EMP Defense Council(sm) Highlights Calculable Risks of Solar Cycle Peak in 2013

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The EMP Defense Council(sm) issued this press release on MarketWire on 02 August 2011:

EMP Defense Council(sm) Highlights Calculable Risks of Solar Cycle Peak in 2013 

Preparation for Statistically-predictable and Cataclysmic Solar Flares a Business Opportunity and Potential Source of Substantial Job Creation


SAN DIEGO, CA -- (Marketwire - August 02, 2011)

In order to prepare America for high-impact and economically crippling, regional or nationwide Electro-Magnetic Pulse (EMP) events, whether solar or nuclear, today the EMP Defense Council(sm) proposed that the following steps be taken by the Federal government:

(1) Enact a 100 % tax credit for a fixed 10-year period for EMP-related R&D expenditures by any U.S.-based company with 500 employees or less

(2) Pass legislation to require all publicly-traded companies in the U.S. to document in detail and take action on credible EMP disaster and business-continuation plans.  Such plans now are non-existent, or cursory and not implementable in a timely manner.  Work with FASB (the Financial Accounting Standards Board) and the SEC to draft regulations requiring auditors to rigorously vet these plans.

In the case of EMP events, void by statute the "business judgment rule" in American case law that may shield board members from liability in the case of statistically-predictable and cataclysmic 100-year solar flares and nuclear-based EMP acts of war that should be expected by a rational actor -- just as the 11 September 2001 destruction of the World Trade Center should have been expected.

In the case of energy utilities and interstate telecommunications companies, instruct the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), respectively, to establish binding performance standards and annual testing to ensure that such companies' infrastructure can withstand EMP events.

(3) To level the playing field and prevent unfair competition, promulgate product liability regulations that hold manufacturers and board members in critical industries liable for failure of their products (domestically manufactured or imported) during an EMP event, starting with the avionics, medical device, building systems, and gas & oil pipeline controls industries -- analogous to the "CE" mark required of all products sold in the European Union.

Encourage NIST, IEEE and other standards-setting organizations to rapidly establish EMP-resistance standards for all capital equipment, essential consumer electronics and durable goods, and emergency-response vehicles sold in the U.S.

(4) Establish a multi-level succession of command (in case of incapacity or death) from the President of the United States down to the cabinet level that has the authority during or prior to an EMP event to completely or partially shut down the U.S. electrical grid to reduce damage, and to order all domestic and in-bound commercial airline flights to land immediately to limit fatalities.

(5) Pass an EMP Economic Stimulus Act -- along the lines of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Work Projects Administration (WPA) -- both to reduce unemployment, and to, in particular, build redundancy and manual override systems into the nation's water-supply infrastructure, electrical grid and nuclear power plants.

(6) Vote on a non-binding Congressional Resolution encouraging electrical engineering (EE) programs at American universities to require all students to take at least one course on "Design for EMP"; and

(7) Declare the 11th of September, "National Emergency Day", to promote awareness of EMP and allow both companies and families to prepare actively for an EMP event or national disaster of any type, similar to Japan's September 1st "Disaster Prevention Day", marking the 01 September 1923 Great Kanto (Tokyo) Earthquake.


David Palella, the Founder of the EMP Defense Council(sm), noted: "In the case of solar EMP events, scientists reliably estimate that major Earth-irradiating solar flare events occur once every 100 years and the last occurred in 1921 -- 90 years ago.  The previous major solar flare event before this, which disrupted most telegraph communications throughout Europe and North America and caused dozens of forest fires (due to sparking of telegraph lines), took place in 1859 -- only 62 years earlier.

"Similar solar EMP events today would greatly impair the electrical grid, the basis of all modern human society, and negatively impact global GDP for 2 - 9 years.  Moreover, NASA, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and various EMP experts estimate that a major coronal mass ejection (CME) pointed at Earth could possibly lead within one year to the eventual deaths of 100s of millions of people worldwide, mainly due to long-term loss of electrical power and interruptions to food production, distribution and cold chains.  The NAS further predicts such an event could cause immediate damage in the U.S. alone equal to '20 Katrinas' (over US$ 2 trillion) [1]."

The next solar cycle and flare activity will peak during mid-2013.

Despite detailed public records of the impact of solar flares on commerce and society going back 150 years [2], preparedness for solar EMP by American and European businesses and governments is almost nil.  And the lessons that should have been learned from the localized March 1989 flare-induced "Quebec Blackout Storm" that left 6 million Canadians in sub-freezing temperatures for 9 hours have been forgotten.

David Palella further stated: "Whereas damage from other natural disasters is measured in the range of US$ 10 - 125 billion (e.g., earthquakes or hurricanes), damage from major solar EMP events will be measured in trillions of dollars and years of national or regional GDP (gross domestic product) impaired because the resulting electrical grid black-outs and brown-outs could last almost a decade due to severe bottlenecks worldwide in the production of large-scale power-station transformers and capacitors."

