LINK

Some quotes from the Lane Core essay:

"Here is a summary of some of the historical context of NERC's latest pronouncements on the electrical utility industry's Y2K readiness:

August 21, 1998: a task force of one regional council was already working "to develop a standard answer for customers that the lights will be kept on," though two of the ten regional councils did not yet have a "formal" Y2K program, and electrical industry officials were admitting publicly that they could not say anything about "preparedness" and the "overall" situation at that time;

About five months later, January 1999: a subcommittee of one regional council stated, absolutely, that in July 1999, NERC would "inform" DOE that (1) the industry is ready for Y2K, though (2) there are some exceptions, and (3) there are contingency plans;

About six months later, August 3, 1999: NERC issued a press release about its latest report to DOE that says (1) the industry is ready for Y2K, though (2) there are some exceptions, and (3) there are contingency plans."

... and ...

"In response to the previous essay, I received the following from an individual whose identity and credibility are vouchsafed to me, who attended NERC's first Y2K meeting, at the Edison Electric Institute in Washington DC last summer:

"You were right about the first industry-wide NERC-sponsored Y2k meeting. At that meeting, not only were the advance messages discussed and drafted, but those drafts were then circulated to the BOD (Board of Directors) of NERC, some of which are the Execs. of some of the biggest utilities in the country. This was done so that atty's for the utilities could make sure that NERC's statements weren't going to get them into 'trouble' or make commitments that they couldn't keep. Subsequently the industry 'happy message' announcement schedule was established for DOE and a separate one for the public that extended through January 2000.

"NERC has, is, and will doggedly stay true to their communications schedule. That is their commitment to the utilities that fund their existence. Their loyalty will always be to their membership. So when the DOE wisely asked NERC to 'watch the hen house' and report on utility industry Y2K progress...it was like winning the lottery! They were ecstatic! I think the statement going around back then was 'better us (NERC) than some independent auditing firm poking around in your power plants and board rooms.'

"Every press release and every status report was preplanned and scheduled for release prior to and with little regard to independent verification that the work was actually done... even if these external review requirements extended only to the utilities that provided control center or transmission services that keep the grid up. 40% of NERC utilities have not conducted external review of their programs...anybody wondering why? How many utilities in that 40% run critical grid control centers or transmission systems? anyone?... anyone? Even NERC doesn't know. That should be a little spooky for you."

... and ...

"The industry has been criticized for months along the following lines:

1) by and large, they didn't get moving on Y2K until dragged kicking and screaming;

2) there is no national oversight of the industry's Y2K remediation;

3) the industry organization enlisted by the federal government is exactly that, an industry organization owned by, and beholden to, the member companies;

4) it therefore has no authority to compel any utility to divulge any information whatever about its Y2K program,

5) which meant that it could get any information at all only by guaranteeing anonymity.

The result: a public, official perception that the industry is much more confident about its Y2K readiness than it really is. A result intended from the start."

======== Thanks Lane. Great stuff, as always! =======

Dennis

121 days remain. Got a generator?

-- Dennis (djolson@pressenter.com), September 01, 1999

Answers

Also see this article. Is it 70% or 99%?

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/bluesky_franke_news/19990804_xndfr_coveru p_la.shtml

-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), September 01, 1999.

Poor Hoff. Robert gave him a thorough trouncing on the NERC thread today and now Lane eats his electric power lunch. Maybe you could debate IRS readiness with Uncle Deedah, Hoff.

-- a (a@a.a), September 01, 1999.

Dennis:

No, I don't have a generator.

I don't want the entire neighborhood banging on my door.

The first neighbor invited in would see supplies.

Word would spread like fire throughout the neighborhood.

Then I would get burglarized by DGI neighbors and strangers.

So I plan for no generator and no electric lights.

People will flock like moths to houses which have electrical power.

I'm going low tech.

-- Randolph (dinosaur@williams-net.com), September 01, 1999.

Jeez. Where do you people come from?

-- Bad Company (johnny@shootingstar.com), September 01, 1999.

'a':

Hoff must really annoy you, since he always builds his arguments around documented facts, whereas those he's arguing with (like Robert) are using emotional distortions.

So here we have Dennis, who quotes Lane Core (a dedicated doomer), who in turn cites some anonymous rumors. Now THAT'S the way to argue, you bet! Dennis loves it, you love it. Get a couple blind doomers together, and one anonymous second-hand story is worth 100 engineers' personal experiences and 1000 legally binding statements. Hehehe.

Not surprising that your response is to insult the most dangerously sane poster you can find. Too bad that black isn't white no matter how many times you insist that it is.

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), September 01, 1999.

Here is what I got when I ran Flint's post through the translator at babelfish.altavista.com using the "Bullshit-to-English" setting:

Anonymous reports can't be credible. PR from the government and industry is gospel.

-- a (a@a.a), September 01, 1999.

Interestingly, when I do this with 'a's posts, it comes out:

Accept all congenial rumors, attack all uncongenial facts.

A great translator, I must agree.

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), September 01, 1999.

You two guys need to go to lunch or something.

-- Carlos (riffraff1@cybertime.net), September 01, 1999.

Friends of mine were hit by Hurricane Huge in late 80's - they lost power but had a generator.....strangers in their area that they did not know came to their door and asked to use their shower.....

The stories about the ice storms in Canada a few years ago told of those people that had generators had them stolen (thieves just listened for the sounds of the generators running and came to steal them)......

-- mmmm (mmmm@aol.com), September 01, 1999.

Friends of mine were hit by Hurricane Hugo in late 80's - they lost power but had a generator.....strangers in their area that they did not know came to their door and asked to use their shower.....

The stories about the ice storms in Canada a few years ago told of those people that had generators had them stolen (thieves just listened for the sounds of the generators running and came to steal them)......

-- mmmm (mmmm@aol.com), September 01, 1999.

Damn, 'a', using my name again?

So Robert "trounced" me? Where was that? NERC thread? You mean the FAA thread?

Here's the thread, make your own call:

FAA and Primeon: Doombrood Drumbeat Goes On...

Anyway, if Lane needs any more "leads", I here LoserWire has a whole page full of "anonymous" statements....

-- Hoffmeister (hoff_meister@my-deja.com), September 01, 1999.

First, NERC has ADMITTED to the facts stated in Lane's essay. (Are they still "rumors" at that point??)

Second, my generator weighs 2000 lbs, is the size of a volkwagen beetle, and has a hospital-grade muffler on it (sounds like a central a/c unit).

Anyone that wants to steal it will have to work REAL HARD and for a LONG TIME to get it, and it couldn't be done quietly. And I have LOTS of ammo. Lots. A bunch. Really.

And if the neighbors show up wanting heat/food, I'll help them until the shelters get going. BUT if Y2K goes smoothly, this is just an intellectual exercise, which is EXACTLY what I'm hoping for.

Oh, and before you say "you'll never be able to store enough gas for it...", it runs on natural gas/propane, and I have a 500 gallon rented propane tank in the back yard as a backup. Also have a furnace conversion kit for propane. It gets REAL COLD up here in the tundra of Wisconsin/Minnesota. You want heat and power. Trust me.

-- Dennis (djolson@pressenter.com), September 02, 1999.