Hey! Get out of my nuclear reactor control computer!

Howdy y’all.

Over the last few weeks you may have read that nuclear power plants have been “hacked” by nefarious operatives.  I’ve got bad news for you, it’s been going on for years, all across our critical infrastructure systems.  You are likely not sure how or why this is even possible.  So today's post will shed a little light on the subject.

Now before you go off and build that bomb shelter, lets first understand that just because a system was hacked, that doesn’t mean the operation or control was compromised.  Most control systems, sometimes called SCADA systems (Supervisory Control and Data Aquisition) have more than one level of authority and control in it.  So, gaining access to first, or second layer of the system may still not grant you control ability.

In the case of the nuclear power control systems there are multiple layers of access in the network.  There are physical constraints that protect the most sensitive systems and controls from other parts of the network.  I’m not saying that a hacker couldn’t get in and cause chaos and maybe even equipment damage; but the likelihood of starting a meltdown at the plant is next to impossible. 

The thing is, all of our critical infrastructure systems have been under cyber-attack for years.  And some of those attacks have been successful.  Water, wastewater, power, smart grids, even traffic control systems can have networked design and be “hackable” in some sense of the word.

Holy Crap!! So, what do we do?  Well, what we do is be diligent, alert and observant.  There are some amazingly intelligent and talented folks at the federal, state and local levels of government that help the operators of these facilities keep an eye out for cyber intruders, and even respond when something does happen.  Also, there are several companies state side that support those cyber security efforts both on and off equipment used in these control systems.  Some of the things those kids can do would make your head spin off.  Next there are groups or teams if you will, that are comprised of technical experts that deploy when an “event” happens to help get things back up and running as quickly as possible.  Finally, the professional operators who run these systems on a daily basis notice when things are out of the ordinary, it’s their job to make sure everything runs right at all times.

No system will ever be perfect, you can bet on that.  And given enough time and resources it’s fair to say that state sponsored hackers will cause some interruption in public services at some point.  It’s a reality that all of us in the critical infrastructure world understand and accept.

While I would never go into any detail into how we (the industry) would respond, rest assured there are plans in place.  Those plans aren’t just in some binder in a safe somewhere, they are trained on, adapted and developed as new threats emerge.  There are backups at the ready for the most urgent of systems.  Most importantly the men and women whose job it is to keep your lights on, your water flowing, and keep you safe take their jobs seriously.  They will, and have, always found a way to hold it all together when the unimaginable happens. 

All that said, its everyone’s job to be able to help themselves for a few days when bad things happen.  Don’t let yourself or your family become a statistic during a disaster.  The disaster or event really doesn’t make much difference, the preparation is much the same for any of them.  This is the part where I tell you to have 3-5 days of medications ready in a bag.  Have a few dollars in that bag to.  You will want a change of clothes or two.  Have a flashlight and some granola bars or MRE’s in there to.  You’ll need some water also, but its heavy so plan for a quart a day, you’ll need to ration some but that’s the exchange for the extra weight you won’t be carrying.  If you need to get up and get out, then grab that bag and get out.  Everyone in the family should have one of their own that meets their needs.

If you’re staying in your home, then have half a gallon of water per person at least.  Keep the can goods stocked up, and have a manual can openers handy.  Remember that toilet tanks and hot water heaters and supply sanitation water if needed.  Have plenty of candles, a few flashlights or lanterns, blankets and of course the required medications readily accessible.  Also, have some cards, board games, etc.  Distractions to pass the time are not a bad thing.  Finally, if you are a pet owner, you’ll need to have some food and water for them to. 

Most importantly however, know your neighbors.  Be part of your community, not just some person who lives down at the end of the road.  There is no debating that almost anyone would help a friend before a stranger, especially when the crap hits the fan.

Until next time.

https://www.ready.gov/

https://emergency.cdc.gov/

https://www.fema.gov/media-library/assets/documents/90354

Clean Coal, (and other bed time fairy tales)

In recent weeks, if you live in America, you’ve heard a ton of how the coal industry has been oppressed under the Obama administration. You have heard that President (excuse me I just threw up a little) Trump is bringing back coal.  Putting them miners back to working their ass off, etc.  Well actually his tweet said minors, but whatever, I’m about 50% sure he means miners. 

