Dry 'em up!

A group wants to destroy the NSA data center in Utah -- legally! -- by turning off the water supply. Here's the website, and here's the proposed state legislation. Turns out that the spy center in Bluffdale, Utah requires an amazing mount of water each day -- in a state where the government funds "Save H2O" ads.

This line of attack may make you smile as you scratch your chin and contemplate the possibilities. I love the idea of standing outside that Utah facility and shouting "We got yer water, Cable!" while doing an impression of Strother Martin. (Bonus points to the first person who can name the movie I'm referencing.)

But is this approach legal? Can states simply stop providing utilities to paying customers? The Utah Division of Public Utilities has said that the customer has a right to service.

The group behind the "dry 'em up" effort seems iffy, and I suspect that we're dealing with Yet Another Buncha Fucking Libertarians (from the Constitutional Wackiness Division). On this page of their website, we read these words...

In 2006, it was reported that the NSA had maxed out capacity of the Baltimore-area power grid. Insiders reported that

“The NSA is already unable to install some costly and sophisticated new equipment. At minimum, the problem could produce disruptions leading to outages and power surges.

At worst, it could force a virtual shutdown of the agency.”
August 6, 2006

Since I live in the Baltimore area (where blackouts are common in the summer), I was naturally curious to learn the source of this quote. Alas, no citation is given. Googling the quote brings up nothing beyond a handful of right-wing sites that link to this page.

One member of this group seems to be a fellow named Larry Fine -- no giggles, please -- who, in a YouTube comment, contributes the following:

The state of Utah delivers millions of gallons of water per day to the NSA to operate its data centers. Utah doesn't have to deliver this, and it is constitutionally protected (with strong legal precedent) from being compelled to do so.

What precedent? Name the case, Larry.