Michael Doerr, President of Air2Air Corp. in Carlsbad, Calif., and Chief Technical Advisor - Aviation for the EMP Defense Council(sm), observed: "Preparations for regional or hemispheric solar EMP events are both urgent and offer governments and corporations worldwide the opportunity to engage in tenable, high-value job-creation programs to reduce global unemployment.  Industries that should be targeted and strengthened to prepare for EMP include point-source alternative energy, traditional power generation, avionics, medical devices, telecommunications, water supply infrastructure and emergency services."

The EMP Defense Council(SM), a business unit of BioScience Ventures Inc., acts as a catalyst to mobilize companies, industry associations, standards-setting groups, product designers, engineering schools and government entities to prepare America for EMP.

For more information regarding the activities of the EMP Defense Council, contact:

David A. Palella
Founder
EMP DEFENSE COUNCIL(SM)

[a business unit of BioScience Ventures Inc.]
San Diego, California
cell: 619-787-5767
email: Email Contact [ dpalella@gmail.com ]

http://EMP411.blogspot.com

EMP Defense Council -- Preparing for Electro-Magnetic Pulse [ LinkedIn group ]
http://www.linkedin.com/e/vgh/3702799/


REFERENCES:

[1] http://www.nasa.gov/centers/langley/news/releases/2010/10-012.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/7819201/Nasa-warns-solar-flares-from-huge-space-storm-will-cause-devastation.html

http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12507

[2] http://www.solarstorms.org/SRefStorms.html

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You can find this news release on-line at either of these URLs:

http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/release_html_b1?release_id=784096

http://tinyurl.com/3lckucj  [ shortened, tiny URL ]


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The EMP Defense Council© Announces the Electro-Magnetic Pulse (EMP) Priority Hardening List Ranked by Industry Vulnerability, and Proposes a Markets-based Approach to Addressing Solar or Nuclear EMP Events

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Here is our new press release issued on MarketWire.com a few days ago:

SAN DIEGO, CA -- (Marketwire - January 17, 2011) -

In order to prepare America for an Electro-Magnetic Pulse (EMP) event, whether solar or nuclear, today the EMP Defense Council© announced the generally prioritized list below of critical industries, products and services that must be EMP-hardened nationwide as soon as possible.  Moreover, to varying extents, all must embrace systems redundancy, be point self-sufficient ("micro autarky"), self-powered and have manual override systems or controls where appropriate. 

This EMP-hardening list is prioritized by the number of civilian deaths that could be avoided nationwide within the first 1-48 hours of an EMP event -- if proper preparedness steps are taken.  Assuming no preparation, within 48 hours, approximately 250,000 - 350,000 Americans would die nationwide in a sudden EMP event -- equivalent to all American deaths in 4 - 6 Vietnam "conflicts" in only two days.  The prioritized hardening list is:

(1) Airplane avionics and air traffic control & communication systems

(2) Hospital ICU (intensive care unit) medical equipment and power sources, as well as implanted electronic medical devices in ambulatory patients

(3) The electrical grid in general, and especially nuclear power plant control systems (e.g., intense sparking of high-power lines would immediately cause hundreds of forest fires nationwide)

(4) Back-up generators and large-scale battery arrays for critical services

(5) Emergency response vehicles & services (police, fire, medical)

(6) Elevator control and escape systems

(7) Gas & oil pipeline-pressure monitors and electronically-controlled valves and routing systems

(8) Cell phones and cell-phone towers & transmission equipment

(9) TV & radio broadcast & reception equipment

(10) Water pumping stations and water supply control systems; and

(11) The food and drug refrigeration, distribution and delivery networks nationwide.

"As an example, of the approximately 5,000 commercial airliners airborne nationwide at any moment, in a large-scale nuclear EMP event, 1,000 - 2,000 would immediately become inoperable and be forced to land.  Most would crash, leading to 100,000 to 250,000 deaths in a few minutes," noted David Palella, Founder of the EMP Defense Council©.

Thus, the Council encourages all national and international standards-setting organizations to immediately begin drafting and publishing guidelines for EMP-resistant consumer and industrial products.  Such organizations include IEEE, Underwriters Laboratory (UL), Semiconductor Equipment & Materials International (SEMI), the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA), the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), and the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. 

Manufacture liability for products that are not EMP-resistant must be self-insured or insured, but cannot be excused away as an "Act of God" in the case of solar EMP or "Act of War or Terrorism" in the case of nuclear EMP.  The conservatively estimated probability of an EMP event, combining solar and nuclear, is 50:50 over the next 15 - 25 years [Dr. Erland Wittkotter of EMP Preparedness 2013].  Thus, the near-term and eventual occurrence of EMP is highly predictable by any rational actor, and planning for and insuring against EMP events is the fiduciary responsibility of all corporate board members.

"America has a long history of investing significant resources to prepare for high-impact, low-frequency (HILF) events.  Examples include earthquake building codes, flame-resistant clothing standards, EMF (electro-magnetic field) warnings from utility companies, and automobile airbags.  Likewise, in retrospect, adoption of universal standards for EMP-resistant durable goods, industrial machinery and electrical grid infrastructure will appear to be a logical precaution for any advanced civilization to take," observed David Palella.

