To: Ken who wrote (4755 ) 3/19/1999 3:27:00 PM From: C.K. Houston Read Replies (2) | Respond to
To see what happens to a city of 4.6 million, when gas supply is cut off ... see what happened to Victoria, Australia October '98 GAS CRISIS. Victorian households were without gas for nearly two weeks , as a result of the explosion at Esso's Longford plant. Victoria's gas crisis created turmoil throughout the Australian economy for weeks as the nation's "heartland" of industry shut down, suspending billions of dollars worth of exports, leaving tens of thousands of workers facing layoffs and most of Victoria without natural gas for 2 weeks. individually to nearly 1.4 million Victorian domestic and commercial customers. Government used emergency powers in a desperate effort to keep gas in the grid. Fines for not complying initially started at $500 when crisis occurred. Within a week government increased fine to $10,000 for individuals and $100,000 for businesses. , Police & military were called in to enforce emergency powers , and removed gas meters from homes and businesses found to be using gas. People who had had their meters taken away were the last to have their gas reconnected. Initially only hospitals and nursing homes were allowed to use the limited gas supplies brought in from another region of Australia. (10% of normal amt). Nonetheless, hospitals and nursing homes had no hot water, no hot meals and restricted linen supplies. Army supplied sterilization units to hospitals.When gas was later available, domestic users - not commercial - were first to get restricted amount of gas to use for water heaters and cooking - not for home heating. Basic food items like milk and bread were rationed. theaustralian.com.au Economy took a 1.3 billion dollar hit. Thousands of layoffs in every business. Esso will not be able to meet Victoria's gas needs next winter [99] no matter whether it opted to rebuild or replace the damaged Longford No.1 processing plant, an industry expert predicted ... the gas and oil giant will not have time to either rebuild or replace the plant by winter ... Winter [99] supply restrictions could be expected consequently ... and they will likely lead to a general ban on householders using gas central heating. To build a new plant on a new site, would take up to three years. theage.com.au Victoria Australia: Y2K Beta Test Zone x12.dejanews.com [ST_rn=ps]/getdoc.xp?AN=395670762&search=thread&threaded=1&CONTEXT=921869625.1279524949&HIT_CONTEXT=921869401.1278476318&HIT_NUM=17&hitnum=0Here's where I parked more details and corroboration on Victoria, Australia Oct '98 Gas Crisis Message 8415334