In this post, I’m not going to get into the actual numbers of mining jobs, or how much coal is produced.  Nope, I’m going to talk about what “Clean Coal” is.  Sit back and relax as we toddle down the road of clean coal half truths and alternate facts!

First things first, what is Clean Coal?  Well, according to the Department of Energy, who I must point out is led by none other than ‘ol pointy boots himself Rick Perry, clean coal is a series of processes and technologies that make coal less harmful, help it produce more power, and other really nice sounding things.  The big-ticket item in clean coal is carbon dioxide capture or sequestration.   

Basically, burn the hell out of it, and pump the CO2 underground and hope for the best.  At no point in the process is the coal any less hazardous than it always was.  Clean coal should really be called “cleaner coal smoke” because that’s where whatever improvements in the process are can be found.  The exhausted gases if the system works as describe will be lower in CO2, and sulfur.  There could be some reduction in the heavy metals leaving the stack, but the majority of that is not from clean coal tech, but rather the stack scrubbers operating at higher levels of efficiency, or the scrubbing elements of the stack being improved in general.

While speaking of higher efficiency, clean coal tech reportedly is being used to make the process of power generation with coal more efficient.  Pushing the process to higher levels of efficiency is awesome, right? Well, there’s one problem with that statement, combustion has a maximum efficiency of that relates to the amount of oxygen present in the process.  That is the ONLY factor that can improve the process, assuming that the coal you have is the same type from one test to the other.  Now for the record, there are five primary types of coal they are peat, lignite, subbituminous, bituminous and anthracite.  In my geology studies, we didn’t count peat, since it is the parent material for coal, and not readily used in the coal energy production model for power generation.  In general, however they are harder and thus more energy packed per unit in the above respective order.  The hardness is related to how the coal formation was deposited, the amount of pressure and heat it underwent and the amount of plant material remaining in a sample. 

Anyway, so let’s say you have a pound of high quality West Virginia anthracite coal and you have a fire roaring along, then throw that coal in there.  In normal oxygen levels, that one pound of anthracite will produce 12,700 BTU’s, which are British Thermal Units.  Now, let’s say I start blowing air into the fire with a fan or some sort of apparatus.  The fire will get hotter because there is more air, i.e. we are in excess, and the combustion becomes more efficient.  At the end of the day this is great, but there is a limit on the efficiency of combustion.  Under most models that I’ve seen, the limit on the best coal burning power plant translates to around 60% efficiency, while some of the worst are down into the range of 15%.  Older plants, by in large were less efficient than newer plants.  The efficiency is also effected by the coal type burning, but again, that difference is minor compared to how the reaction is managed.

Now the clean coal folks would have you believe that gasification and other processes improve efficiency and while that statement isn't wrong per say, it’s not telling the whole story.  The process overall can be improved by using gasification in so much as it can reduce levels of sulfur or in some cases CO2 in the gas product BEFORE its reacted.  The process doesn’t improve the burn because again that is limited by the amount of oxygen present in the reaction chamber.  There is a point also where you can feed no more oxygen into the chamber and not start reducing the heat output because it’s being lost to all that air blowing in.

Long story short, clean coal is a lot of smoke and mirrors.  The coal itself is just as dirty and dangerous as it always was.  The men and women mining it are getting just as sick from black lung and all sorts of other aliments from the work as they always were.  The danger is that under the guise of science, the truth of their plight and the truth of coal is being hidden.  The real dangers are being overlooked in favor of profit margins and frankly the deaths of the miners and the illness that plague the communities is simply blood on the hands of the government who allows the use to expand and the people making money off the effort. 

Those who would deceive you have gotten really good at making the tech sound “sciency” and cutting edge.  And to be complexly fair some of it is novel and does help clean up the exhausted product, but nothing and I do mean nothing, can make the coal coming out of the ground less dangerous. 

Remember, the fight for our environment is not a sprint, it’s a marathon.  We all need clean air, clean water and clean land to survive, and no amount of political rambling and certainly no amount of hot air from the GOP and Trump can change the biology of survival.  Keep resisting!

