Amidst power cuts – debate controlled by Utilities
WASHINGTON (AP) – In the aftermath of violent storms that knocked out power to millions from the Midwest to the Mid-Atlantic , sweltering residents and elected officials are demanding to know why it’s taking so long to restring power lines and why they’re not more resilient in the first place.
The answer, it turns out, is complicated: Above-ground lines are vulnerable to lashing winds and falling trees, but relocating them underground involves huge costs – as much as $15 million per mile of buried line – and that gets passed onto consumers.
Off-Grid: Strange how the debate is framed as two unrealistic alternativ es – leave things as they are or bury power lines – something which will never happen. At this point nobody in the mainstream media ever asks whether it would be more intelligent to generate power in local areas so that a fallen pole down the line would have little if any effect.…