Power Committee

The Power Committee was one of the first functional committees created by the Boulder Free Zone at its inaugural mass meeting on August 18, 1990. The meeting, held at Chautauqua Auditorium, approved the formation of a Power Committee of at least sixty persons, with the explicit goal of getting the electricity back on before cold weather set in. The committee was led by Brad Kitchner, a young electrician who had emerged as the Zone's de facto power expert. Kitchner's team worked intensively through the late summer, wrapping copper wire on blown turbine generators and sourcing replacement parts from Denver supply houses.

Formation and Mandate

The Power Committee was established as the fourth item on the meeting's agenda, following the ratification of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, the election of the Free Zone Committee, and the approval of Mother Abagail's veto power. The agenda item read: "To see if the Free Zone will approve a Power Committee of at least sixty persons initially to get the electricity back on before cold weather." The motion passed with overwhelming support, reflecting the community's urgent need for reliable power. Harold Lauder successfully amended the motion to require that each committee be increased by two members for each increase of one hundred in the total Free Zone population, ensuring the committee could scale with the growing community.

Work and Challenges

Kitchner and his crew faced significant obstacles. Many of Boulder's generators had blown during the final power surges of the superflu epidemic, and the city's electrical grid was littered with stalled vehicles and dead appliances. A critical problem emerged during the first test on September 1, 1990: when two trial generators were switched on, one overloaded and caught fire because too many household appliances—left on when their owners died—created an unmanageable power draw. The fire was quickly extinguished, but the incident revealed the need for a "Turning-Off Crew" to go through Boulder and shut off every electrical device before the main switch-on. Kitchner explained that the overload could have caused a city-wide fire, comparing it to the conflagration that destroyed Gary, Indiana.

Power Day

On September 5, 1990, the Power Committee successfully switched on the electricity. The event, celebrated as Power Day, was not without incident: the air raid siren atop the County Courthouse blared uncontrollably until a fused switch was found, a manhole cover exploded at Broadway and Walnut, and an auto-body shop on Pearl Street exploded, killing Rich Moffat. Despite these disruptions, the power came on across most of Boulder, and the committee's work was hailed as a turning point for the Free Zone. Kitchner addressed the August 25 public meeting at Munzinger Auditorium, where he announced the successful test and outlined the need for continued work on power stations in Longmont and Denver to meet the growing population's needs.

Significance

The Power Committee's success was a crucial morale boost for the Free Zone, demonstrating that the survivors could rebuild essential infrastructure. It also highlighted the committee system's effectiveness in mobilizing volunteer labor and technical expertise. The committee's work continued through the fall, with Kitchner emphasizing that the Power Committee was not disbanded and that further repairs and expansions would be necessary to support the Zone's rapidly increasing population.