Below you will find links to various sources that discuss coal, clean coal and the economics of it all.  

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/boiler-combustion-efficiency-d_271.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_gasification_combined_cycle

https://www.energy.gov/fe/science-innovation/clean-coal-research

https://energy.gov/fe/how-coal-gasification-power-plants-work

http://www.enn.com/energy/article/50625

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/clean-coal-power-plant-ordered-to-run-on-natural-gas/article/2626794

http://money.cnn.com/2017/06/22/news/economy/trump-jobs-claims/index.html?linkId=39089500

http://geology.com/rocks/coal.shtml

Until next time ~

All or none

In recent weeks the rolling disaster that is the Trump presidency has done some amazing things. They have pulled the US out of the Paris Accord, moved to open up new oil and gas drilling in areas formerly protected, continually denied climate change is real, moved to bolster the money that fossil fuel industries are making by undoing various environmental protections, etc.  The list goes on and on and reads like some sort of demented manifesto of a deranged Cheeto. Eh, OK so I guess that’s actually correct.

In light of this litany of environmental attacks, as well as concerns about keeping “TrumpCare” from being debated openly, I decided to send an email to my Texas senators.  That’s right kids, I tried to make contact with Ted Cruz and John Cornyn.  In total I’ve made 3 attempts, two with Cornyn and one with Cruz.  Cornyn’s office, when I asked them to state if John believed man was responsible for climate change or not and did he or did he not support the US removing itself from the Paris Accord, his office responded with the following:

Dear Mr. J:

Thank you for contacting me regarding the 2015 United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference. I appreciate having the benefit of your comments on this issue.

As you may know, Secretary Kerry attended the 2015 UN Climate Change Conference and signed an international agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, emission targets and other components included within the agreement are not legally binding. I share your concerns regarding the implications of this agreement, and I believe that any effort to control greenhouse gas emissions should not place the United States at a global economic disadvantage or penalize American families and workers. It is imperative for the United States to carefully scrutinize all UN actions to determine whether they are consistent with our national interests. I will only support policies that protect our citizens and respect our sovereignty—regardless of whether the UN agrees.

I welcome an open debate on policies to protect our environment. I support efforts to improve our nation's environmental quality, and I believe regulations should be based on the best available science and risk-based standards. I strongly believe that innovation and technological advances in traditional and alternative sources of energy will ultimately address our nation's challenges more effectively than onerous government regulation.

I appreciate having the opportunity to represent Texas in the United States Senate, and I will continue to support policies that ensure economic viability while protecting public health. Thank you for taking the time to contact me.

Sincerely,

JOHN CORNYN

United States Senator

I’ve read the response several times, and unless I’m brain-dead, I don’t actually see an answer to either of the questions I asked.  Next, I sent emails to Cornyn and Cruz informing them that no legislation that effects so many people, i.e. TrumpCare, should be free from public debate.  I called both of them out on their supposedly Christian and honesty values.  I asked under what mandate did they feel they were representing the majority of Texans, and what their end game was in this bill.  I also pointed out that both of them were supposedly on the Team of 13 drafting the bill, so I wouldn’t accept an “I don’t know what’s in it” response.  Needless to say, my email box waits patiently for a response.

Long story short, it’s obvious that the GOP is only concerned with lining their pockets, at any cost to the rest of the world, and country.  As you know, I’m in the 3^rd party group thinking, that the two-party system is flat ass broken.  More and more I think that’s the case.  I’ve decided that one of the fundamental reasons its broke is because no one wants to compromise.  The mentality of “all or none” is dragging this country down, and fast.  Beyond that the bigger problem is basic human greed.  It’s all about the money, who has it and who doesn’t.  I’m hopeful that the standard short American attention span hasn’t kicked in by the next election cycle. 

We all need to remember the events of this recent election.  The big money that is benefiting on the blood of the average American.  Regardless of your party affiliation, try to find and support candidates who are not at either extreme end of the party.  The folks with those extreme ideologies have proven time and time again that they can’t be trusted with the people’s work.  Period.

