A Frozen New Orleans

While at Logan airport, the cover story of the most recent US News and World Report caught my eye. Heating costs are already well above their record levels of last year. Is this the economic disaster that the Northeast and Midwest have been waiting for, pushing the economic rebounds of these regions back into the sort of death spiral the endured in the 1980s? The article also warns that scarce fuel could impact electric generation in the Northeast and, most ominously, calls into question the stability of New York City’s aged steam generating system, suggesting that a winter failure could be devastating. Concludes the article: “Former Central Intelligence Agency chief Jim Woolsey, now active on energy issues, argues that parts of the city ‘could resemble a frozen New Orleans.'”

While at Logan airport, the cover story of the most recent US News and World Report caught my eye. Heating costs are already well above their record levels of last year. Is this the economic disaster that the Northeast and Midwest have been waiting for, pushing the economic rebounds of these regions back into the sort of death spiral the endured in the 1980s? The article also warns that scarce fuel could impact electric generation in the Northeast and, most ominously, calls into question the stability of New York City’s aged steam generating system, suggesting that a winter failure could be devastating. Concludes the article: “Former Central Intelligence Agency chief Jim Woolsey, now active on energy issues, argues that parts of the city ‘could resemble a frozen New Orleans.'”