Metallic balloons face potential California ban after causing hundreds of power outages.- Mercury News.
In March, a sudden power outage caused the ExxonMobil refinery in Torrance to kick into emergency mode, causing two spectacular plumes of fire to light up the sky for 13hours.
The cause?
A metallic party balloon caught in the power lines.
This blackout was just one of thousands occurring each year, prompting a Hayward legislator to pen legislation that would ban the sale and distribution of the foil-covered balloons, sometimes known as Mylar balloons, starting Jan.1, 2018.
Is this problem being blown out of proportion? Have these charges been inflated beyond all reason? Stay tuned for the latest chapter in the Mystery of the Mylar Mischief!
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Uhh.. I call BS. I think balloon would be vaporized in a flash in a high power line situation.
Swell…
Mohammed just ordered 1500 party balloons with Allahu Akbar printed on ’em from a Gay bakery…
What’s needed is more balloon control. Start off with a ban on parties with more than ten mylar balloons. Nobody needs more than ten balloons to party hardy do they? Also, each balloon should be registered and taxed, with funds reserved for victims of power outages. It’s for the children.
@OneLastTime – Yes, indeed, the children need this! Also…
– An instant backyard check system. People with power lines over their property should be on a “prohibited persons” list.
– A three-day waiting period between purchase and delivery.
– Balloons must be deflated and stored in a place not accessible to the driver when transported by auto or truck
– It should be illegal to transfer balloons from one person to another without a full backyard check on the receiving party. We must close the Fun Show Loophole!
Let us know when they take out ISIS lines.
Psst.
(Anyone interested in black market unregistered Mylar Balloons? I got a line on Helium, too. No background checks. Swearsies. They fell off a truck the other day.)
Turbo – it takes only a cycle or two of fault condition to initialize protective relaying on a high voltage line. A string of mylars wide enough to connect phase to phase would take that line off the grid.
That being said, when mylar is outlawed, only outlaws will have mylar.