Gunfire at electrical grid kills power for 45,000 in North Carolina
- Reference: 1670283008
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/12/05/electrical_grid_carolina/
- Source link:
"It appears to be an intentional, willful, and malicious act," said Tom McInnis, North Carolina State Senator, during [1]a press conference . "The perpetrator will be brought to justice and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
The [2]state of emergency declaration , obtained by North Carolina-based publication The Pilot, says, "Massive Power Outages due to criminal activity…has caused widespread and significant power outages within the County of Moore, North Carolina. It is anticipated to take up to one week for the power to be restored to residents, businesses, churches, schools, and government."
[3]
US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm [4]said via Twitter that she had been in contact with Duke Energy, the local utility provider, about Saturday night's vandalism and that the Department of Energy's Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response is working with federal partners on the matter.
[5]
[6]
"Law enforcement is investigating this serious incident and Duke is working around the clock to restore service," she said. Duke Energy said its employees are working around the clock to restore power to affected customers.
"Duke Energy is pursuing multiple repair paths to restore as many customers as possible, as quickly and safely as possible," said Jason Hollifield, Duke Energy’s general manager, Emergency Preparedness, in [7]a statement .
[8]
"This is a significant local outage that is affecting nearly all customers in Moore County. While some customers will be restored sooner, most customers should be prepared for an extended outage that could last until Thursday."
The FBI did not immediately respond to a request to confirm its reported involvement in the investigation.
[9]Comcast fixes broadband cables 'peppered' with holes after Oakland drive-by shooting
[10]Cops responding to ShotSpotter's AI alerts rarely find evidence of gun crime, says Chicago watchdog
[11]A man spent a year in jail on a murder charge involving disputed AI evidence. Now the case has been dropped
[12]Lawn care SWAT team subdues trigger-happy Texan... and other stories
At [13]the press conference , Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields was asked by a reporter whether there's any connection between the attack on the power grid and a drag show that had been scheduled Saturday evening in the town of Southern Pines.
"None that I'm aware of," Fields responded. "Is it possible? Yes, anything is possible. But we've not been able to tie anything back to the drag show."
Last month in North Carolina, the Proud Boys, [14]a right-wing hate group according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, [15]disrupted a drag show , one of [16]a rising number of such incidents in recent months.
[17]
The shooting attack on the power grid echoes a similar gunfire attack on a Pacific Gas & Electric substation that occurred in Metcalf, California in April, 2013.
That attack, which remains unsolved and [18]probably wasn't an act of terrorism , prompted California lawmakers to pass Senate Bill 699 to explore stronger security measures for the electrical grid. In 2019, California [19]adopted rules to implement such measures to defend its electrical distribution grid. ®
Get our [20]Tech Resources
[1] https://twitter.com/IntelPointAlert/status/1599515327578406912
[2] https://www.thepilot.com/news/substation-attack-progress-made-but-vast-majority-of-homes-and-businesses-will-not-regain-power/article_b3b19780-7370-11ed-865d-c78d0de5d921.html
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Y47Mdp0-YXvc41HmBqNaLwAAABc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://twitter.com/SecGranholm/status/1599556157898735618
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Y47Mdp0-YXvc41HmBqNaLwAAABc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Y47Mdp0-YXvc41HmBqNaLwAAABc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://news.duke-energy.com/releases/duke-energy-responding-to-outages-in-moore-county
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Y47Mdp0-YXvc41HmBqNaLwAAABc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/01/comcast_xfinity_oakland_gunfire/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/25/shotspotter_chicago_report/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/22/in_brief_ai/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/20/global_lunacy_roundup/
[13] https://www.wral.com/moore-county-sheriffs-office-holds-press-conference-to-address-mass-power-outage/20613056/
[14] https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/proud-boys
[15] https://thehill.com/homenews/3718909-proud-boys-came-to-fight-at-north-carolina-drag-brunch/
[16] https://www.hrc.org/press-releases/new-report-anti-lgbtq-grooming-narrative-surged-more-than-400-on-social-media-following-floridas-dont-say-gay-or-trans-law-as-social-platforms-enabled-extremist-politicians-and-their-allies-to-peddle-inflamatory-discriminatory-rhetoric
[17] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Y47Mdp0-YXvc41HmBqNaLwAAABc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[18] https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/FBI-Attack-on-PG-amp-E-substation-in-13-wasn-t-5746785.php
[19] https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/about-cpuc/divisions/safety-policy-division/risk-assessment-and-safety-analytics/physical-security-of-electric-infrastructure
[20] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: probably wasn't an act of terrorism
They need to be found, prosecuted and jailed with maximum terms. That's the only language they understand.
Re: probably wasn't an act of terrorism
But what if they felt threatened? Electricity is dangerous, perhaps they just had to shoot first
Fragile
I'm actually surprised this hasn't happened more often. We'd get the occasional tray bullets at subs and sometimes clearly deliberate damage to HV insulators on lattice towers, but that seemed more like "I bet I can hit this" type of activity than anything truly malicious. If someone does make a concerted effort to cause damage at a substation it's actually quite easy to do, with long-lasting effects. We waited for more than a year for 345Kv-138Kv transformers for a new sub, so take a few of those out with the right type of round and it's going to be a long time until that functionality is back online. And your odds of getting caught are pretty slim. A lot of subs are in the middle of nowhere and with the right type of firearm you don't need to be anywhere close to cause damage. I won't be surprised to see new regs coming along any day now that require 12-foot high solid walls instead of chain link around these facilities.
Re: Fragile
[1]A more American solution
[1] http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nächstbereichschutzsystem_MANTIS
Gunfire didn't damage an electrical substation, a far-right wing terrorist did.
Assuming it was a terrorist, we have zero knowledge of their politics.
Which, incidentally, is a good reason to doubt its being a terrorist. Such people are usually quite open about their agendas.
>Such people are usually quite open about their agendas
Like having a national convention with a stage where you spell it out in lights?
North Carolina Rednecks Starting the CIVIL WAR...
Trump recently called for the US Constitution to be suspended. The quickest way for that to happen would be Succession. By attacking the power grid, it separates the off-grid survivalist from the softies. Of course, they should have waited for a cold snap or blizzard. Though I don't think the Sandhills gets much snow. I am sure there will be some copycats and the Federal Gov will pass a law of some kind. The most nothing as possible of course.
But the good thing about this Civil War Strategy is that when you shoot the distribution stations, it knocks out all the power and down goes the police response and everything with it.
Re: North Carolina Rednecks Starting the CIVIL WAR...
> The quickest way for that to happen would be Succession.
I dunno mate we're three seasons into it now and it's anything but quick
If only those poor transformers had been allowed to have guns to defend themselves.
probably wasn't an act of terrorism
= Critical infrastructure was deliberately destroyed by politically motivated religious nut jobs with white skin