First, read this piece of news about the security of Quebec’s dams: Quebec dams open to attack, probe suggests. Everybody is talking about this report done by a journalist of Radio Canada. I saw the report on the TV and it’s awesome. The authorities can’t say that the security is correct; it is not. The journalist had reached the core of two major dams in the north of Quebec without being seen. Was he hiding? No, he looked like a tourist with a huge camera on his shoulder and his big white truck. He was able to stop the electric production of about 500 000 homes; he reached the main controls of the power plants without anyone intercepting him? he was alone in the complex. He never meets any employee or security guards in about 1 hour of door opening and investigation on each site. There was no evident camera (the authorities say that they are hidden). The problem is that it seems that they are not monitored by permanent security guards. Sorry but tell you it, Mr. Caillé, but Hydro-Québec is not a chain of corner shops; the camera don’t have the same utility in a corner store and in power plant of billions of dollars. Cameras in the first one are there to know who the criminal was. In the second, they are there to prevent criminals to reach the dam.

Okay, you know what’s the problem? It’s probably easiest to enter in this critical infrastructure of Quebec than to enter in any home on the territory. This situation is definitely unacceptable after the 11 September 2001. Some ones will say that we have nothing to fear; that we don’t have any enemies and it would be an unnecessary spend of money. To them, I’ll say that: first, we get problems with French separatists for more than 40 years. Last years, an unknown group had put dynamite on a main transmission pole and they pull the trigger. What if they had reached the core of the Manic 5 central, or LG2? The result had would be catastrophic. What if they do this in a cold wave of 1 or 2 weeks with temperatures under 30 or 40 degree Celsius? We probably wouldn’t be able to buy electricity at the USA or Ontario because they just wouldn’t have enough. Then, we would be in great troubles.

After, think about it. Our greatest electric client is the USA. We sell megawatts of electricity on the east cost market. If two of our main dams are the target of international terrorism it’ll not just be a catastrophe for the village around the dams (who will probably be flooded) but also for the entire east cost of America. Think back, the major black out that occurs a year or two ago on the east cost. The electric switch in new New-York city was turned at off and they didn’t have electricity at all for some days; no air conditioning in the middle of a dog days. This total back out was the result of a problem in a switch complex somewhere in the north east of the USA. Think about what it would be like if 2 or 3 of the main dams of the north east of America would be shutdown or destroyed? I don’t want to think about it. If international terrorists need to hurt the USA, then one of their best bet would probably to destroy these dams. It’s easy, as demonstrated above, and effective.

Finally, if there is no security at all for these dams, what’s the security of our nuclear power plant? Is this the same situation? I hope no, otherwise it would be the problem of many more person than the millions habitants of the east coast of America. It’s my reaction to the situation. I hope the government of Quebec will get enough pressure to move and spent money to arrange the situation. The current situation is unacceptable; and for the stability of the Quebec, the Canada and the United-States, we need to act now.

What can we do? Talk about the situation. Are you Canadian or American? Talk about it, wrote about it in hope that these things put pressure on Hydro-Québec and the government of Quebec to obligated them to act and increase the security of these sites.

Update 17-02-2005: The video report(french)

Technoratie: [security] [terrorism] [quebec] [dams]