I saw the one of the most illuminating (no pun intended) show on CSPAN yesterday with the above title. It was before the Senate subcommittee on Y2K in which Sen. R.Bennet chairs. Others on the committee - Stevens - (Alaska), Dodd - (CT), Smith - (Oregon). Those testifying before the committee included, Dan Glickman - Sec'y USDA, and his Y2K team which included Reeves, Wotecki, Schumacher, Dunn.

Private industry executives included Thayer (Cargill Corp.- multinational food processing), Davison - (Suiza Corp - Dairy) and Ken Evans - (Arizona Farm Bureau).

Glickman's testimony went on to say that he only expected "minor glitches" in the nations food supply and distribution but came with the usual caveat that power, and transportation must be up in order for the "minor glitch" scenario to hold up.

Most disturbing testimony was by Anne Reeves, and her presentation which reminded me of giving a presentation unprepared in college where you had to go through with it even though you knew would you would only get a D+. Not encouraging.

I could write several pages on this but the last testimony by Ken Evans of the Arizona Farm Bureau was the icing on the cake when he described how it took him three months to find an embedded chip problem in one of his state of the art, fully automated, Y2K compliant piece of farm machinery. The testing phase took the longest amount of time and consumed the greatest amount of resources.

Mr. Evans also went on to describe the REA (Rural Electrification Agency) and how unprepared this agency is. Evans also went on to say that failure in the small electrical utilities that make up the REA could bring the regional power grid down - more than a brownout - a blackout. The reason of potential failure of the REA was lack of funding to remediate Y2K as the REA has the least amount of financial resources to fix the problem.

If you get CSPAN on your television - I highly recommend this program as it was a great insight as to the preparedness of not only agriculture but rural utilities as well. This was live testimony and one could discern the immediacy and demeanor of the participants involved. I hope the show repeats.

~Steve

-- Anonymous, February 06, 1999

Answers

Thanks, Steve, for posting this information. It clearly shows the illogical disconnect going on when various agency representatives, including Mr. Koskinen, report there will only be "small problem" scenarios which include power outages in outlying areas. These outlying areas serve a large portion of the nation's farms. Not to mention an outage in an area where various pipelines are laid might cause problems in areas further along in those pipeline routes. Also what happens to rail transportation if there are outages in just certain switching areas along the line?

To admit there will be problem areas but then imply that "small" disruptions couldn't create ripple effects of severe consequence is a denial of the interconnected aspects of our society. Also, while it might be comforting to a person that their local utilities appear to be doing well in their Y2K projects, this does not negate the risk of problems outside that utility impacting its own functioning. All the electric utilities admit to this risk, but it doesn't seem to be factored in to the optimistic "single focus" reports the public receives.

There is another good example of this disconnect at:

http://www.usia.gov/current/news/topic/global/99020211.tgi.html?/products/washfile/newsitem/shtml

This is a transcript of an interview with Bruce Romer, Chief Administrator of Montgomery County, Maryland, supposedly the "top" county in the country for Y2K progress. In one part of the interview, Mr. Romer states, "It's never too late to get started." (referring to beginning a Y2K remediation project). Montgomery County began their project two and half years ago. Later in the interview when Mr. Romer is asked, "Well, suppose your information technology people had not been so alert and it was only now that they were coming to you. Would you be able to deal successfully with the problem?"

The reply was, "We would have been in serious shape." It's also interesting to note that Montgomery County has spent 34.3 million dollars to date and are NOT finished yet. This is one of the richest counties in America. I doubt if the county I live in could come up with a hundred thousand dollars for fixes, and this depends on appropriating the money in the budget in time for it to be used.

So much for "It's never too late to start."

I would also like to make note that Mr. Romer, when asked about embedded systems, *confirmed* some of the problems which have been "debunked" elsewhere:

"The embedded chip problem is very serious. ....We found what a whole lot of people are finding -- that they're all over."

"For example: We have hundreds of buildings in our government. Each building has its own set of heating, ventilating and air conditioning controls. Almost all have embedded chips in the thermostats and in the control equipment. Almost every elevator system has embedded chips, and many of them already HAVE BEEN DEMONSTRATED TO BE CAPABLE OF FAILING." [caps mine]

"We found that we have some models of defibrillators that WILL FAIL if the embedded chip isn't replaced properly." [caps mine]

"Any type of sophisticated earth-moving equipment has embedded chips in it that can sometimes effect the ignition system." [Does this mean that "sometimes" they won't start?]

"We also found,...in our fire and rescue operation, several things that were interesting. One is that almost all of our fire trucks have at least two to three embedded chips: in the pumping system, in the hydraulic system or in the aerial ladder system. And the different systems on one fire truck may come from separate manufacturers, so you can't just go to one manufacturer and get a certification. That took a lot of time....Then you'd go to the manufacturer to find out if they could certify compliance of that particular embedded chip, or did we have to replace or repair it. Usually replacement is the answer."

These problem areas, and others addressed in the transcript, are areas Montgomery County officials have determined for themselves are REAL and not hype. I recommend a careful reading of the entire transcript - it's very enlightening.

-- Anonymous, February 06, 1999

There are so many regulatory players in the electric industry mix, that it's hard to keep track without a scorecard. Here's a posting from the euy2k.com newsroom from back in October:

USDA RUS: No Loans Unless Y2k Ready

Washington, DC (October 8) - The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Rural Utility Service Agency has issued a regulation that prevents infrastructure development loans to electric utilities serving rural areas unless the utility can demonstrate Y2k readiness.

The regulation, published in the September 29, 1998 Federal Register, notes that "through this interim rule, RUS is undertaking to address with its electric borrowers year 2000 compliance issues that may potentially disrupt electric services that are critical to public health and safety."

-- Anonymous, February 06, 1999

Rick, so in other words, there's a Catch-22 going on? The rural utilities can't borrow money unless they demonstrate compliance and they can't get compliant unless they can get the funds to pay for the work.

Talk about being between a rock and hard place!

-- Anonymous, February 06, 1999

Let's let C-Span know how much we appreciate their Y2K coverage, so that we may see more of such vital coverage in the future. Direct comments to Brian Lamb. He has been most responsive to our input in the past. Also, whenever ANY media outlet runs a fair, informative piece, your well expressed thanks does alot to ensuring that Y2K stories get aired/printed in the future. This is vital, to avoid last minute mass panic, due to ignorance. Do your part! Something so small has such a tremendous impact.

-- Anonymous, February 06, 1999

For those of you who may want a replay of the Y2K Agriculture program on CSPAN.

I do not know if they will air the program again but one can email them from their website.

Steve King public PGP key/or Verisign ID available on request.

-- Anonymous, February 08, 1999