Keep resisting, keep calling and emailing your elected officials.  Now more than ever volunteer, do good things and try to be kind to your neighbors and fellow humans.  We normal, everyday citizens, need to show one another respect and dignity; it’s obvious the majority of the elected officials can’t be bothered by such trivial things.

Until next time -

UPDATE: 6-30-17; Still no response from Cornyn or Cruz.  Guess I'll have to send a certified letter this time!

It says I can put it down the toilet on the label, damn it!

“Flushable wipes” have become one of the most annoying phrases I hear on a regular basis, and the cause of more than a few headaches and grey hair for me in recent years...  First off, let’s start with what these really are.

If you use them, then you already know what they are, but for the rest of the world that knows how to wipe their butt properly with just toilet paper, please allow me to explain.  These wipes, which are basically baby wipes are fibrous, moist, pleasant feeling wipes that folks use in place or in addition to toilet paper during their visit to the porcelain throne.  

The manufacturers of these wipes tout them as flushable.  Well yea, hell you can flush just about anything down the toilet, that doesn’t mean that you should.  Flushable only means that it won’t plug up the toilet, that doesn’t mean that it won’t damage wastewater lines in your home, or in the utility collection and pumping system that moves the mess from your home.

Currently there are several large lawsuits aimed at these manufactures to force the removal of the wording of flushable from the containers of these wipes.  Major cities, small cities, minor MUD’s etc. are all dealing with the effects of these wipes on their systems.  Millions of dollars are spent by some annually dealing with the damage and impairment these cause to the collection systems.  The customers are the ones who ultimately pay that price.  First, they pay for purchasing these ridiculous wipes in the first place, then they along with the customers that don’t flush them, pay in increased wastewater treatment costs.  Those costs pass right to the monthly customer bill in the form of increased baseline connection fees or higher usage fee’s.

So why the wipes?  I honestly don’t know.  I assume it’s because some people just are too lazy to do a decent job with the toilet paper.  I could understand using baby wipes on a baby, but an adult using them just boggles my mind.  Perhaps it’s another sign of the continued lazy way of life that has become the norm for so many people in industrialized countries around the world.

No matter the reason for their use, they should not be flushed.  Rather, throw them in the trashcan and then they can’t harm the wastewater system and your butt can be April fresh… so something.

I’m attaching a few links below so you can see what some of these wipes are capable of doing.

-Until next time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-C9eC95QNf8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtqHVroSpJg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hdX3c5wcgE

One dumpster fire after another...

I’ve come to the conclusion that Washington is nuts…BUT it’s not the only seat of government that’s a train wreck.

Recently I went up the Austin with the plan of fighting against a bill in the state legislature that was/is a threat to sustaining underground water reserves across the state.  At the base of the bill, historical water permits in groundwater look to be threatened, the appropriation plan would carve up water to reflect how much land you have equaling the amount of groundwater you would get from the conservation districts.  The language was confusing, and contradictory in many sections.  The one obvious fact was that it was a huge boon for large land owners and potential “water supply companies” who could lease this water up and sell it to the highest bidder.

So, long story short, I arrived at the state capitol about 1 pm on the day of the hearing.  The hearing was slated to start at 2 pm or upon adjournment of the senate.  Fun story, the senate didn’t bother showing up that day until 2 pm.  Nothing like your tax dollars hard at work huh?

The hearing finally gets rolling about 530 pm, if memory serves.  It’s a full house, with people pouring out into the hallways.  We took up all sorts of business.  Business of the state, of the people… you know, like making jokes, and talking about what a great legislator you are.  How committed you are to taking care of the people… I swear I’ve not heard that much glad handing in years.

So, all the bills are heard before they get to the one I’m there for.  Before the chairmen starts he tells us all how if we are there to talk about the historic use aspect, that’s already been solved and we need to respect the time of this committee.

Now I’m not sure where the honorable Senator Perry is from, but in my Texas, everyone’s time is valuable.  For instance, the nearly 12 hours I pissed away just to have him tell me and those like me there that our time really wasn’t as important as his.  I submit that the people’s time is ALWAYS more important than the politicians who serve the people.

