I really hope I'm wrong about that.
Click the pic to the full-text Free Republic thread.
Posted on 03/25/2015 8:34:09 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
This is a disturbing statistic. Federal energy records indicate that there is an attack – either physical or cyber – on the United States power grid, on average, every three to four days. But before we get into too much of a panic, this doesn’t sound like some sort of concerted terrorist strategy. Still, a definite cause for concern.
About once every four days, part of the nation’s power grid — a system whose failure could leave millions in the dark — is struck by a cyber or physical attack, a USA TODAY analysis of federal energy records finds.
Although the repeated security breaches have never resulted in the type of cascading outage that swept across the Northeast in 2003, they have sharpened concerns about vulnerabilities in the electric system. A widespread outage lasting even a few days could disable devices ranging from ATMs to cellphones to traffic lights, and could threaten lives if heating, air conditioning and health care systems exhaust their backup power supplies.
Some experts and officials fear the rash of smaller-scale incidents may point to broader security problems, raising questions about what can be done to safeguard the electrical grid from an attack that could leave millions without power for days or weeks, with potentially devastating consequences.
While cyber attacks garner a lot of the media attention, they aren’t as numerous as the headline numbers would indicate. The report lists 362 attacks on power stations and utilities between 2011 and 2014, but of those, only 14 were cyber attacks. The vast majority of assaults were “physical” in nature and the method may come as something of a surprise. People are shooting up transformers. A lot of these might be attributed to random acts of vandalism or drunken stunts by teenagers. In 2013, however, there was an actual assault which was clearly more than just dangerous hijinks.
Some of the worst fears of those in charge of the power grid’s security came true shortly before 1 a.m. on April 16, 2013, when unknown attackers unleashed a coordinated attack on Pacific Gas & Electric’s Metcalf substation in northern California.
The attackers severed six underground fiber-optic lines before firing more than 100 rounds of ammunition at the substation’s transformers, causing more than $15 million in damage.
The intentional act of sabotage, likely involving more than one gunman, was unlike any previous attack on the nation’s grid in its scale and sophistication.
The Metcalf attack was fairly well covered in the press, but the story faded quickly from the national consciousness. The reason for this is something which might inspire a bit more confidence in the current system than some analysts are demonstrating. Even though the attackers essentially destroyed some huge, expensive transformers and severed multiple cables, there was no power outage as a result of it. The grid adjusted, shifted the loads and kept the power flowing. To take out a large section of the grid takes a bit more effort – and knowledge – than that.
But that’s not to say that it can’t happen. The report indicates that the majority of these physical attacks take place at substations which have minimal security to say the least. They generally have a chain link fence around them, a few lights and – in some cases – a rather low tech security camera. This seems to be proven by the fact that the multiple, well armed individuals who took out the Metcalf station were never apprehended, nor were the people who shot up dozens of other stations around the country. They also note that industry reps express concerns that local police generally don’t treat these incidents as very serious crimes, thinking of them more along the lines of somebody breaking windows or knocking over gravestones.
All of this does point to a security vulnerability, though, and the industry needs to step up and beef up their protection. We’re not seeing a massive outage at this point because none of these incidents were large scale, coordinated attacks. But the fact that it seems to be so easy means that things could go downhill quickly if someone actually does try this on a large scale.
Almost all of the rounds fired that night were at the cooling “fins” of the transformers. They are easily repaired.
The big “box section” of the transformers were not compromised.
AFAIK
Just got the generator back from a maintenance tune up. Slapped the Tri-fuel kit back on it. Had the gas line on the low pressure side extended so I can feed it from the local utility as long as that lasts.
After that I’ve got 2 100 lb cylinders of propane filled and ready to go. The 8kw unit I’ve got will run the entire house including the high efficiency central air system.
I’ve got a smaller 3000 watt Coleman I can haul around in the family truckster to power the local propane dealers pump, but I suspect he’s got one. If he does that little thing will be great trade bait.
3 60 gallon rain barrels catch the roof run off here. Got 8 or 10 pounds of Pool Shock to make bleach for sanitizing it, along with some other uses I dreamed up for the stuff. Won’t go into those here.
