There was a lot of media coverage of yesterday’s release of the 2005 Cascadia Scorecard (for example, this and this). What most interested me was that the media couldn’t find anyone who would directly contradict our finding that the Northwest’s energy system is virtually impossible to defend against determined attackers. We knew our analysis was alarming; we were braced to defend it vigorously. But there was no counterpunch.
The closest that anyone came to contradicting us were the quotes in this Associated Press story (here in the Salem Statesman-Journal). But the statements in this article do not actually contradict our analysis, they simply offer assurances to the public that the situation has improved since 2001. And that electric authorities are pretty good at responding quickly to emergencies. But that’s not saying much.
Now, the question is, will awareness of the energy system’s vulnerability to sabotage actually sink in and help to motivate more-rapid progress toward a resilient, clean, and prosperous energy future? One encouraging sign is this morning’s Seattle Post-Intelligencer’seditorial.
