Dear Building Community Family,

We did not send out the second part figuring if you were interested you could have gone yesterday to the same URL and read it, but this last installment is of such a concern that we decided to forward it to you just the same.

Some while back another Building Community member sent us a most disturbing report that I chose not to pass along simply because it was not verifiable. As you know, we do our utmost to share only solid information and avoid the rumor department like the plague.

However, let us share that this person's message centered around the power grid potential problems for the west to mid-West in the US and about the general misconceptions the public are given with regard to your ability to flip a switch and get power when Y2K emerges.

Stan and I encourage every single family out there to get busy and find some alternative backup power like a generator. Last year we purchased a 5 Kv diesel generator. We have already used it with one power outage, to pump water from our dam and use the computers during an outage.

It was not fun parting with the bucks, but we know it will be invaluable. For the oldtimers to this list, you may not have heard this information, but last January during Canada's ice storm, when people needed and ordered generators, they were being confiscated never reaching the customer.

We are already into 1999. Some of the items you _might_ be considering purchasing - especially the ones that already are becoming more difficult to purchase "off the shelf" like generators - need to be decided upon ASAP. If you are unsure where to start for a generator, what size needed, gas (petrol) or diesel, what brand, we have two excellent FAQs on generators accessed from the Emergency Prep Site Map below.

You will also need to consider fuel storage and fuel shelf life extenders like Sta-Bil and PRI.

There are always snags guys, no matter what you try to do so extra time to get a project working smoothly needs to be allowed. For example, Stan and I decided we were going to store 2200 litres of diesel. After sourcing several companies to make one (because the used ones that were supposed to be readily available weren't!) we waited and waited for Rheem to get off their buns and do it. When completed and they trucked it to our property they sent ONE older fellow and no crane to off-load it. That's the fuel tank that hit Stan across the chest we wrote about some while back just before he was to go on Art Bell's show.

Anyway, once they got this huge tank on the ground and into the barn, it wouldn't go together. Rheem swore up and down it had been assembled AT THE PLANT successfully, but you could tell this was bulldust because there were no abrasions where the legs would have been. The real problem came to light when it became apparent the leg brackets had been welded on in the wrong place. No way would it fit.

Back to Rheem on the phone again. The long and the short of it is that they lied, the tank was mis-made and we wouldn't accept delivery. Now what do we do for a tank?

Back to the drawing board... Concrete ones cost and arm and a leg AND your first born so we gave that a rapid miss. Looked for used ones again - zero. Finally after heaps of phone calls, we found 44 gallon drums that Mobil had used to store fuel and oil. We got12 of these for $5. each! In order to be compliant, we had to stencil the word D I E S E L on the outside. Next they had to be thoroughly cleaned to hold the diesel and find a place to dispose of the junk they contained.

Now we're just waiting for the fuel. Since we started this whole project, the price of diesel has now gone up 3-4 cents per litre. To fill these tanks, it is now $85 more than a few weeks ago.

The lesson? Start now to make these purchases. If you wait till July, it will be chancy at best and this is only one issue. If you take a seemingly small project and multiply the same trial and error to 10 other things, you can see how quickly time and dollars are eaten up. Plan ahead!

PANIC IN THE YEAR ZERO Bad news on power grid, National Guard, FEMA plan for major Y2K breakdowns Editor's note: This is the third of a series of investigative reports on National Guard planning for the Y2K millennium bug. By David M. Bresnahan© 1999 WorldNetDaily.com The Federal Emergency Management Agency, the National Guard and other federal agencies engaged in Y2K planning are now expecting loss of electrical power and other related problems before the year 2000. Nuclear power plants will begin to shut down in July, according to government sources. "As far as I'm concerned, the public has a right to know on this. It isn't classified, so I'm not violating any rules that I see. I might be hampering somebody's planning, but this needs to get out," an officer from the National Guard Bureau in Washington told WorldNetDaily in an exclusive interview. The officer, and several others who continue to provide information, believe they will be reassigned or disciplined if their identity were made known. "Then I'd be out of the loop," said one. The National Guard is planning COMEX/MOBEX, an exercise to practice a full mobilization of all 480,000 members of the National Guard. It will take place May 1 without the use of phones, television, or radio. The exercise is planned to prepare for a possible mobilization in the event computer failures from the Y2K bug cause major disruptions of power, telecommunications, transportation and banking. The officer believes the government should be warning people now rather than later. He says there is still time to prepare if the correct warnings are given. If people wait until the last minute, the disaster and panic will be greater. "The government is planning on keeping their yap shut," explained one of the officers. "They will keep saying everything is fine. They don't want the panic to begin before they are ready. "If I was running the show, I'd tell everyone in July. I'd rather have everything go to hell in a handbasket while it's warm and people aren't running around looking for shelter, than in the middle of winter." Problems for the nation's power system will begin in July, right at the time of highest demand for power because of long sunlight hours and the need for air conditioning. Not one nuclear power plant is Y2K compliant today, and there is strong indication that they will not be compliant by the end of the year. It takes at least four months to shut down a nuclear power plant, and power is needed to do it. "The NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) sent out a memo saying you will shut down on July 1, 1999, unless you're compliant," explained the officer. "That is 20 percent of the power grid, which is also equivalent to our strategic reserve for power. "It's also equivalent to 40 percent of all power generated east of the Mississippi. So now you've got the power grid maxed out already because the nukes are shut down, and if anything else goes wrong that's it." The National Guard believes the nation's power grid will collapse and is making plans accordingly, according to the sources. Panic and wide spread unrest are expected. Plans now call for a recall of all guard members placing an average of 4,000 soldiers in each of the 120 largest cities. The COMEX/MOBEX exercise will simulate that recall with the use of a special High Frequency radio system. "They're going to be toast," said one of the officers who spoke to WorldNetDaily over the weekend, speaking of the nation's power plants. "The latest plan I've heard," said another, "is to break the power grid into several hundred little grids. Right now it's one major grid broken into four subgrids. If they don't break it into several hundred little grids, in conjunction with the phone system not working properly, they won't get their feedback mechanism right and they'll burn up the lines."

