Our Take: Bury the Power Grid

It ought to be clear to everyone but ostrich Republicans that the climate and the oceans are warming, which means that there are and will be more frequent and more intensive storms. Since 2005 mega-storms have devastated New Orleans (Katrina), New York/New Jersey (Sandy), Houston (Harvey), and now Miami (Irma). In all cases, flooding from rain and storm surges caused widespread devastation, and millions lost power for days or weeks from downed power lines. Will your city be next? What can be done to prepare for the next big blow?

One obvious step is to bury the power grid. The country’s electric grid is over 130 years old. (The first electric grid dates back to 1882 when Thomas Edison opened the country’s first power plan in lower Manhattan). Today’s grid is increasingly obsolete and vulnerable. New, cheaper, safer, and more efficient paradigms are being implemented, for example in Vermont. It makes great good economic sense to replace vulnerable old copper wire grids with buried optical cable ones post haste. Sure, doing so will be costly, but think of the cost of millions of households and businesses without power for days or weeks. The next big storm will happen somewhere soon. Will your city/area be ready?