Promulgation of EMP-resistant product standards by independent 3rd-parties, combined with novel legal theories of manufacturer liability for products unduly susceptible to EMP, will allow market forces to foster the more rapid introduction of EMP-resistant products -- thus greatly reducing America's vulnerability to any type of EMP event.

If done in the design phase, basic hardening of products against EMP adds only 3 - 5 % to manufacturing cost, according to published sources.  Inexpensive hardening or product-damage minimization may be accomplished via increased use of fuses, insulators, Faraday caging (e.g., Mylar® shielding), multiple grounding strategies, and automatic disconnection of long conducting wires when a product is not in use. 

In particular, companies, schools, residents and government entities in San Diego, California -- host to the world's largest U.S. military installation and therefore a prime terrorist target -- are encouraged to take an active role in preparing for EMP -- whether solar or nuclear.

The EMP Defense Council©, a business unit of BioScience Ventures Inc., acts as a catalyst to mobilize companies, industry associations, standards-setting groups, product designers, engineering schools and government entities to prepare America for EMP.

For more information regarding the activities of the EMP Defense Council, please contact:

David A. Palella

Founder

EMP DEFENSE COUNCIL©

[a business unit of BioScience Ventures Inc.]

San Diego, California

cell: 619-787-5767

email: dpalella@gmail.com

http://EMP411.blogspot.com

EMP Defense Council -- Preparing for Electro-Magnetic Pulse

http://www.linkedin.com/e/vgh/3702799/

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Electro-Magnetic Pulse (EMP) Defense Council© Founded in San Diego, California on Pearl Harbor Day

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EMP Defense Council© Inaugurated to Prepare the U.S. for a Nuclear EMP Strike or a Solar Coronal Mass Ejection (CME)


SAN DIEGO, CA--(Marketwire - December 7, 2010) -  The EMP Defense Council© began operations today, Pearl Harbor Day -- "A day that will live in infamy" -- to remind all Americans to prepare in advance for the "unexpected" expected.

Just as the September 11th, 2001, destruction of the World Trade Center in New York City should have been expected by most Americans, the bombing of Pearl Harbor should have been expected too, according to historians. So will a nuclear EMP attack by a rogue nation again catch Americans by "surprise" ?

"Considering the large volume of information in the public domain regarding the threat of EMP and warnings by several prominent American military figures and politicians to prepare for it, the lack of public awareness and preparation for an EMP event of either type is roundly stunning," noted David Palella, Founder of the EMP Defense Council©.

An Electro-Magnetic Pulse (EMP) may be caused by either a high-altitude nuclear blast or a solar Coronal Mass Ejection (CME), both of which have a high probability of occurring within the next 2-5 years.

Nuclear-blast EMP events can extend over a radius of 1,000+ miles and will severely damage or impair most of the conveniences of modern life including the electrical grid, medical devices, computer systems, the internet, all vehicles, consumer electronics, home appliances and satellites.

Solar Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) events during a sunspot-cycle maximum, such as will occur during 2011-2012, would affect the entire planet's electrical and electronic infrastructure. Economic recovery from either type of EMP could take from 2 - 9 years, depending on the severity of the radiation pulse and damage to the electrical grid -- the foundation of all modern commerce.

Moreover, all airborne planes, air-traffic control nationwide, nuclear power-plant control systems, acute-care medical equipment, implanted electronic medical devices, elevators, and heating & cooling systems would cease functioning immediately, leading to 100s of thousands of deaths nationwide in a few minutes or hours.

Back-up generators and emergency-response equipment, even those not in operation at the time of an EMP event, would also be severely damaged and become inoperable, thus causing more near-term casualties.

"Development of an EMP-resistant electrical grid, EMP-hardened capital and durable goods, land and airborne vehicles, medical equipment, and transportation systems offers industry and governments the opportunity to engage in tenable job creation and economic development programs that should include R&D tax credits and tax holidays, other investment incentives, and engineering training initiatives," observed David Palella.

In particular, due to hosting the largest concentration of American military hardware in the world, San Diego is a prime target for a terrorist EMP attack, rivaled only by the easily-addressed combined target of New York City, Washington, DC, and Norfolk, Virginia. Thus, San Diego should be exceptionally proactive in preparing for EMP and setting an example for the rest of America.

Sadly, little is being done nationwide by governments, companies, schools and the non-profit sector to prepare for EMP. The EMP Defense Council©, a for-profit business unit of BioScience Ventures Inc., will act as a catalyst to mobilize companies, industry associations, standards-setting groups, product designers, engineering schools and government entities to prepare America for EMP.

For more information regarding the activities of the EMP Defense Council, please contact:

David A. Palella
Founder
EMP DEFENSE COUNCIL©
[a business unit of BioScience Ventures Inc.]

San Diego, California
cell: 619-787-5767
email:  dpalella@gmail.com

http://twitter.com/EMP911

http://EMP411.blogspot.com

EMP Defense Council -- Preparing for Electro-Magnetic Pulse
http://www.linkedin.com/e/vgh/3702799/

http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/release_html_b1?release_id=695425


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