by Nikki Davis Maute, Hattiesburg [Miss.] American
Sept. 11, 2005
Shortly after Hurricane Katrina roared through South Mississippi knocking out electricity and communication systems, the White House ordered power restored to a pipeline that sends fuel to the Northeast.
That order -- to restart two power substations in Collins that serve Colonial Pipeline Co. -- delayed efforts by at least 24 hours to restore power to two rural hospitals and a number of water systems in the Pine Belt.
At the time, gasoline was in short supply across the country because of Katrina. Prices increased dramatically and lines formed at pumps across the South.
"I considered it a presidential directive to get those pipelines operating," said Jim Compton, general manager of the South Mississippi Electric Power Association -- which distributes power that rural electric cooperatives sell to consumers and businesses.
"I reluctantly agreed to pull half our transmission line crews off other projects and made getting the transmission lines to the Collins substations a priority," Compton said. "Our people were told to work until it was done.
"They did it in 16 hours, and I consider the effort unprecedented."
Katrina slammed into South Mississippi and Southeast Louisiana on Aug. 29, causing widespread devastation and plunging most of the area -- including regional medical centers and rural hospitals -- into darkness.
The storm also knocked out two power substations in Collins, just north of Hattiesburg. The substations were crucial to Atlanta-based Colonial Pipeline, which moves gasoline and diesel fuel from Texas, through Louisiana and Mississippi and up to the Northeast.
"We were led to believe a national emergency was created when the pipelines were shut down," Compton said.
Dan Jordan, manager of Southern Pines Electric Power Association, said Vice President Dick Cheney's office called and left voice mails twice shortly after the storm struck, saying the Collins substations needed power restored immediately.
Jordan dated the first call the night of Aug. 30 and the second call the morning of Aug. 31. Southern Pines supplies electricity to the substation that powers the Colonial pipeline.
Mississippi Public Service Commissioner Mike Callahan said the U.S. Department of Energy called him on Aug. 31. Callahan said department officials said opening the fuel line was a national priority.
Cheney's office referred calls about the pipeline to the Department of Homeland Security. Calls there were referred to Kirk Whitworth, who would not take a telephone message and required questions in the form of an e-mail.
Susan Castiglione, senior manager of corporate and public affairs with Colonial Pipeline, did not return phone calls.
Compton said workers who were trying to restore substations that power two rural hospitals -- Stone County Hospital in Wiggins and George County Hospital in Lucedale -- worked instead on the Colonial Pipeline project.
The move caused power to be restored at least 24 hours later than planned.
Mindy Osborn, emergency room coordinator at Stone County Hospital, said the power was not restored until six days after the storm on Sept. 4. She didn't have the number of patients who were hospitalized during the week after the storm.
"Oh, yes, 24 hours earlier would have been a help," Osborn said.
Compton said workers who were trying to restore power to some rural water systems also were taken off their jobs and placed on the Colonial Pipeline project. Compton did not name specific water systems affected.
Callahan is one of three elected public service commissioners who oversee most public utilities in the state. Commissioners, however, have no authority over rural electric power cooperatives.
Nevertheless, Callahan said he drove to Compton's office on U.S. 49 North in Hattiesburg to tell him about the call from the Department of Energy. Callahan said he would support whatever decision Compton made.
Callahan said energy officials told him gasoline and diesel fuel needed to flow through the pipeline to avert a national crisis from the inability to meet fuel needs in the Northeast.
Callahan said the process of getting the pipelines flowing would be difficult and that there was a chance the voltage required to do so would knock out the system -- including power to Wesley Medical Center in Hattiesburg.
With Forrest General Hospital operating on generators, Wesley was the only hospital operating with full electric power in the Pine Belt in the days following Katrina.
"Our concern was that if Wesley went down, it would be a national crisis for Mississippi," Callahan said. "We knew it would take three to four days to get Forrest General Hospital's power restored and we did not want to lose Wesley."
