Nor'easter leaves New Yorkers without power. I'm not surprised.

[texasskier.livejournal.com]

Nor'easter leaves New Yorkers without power. I'm not surprised.
I know It is cruel to say "I'm not surprised". I know it is needed to say: "I am sorry..."
And I'm really sorry, but to my mind problems with electricity are expected. Irene, Sandy, snow, rain, breeze, sunny weather.... It looks like everything can be a reason of problems with power.
Look at these pictures:




   




This is not New York. But it doesn't matter.
This is Houston. The Energy Corridor. The Energy "Capital" of the World. The Centre of Energy companies.
Last hurricane was 4 years ago. And it is everywhere in US. Even worse. 


I wonder why they don't fall. But I am sure after the first strong wind everybody will be sorry about poor houstonians. 

Energy companies are resposible for this dog's breakfast only. But the problem is bigger. The problem is Americans are fighting for rights of gays, for abortions, for paid sex, but they doesn't want to fight for civilized power network.

Comments

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

First of all, please use lj-cut (http://www.livejournal.com/support/faq/75.html) because the post is too large.

Secondly, taking care of one issue doesn't mean Americans can't take care of other issues simultaneously. I really don't get this fixation with people addressing "the wrong issues" instead of "the right ones".

But yeah, please use the cut.

[texasskier.livejournal.com]

done, thanks

[notmrgarrison.livejournal.com]

Oh hell yeah!

[luvdovz.livejournal.com]

Ultra-conservative Russians now living in ultra-conservative states, pic-spamming a random online forum and spewing some semi-coherent nonsense: that is something I'm hardly surprised with. In fact, it has become the most regular phenomenon on LJ - to such an extent that the real shock would've been a week passing without such post(er)s.

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

Oh but do tell us moar about why you hate diversity!

[texasskier.livejournal.com]

Yeah... It will die without us...
But about text. Don't you agree?

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

I want to fight for an advanced smart grid. And fiber to every home.

But do I have to be a prude at the same time?

[notmrgarrison.livejournal.com]

We should all be regular.

[kylinrouge.livejournal.com]

Damn those Communist Energy Czars!

[ghostwes.livejournal.com]

Yeah! We should force all the gays and prostitutes and abortion doctors to fix the power lines! Or something!

[texasskier.livejournal.com]

+++
best comment)

[allhatnocattle.livejournal.com]

Putting the power grid underground is simplest solution. Costs about the same as installing poles up but with less maintenance.

[texasskier.livejournal.com]

Of course. But why they don't do it?

[telemann.livejournal.com]

LOLWHUT?

Burying power lines is very expensive.

For example, in a new suburban neighborhood, installing ordinary overhead power lines costs about $194,000 per mile on average. Installing underground power lines would cost $571,000 per mile. And to retrofit an older suburban neighborhood with underground lines, the costs climb up to an average of $724,000 per mile. And those aren’t even the high-voltage variety, which cost millions per mile.

After a huge blizzard in the 1880s, the city assumed the safest place was burying them underground. Quite a few areas in NYC don't have power because of water damage to their buried electrical wiring, generators in the basement instead of being on the roof, it goes on and on.

[a-new-machine.livejournal.com]

Uh... what? Imagine a city like Boston tearing up all of its narrow, rabbit-warreny streets to bury the lines. It's nowhere near the same cost, and putting them underground actually makes the lines more vulnerable to flood events - exactly the problem that NY had. I'd heard suggestions of moving electrical infrastructure onto the 4th or 5th floor to avoid future blackouts, not moving more of it deeper.

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

And come the next earthquake, you start to build the whole system anew.

[peristaltor.livejournal.com]

In most of the country maybe. Here in the NW, we have abundant trees for poles and lots of water. Man, when the drainage to those underground utility tunnels backs up, you can hear the sizzling.

[malasadas.livejournal.com]

But the problem is bigger. The problem is Americans are fighting for rights of gays, for abortions, for paid sex, but they doesn't want to fight for civilized power network.

I think a nation with 300 million people probably has the bench strength to multitask.

[dwer.livejournal.com]

wait, I can get paid to have sex?

Just so you know, your pictures make it seem that your issue is with trees.

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

I thought they had an issue with strange black arrows in the sky.

[telemann.livejournal.com]

wait, I can get paid to have sex?

Dude, where is that application. I'm signing up!

[kayjayuu.livejournal.com]

I believe all of North Dakota's power lines will be underground by 2020 or something, a law I just learned about at the lunch table at work.

We don't have a lot of trees to deal with though.

[allhatnocattle.livejournal.com]

CapX2020 is working to put many lines underground including the Dakotas, Minnesota and Wisconsin

[peristaltor.livejournal.com]

It's like the leaning tower of Pisa. A bit of a lean won't drop it. As long as it doesn't reach that critical angle, it's quite safe. Just unsightly.

Dumping money into straightening poles is just a waste.

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

You're creating a false dichotomy. The necessity for a solid infrastructure and for civil rights are related, albeit not sides of the same coin. A functional infrastructure and protecting civil rights require governments to spend money, which is why conservatives consider it anathema, unless it's on weapons and soldiers.