From the NIAC Catastrophic Power Outage Report from the President’s National Infrastructure Advisory Council – December 2018
There is a lack of understanding of the cascading, cross-sector interdependencies between [electrical] infrastructure and what that means for prioritizing backup generation and other limited resources to maintain services and functions during a long-term, widespread outage.o Hospitals and other mass care providers are often at the top on priority restoration lists,however, for example, some of the water and wastewater treatment facilities they rely on are not. Without working water or wastewater systems, hospitals are unable to function. There may even be a lack of understanding of which hospitals are the most critical to prioritize restoration.
There is no common understanding of how long downstream sectors should be prepared to go without power, and what other services could be affected by the cascading impacts of a catastrophic outage.
Good thing no terrorist will ever read this report
Almost no one knows the lead time for large station service / substation class electrical transformers is measured in years.
All of this civilization, and I mean ALL of it, is precariously balanced on the back of a presumption of cooperation. The grid was designed and built in a previous era in America, an era now gone forever. The grid is insecure and cannot be made secure.
Swallwell wants to nuke us. Go ahead, asshole, make my day.