Brittle Power- PARTS 1-3 (+Notes) - Natural Capitalism Solutions

The notes for Chapter 9 appear on page 356 of this pdf.Chapter NineOil and GasOil, gas, and natural gas liquids, which together supply nearly three-quartersof America’s total primary energy, are transported, processed, stored, delivered,and marketed by an extraordinarily complex technical system. A veteranobserver of that system noted in a classic study thatThe system is delicately balanced and extremely vulnerable and can be readilyinterrupted or damaged by natural disasters, by sabotage, or by enemy attack. Anattack concentrated on the system, or even on certain segments or fragments of it,could bring industrial activity and transportation to a standstill. 1A followup study of the natural gas system alone identified an ominous trend:...as the industry becomes more efficient, handling larger volumes of gas and products,as flow lines extend farther seaward linking more deep water platforms,[the]...frailty of the system is increasing. There are critical locations and junctionpoints that concentrate facilities and large gas volumes into centers which are easytargets.... Unfortunately, there appears to be a trend away from flexibility of the system....The Icarian nature of expansion of the industry increases vulnerability daily. 2For these reasons, “international terrorism, ‘hit’ squads and saboteurs are mattersof immediate and deepening concern to the petroleum industry,” involving“a whole spectrum of targets—refineries, pipelines, tankers, drilling rigs,offshore production platforms, storage tanks and people.” 3The links between the oil and gas industry and other equally vulnerablesystems are intricate, pervasive, and increasing.Our present economy is so finely tuned, because of the need to effect as much efficiencyas possible, that an interdependence has been developed between trans-100