Compton, though, followed the White House's directive.
Nathan Brown, manager of power supply for the electric association, was responsible for overseeing the delicate operation of starting the 5,000-horsepower pumps at the pipeline.
Engineers with Southern Co., the parent company of Mississippi Power Co., did a dual analysis of what it would take to restore power and Brown worked with Southern Co. engineers on the best and quickest way to restore power.
Work began at 10 a.m. Sept. 1 and power was restored at 2 a.m. Sept. 2 -- a 16-hour job.
A good bit of the work took place at night.
Line foreman Matt Ready was in charge of one of the teams that worked to power the substations and the pipeline. Ready's shift started at 6 a.m. Sept. 1; he received word about the job four hours later and saw it to completion.
"We were told to stay with it until we got power restored," Ready said. "We had real safety issues because there were fires in the trees on the lines and broken power poles."
Ready described working on the lines in the dark like attempting to clear fallen trees out of a yard with a flashlight and a chain saw.
"Everything was dangerous," he said.
Ready said the crew members did not learn they were restoring power to pipelines until after the job was done.
How did they feel about that?
"Is this on the record?" Ready asked. "Well, then, we are all glad we were able to help out."
Compton said he was happy to support the national effort. But he said it was a difficult decision to make because of the potential impact in the region had the plan not worked and the area's power restoration was set back days.
"It was my decision to balance what was most important to people in South Mississippi with this all-of-a-sudden national crisis of not enough gas or diesel fuel," Compton said.
"In the future, the federal government needs to give us guidelines if this is such a national emergency so that I can work that in my plans."
As originally published
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Line foreman Matt Ready was in charge of one of the teams that worked to power the substations and the pipeline. ...
Ready said the crew members did not learn they were restoring power to pipelines until after the job was done.
How did they feel about that?
"Is this on the record?" Ready asked.
"Well, then, we are all glad we were able to help out."
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There's much more than this at Unknown News.
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Commentary:
Read this news closely, and watch Mississippi get kicked in the gonads.
This is almost beyond belief, but in the hours after Katrina hit, while power was out, while hospitals were crippled, and while FEMA was smoking pot or doing whatever FEMA did in the hurricane's aftermath ...
Cheney's office leaned on a local official to override locals' priorities, and have electric crews re-assigned to get the oil pipeline pumping again.
This put remarkable additional dangers on the locals. It delayed restoring power to the area. It gambled with the electric grid for the region's last remaining hospital that had power.
All because even a brief interruption of the oil flow to the northeast was far more worrisome to the White House than anything affecting the people of Mississippi.
Callahan is one of three elected public service commissioners who oversee most public utilities in the state. Commissioners, however, have no authority over rural electric power cooperatives.
Nevertheless, Callahan said he drove to Compton's office on U.S. 49 North in Hattiesburg to tell him about the call from the Department of Energy.
Callahan said he would support whatever decision Compton made.
Callahan said energy officials told him gasoline and diesel fuel needed to flow through the pipeline to avert a national crisis from the inability to meet fuel needs in the Northeast.
Callahan said the process of getting the pipelines flowing would be difficult and that there was a chance the voltage required to do so would knock out the system -- including power to Wesley Medical Center in Hattiesburg.
With Forrest General Hospital operating on generators, Wesley was the only hospital operating with full electric power in the Pine Belt in the days following Katrina.
"Our concern was that if Wesley went down, it would be a national crisis for Mississippi," Callahan said.
"We knew it would take three to four days to get Forrest General Hospital's power restored and we did not want to lose Wesley."
Compton, though, followed the White House's directive.
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Here's your White House directive, in plain English:
PRIORITY ONE: Get the oil flowing.
FAR LESS IMPORTANT: You folks in Mississippi.
