I had a conversation with the tech coordinator at work today who believes that Y2K is no big deal, other than all the hype will cause people to panic. He made a statement about utility companies that I found interesting and wonder if anyone can shed any light on it.

He says that when power companies (specifically TVA and rural co-ops that get power from TVA) fail to show compliance by the end of 1998 that the Army Corps of Engineers will go in to remediate, insuring that the juice will flow. I do not know where his information comes from.

I have seen 'nothing' to indicate this. Any thoughts??

DM

-- Anonymous, October 12, 1998

Answers

Dusty, I haven't seen anything about this in my everyday research. However, I do find something very interesting.

The tech coordinator says Y2k is no big deal, other than all the hype will cause people to panic. Then, he says the Army Corps of Engineers will go in to remediate, etc.?

My gosh...this guy needs to buy a clue. What is more likely to cause a person to panic? Seeing the Army come into town early in 1999 or "hype"?

______

-- Anonymous, October 12, 1998

The Army Corps of Engineers is mostly a Civil Engineering organization and would not bring much additional expertise to fixing programming problems. They would be more useful in keeping the coal trains moving.

Jim

-- Anonymous, October 13, 1998

Well, I work with Gas Mainly, not electricity. But here are a few things to ponder. 1) The Army Corps of Engineers has built a LOT of hydro plants. The still have control over many where I live, so I suspect that while they may primarily be a Civil group, that they have a lot of resources in the Power area. 2) -ALL- Utilities are regulated! And the Regulators want to make sure that the power continues to flow! The regulators (and even Congress now) are asking lots of questions, and looking at the answers. Utilities that don't have the answers, and which aren't being seen doing what the regulators think should be done, will find themselves in trouble.

-- Anonymous, October 15, 1998