Needless to say, I had gotten access to his staff earlier in the day and had made my points well known, as did a few of my colleagues from other utilities.  So, I sat quietly and watched the mess unfold.  The chairmen would roll his eyes, and he would get defensive and he would distract… calling it political theater hardly does it justice.

Long story short, no action taken.  The fight continues. 

Point to the story is this, as bad as the war on water, soil and air is locally, and to be sure there are dozens of bills here in Texas in the legislature currently that fundamentally erode our environment; just imagine how bad this is at the federal level.

Get out there and fight the good fight. 

March in the streets.

Donate your time.

Donate your money. 

Resist.

- until next time

SB 1392

Useful Link

Its hard to keep up with the crazy coming out of the White House, but the link below is to a blog that does a fine job of it.

https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/

And so it begins...

Today I had a meeting with one of my vendors over lunch.  He has been a diehard Trump support for a while.  I asked if he still felt that Trump was the right choice for this country.  After considerable pause, he said “well, there are some problems up there for sure…but at least they are saving that money from the EPA so that’s something that’s good.”  He went on to explain that his heartburn with the EPA is because regulation stifles the “little guy” who’s trying to get his business off the ground.  And it adds costs to everything.  I said I understand what he’s saying, but I offered the following, “Is the water yours to do with as you see?  Or the air? Or the land? Or rather are those shared resources?”  His response was immediate, its shared of course he said.  So, I tell my friend, if you recognize its shared, then you recognize that someone needs to be sure that one group doesn’t spoil those resources for those without a voice, those without the education or knowledge to help protect themselves, or moreover without the financial means to hire lawyers to defend them when they are made sick by pollution from those around them.  We sat silently for a moment and he said “well, there is some truth in that I suppose.” He continues, by saying the real issue, the root of bad actions is so often the pursuit of money and power.  In that I smiled and said, yes, your exactly right, big businesses have one concern and that’s money.  And they will do anything to improve their bottom line.  That includes poisoning their customers instead of doing what’s right and taking care of their wastes properly.  I went on to say, “you know, there is irony in that.  If you make everyone sick and dead, they cant buy the goods and then you make no money.” 

I recount this story to make a point about Trump and the dumpster fire that his administration is.  My vendor, who I can with all honesty call a friend, who was in the Trumpkin camp as much as any other, is waking up.  Its day 57 and he sees that the emperor has no clothes, just a ridiculous looking red baseball cap. 

We MUST hold the line in science and honest open discord and discussion.  That overly orange Cheeto up in Washington is burning his support base with every passing day.  He is slowly but surely showing that not only does he not really have any idea how to govern, but he also has no one around him who can lead either.  Chaos hardly describes the mess the administration is in.

Be vigilant.  Keep supporting the sciences, the arts and the common values of being a decent human being and we will turn this tide.  Remember, it’s a marathon not a dash…

Until next time ~

Put that bottle of water down and back away slowly…

How many times have you reached for bottled water when out and about, or at work or even at home?  I suspect more than you might even realize.  OK so you’re drinking water instead of sodas or some other stuff, that’s great, but bottled water isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. 

I have to admit that bottled water is one of the best examples of cleaver marketing that I’ve ever seen.  The bottled water folks play on both your conscious and subconscious minds when they try to get you to pick up a bottle. 

First, and in some cases rightly so, they lead you to believe that bottled water is better than the water in the tap.  You were lead to think that its safe, healthy and makes you a little better person because you’ve stayed away from the sugary drinks.  That’s a solid angle to play by them.  Unfortunately for many years bottled water wasn’t regulated like the water in your home.  It wasn’t required to meet EPA regulations, but rather the FDA rules for food.  So, that basically meant as long as it didn’t kill you or give you E. coli exposure that might make you sick right out the bottle it was ok to sell.  At this point, there are a few more standards on bottled water, but they pale in comparison to the standards for drinking water that comes out your tap.

