August 16, 2013—Exposing State Legislators to the EMP Threat

Amb. Henry F. Cooper, Chairman . . . Lt. Gen. Daniel Graham, Founder

High Frontier . . Building Truly Effective Defenses . . Reagan’s Vision Lives!

E-Mail Message 130816

Exposing State Legislators to the EMP Threat

H. Scott Cooper

August 16, 2013

Earlier this week as part of the EMP Coalition, I carried the High Frontier flag to The National Council of State Legislators (NCSL) Legislative Summit in Atlanta. Legislators from all over the country were in attendance. We were there especially to call attention to the initiative by Andrea Boland (D-Maine) to begin hardening the electric power grid in Maine. She led numerous panel discussions of the existential EMP threat from natural and man-made causes, and how other representatives can follow Maine’s lead as the first state in the nation to take matters into its own hands, given the failure of federal leaders “to provide for the common defense,” per to the oath they swore to Constitution. The prospects look promising!

Andrea Boland (D-Sanford), of The Maine House of Representatives successfully advocated in only a six month period a historically important landmark bit of legislation, LD 131, which passed the House unanimously and with only two dissenting votes in the Senate. She posted a brief discussion of the dangers posed to the electric power grid by a manmade electromagnetic pulse (EMP) and major natural geomagnetic disturbance (GMD) on the OurEnergyPolicy.org webpage. I urge you to read her important article and the associated on-line discussion by clicking here.

Since OurEnergyPolicy.org‘s reports and associated discussion transcripts are distributed to appropriate offices on Capitol Hill, this report could be an important contribution to the expected consideration of the Shield Act which has been proposed to address these same issues at the Federal level.

At the NCSL conference–beginning last weekend and extending through Wednesday, I had the opportunity to join several others from the EMP Coalition to discuss the natural and man-made EMP threat. NCSL was founded to: Improve the quality and effectiveness of state legislatures; Promote policy innovation and communication among state legislatures; and Ensure state legislatures a strong, cohesive voice in the federal system. Thus, this was an important opportunity for High Frontier and our coalition to go to the grass roots with our story.

Rep. Boland led several important panels on our GMD and EMP concerns and why she undertook and succeeded in leading Maine to take serious action. The EMP Coalition also held a press conference at The Atlanta Press Club.

In addition, we spoke with numerous state representatives and senators who visited our exhibit table. Most were positively disposed toward raising these issues when they return to their home states. In particular, we expect to be following up with key legislators from Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, Florida, Texas and New Mexico on both EMP and missile defense issues, particularly those posed by ballistic missiles that might be launched from vessels in the Gulf of Mexico or from Latin America.

In an interview I conducted with Representative Boland, she stated that once this issue had been brought to her attention, she knew it was an issue that everyone should get behind. “It truly is a non-partisan issue,” she said. I asked her what advice she would give to other legislators who are just starting to look into this. “Use the resources of the EMP Coalition. These experts will give you all the information you need, and they are willing to come to your state both before and during the legislative session to help.”

Representative Boland and I took a minute on Wednesday to celebrate a successful week in Atlanta!

What’s Next?

High Frontier is encouraged by the interest being shown by these state legislators in both understanding the nature of this existential threat and what can be done about it. We are confident that the average American at home will also be receptive to our message and will take responsive actions that thus far their leaders in Washington have not.

In an effort to help spread the message, High Frontier and the EMP Coalition will be exhibiting at the Right Online Bloggers conference in Orlando at the end of the month. We know that once the American Public is fully aware of this issue AND THE SOLUTIONS, not only will state legislators be acting – with the states leading, Congress will also eventually act.

And what can you do?

Join us at High Frontier in seeking to alert the public and your local and state authorities to the existential threats posed by both man-made and natural EMP events—and what can be done about these threats.

We can use your help in spreading this information to the grass roots and to encourage all “powers that be” to provide for the common defense as they are sworn to do. Will you do your part?

Begin by passing this message to your friends and suggest they visit our webpage, www.highfrontier.org for more information. Also, please encourage your sphere of influence to sign up for our weekly e-newsletter! This is especially true of your state legislators – please pass this on to them!