting from within to overturn the radical Iranian regime.

It is the belief of Reza Kahlili, and other national experts, Iran and North Korea are planning an EMP attack against the United States. It's also his belief our current administration may not be coming clean with the American public because it doesn't fit their narrative about the threats we face as a nation.

We buy health insurance because we know without out it, if something catastrophic happens to our health, it will bankrupt us, but we never really know if it will happen. And health insurance these days is damned expensive.

After watching the most recent terrorist attack on this nation in Boston, isn't it time to start really protecting our nation by taking steps that would increase our ability to recover should the truly unthinkable happen, regardless of the cost?