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Forced Off the Grid

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Written by Sam   
Tuesday, 08 February 2011 06:48
Kicked Off the Grid and Out in the Cold!

From 4 February 2011, Santa Fe New Mexican
Some 25,000 New Mexicans were without natural gas after a freeze in west Texas led to rolling power outages that interrupted electricity to natural-gas compressor stations.
"We had natural-gas supplies," said Monica Hussey, spokeswoman for New Mexico Gas Company. "But we couldn't get the supply on hand out of storage and to customers because it needs to go through compressor stations."

By 7 February the Taos News ran this:
Still, with Taos scheduled to get more snow and subzero temperatures both Tuesday and Wednesday, Town Public Relations Director Cathy Connelly urged Taoseños to "take care of themselves, and do what they need to do to safely turn on their own natural gas meters and relight interior pilot lights/turn on appliances/heat. We understand that many Taoseños have already successfully taken this action."

Despite only 26% of relights in the Taos this edict was issued by our Gas Company on 7 February later in the afternoon:
Please do NOT attempt to turn on the gas meter at your residence yourself. It is extremely dangerous and a serious matter of public safety and the safety of our customers. Under Federal pipeline safety rules, only a gas company-trained and qualified person is authorized to turn on a gas meter.

On 8 February less than half of Taos has been restored. The temperature has yet to get over 30 since the gas supply was shut off.

Apparently putting about 25,000 residents in the cold by literally shutting off the supply of natural gas isn’t newsworthy nor of particular note to anyone outside of the affected region. Such huge metropolises such as Taos, Questa, Red River and Espanola have declared our mini state of emergencies, our clamor hasn’t reached the Governor’s warm and cozy mansion nor to the Roundhouse, and not one major news source has reported about our little crisis.

Thursday, after waking up to temperatures averaging about 25 below zero, incredulous citizens were being advised that our natural gas supply would be stopped during the day. The explanations were and remain dubious. The response from New Mexico and our region is only drowned out the by elusive Taos hum.

Although we must credit our Governor for setting aside her recent slap down from our highest court regarding her edict to dismiss two major environmental laws protecting our natural aquifer giving her time to send ‘non-essential’ state workers home on Thursday (when it roared up to 15 degrees) so they could lower their thermostats. Rumor is she retired to living room and fed reports of the court’s unanimous ruling against her into her fireplace.

Natural gas is the major source of heat and hot water for our area. Albuquerque, where the supply remained mostly constant, has half the population of New Mexico living in and around the city and they were nicely quiet, having no complaints of freezing temperatures invading their living rooms, no hot water (or even cold water) and no need for emergency plans consisting of statements like “we’re formulating a response.”

Fortunately, the northern region had electricity and the electric companies were able to meet the increased demand of supply made by thousands of electric heaters being bought up, plugged in and cranked full-on to offset the below freezing temperatures typical for winter.

Three issues are up for discussion about this: 1) the dearth of news coverage regarding the suddenness of a vital resource shortfall; 2) the lack of a Plan B for our region when this type of occurrence is imposed on our region; 3) the lack of a Plan C where we utilize solar and wind energy with more fervor and dedication in a state that is drenched in sunshine and breezes. Being on the receiving side of the cold shoulder is hurtful, harmful and potentially deadly.

Reporting about 25,000 folks temporarily inconvenienced for a few days is, apparently, not fodder for newsmakers now inclined to screaming out the news before and after more visceral events prompting bullets to start flying; humanitarian dilemmas are certainly less stirring and have less viewer draw. Perhaps if we could find some frozen corpses to display on our camera phones we could have attracted some attention prompting some solutions – or even better, preventive action.

Most striking is how easy it is to allow and perhaps condone some few to be threatened with freezing to death, face bank-breaking water pipe repairs and realize their state, towns and communities have no emergency response mechanisms yet suffer as part of a business as usual non-response. Even more preposterous is a dire situation is not worth a mention in the national news. As Charlie Sheen might say- this is all BS. What Dick Cheney has said remains unprintable – however the sentiment he felt toward the U.S. Senate may well be shared by Taoseños toward the combined alleged authorities.

Apparently our illustrious leaders and public officials can’t turn on a light in the darkness or a gas stove in the freezing cold.

Worse yet, 30,000 affected folks didn’t even rate a news filler in any national publication. When we bring our dead we can broadcast the event to Cairo as they may have more empathy for our situation than Santa Fe or Washington, D.C.

Sam Darcy
Executive Director
Vista Taos Renewal Center
Taos, New Mexico
8 Feb 2011
575-758-5858
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