{"id":1499254,"date":"2022-06-01T08:01:30","date_gmt":"2022-06-01T12:01:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1499254"},"modified":"2022-06-01T08:01:38","modified_gmt":"2022-06-01T12:01:38","slug":"americans-bracing-for-summer-blackouts-better-hope-for-tame-hurricanes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/americans-bracing-for-summer-blackouts-better-hope-for-tame-hurricanes\/","title":{"rendered":"Americans Bracing For Summer Blackouts Better Hope For Tame Hurricanes"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Famericans-bracing-for-summer-blackouts-better-hope-for-tame-hurricanes%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1499254&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/32445826300_019b446202_k-e1654027392425.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Today marks the first official day of the Atlantic hurricane season, which means new risks to the fragile energy infrastructure that powers the entire U.S. economy. <\/p>\n<p>Last year, President Joe Biden warned the nation was facing a \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/09\/07\/us\/politics\/biden-hurricane-ida.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">code red\u201d<\/a> on climate change after a series of hurricanes to justify handicapping utilities with vulnerabilities that present Americans with potentially routine blackouts this summer. Never mind that the number of hurricanes to make landfall has actually declined by <a href=\"https:\/\/rogerpielkejr.substack.com\/p\/a-remarkable-decline-in-landfalling?utm_source=url&#038;s=r\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">one-third<\/a> since 1945. The ones that do land are made far less deadly thanks to our remarkable capacity to adapt and develop, which has been powered by fossil fuels. <\/p>\n<p>In 1900, the Great Galveston hurricane killed up to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/kevinmurnane\/2017\/08\/27\/as-terrible-as-harvey-is-the-galveston-hurricane-of-1900-was-much-much-worse\/?sh=6a656dce2594\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">12,000<\/a> people in Texas, 100 years before Hurricane Katrina would claim <a href=\"https:\/\/www.history.com\/news\/hurricane-katrina-facts-legacy#:~:text=With%20maximum%20sustained%20winds%20of,of%20Louisiana%2C%20Mississippi%20and%20Alabama.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">fewer than 2,000<\/a> in and around Louisiana in 2005. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wunderground.com\/hurricane\/articles\/deadliest-us-hurricanes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">No storm<\/a> has eclipsed a death toll of 500 since Florida\u2019s Okeechobee Hurricane in 1928 killed more than 4,000 people, Katrina serving as the only exception primarily as a consequence of the region\u2019s ill-preparedness for any major weather event. <\/p>\n<p>While their risks have been reduced, danger is by no means absent, and the massive storms still jeopardize the power grid. That\u2019s what Katrina did in 2005 when the cyclone <a href=\"https:\/\/money.cnn.com\/2005\/08\/31\/news\/spr\/index.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">knocked out<\/a> 95 percent of the region\u2019s crude output and 88 percent of its natural gas production. The havoc led President George W. Bush to tap the nation\u2019s Strategic Petroleum Reserves for emergencies, releasing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.energy.gov\/fecm\/strategic-petroleum-reserve-0#:~:text=The%20results%20of%20the%20Hurricane,were%20received%20from%20seven%20companies.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">30 million<\/a> barrels of oil onto the market. <\/p>\n<p>Last week, Biden again warned Americans to brace for another hurricane season, lying again about their intensity. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe know hurricanes are coming our way,\u201d the president <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/newshour\/politics\/president-biden-warns-of-another-tough-hurricane-season-this-year\">said<\/a>. \u201cThey grow more extreme every season.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With 360 million barrels left after Biden\u2019s \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/04\/01\/joe-biden-is-doing-everything-possible-to-avoid-unleashing-american-energy-production\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">unprecedented<\/a>\u201d reserves release began May 15 amid <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/05\/31\/gas-prices-hit-new-record-after-memorial-day\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">record gas prices<\/a>, Americans are now at risk of empty oil reserves ahead of another season. Americans are, however, at a far greater risk of a compromised power grid compounded by weather-related events such as hurricanes. <\/p>\n<p>Daniel Turner, the president of the energy non-profit Power the Future, explained that the Biden administration\u2019s interference at every level of the oil and gas industry has opened up a far larger window of risk and uncertainty to blackouts this summer than in previous years. Biden\u2019s shutdown of production sites and transportation projects such as leases on federal lands and the Keystone XL Pipeline are prime examples of the administration placing the industry on fragile footing with less flexibility to cope with unexpected interruptions. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf the administration understood the multiple steps in the oil and gas lifespan, they would realize every process has its vulnerabilities,\u201d Turner told The Federalist. Production is the first stage, transfer is the second stage, and refining is the third. \u201cIf the first stage is weak, the second stage is weak, and then we have seasonal problems at stage three, then it\u2019s just compounded.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Biden has made no secret of the administration\u2019s animosity towards domestic energy production of reliable fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas. Even as gas prices hit daily records for more than two weeks straight, the White House still <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/05\/12\/as-gas-prices-set-new-records-biden-nukes-more-oil-and-gas-projects\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">canceled<\/a> oil and gas leases across the country from Alaska to the Gulf of Mexico earlier this month. <\/p>\n<p>Residents in California, who\u2019ve already suffered the consequences of an irresponsible energy <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2020\/09\/07\/how-refusing-to-wisely-manage-californias-resources-led-to-incessant-blackouts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">transition<\/a> with rolling blackouts, will face <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spglobal.com\/marketintelligence\/en\/news-insights\/latest-news-headlines\/calif-utilities-brace-for-1-700-mw-summer-power-shortage-70267214\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">major power shortages<\/a> this summer as more heat waves stretch the electricity grid beyond capacity. Western drought conditions at their worst in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mercurynews.com\/2022\/02\/14\/current-drought-is-worst-in-1200-years-in-california-and-the-american-west-new-study-shows\/\">1,200 years<\/a> will only place added stress on the nation\u2019s energy infrastructure, leading the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) to <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/05\/24\/report-deadly-summer-blackouts-inevitable-as-renewables-struggle-to-replace-reliable-energy\/\">prophesy<\/a> a season of outages.  <\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Turner explained, the nation\u2019s growing population needs more energy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAdd weather-related events to this, and it\u2019s much much worse, there\u2019s no doubt,\u201d Turner said. Refusal to unleash American energy potential as demand rises among homeowners electrifying their homes even more with new gadgets every year, is \u201ca recipe for disaster.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Americans can\u2019t look to wind and solar to solve their problems, however, given how they\u2019re prone to destruction under intense storms. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen it comes to weather-related events, wind and solar don\u2019t stand up,\u201d Turner said. Nuclear and coal always survive with \u201cstructures unaffected by weather\u201d minus a few power lines that can be put back up.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just question when trying to use wind and solar to power,\u201d Turner said, \u201cwhen we get one good hailstorm and now what do we do? We turn to diesel generators.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n  Tristan Justice is the western correspondent for The Federalist. He has also written for The Washington Examiner and The Daily Signal. His work has also been featured in Real Clear Politics and Fox News. Tristan graduated from George Washington University where he majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow him on Twitter at @JusticeTristan or contact him at Tristan@thefederalist.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today marks the first official day of the Atlantic hurricane season, which means new risks to the fragile energy infrastructure that powers the entire U.S. economy. Last year, President<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":494,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1499254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1499254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/494"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1499254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1499254\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1499254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1499254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1499254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}