So maybe in y2k there are not the manufactured cartoon-character "enemies" as we are used to enjoying the luxury of fearing/hating: the Evil Empire, Noriega, Saddam Hussein, Alien Invaders, etc. But consider: there are many very nice men who go to church, sing hymns, watch NFL on TV (i.e., are quite religious) whose jobs in basic infrastructure corporations are to maximize profits for their shareholders, NOT to guarantee the delivery of life-and-death services to "customers" (citizens): power, telecom, food, fuel, health care, transportation. This is not controversial.

Y2k quite dramatically illustrates the limitations of this arrangement -- in utility y2k statements we are getting corporate legalese designed to be useful in future legal proceedings ("We at XYZ Corporation are working hard and have spent $XX million, but cannot guarantee delivery of power (etc.) because our essential partners may fail (telecom, etc.)") And at all levels of government the vast majority are ducking vigorously: "not our job -- we don't have the authority, the resources, etc. (Koskinen's approach:) Why don't we just ask the trade associations to survey their member companies and report to us?" Is that a recipe for eliciting honest, hard-hitting information or what?

Meanwhile the Pennsylvania PUC, perhaps the most intelligent and aggressive of the lot, is reduced (12/9/1998) to plaintively asking other PUCs if anyone has a model Executive Order that the PA Governor can sign that will (get this!) force the utilities to talk to each other about y2k problems, testing, and contingency planning. Not reassuring news... After two decades of national consensus that government should be virually eliminated, though, what do we expect?

At least Senator Bennett and Governor Janklow (SD) are talking vigorously about the public's Right-to-Know, and with some sense of the urgency of getting accurate information to the public ASAP and regularly.

One way of focusing this theme: Ask anyone: "Who is responsible, ultimately, for keeping the lights on (or food, or telecom, etc)?" Massive head-scratching is the most frequent response.

For those trying to formulate requests to local or state public officials in this period of early 1999, some suggestions:

Introduction to our request (e.g., to the Mayor): "We assume there is a credible risk of severe and prolonged y2k disruptions to essential services. How much y2k risk can we tolerate in life-and-death matters? Who will assume responsibility to keep the lights on (water, power, etc.)? Citizens' need for accurate information outweighs any concern for public "panic", and in fact such information delivered reliably and often is the best antidote to unreasonable anxieties. Citizens accept their responsibility of progressively learning how to ask the right questions and of pressuring public officials to act responsibly to prevent potential disasters."

Our Concrete Requests:

1. The Mayor will sponsor a series of monthly Public Right-to-Know (Town Hall) meetings at which the agenda will be to assess the y2k readiness of the major infrastructure and service providers: power, water and wastewater, telecommunications, food, health care, transportation, fuel.

The corporations and agencies will be in "command performances", and will be grilled both by public officials and by citizens. A key consideration will be the extent to which these providers can demonstrate that they have effectively coordinated y2k testing and integrated contingency planning with each other.

(see video from PA PUC's 12/9/1998 "Summit Meeting of PUCs on Y2k" at Hershey PA re the need for these meetings; also Senator Bennett's speech and Gov. Janklow's speech)

2. The Mayor will order an immediate, independent audit (and periodic updates) by qualifiedconsultant firms of the Y2k readiness of the major infrastructure and service providers. ("Trust but verify" -- Ronald Reagan) and report promptly to the public.

(See the order by the UK government of an independent audit of electric utilities' y2k readiness)

3. The Mayor(s) will announce that the City/metropolitan government(s) will assume, during periods of highest y2k risk, the ultimate responsibility for maintaining a basic level of life-and-death services for citizens, including as necessary assuming the control and coordination of key firms and authorities, in cooperation with whatever emergency federal authority might emerge, and will ready a draft Emergency Measure proclaiming the metropolitan State of Emergency that will allow this to happen. The Mayor will urge state and Federal officials to similarly take responsibility as necessary for the coordination of national and international networks vital for delivery of essential goods and services.

(The President's y2k man John Koskinen has already suggested that the feds may need to take over the electric utilities in y2k crises -- it may be that the current info-gathering being done under the auspices of NERC is only the necessary preliminary step to pave the way for and demonstrate/justify the need for such a decisive federal move, nearly unprecedented since World War II.)

Are there parts of this program that can be skipped? Hope this is helpful to those looking for a way to focus energies...and looking to energize allies. Are there alternative paths that offer more promise of success?

-- Anonymous, January 27, 1999