Governor considers emergency radio station, airport power

by billso on Tuesday, 17 October 2006

This article first appeared on my old blog at http://www.bloglines.com/blog/wsodeman?id=194

http://starbulletin.com/2006/10/17/news/story02.html

Governor Linda Lingle is considering adding emergency power generators at Honolulu International Airport. More than 5,000 outbound travellers were forced to wait in long lines as TSA screeners examined all baggage by hand. There was insufficient electrical power to run the automated screening equipment. http://starbulletin.com/2006/10/17/news/story09.html

It is interesting to note that the airlines were able to handle the exceptions easily. I didn’t know that Hawaiian Airlines gets its jet fuel from Singapore. Wonder how much stock they have on hand at the Honolulu airport?

Lingle also said that the state may set up an emergency radio station to broadcast official announcements. This is a very good idea that should have been implemented long ago. This radio station could be kept on “warm standby” and started at a moment’s notice, as NORAD is preparing to do with its Cheyenne Mountain installation in Colorado.

While the governor did call KSSK twice to make ad hoc addresses to the populace on Sunday morning, she has become concerned that Clear Channel and other broadcasters were unable to respond quickly when the power outage occurred.

Sadly, civil defense is one area that is often cut when tax revenue falters. Taxpayers don’t notice the cuts until a disaster happens and support is hard to find.

We’re now seeing how thin the state’s plans really were.