Posted on 12/07/2022 4:22:10 AM PST by MtnClimber
Every single day our electrical grid remains vulnerable, we are in grave danger.
Almost 50,000 Duke Power customers in Moore County, N.C. were left in the dark on Sunday night in what has been called a domestic act of terrorism. A curfew is running from 9 P.M. to 5 A.M. as schools close and crime spikes. Most customers remain without heat, refrigeration, and water.
Duke Energy spokesman Jeff Brooks said, "We are looking at a pretty sophisticated repair with some fairly large equipment and so we do want citizens of the town to be prepared that this will be a multiday restoration for most customers, extending potentially as long as Thursday."
Two power stations were targeted by direct gunfire.
The attackers knew "exactly what they were doing," said Moore County, N.C. sherriff Ronnie Fields. "It was a gate, and they went through the gate, got at the substation, and shot it as well. ... It wasn't random."
While the liberal media immediately started blaming "right-wing militants" because of a nearby gay pride march that afternoon, the broader implications of the attack have been largely ignored: our power grid is completely vulnerable to anyone with a gun and the knowledge of where to shoot.
Grid News reports that there are more than 55,000 such power stations throughout the country, and "[t]here were 70 reports of emergency electric incidents and disturbances caused by suspected physical attacks, sabotage or vandalism from January to August 2022, Grid's analysis of the most recently available data from the Department of Energy found. That figure represents a 75 percent increase from 40 such reports in all of 2015[.]"
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) hacking of power systems, pipelines, refineries and other large operations seems to be the greatest vulnerability that can be fixed IMO. Hardening transformers to be bullet proof would be a difficult undertaking. Power substations, like the example in this article could easily have protective walls and better security measures.
Everybody gets a vote on their neighbor’s electrical grid.
From subdivisions to counties to regions.
This is why it’s so important to build a high-trust civilization, and so dangerous to wreck it, as the Rats have done.
Zero chance you can harden all of these...even in a forty-year period. I grew up in a rural area...sub-station sat by a road, with a 1-star fence around it. Any idiot could have jumped the fence or blown up the station. Probably in same condition today.
The electric grid and water reservoirs are prime targets and easy pickings.
I detect an odd sort of double-standard.
On the one hand, Russia knocks out the infrastructure in Ukraine, leaving millions in the cold and dark. Many in the media jump up and declare that this is barbaric. It’s not cricket. It’s basically a war crime. And that stuff never works, too! Look at the London Blitz! The British got tougher because of it! No sensible country would do anything so awful as to attack basic services in major cities!
And, meanwhile, we are supposed to have sage discussions about the likelihood that our enemies will take down our power stations and general infrastructure. Hey, it’s a sensible and effective method of attack, and we should expect it and be ready for it. That sort of thing is bound to happen, right?
I wonder if it is a branch of the “stop oil!” idiots that glue themselves to stuff?
China or Russia or any enemy would never have to put a boot on the ground in the US to kill at least 90% of the population. Remotely attacking the electrical grid or/and water supplies would result in the US destroying itself from within in a matter of a year or two.
What was the punishment in the day for horse stealing? Maybe we need a string deterrent?
While some could think this as an isolated incident could this have been a test for a much larger event? I have a stock of food, have a fire pit and cords of firewood, a generator and live lakeside but many don’t. I have been preparing for electric grid issues for several years now. My neighbors are similarly prepared. Hardening will take too long. Electric companies might be advised to place armed guards around.
Another excellent observation, Matt.
G Gordon Liddy wrote about these kinds of attacks decades ago in Omni magazine. No fancy EMPs we’re needed, just a bunch of 3 and 4 man teams with scoped high powered rifles and a plan.
I’ve not been able to locate the article itself. Omni closed long before the internet so it’s simply not in the web. If it is I haven’t been able to find it.
L
Gee, Why don’t we just advertise our power grid weaknesses for others to capitalize on?
Akin to putting an ad in the local paper that the locks are broken on your house and you are leaving for a 2 week vacation in the morning.
Exactly true. See #3 about building vs wrecking high-trust societies.
Much of our critical infrastructure is just out in the open, waiting for any malcontent to destroy it.
Power companies even provide handy “Don’t Dig Here!” maps to show precisely where underground electric cables, gas lines and fiber-optic cables are located.
I think the much more sophisticated “Metcalf” attack was a combination of warning and “proof of concept.”
If the same type attack was conducted at a dozen sites the same night, the entire western USA grid would have crashed hard, and would not have been repairable for weeks or longer.
Giant transformers are not stacked up in warehouses, waiting.
Producing them is much more viable than trying to harden all of the substations.
This Fictional Memo to the President from 1989 Predicted Terrorism in the US
“Analyzing power grid safety after substation attack in Moore County”
https://www.wbtv.com/2022/12/06/analyzing-power-grid-safety-after-substation-attack-moore-county/
[Good article that also discusses Metcalf and general analysis.]
“Giant transformers are not stacked up in warehouses, waiting”
Guess where most of them are made.
Yep, China.
I’m in the electrical business these days. Lead times on industrial transformers are at 26 weeks now. It used to be 4 weeks. Every one is basically a custom job.
Our two largest fiber suppliers are quoting 52 week lead times.
Order it today, get it next Christmas. Maybe.
L
Thanks!
I miss the G Man.
L
Link is bad.
L
https://vocal.media/theSwamp/this-fictional-memo-to-the-president-from-1989-predicted-terrorism-in-the-us
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