Next, you’ve been told that its “mountain water” or maybe “spring water” or some such other nonsense.  Either of those sources MUST be way better than my tap, right?  Yeah sorry kids, you’ve been lied to.  There are a few definitions that define what “spring” water is and none that I know of that define what “mountain” source water really is.  In the case of spring water, if the source water was somehow, someway at least part groundwater, that had a spring output, then it could be marketed as spring water.  A team of lawyers made a heck of a lot of money on that definition I’m sure.  Now, I’ve simplified it some, but it’s pretty ambiguous.  Its ambiguous because that makes it easier to use by the manufacturers.  So, you’re probably thinking, well if it’s not fresh out of the mountain or stream then where is my bottled water from?  Simple, the local water utility.  For instance, in a past life I worked on water quality for the City of Waco, and the water system there was source water for a Coke bottling plant there.  That plant bottled water as well as sodas, and if you read the back of the panel on the bottle carefully you will see that the Waco Water System is listed as the supply if the bottle you are holding came from there.  Same goes in Dallas and numerous other large water systems around the country.  You better have your glasses on, because it’s some mighty fine print.  The only thing that was done to the water in that plant, at that time, was to run it through a carbon stack, which removed the chlorine and took any taste out of the water. 

Finally, bottled water manufactures always quietly avoided the bottle problem.  After that cold tasty water is gone, what happened to the bottle?  In a lot of cases it ended up in the trash, or on the side of the road.  Those bottles make their way down the creeks, rivers and ultimately into our bays and oceans.  Sadly, this issue could be an entire post on to itself, guess I know what my next one will be.  Water bottles make up a large portion of the plastic floating around the oceans.  A few of the key facts are these however, first plastic is indeed entering our oceans at alarming levels.  Next, it isn’t breaking down completely, it breaks down into small fibers, and patches which in turn have coalesced through the years, into any number of large ocean plastic flows that travel the world’s oceans in primary ocean currents.  The plastic has entered the food chain is being found in fish and there are indications that while it may not kill fish immediately, it does harm their health and it seems that some of the chemicals used in the plastics are bioaccumulating in certain organisms. 

So now that I’ve made you give that bottle of Evian the side eye, what do you do?  First, drink the water from your tap.  I get it, you may not like the taste, OK, then run it through one of those nifty little water pitchers with the filter in them.  They all use carbon in the filter, which will take out the odor.  Next, if you are out and about and need that bottle of water, and didn’t bring it from home in a reusable bottle, then go ahead and get a bottle off the shelve.  When you finish though, make certain to recycle the bottle.  Don’t leave it laying around behind you and certainly don’t just pitch it out the window when its empty.

Until next time –

Flush that hot water heater!

It really doesn’t matter where in the country you live, you WILL have some deposits of lime, scale, grit, etc. in you hot water heater.  And if you’re lucky enough to have some bacterial buildup in it, you’re going to be glad you flushed it out.

I recommend to my customers to flush their hot water heater tanks at least once per year.  If you have bad odors from the hot water, you’ll want to flush more often.  The bad odors are related to bacteria in the tank.  They are harmless but stink something fierce.

OK so if you’ve never flushed your hot water heater before, you will likely want to see a professional do it at least once.  If you are a fairly “handy” sort of person it will be easy to do.  Hot water heaters come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, but the basics of flushing are all the same.

Step one, turn off the heating elements if its electric, and if its gas you’ll want to turn off the pilot and heater by turning off the gas flow.

Step two, hook up a garden hose to the spigot on the bottom portion of the tank.  Most of them are plastic, so do be careful not to be rough with the connection or the handle.

Step three, take the end of the hose out into the yard or driveway.

Step four, open the spigot on the tank and let it flow as fast as it can.

Step five, flush for at least 10 minutes.

Step six, close the spigot and disconnect the hose.

Do not turn on the heating system for at least 1 hour.  This allows the chlorine in your water supply to work on any bacteria that might be present in the tank.  If you have your own water well, or do not have chlorine or other disinfectants in your water supply you can immediately turn the heating system back on after you’ve closed the spigot.

Step seven, after one hour go to the nearest hot water tap in the home to the heater, and flush the hot water only side for a minute or two to be sure the water is clean and clear, as well as free of color.  Be sure to turn the heating system back on.

There you go, a simple DIY project that can help prolong the life of your water heater and improve its water quality.

Until next time…