=H&HH=
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Aug. 29, 2005:
As Katrina strikes, FEMA urges first-responders not to respond
Sept. 2, 2005:
Who is this incompetent doofus running FEMA?
by Rachel R., Unknown News
Sept. 2, 2005:
Emergency crews turned back by FEMA:
They lacked "the required paperwork"
Sept. 2, 2005:
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Sept. 2, 2005:
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with comments by Rebecca and Helen & Harry Highwater
Sept. 3, 2005:
FEMA chief had to be 'asked to resign' from previous job with horse club
Sept. 3, 2005:
FEMA turned back 500-boat rescue flotilla
Sept. 3, 2005:
Bush declares "zero tolerance" for New Orleans
survivors seeking food and water
Sept. 3, 2005:
Thousands of New Orleans refugees held at gunpoint,
not allowed to leave growing hell of Superdome
with comments by Helen & Harry Highwater
Sept. 3, 2005:
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with comments by Sir J and Helen & Harry Highwater
Sept. 3, 2005:
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Sept. 4, 2005:
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Sept. 4, 2005:
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with comments by Helen & Harry Highwater
Sept. 4, 2005:
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with comments by Helen & Harry Highwater
Sept. 4, 2005:
Navy hospital & water purification ship anchored on nearby coast, underused
Sept. 4, 2005:
FEMA turns down water, fuel for New Orleans, cuts area's emergency communication line
Sept. 5, 2005:
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Sept. 5, 2005:
Firefighters waited five days for FEMA's OK to enter New Orleans, then gave up, returned to Houston
Sept. 6, 2005:
Now is the time for pointing fingers
by John M., Unknown News
Sept. 6, 2005:
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with comments by Helen & Harry Highwater
Sept. 6, 2005:
U.S. military smuggled white vacationers out of New Orleans Superdome squalor
with comments by Helen & Harry Highwater
Sept. 6, 2005:
As New Orleans waits, FEMA sends firefighters to seminar, assigns them to hand out fliers
Sept. 6, 2005:
New Orleans during the disaster:
Authorities vs. humanity
by Larry Bradshaw and Lorrie Beth Slonsky, EMS NetworkFrom inside New Orleans as the crisis worsened, these survivors found that the authorities were never any help, and often an ugly enemy. =H&HH= | LINK
Sept. 6, 2005:
FEMA head specifically ordered lackadaisical response to "near catastrophic" Hurricane Katrina
Sept. 7, 2005:
International offers of help came immediately, but U.S. approval was delayed by days
Sept. 7, 2005:
FEMA's top-level management stacked with Bush's cronies
with comments by Helen & Harry Highwater
Sept. 8, 2005:
FEMA contractors arrested for looting
with comments by Underground Panther in the Sky
Sept. 8, 2005:
Katrina survivors "evacuated" at the point of a gun
with comments by Helen & Harry Highwater
Sept. 8, 2005:
Canadian search-and-rescue team first to reach New Orleans suburb
Sept. 9, 2005:
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by Harry Highwater, Unknown News
Sept. 9, 2005:
Homeowners' guns confiscated in New Orleans, police threaten evacuation by force
with comments by Sir J and Helen & Harry Highwater
Sept. 10, 2005:
FEMA sent back German plane carrying fifteen tons of food for hurricane victims
Sept. 11, 2005:
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Sept. 11, 2005:
Sheriff threatens to arrest FEMA officials
Countermands FEMA order that stores remain closed
Sept. 11, 2005:
Bush signs executive order lowering wages across Katrina-devastated areas
with comments by Helen & Harry Highwater
Sept. 12, 2005:
Racist police blocked bridge and forced evacuees back at gunpoint
with comments by Chris M. and Helen & Harry Highwater
Sept. 13, 2005:
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Sept. 13, 2005:
As bodies are recovered, reporters are threatened: 'No photos, no stories'
Sept. 14, 2005:
Feds delayed Nat'l Guard's hurricane response for days
Sept. 16, 2005:
Doctor says FEMA ordered him to stop treating hurricane victims
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