Florida Senate - 2014                            (NP)    SR 1454
       
       
        
       By Senator Thompson
       
       
       
       
       
       12-01516-14                                           20141454__
    1  
    2                          Senate Resolution                        
    3         A resolution encouraging awareness of the
    4         vulnerability of the state’s critical infrastructure
    5         to electromagnetic pulses and geomagnetic storms.
    6  
    7         WHEREAS, geomagnetic storms are natural phenomena involving
    8  disturbances in the earth’s geomagnetic field caused by solar
    9  activity, and
   10         WHEREAS, disruptions of electrical power caused by
   11  geomagnetic storms, such as the collapse of the Hydro-Quebec
   12  power grid during the geomagnetic storm of 1989, have occurred
   13  many times in the past, and
   14         WHEREAS, the congressionally mandated Commission to Assess
   15  the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse
   16  Attack found in its report, delivered in July 2004, that an
   17  enemy detonating a low-yield nuclear weapon at a high altitude
   18  above the United States could initiate an electromagnetic pulse
   19  attack against the United States, and that such an attack has
   20  the potential to place our society at risk and to overpower our
   21  military forces, and
   22         WHEREAS, it is the policy of this state to include defenses
   23  against electromagnetic pulse attacks in its preparedness
   24  planning, as those attacks are included among the full range of
   25  risks, threats, and hazards confronting the state, and
   26         WHEREAS, it is the policy of this state to educate
   27  Floridians about the threat of electromagnetic pulse attacks
   28  causing massive losses of electric power and disruption to
   29  telecommunications and other vital services, including health
   30  care, public safety, food production and delivery, and
   31  transportation services that depend on reliable electric power,
   32  NOW, THEREFORE,
   33  
   34  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:
   35  
   36         That we encourage municipalities and private industry in
   37  this state to examine critical vulnerabilities in their
   38  infrastructure and to prepare for massive disruptions that could
   39  be caused by electromagnetic pulse attacks and geomagnetic
   40  storms.