There isn't much time to act. To get this bill signed into law, the House needs to pass H.R. 668 so that the Senate can take it from there. Act now. You really can make a difference. We've been told by several Representatives that a couple dozen messages on an issue lets them know how important it is.
On Tuesday, May 24, members of the Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources (E&NR) received hard copies of the Advisory that EMPact America emailed to them, as well as hard copies of the transcript of Episode PVP#48.
In addition to the reading material, each Senator on the committee received a copy of the 3-disk set America In The Dark and the National Geographic DVD called Electronic Armageddon.
ACTION ITEM: Call members of the E&NR and ask them if they have read the material they received, or watched the DVD’s, and ask for their support on EMP legislation like H.R. 668.
On Thursday, May 19, EMPact America submitted the Advisory and the transcript of Episode PVP#48 of EMPact Radio to the Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources for inclusion in the record of the hearing that was held on May 5. You can read the transcript by clicking on the image at the right, or by downloading this PDF file.
As we told you in a prior posting on this web site, the testimony presented to the committee in that hearing was misleading regarding the electromagnetic pulse (EMP) threat to our national electric grid. You may have already listened to EMPact Radio Episode PVP#48 as Dr. Peter Vincent Pry and Dr. William Radasky (a true EMP expert AND recipient of the Lord Kelvin Medal) reviewed the Senate hearing testimony and rebutted key statements that were misleading and in contradiction to the conclusions reached by the Congressional EMP Commission.
The Advisory and the transcript are also available for download as a single PDF file in this download.
On Monday, May 16, EMPact America emailed a preliminary Advisory to members of the Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources that calls attention to the misleading testimony they heard in the May 5 hearing. To make sure that our point wasn’t lost among the other email messages they received, we also hand-delivered a printed copy of the Advisory the next day (Tuesday, May 17).
In the Advisory, we introduce some of the key points of the rebuttal that Dr. Peter Vincent Pry and Dr. William Radasky made in Episode PVP#48 of EMPact Radio. Here’s part of the advisory:
On May 11, EMPact Radio held a citizen’s hearing before the American people to correct misleadingand erroneous testimony on the EMP threat given by witnesses Tedeschi, Cauley, and Owens beforethe Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Speaking on EMPact Radio in defense of theFERC report were Dr. William Radasky, who holds the Lord Kelvin Medal from the InternationalElectrotechnical Commission and was a senior consultant for the EMP Commission, and Dr. PeterVincent Pry, who is President of EMPact America, Director of the U.S. Nuclear Strategy Forum, andserved on the staffs of the EMP Commission, the House Armed Services Committee, and the CentralIntelligence Agency.
To read the Advisory in full, click the image on the right, or click here to download the PDF file.
We told you about testimony given on May 5 by industry insiders in a hearing of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources (E&NR), and that we were shocked that the Senate committee heard testimony that is in direct contradiction to the reports published by the EMP Commission. For example, one industry expert said that the national electric grid is not at risk from electromagnetic pulse (EMP) caused by a high-altitude nuclear explosion.
On May 11, Dr. Peter Vincent Pry invited Dr. William Radasky, a true EMP expert and Lord Kelvin Medal recipient, to join him on EMPact Radio to discuss the testimony given to E&NR. Together, they went through the testimony and refuted and corrected key statements that were misleading or factually incorrect. EMPact Radio co-host Ross Howarth played excerpts of the audio recording of the Senate committee hearing, and Dr. Pry and Dr. Radasky made specific comments on those audio excerpts. In addition, Dr. Pry read excerpts of the written testimony submitted to the committee by those industry experts (which you can read on the E&NR committee’s web site).
You can listen to the recording of Episode PVP#48 of EMPact Radio at www.EMPactRadio.com, and we also produced a written transcript of the radio show for you to read. Click here to listen to Episode PVP#48, and click here to download the transcript in a print-ready format (PDF file).
