- I want you to stop and think about

how much we use electricityin our everyday lives,

from water to ATMs, gaspumps, medical equipment

and the list really goes on and on.

But now think aboutour nation's power grid

that supplies that electricity

and it being damagedor disabled for weeks,

months, even up to a year.

It's a very realpossibility, and experts say

it can happen in several different ways,

but they also say there'ssomething we can do about it.

- We risk everything.

- [Eric] Frank Gaffney headsthe Center for Security Policy

in Washington, D.C.

He's on the front linesof sounding the alarm

about the vulnerability ofthe nation's electric grid.

- Our electric infrastructure

is very susceptible.

- [Eric] One of thosedangers is what's known as

an EMP or electromagnetic pulse,

which can happen if an adversary

detonates a nuclear weapon in space

causing a burst of radiationthat won't hurt people

but would fry our electric grid.

The same thing could happen naturally

in the event of a solar storm.

Then there's anothernaturally-occurring process

deep within the earth that could result

in what's known as amagnetic pole reversal.

Dr. Hugh Ross talked about it

on a recent edition of The 700 Club.

- The biggest consequenceis the damage it could do

to our electric power grids.

- [Eric] What can we do?

Gaffney says there areseveral effective steps

the military took toprotect sensitive assets

some 30 years ago afterdiscovering these vulnerabilities.

- What are called surge protectors,

so think of what you hopefully have

your computer plugged into, only bigger,

shunts, which essentiallymove electric current

around what you're trying to protect,

and Faraday cages, and it turns out that

while we may not knowit, almost all of us now

have a Faraday cage in our homes.

It's called a microwave oven.

- [Eric] These protective measures

would cost billions of dollars

and at least one organizationquestions the need.

The Electric Power ResearchInstitute, or EPRI,

is an independent non-profit.

In a recent report, it saidwhile protecting the grid

would be helpful, even without it,

"possible damage tolarge power transformers

"was found to be minimal."

Gaffney is critical of the report,

saying EPRI is closely alignedwith the electric utilities.

He says their findings clash sharply

with those of a federal commissionthat studied the problem.

- And its chairman estimated

that if the lights wereto go out and stay out

for a year or more, nineout of ten of us would die.

- [Eric] Gaffney warns those stakes

are too high to take chances.

- Even if no enemy usedeither what's called EMP

or sabotage or cyber attacksto take down our grid

with catastrophic consequences

for our country and our people,

Mother Nature is going to do it.

- There's an ongoing debate about

who would pay for an upgradeto the electric grid,

whether it would be thegovernment or electric utilities

or some combination of bigbusiness and public dollars.

I should also mention thatI did reach out to EPRI

for an interview, andthey declined my request.

In Washington, Eric Philips.