It is expected that there will be rolling blackouts and brownouts of power in the cities, with no power at all in rural areas. All available power will be directed to cities with nothing left to send to lower populations. Coal-fired power plants are also faced with a significant problem. Even if the power plants are Y2K compliant, which they are not says the source, they still may not produce power. "It takes a mile-long train per day to feed a coal fired power plant," the officer explained. "If the train system goes down, forget it. The trains are going to work, but you won't be able to track anything. "Say you're trying to get from St. Louis to Chicago, well you might end up in Des Moines, because the switches aren't working properly. If the switches go haywire you get derailments. "Your average power plant only has a four day supply of fuel. So even if the grid works properly, they can't get the fuel there," he predicted. Reports used by the planners at FEMA indicate that the train system will be shut down by the Y2K bug, and power plants will not be able to stockpile enough coal to keep going while the problem is fixed. Oil will be another problem. The National Guard and FEMA have plans to protect and control oil depots and refineries. "We're looking at the strategic oil depots around the country, and we're going to make plans to commandeer them. This is going to be a joint FEMA, U.S. Government type thing," explained one of the officers who has participated in the planning. A form of rationing is expected to take place. Supplies will be greatly diminished, so what is available will be given first to the federal government, then to the state governments, and if there is any left there will be long lines at public gas pumps with astronomical prices. "It will be a shared thing between the federal government and state, but as far as Joe Public getting his piece of the oil, he can forget it," predicted the guard officer. Much of the foreign oil that is imported into America will stop coming because of Y2K problems in foreign countries. Transportation problems combined with problems at foreign refineries will significantly impact the flow of oil He gave an example of oil imported from Venezuela. That oil makes up 17 percent of the nation's supply. At least three of the five refineries in Venezuela are planning to shut down at the end of the year. That loss will impact a minimum of 10 percent of the nation's oil, and Venezuela is only a small oil supplier. Larger nations sending refined oil to the U.S. are in a similar situation. The Alaskan pipeline is also a major concern. Unless the oil is kept flowing, it will freeze in the Alaskan winter. "We know right now that if the power is shut off for more than an hour, in the middle of winter, the oil will freeze solid because it will be too damn cold. Periodically along the way there are heating plants to maintain the viscosity," he explained. The power plants along the pipeline may not be able to operate because of Y2K, creating another danger. If the pipe freezes it could burst. To avoid a dangerous situation in the winter, the pipeline may be shut down before the Year 2000 even begins. Oil refineries are another problem. The National Guard has information which indicates that few of the refineries will be able to operate in the Year 2000, and they too will need to shut down early to avoid a dangerous situation. "When this hits (Y2K), some of the valves are automatically going to shut off and you're going to get similar to what a water hammer is," he warned. "You'll get pipes bursting at these plants. They (National Guard and FEMA) expect most of the refineries to shut down. It's cheaper to build a new refinery than it is to pull all the imbedded chips out of the old one." Much of the Y2K problem deals with computer chips that are permanently programmed incorrectly. The chips will not function correctly when the year 2000 arrives. Why isn't the public being informed officially of the problems detailed by the officers who spoke with WorldNetDaily? "They're worried about panic. Plain and simple. They're worried about panic. Put the panic off for as long as possible. That way people will continue to work, and programmers are in there working. Everyone else is happy. The economy is chugging along, and then all of a sudden wham it hits," explained one of the officers, and the others agreed. "We had pretty good intelligence that the Japanese were going to attack Pear Harbor, however it caught the common public off guard," said another. "It's the same type of situation for this. "Suddenly Clinton's going to be our Savior and rescue us. Well, that's not going to happen. He'll be the good guy just as Y2K is hitting, or he may do it a month ahead of time. It won't matter because it will be too late." The National Guard officers believe the public will learn a great deal about the real problems coming before the year 2000 because of the work of environmental groups to expose the safety issues related to nuclear power plants and other issues. The main message they conveyed is that the problems of Y2K will surface long before New Year's Eve. "The deck of cards has already been set up. Your house of cards so to speak. We're sitting on one, and a number of the strategic cards will have already been pulled out," he warned. "Our whole society is a three legged stool of power, telecom, and banking. Take any of those legs out - it's gone. The whole thing collapses underneath of it. You complicate that with just-in-time manufacturing, consumer confidence, and then you start looking at the other critical nodes and start seeing, especially in the power production, the dependencies which are required. You need power to generate power and if any time you have a logistical situation where dependencies loop in on themselves - that's always bad." David M. Bresnahan, a contributing editor for WorldNetDaily.com, is the author of "Cover Up: The Art and Science of Political Deception," and offers a monthly newsletter "Talk USA Investigative Reports."

Here's the first two article in this series if you missed them.

RELATED ITEMS: Part 2 http://www.worldnetdaily.com/bluesky_exnews/19990107_xex_national_gua.shtml National Guard's big New Year's Eve bash Part 1 http://www.worldnetdaily.com/bluesky_exnews/19990106_xex_the_plan_mas.shtml The plan for massive military mobilization With affection, Holly and Stan, preparing just like the rest of you

AUSTRALIAN site: http://www.ballarat.net.au/~standeyo/ AMERICAN sites: http://www.millennium-ark.net

Emergency Preparedness: http://www.millennium-ark.net/News_Files/Hollys.html