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Tag: Electric power transmission and distribution

  • NATO ministers meet to drum up more aid, arms for Ukraine

    NATO ministers meet to drum up more aid, arms for Ukraine

    U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his NATO counterparts are gathering in Romania to drum up urgently needed support for Ukraine, including deliveries of electrical components for the war-torn country’s devastated power transmission network

    BUCHAREST, Romania — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his NATO counterparts are gathering in Romania on Tuesday to drum up urgently needed support for Ukraine, including deliveries of electrical components for the war-torn country’s devastated power transmission network.

    Ukraine’s grid has been battered countrywide since early October by targeted Russian strikes, in what U.S. officials call a Russian campaign to weaponize the coming winter cold.

    Ahead of the meeting, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg also said that Russian President Vladimir Putin “is trying to use winter as a weapon of war against Ukraine” and that NATO’s allies and Ukraine “need to be prepared for more attacks.”

    The meeting in the capital Bucharest is likely to see NATO make fresh pledges of nonlethal support to Ukraine: fuel, generators, medical supplies, winter equipment and drone-jamming devices. Blinken will announce substantial U.S. aid for Ukraine’s energy grid, U.S. officials said

    Individual allies are also likely to announce fresh supplies of military equipment for Ukraine — chiefly the air defense systems that Kyiv so desperately seeks to protect its skies — but NATO, as an organization, will not, to avoid being dragged into a wider war with nuclear-armed Russia.

    The ministers, along with their Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba, will also look further afield.

    “Over the longer term we will help Ukraine transition from Soviet-era equipment to modern NATO standards, doctrine and training,” Stoltenberg said on Friday.

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    Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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  • 2 rescued after plane hits transmission tower in Maryland

    2 rescued after plane hits transmission tower in Maryland

    MONTGOMERY VILLAGE, Md. — Crews on Monday rescued the injured pilot and passenger of a small plane that crashed into a Maryland electricity transmission tower, knocking out power for tens of thousands of customers and leaving the aircraft dangling 10 stories off the ground.

    The plane crashed into the tower that supports high-tension lines at around 5:40 p.m. Sunday and got stuck about 100 feet (30 meters) above the ground, Montgomery County Fire Chief Scott Goldstein said. The crash happened about a mile from the Montgomery County Airpark in Montgomery Village, a Washington, D.C., suburb. It knocked out power in the surrounding area and caused Metrorail delays.

    Video from the scene showed numerous rescue personnel and vehicles surrounding the tower shortly after it happened. At the time of the crash, the conditions were misty and rainy, said Pete Piringer, a spokesperson for the county’s Fire & Rescue Service.

    Piringer said the rescue was complicated by the fact that the lines were live when the plane hit.

    After electrical workers made sure it was safe to try to reach the pilot and passenger, who were in contact with authorities via cellphone and were anxious to be rescued, crews secured the plane to the tower at around 12:15 a.m. Monday and took the two to safety a few minutes later, officials said.

    The State Police identified the pilot as Patrick Merkle, 65, of Washington, D.C., and the passenger as Janet Williams, 66, of Marrero, Louisiana. Both had serious but non-life-threatening injuries, and hypothermia set in while they waited to be rescued, Goldstein said. Their rescue was faster than anticipated since the pilot and passenger were able to assist, he said.

    The plane was later lowered to the ground revealing a crushed front end.

    The single-engine Mooney M20J had departed White Plains, New York, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement. The FAA, National Transportation Safety Board and Maryland State Police are investigating.

    The utility Pepco had reported that power was temporarily cut to about 120,000 customers in Montgomery County, but it was restored to most of them before the people were rescued.

    The county’s public school system closed its schools and offices Monday due to the outage’s impact on safety and school operations.

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