U.S. energy grids buckle under strain of record cold wave

Posted on February 4, 2011 by The Extinction Protocol
February 4, 2011 – ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) – With tens of thousands of people across New Mexico without natural gas service, Gov. Susana Martinez on Thursday declared a state of emergency, ordered government offices be shut down Friday and urged schools to “strongly consider” remaining closed for the day.Demand has soared because of extremely cold weather across the state since Tuesday. New Mexico Gas Company said rolling blackouts in West Texas also impeded the delivery of natural gas to New Mexico. Martinez declared a state of emergency for the entire state, urging residents to turn down their thermostats, bundle up and shut off appliances they don’t need for the next 24 hours. She later announced all state operations not providing critical services would be closed Friday to decrease the strain on energy resources throughout New Mexico. “Due to statewide natural gas shortages, I have ordered all government agencies that do not provide essential services to shut down and all nonessential employees to stay home” on Friday, Martinez said after meeting with public safety personnel in Albuquerque. “I have also encouraged all schools that have not already announced closures to strongly consider doing so,” she said.
New Mexico Gas Company said service was disrupted throughout the state – in Bernalillo, Placitas, Taos, Questa, Red River and parts of Albuquerque, Silver City, Alamogordo, Tularosa and La Luz. Emergency shelters were set up in several areas. Martinez said residents needing help finding a shelter or getting to one should call the non-emergency police or fire phone number in their community. “As New Mexicans, we’ve always gotten through difficult situations,” Martinez said. “We will get through this situation as well.” Earlier Thursday, Taos Mayor Darren Cordova declared a state of emergency in the northern New Mexico community after gas service was disrupted. He urged area residents to conserve electricity to prevent an outage of that energy source. Martinez also urged people to curb electrical use to prevent blackouts and allow compressors to function so the state can get natural gas supplies.” –AP News
  • Texas hits record consumption and experiences rolling blackouts.
  •  Shortages reported in San Diego.
  • Usage hits record in Utah.
  •  Rolling outages reported in Arizona.
This entry was posted in Earth Watch, Extreme Weather Event. Bookmark the permalink.

All comments are moderated. We reserve the right not to post any comment deemed defamatory, inappropriate, or spam.