On Feb 15th 2019 the Utah State House passed HJR 14, the Joint Resolution to Harden the Utah and United States Electrical Grids. While this is just one important step of what needs to be done to sufficiently harden the grid, it passed unanimously, 70-0. We congratulate the Bill Sponsor, Rep. Lee Perry and the entire House for taking a decisive stand to defend Utahns.
What Next?
The next step is for a Senate Public Utilities, Energy and Technology Committee to consider HJR014, members of the Utah EMP Task Force leadership will be in attendance to testify. Then after 3 readings, the Utah Senate will vote like the House did, probably in February or early March.
The resolution essentially says, “We agree, something needs to be done to protect Utah’s Electric Grid from the sun or hostile threats”.
If the House and Senate both approve the resolution, the next step forward could be a Utah Joint Task Force to examine the scope and costs of islanding and hardening Utah’s Electric Grid, or possibly a bill (this year or next) with funding to start the process or a directive from Gov. Herbert to start the process is also possible.
And After That?
This is step one, there is still a lot that can be done to harden our grid. Think of it as the foundation. It is not a house, but we have to start here before we can really protect our grid and our citizens.