Gas Attack

An oil pipeline, the largest pipeline in the United States, was the victim of a cyberattack by a Russian saboteurs.  It won't be long before President Biden - already drawing heat for gasoline prices that were going up before this happened - gets blamed for killing the Keystone XL pipeline and denying us a backup.

Different issue.  This pipeline that was shut down accounts for 45 percent of all the gasoline sold on the East Coast, so it's doubtful whether a so-called "backup" pipeline would have mattered.  Especially since the Keystone XL pipeline was primarily meant to send Canadian oil to New Orleans for export.  What does matter is that cybersecurity is really, really lax in These States - always has been, really - and there hasn't been much interest in Washington to do anything about it.

I can see two good things coming out of this attack.  First, it will probably lead to a greater strengthening of cybersecurity before something really serious - like a power shutdown - happens.  Second, since even the best cybersecurity isn't foolproof, the possibility that a cyberattack on an oil pipeline could happen again may keep gas prices high, or at least lower them to a point where they're still higher than they were before they started going up, which means . . .

. . . monster wagons like this one will be very expensive to keep filled up.  

Die, monster wagon, die.