ACTION ITEM #1: Let everyone on your email list know about this hearing and how the industry experts gave Senators the wrong idea about EMP. Copy and paste the text of this post or use this link into your email message: http://empactamerica.org/links/17
ACTION ITEM #2: EMPact America released an advisory about this testimony. Click here to read the advisory, download it, print it, and hand it out to people. Or use the following link to email the PDF to your contacts: http://empactamerica.org/links/16
Contact Members of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
You can help by calling members (listed below) of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources to express your concerns about EMP, and collaborate efforts to support the SHIELD Act.
| Alphabetical by State |
Name of Senator |
DC Office Address |
DC Phone Number |
District Phone Number |
Web Site Address |
| Alaska |
Lisa Murkowski |
709 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510 |
202-224-6665 |
907-271-3735 |
Official Web Site |
| Colorado |
Mark Udall |
328 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510 |
202-224-5941 |
303-650-7820 |
Official Web Site |
| Delaware |
Christopher Coons |
383 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510 |
202-224-5042 |
302-573-6345 |
Official Web Site |
| Idaho |
James E. Risch |
483 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510 |
202-224-2752 |
208-667-6130 |
Official Web Site |
| Indiana |
Dan Coats |
B40E Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510 |
202-224-5623 |
317-554-0750 |
Official Web Site |
| Kentucky |
Rand Paul |
SRC5 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510 |
202-224-4343 |
270-782-8303 |
Official Web Site |
| Louisiana |
Mary Landrieu |
431 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510 |
202-224-5824 |
318-676-3085 |
Official Web Site |
| Michigan |
Debbie Stabenow |
133 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510 |
202-224-4822 |
313-961-4330 |
Official Web Site |
| Minnesota |
Al Franken |
309 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510 |
202-224-5641 |
507-931-5813 |
Official Web Site |
| New Hampshire |
Jeanne Shaheen |
520 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510 |
202-224-2841 |
603-647-7500 |
Official Web Site |
| New Mexico |
Jeff Bingaman |
703 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510 |
202-224-5521 |
575-523-6561 |
Official Web Site |
| North Carolina |
Richard Burr |
217 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510 |
202-224-3154 |
704-833-0854 |
Official Web Site |
| North Dakota |
John Hoeven |
G11 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510 |
202-224-2551 |
701-239-5389 |
Official Web Site |
| Ohio |
Rob Portman |
B40D Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510 |
202-224-3353 |
419-259-3895 |
Official Web Site |
| Oregon |
Ron Wyden |
223 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510 |
202-224-5244 |
503-326-7525 |
Official Web Site |
| South Dakota |
Tim Johnson |
136 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510 |
202-224-5842 |
605-341-3990 |
Official Web Site |
| Tennessee |
Bob Corker |
185 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510 |
202-224-3344 |
423-323-1252 |
Official Web Site |
| Utah |
Mike Lee |
825 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510 |
202-224-5444 |
801-524-5933 |
Official Web Site |
| Vermont |
Bernie Sanders |
332 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510 |
202-224-5141 |
802-254-8732 |
Official Web Site |
| Washington |
Maria Cantwell |
311 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510 |
202-224-3441 |
253-572-2281 |
Official Web Site |
| West Virginia |
Joe Manchin |
303 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510 |
202-224-3954 |
304-342-5855 |
Official Web Site |
| Wyoming |
John Barrasso |
307 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510 |
202-224-6441 |
307-362-5012 |
Official Web Site |
On Thursday, May 5, 2011, The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources held a hearing pertaining to cyber security for the bulk-power system and electric infrastructure, of which electromagnetic pulse (EMP) is an important factor for consideration.
As you can see on the committee’s web site, testimony was given by several people related to the power industry. As hearings go, it was not featured on the nightly TV news, but to those paying attention to legislation for protecting our country from EMP, some of the testimony presented in the hearing was shocking news indeed.
What was shocking to us, and to many people concerned about EMP, is that some of the testimony presented in this hearing ignores the conclusions of the EMP Commission, and some of the statements made in the hearing are out of sync with scientists and industry experts who have publicly stated the threat of EMP, the extent of the risk, and reasonable and affordable means to address EMP and work toward mitigating the risks.
We’re presenting the testimony here so that you can review it for yourself, and we encourage you to take action now to encourage Congress to get legislation in place that truly protects us from EMP.
Here are four PDF files of the written testimony of key witnesses presenting at the hearing:
In addition to the written testimony, you can watch the video recording of the hearing. Click here or on the image on the right to watch the video on the C-SPAN web site.
ACTION ITEM: Contact Members of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
You can help by calling members of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources to express your concerns about EMP, and collaborate efforts to support the SHIELD Act (here’s the list of the members of that committee).
