Because Mother Nature aptly demonstrated how unreliable our current centralized generation and transmission system of providing electricity is on June 29, public officials are running for cover.
Governor Tomblin ordered a "storm review" investigation.
Senators Manchin and Rockefeller and Rep. Rahall begged for and were awarded federal disaster relief.
So, what is West Virginia going to do with the money? Are our politicians going to do what they usually do and funnel the money to favored contractors for "make work" projects intended to enrich their friends?
The federal money shower is also intended to prevent a recurrence of the "disaster." Instead of wasting money on empty promises, Tomblin, Manchin, Rockefeller and Rahall should spend more time looking for real solutions.
"To combat future widespread and extended power outages, Carnegie Mellon University researchers have devised a strategy to use local distributed electricity generation, distribution automation, and smart meters to form small electricity "islands" that would support critical social services in the event of a substantial disruption resulting from extreme weather, terrorism, or other causes."