Michael Mabee, author of “The Civil Defense Book” blogs on critical infrastructure protection and threats, community preparedness and civil defense. Follow Mike’s blog for updates.
EDTF Recommends Disregarding the EPRI EMP Report The Electromagnetic Defense Task Force (EDTF) – which consists of the foremost military and civilian experts on electromagnetic pulse (EMP), geomagnetic disturbance (GMD) and other threats to the electric grid – just issued a report entitled “Electromagnetic Pulse Threats to America’s Electric Grid: Counterpoints to Electric Power…
The CIP Coverup Can’t Be Hidden Any Longer The CIP coverup—the over nine year old secret practice of permanently withholding the names of all Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) violators from the public—is now getting much needed public scrutiny. Just so you know we are (ahem) barking up the right tree, at the June 27,…
Electric Disturbance Events are reported to the Department of Energy, but huge gaps exist in the publicly available information Utility companies and grid operators are required to submit reports on electric disturbance events to the Department of Energy (DOE). The publicly available information from these reports is incomplete and confusing when compared to reports…
By Jonathan Hollerman Guest Post Did America just use an EMP attack against Venezuela’s grid? Venezuela is once again in the news. If only I had a dollar for every instance someone has asked me what is going on with the Venezuelan electric grid. For the record: I don’t know what is going on with…
I filed a FOIA with DHS for correspondence on EMP / GMD Have you ever, while reading a Senate report, suddenly found yourself compelled to file a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)? No? Well, it actually did happen to me. I was reading the annual report…
Comprehensive and Free Aquaponics Book You can download the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Fisheries and Aquaculture Technical Paper No. 589: “Small-scale aquaponic food production. Integrated fish and plant farming” for free. It is a large file, so be patient. You can also download it in 11 smaller files if you prefer. (See bottom…
Coalition plays the long game on electric grid cybersecurity On June 20, 2019, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved the electric grid cybersecurity reliability standard CIP-008-6 (Cyber Security—Incident Reporting and Response Planning). The Secure The Grid Coalition has been fighting this battle now for several years. The result of our efforts is an improved…
Guest Post By Matthew West Hurricane Rita and Pinehurst Texas: The successful use of a Microgrid On September 24, 2005, Hurricane Rita slammed into the Texas-Louisiana coastline. Rita knocked out power to over 1.5 million customers, caused over 100 deaths, and with a huge unexpected storm surge, inundated petrochemical plants and critical infrastructure. When…
FEMA’s response seems to be a low-level bureaucratic “ignore” I’m disappointed by FEMA’s response to my March 28, 2019 letter which I posted here. As you may recall, I wrote to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) after not hearing from them on a letter I had sent them on March 7, 2018 – a…
Edison Electric Institute’s Members Include State Owned Chinese Companies The Edison Electric Institute (EEI), according to their website, is the trade association that represents all U.S. investor-owned electric companies. Let’s start with Exhibit A—The Edison Electric Institute’s May 2019 member list. You will note on page 3 the names of three Chinese “members” of…
