From Death Race 2000
The staff of Mercy Hospital prepares invalid patients for the arrival of the Pittsburg Steelers Team Bus.
Posted on 02/03/2011 8:14:16 AM PST by bestintxas
As brief power outages rolled across the state on Wednesday, certain places were intended to be exempt from a temporary loss of electricity. That included hospitals, nursing homes, fire stations, police stations, other emergency response facilities… and Cowboys Stadium?
When officials with Oncor said that the Arlington site of Sunday’s Super Bowl XLV would not be a part of the rolling outages, many residents became furious. But this was not entirely a choice made by the local utility company.
With thousands of reporters huddled in North Texas hotels and thousands of rabid football fans attending the NFL Experience at the Dallas Convention Center, and two football teams preparing to do battle on the field of Cowboys Stadium this Sunday, the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee had a big request to make. “It is vitally important we don’t have blackouts,” said committee vice president Tony Fay.
Fay asked the City of Dallas, the City of Fort Worth and the City of Arlington to ensure that rolling blackouts did not prevent planned events from happening at Super Bowl venues. That news really steamed up some homeowners who were left without power for hours. “We’re not prioritizing,” said frustrated Plano resident Allen Hooser. “Hospitals and the grocery store, which is out. But for a PR stunt, where you can go throw a football, you have power and heat.”
“Not because of any preferential treatment. Not because we’re trying to protect VIPs or celebrities,” Fay explained. “It is a public safety issue.” According to Fay, if there was to be a blackout at an NFL venue, then there would be no way to screen for security.
(Excerpt) Read more at dfw.cbslocal.com ...
The link in post 8 relates that hospitals were in fact blacked out, providing detail not available in the article that started this thread.
They WERE SUPPOSED to be exempt. SUPPOSEDLY ONCOR “made a mistake.”
http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2011/02/02/blackouts-anger-dallas-hospitals/
From Death Race 2000
The staff of Mercy Hospital prepares invalid patients for the arrival of the Pittsburg Steelers Team Bus.
Texas has had a huge influx of new people over the past several years. They come across the border and they come from other states that, well, suck. This has rapidly increased demand and there have not been any new power plants built recently. We need to start building new plants. Nuke plants I hope.
Besides the demand I heard some of the power facilities go in to shutdown or maintaneance this time of year. So some of the capacity is offline. One amusing thing is that we are pulling some power from Mexico right now. LOL!
Fortunately, Texas is on its own grid and we can at least control the issue through brownouts. Even still, the situation is unacceptable.
As for myself all my properties have Generac natural gas units that come online if the power goes out. Unfortunately, as far as Internet & TV Comcast goes down but T-1 and DSL lines function during power outages as does my wi-fi hot spot. So, while my neighbors were in the dark and getting cold I was warm and toasty watching netflix on my iPad yesterday:)
You're right though. This is absurd for the great state of Texas. We need more power plants. Maybe some powered by burning Mexicans*. We have a lot of those.
* Just joking, kinda...
Your title appears to be incorrect. There are a list of places that are exempt to the blackouts. Hospitals are included in the list. If you have anyone to blame about this it should be the voters in Texas. Your elected officials have created a power grid that is an Ecoweenies dream. That is where your anger should be directed.
At least the Super Bowl will boost the heck out of the economy there for sure. I’m sure local businesses and workers are happy for this event.
Put Jerry’s face on the guy with the pulled plug.
Where was ESPN’s Jim Rome broadcasting from for his afternoon show in Dallas yesterday? His guest was Cowboy’s Jay Ratliff and both of them were seeing their breath as they spoke, so it was evident there was no heat in the room they were in. Rome had on woolen mittens to hold the mic.
As for the heat staying on in Jerry’s World, you betcha. That is considered essential during Super Bowl week.
LOL! Are you kidding? Do you know how many tens of thousands of ticketholders and VIPs are still sitting at home due to cancelled flights? No one is driving to any of the early parties and events this week. No one can get out.
They are losing money big time, with every passing minute.
But there is another, unavoidable reason that Cowboys Stadium will not experience a blackout. That venue sits on multiple power grids. If one goes out, another flips on seamlessly, without any interruption to power. So, although one grid might see a blackout, the rolling outage process ensures that the stadium is always receiving power from another grid.
No hospitals suffered under the rolling blackouts. Save your hand-wringing immorality passion play for the DU; here we embrace the truth.
Go Packers!
Unfortunately, I don't think the local businesses will be seeing half of the potential dollars they could be seeing due to the ongoing weather conditions.
“Don’t hospitals AND (most) modern football stadium have back-up generators? It seems like this should have been a non-issue, with the appropriate pre-planning and advance notification.”
***
Idiot TV reporter did multiple broadcasts from parking lot at corner of intersection where power was out including the traffic lights. He was pointing out the inconvenience to travelers unable to get coffee/warm food at the McDonalds.
Meanwhile, a block away is one of the largest hospitals in the DFW area. The moron didn’t mention it once. Nothing about power, dangers to ambulances trying to drive on icy roads without traffic lights working etc.
The priorities here are mixed up to say the least. Jerry Jones must be laughing his @ss off that the local fools screwed the taxpayer once again to subsidize his stadium.
“Why the heck doesn’t Texas have enough power to meet its needs?”
We do. In the summer heat, we can supply peak use without much trouble. However, this was caused by 50 power plants in the northern half of the state going down because they were not properly winterized. That means shoddy work from contractors who should know that once a decade north Texas gets these blizzards when the mercury plunges below zero. Gov. Perry better get his act together and investigate why pipes at power plants are not required to have adequate insulation to stay operational in a cold emergency.
“It’s not. Hospitals are exempt. Read the article.”
http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2011/02/02/blackouts-anger-dallas-hospitals/
Thank you for a useful answer. Contractors generally do what they are contracted to do. If the specs on whatever “winterization” they were asked to do are inadequate, then it is not the fault of the contractors.
It will be interesting to see what was specified.
“Your title appears to be incorrect. There are a list of places that are exempt to the blackouts. Hospitals are included in the list. “
http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2011/02/02/blackouts-anger-dallas-hospitals/
“Austin, btw has been for the most part immune from the power outages.”
Not this time. Austin started blackouts with 45 min. off power and 25 min. on power yesterday morning and will continue it today when needed. It caused 65 accidents at 4:00 PM, when workers finally gave up getting anything done with such limited power and were trying to head home with no traffic lights.
“No hospitals suffered under the rolling blackouts. Save your hand-wringing immorality passion play for the DU; here we embrace the truth.”
read the last sentence here. http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2011/02/02/blackouts-anger-dallas-hospitals/
Do you realize the importance of computers and medical equipment in the health profession, particularly at a hospital?
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