Chapter 670 315: Reshaping the United States

Washington D.C., the Congress Building.

This building, a symbol of the United States of America's political order, was usually shrouded in a solemn and dignified atmosphere.

Tourists spoke in hushed tones in the rotunda, congressmen walked the halls with a steady gait, and even the air itself seemed meticulously filtered, free of any trace of the mundane world.

But today, that order had collapsed.

The Congress Building had become a chaotic marketplace.

The hallways were filled with sprinting interns, bellowing chiefs of staff, and panicked representatives from lobbying groups.

Phones rang incessantly, and behind every carved wooden door, fierce arguments were raging.

Yesterday's massive blackout on the East Coast, and the subsequent failures at a Pfizer cold storage facility and a United Health data center, had landed like a depth charge, completely upending Washington's political ecosystem.

Hart Senate Office Building, Conference Room 301.

The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources was holding an emergency hearing.

The room was packed, the air hot and stuffy.

Seated in the center of the dais was John McRae, a senior Republican Senator from Wyoming.

He was also the coal industry's staunchest defender.

Across from him sat the chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, a sweat-drenched technocrat.

"Explain yourself, Mr. Chairman."

Senator McRae tapped a pen on the desktop, the sound sharp and aggressive.

"Why did the PJM Grid experience such a large-scale load reduction? Why was power cut to New Jersey and Delaware?"

The chairman wiped the sweat from his forehead and spoke into the microphone, his voice wavering slightly.

"Senator, according to PJM's dispatch report, this was primarily due to a sudden surge in industrial electricity load in Western Pennsylvania. To maintain frequency stability across the entire grid, the system automatically triggered protective measures and shed some of the load at the extremities."

"A surge in industrial electricity use."

McRae repeated the phrase.

A satisfied look appeared on his face.

"That sounds like good news. It means manufacturing in the United States is recovering, factories are running, and workers are on the job."

Another senator sitting beside him, from West Virginia, chimed in.

"Exactly right. The steel mills in Pittsburgh need electricity, the natural gas pumping stations in Appalachia need electricity. These are the lifeblood of the national economy."

He whipped his head around to face several Democratic senators seated on the other side of the hearing.

Those senators represented New Jersey and New York, and their financial backers—the pharmaceutical companies—were the very victims of this blackout.

"Now, some people are running to me, complaining that their air conditioning is out and that the vials and beakers in their labs are ruined."

The senator from West Virginia sneered.

"And whose fault is that?"

"It's your own!"

He pointed at the Democrats, his tone harsh.

"For years, you've let radical environmentalists lead you by the nose, using them as an excuse to block how many oil pipelines? How many coal-fired power plants have you shut down? You cry 'green energy' and 'carbon neutral' every single day."

"Well, look what happened."

"The grid doesn't have enough redundancy. When real industrial demand ramps up, the fragile grid can't handle it."

"You brought this on yourselves."

A Democratic senator from New Jersey shot to his feet in anger.

"That's absolute bullshit! This is deliberate sabotage! This is political blackmail by that Mayor of Pittsburgh, Leo Wallace! He's weaponizing energy! He's using power cuts to threaten us!"

"Threats?"

Senator McRae cut him off.

"All I see are the laws of the market."

"Leo Wallace is a paying customer. The Industrial Revival Alliance he represents signed a multi-billion US Dollar power purchase agreement with the Energy Association. He's a major client, a premium client."

"Power companies prioritize supply for their major clients and ensure stability for strategic industrial zones. What's wrong with that?"

"Are we supposed to pull the plug on a steel furnace just to keep the AC running in a few pharmaceutical company office buildings?"

McRae scanned the room, delivering his verdict.

"We cannot sacrifice industry."

"If Pfizer wants power, let them build their own power plants. Or, they can go beg the Environmental Protection Agency to approve new transmission line projects."

"As long as I am the Chairman of the Energy Commission, I will absolutely not allow anyone, for any reason, to interfere with Pennsylvania's industrial revival."

His words landed with resounding force.

The energy giants were the Republican Party's biggest financial backers.

And Leo had now become the man the energy giants needed to protect.

This chain of vested interests had turned a group of Republican hawks, who normally detested Leo's socialist leanings, into his staunchest allies.

Anyone who went after Leo was going after their orders and their political contributions.

「At the same time.」

Dixon Senate Office Building, Conference Room 430.

At the hearing for the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, the atmosphere was the complete opposite.

This was home turf for the pharmaceutical lobby.

The senators from New Jersey, California, and Massachusetts were all livid, looking as if they'd lost a family member.

Before them lay the damage reports sent by Pfizer and United Health.

Five hundred million US Dollars' worth of biological samples, ruined.

A backlog of several million insurance policy data files.

Stock prices had already fallen three percent in pre-market trading.

"This is terrorism!"

The committee chairman, a senior Democrat from New Jersey, roared into the microphone, spittle flying onto the tabletop.