Posted on 02/10/2014 7:23:28 AM PST by Travis McGee
Electricity supports not just our comfort but also the necessities of life. Without electricity, America could not come close to supporting its current population.
Electricity and its benefits has been with us for so long that we tend to take it for granted. That is a mistake. What if the grid were to go down nationally for a week, for months? Imagine what life would be like. The economic damage would be incalculable and in more places than I care to think the social fabric could literally be rent apart.
Commonly discussed concerns about the safety of our electrical grid usually center on relatively high-tech attacks like an electromagnetic pulse from an ionospheric nuclear blast or hackers taking down the control systems of power-generating stations or the transmission infrastructure. But what about low-tech options that are much more available to terrorists or foreign enemy governments? These would be actual physical attacks on our electrical infrastructure.
Consider the Metcalf Incident. This involved a sophisticated sniper attack on a Pacific Gas & Electric Company's power station in Metcalf, California in the early morning hours of last April 16.
The description of the Metcalf attack is chilling. The attackers apparently first slipped into an underground vault and expertly severed six AT&T fiber optic telecommunication lines in a way that would make repair difficult. The lid over this vault was so heavy that it would take at least two people to lift it. Then, a half hour later, the snipers began firing at the power station, destroying 17 giant transformers and six circuit breakers.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
This one is particularly bad. They are the company, PG&E, that can't keep track of their pipe network,don't know where the pipes are, what condition they are in and manage to blow up and burn down a neighborhood in San Bruno CA. In all fairness to PG&E they only killed 6 people and burned down less than 40 homes. /s
The thing that is strange is if the shooter/shooters were so clever why did they leave their brass (7.62X39). Brass catchers are cheap and readily available.
Preppers’ Ping!!
More on the California electrical station attack of last April.
Hat tip to Travis for the heads up!
Yes that would work, but isulators are a dime a dozen compared with these transformers of which only a few are even built here in the states and the number build is like 1-2 a month.
This was not a typical break-in. This was carefully planned and executed. It was a low cost operation, but meticulously planned and executed. Did they have inside help?
“A hundred Al-Queda, 2 man teams in each state, going through the mall and shooting at Christmastime.”
I’ve been expecting something like this every Black Friday since 2001. AQ goes for the spectacular, but something like this would hit people literally where they “live.”
Could this be either a test run for a larger attack or a ploy from a union for what-ever they want this time.....
I’m surprised that the FBI didn’t immediately conclude that this incident was due to domestic terrorists/patriot group/returning veteran.
As we seem to draw closer to a showdown between the federal government and the people, incidents such as will probably be more frequent, either as a false flag event or actual terror/resistance attack against an oppressive government.
Coal plants are scheduled to shut down as a result of the 0bama’s EPA war on coal. 0bama and his fellow gangsters want to make the people cold, poor, desperate and dependent on the government. That makes them easier to weed out and control. What better way to divert the public and demonize the enemy than a false flag attack on a power station by a domestic terrorist?
And then think of the panic attacks that can occur without any real threat.
Entire airports have already been shut down because
someone found powdered sugar from a bog of donuts
or because someone was seen going up a down escalator.
15 years ago, and what has been done? (*crickets*)
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
“We are required, by law, to have health insurance. But the power companies are not required, by law, to protect the power grid. GOOD ONE”
Be careful what you ask for. You just might get it.
How would you like to double or triple your electricity rates, for instance?
That’s what happens when you require things by law or mandate.
You seem to say “If it wasn’t for the power companies producing and selling a useful product, we wouldn’t have this problem”
Like the Boston bombers, the suspects are probably foreign born muzzies invited in by corrupt gov and being rewarded with tax paid prizes, food and cash.
You are right. I had not thought it through very far, seemingly. Thanks for your post.
“At how many billions of dollars? “
It would not cost too much to put Jerzey barriers around the stations.
Everyone, read and heed! This is great advice, not just for preparing for the "Long Hard Times to Come" (sorry...been watching way too much "Justified" lately), but politically as well. Conservatives and Pubbies need to start using the same dirty political weapons against the CommieLibs as they've been using against us for 50 years. But I digress...
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
No worries. This is a law enforcement problem, possibly an immigration enforcement problem, and also a terrorism problem.
There are also technical approaches that can be implemented to help the situation, but fundamentally, power infrastructure is uniquely vulnerable, and an increasingly valuable target for terrorists.
“As we seem to draw closer to a showdown between the federal government and the people, incidents such as will probably be more frequent, either as a false flag event or actual terror/resistance attack against an oppressive government.”
This could have been some anti-gunners creating an excuse to ban ammo or rifles or something like that. Not too likely, but well within the realm of “maybe”.
Heard this a.m. our leaders are really concerned with people being offended by the "Redskins" football team's name...Some are suggesting we have national discussion on skin color.
Men humping each other and skin color are the real big issues facing America.
“In my opinion, this was a “probe” or a test.”
You have to be correct. Our electrical grid is more complex, relies more on instrumentation, controls, and remote adjustments to substations to maintain stability.
The combination of severing data lines and shooting transformers in an integrated attack is most troubling - both in how easy it was for it to be executed, and how ineffective the response.
If, for instance, this substation was more highly loaded through forced shutdowns of other transmission infrastructure (start a brushfire near a transmission line - even hundreds of miles away - may be able to accomplish this) the results would have been more notable.
The point is that the grid is essentially 100% unprotected from any kind of attack. There are thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of vulnerable sites. Even the cheapest solutions are going to cost mountains of money.
Moreover, they cannot all be made impervious. And the attacker will always be free to attack those sites which are not defended.
Ergo, the most efficient -- and only practicable means of -- defense will be an effective offense at the attacker's point of origin.
If Jihadism is the threat, the most effective means of defending the grid is to attack Jihadism directly.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.