Shovels, picks, mattocks, mauls, axes, hatchets, machetes, and a chain saw for hand work. Got some pre-sized and cut sheets of 3/4 plywood pre drilled with screw holes to make the place look all boarded up and “nothing here” like. More persuasive means of getting ferals to move on are always close at hand.
Been working with a few like minded folk on the NPP, too. Nothing too obvious, of course. Is it perfect? Nope. Are there softer targets close by? Yep. Gonna suck to be them one day.
Hope all is well.
L
For out side use a above ground inflatable pool as an emergency cistern while pressure still is in the lines.
Put a plastic tarp on the ground, lay out the pool then take a 5 gal wet/dry vac and back feed the exhaust port into the pools vents that are there for deflation. Use gen power or battery and it pops the pool right up in 1-2 min. Close deflation vents and while some else runs whatever water they can into it you can top the pressure off by hand.
Instant 425 gal cistern.
cover with tarp, put some vegetable oil in the water to keep mosquitoes out, some pool shock for algae and you should be GTG
You done good Marine !!!
Power inverter on every truck ?
Cordwood for the wood stove ?
Solar yard lights that can be brought inside at night ?
Pressure Cooker with a copper coil to distill steam condensate from suspect h20 ?
Bicycles with key tools an common spares ?
Mk 1 Mod O barking alarm system , small, less feed per bark ?
Bed tanks on the trucks and OEM fuel tanks replaced for higher capacity ?
Bug Sprayers (new) converted with water saver shower heads for hygiene ?
Hand powered clothes wringer, wash tubs, clothes lines for laundry ?
Long wire directional AM & shortwave antenna aka stealth clothes line ?
Old microwave metal ammo cans, wrap in aluminum foil aka wif emp proof spares, relays, radios etc, protected against low emp only....?
Furniture, book shelves etc rearranged in points of entry to form kill channels ?
Paradigm screw in “duck bill” choke with #4 buck on yer 12 gauge ?
Black bedsheets and contractor bags with staple gun for light discipline ?
Medicinal Alcohol ...twofer, drink and pain management ?
Door jams reinforced, security bars ?
Real wine cellar with lambrusco an tocai (red / white) 365 bottles basic ?
Multi-purpose soaps such as Dr Bonners for clothes or body ?
Spare Shoes, clothing for kids as they grow ?
Hand and power tools with hardware and materials to fabricate or restore ?
Burn barrels and can crushers for waste disposal ?
............just some other stuff to ponder........:o)
I really hope I'm wrong about that.
Click the pic to the full-text Free Republic thread.
For wine check out the Bota Box stuff. We like the Malbec. Stacks real nice and it’s sealed up airtight. And it’s not bad at all once to breathes a bit. 4 bottle equivalent for less than 18 bucks. things may be tough but we will not be barbarians. LOL.
Checks on several, but not all. Thanks for the tips.
Hopefully one day you’ll meet the bark units. Buddhist monasteries used Pugs for alert dogs. Their Latin moniker is “malem en parvo” which translates roughly as “big dog in small package.”
The Papillon is our emergency back up dog, in case the primary unit fails for some reason. LOL
Best,
L
Oh ‘they’ have lots for it, but ‘they’ won’t show it. ‘It’ is the many bases and technologies over the last three decades.
Adult and most certainly for the kids. I have one bag with decks of cards, dice, word puzzle books(adult and children), chess and checker sets, dominoes and Rubiks Cubes.
You’re smart. Scrabble would be good, too.
Electrical outages sometimes for days - may be a couple of weeks are common place here.
Electricity is a convenience, but not a necessity - other than for FR. Might go into withdrawal, but probably get a lot of work done.
Are you in an Apartment, Condo, or single family residence?
This will impact your decision on options.
As we own our home, and experience many electrical outages, we built our home so that we have two fireplaces. One in the living room, and one in the kitchen/dining are.
We also at one time used a wood stove in the basement, and were nice and toasty even without the furnace. We also have a generator, electric heaters, and sterno stoves for quick cup of coffee.
Now for some brainstorming on your question - these are just possibilities to think about and maybe explore further.
Consider that you may want to plan on only heating one room. If the Master bedroom has it’s own bath, That might be your choice. You can use a kerosene or propane camping stove with proper ventilation to heat just this small area(less fuel needed).
Make sure you have some good sleeping bags (we have some down filled ones), and hats, gloves, and layers of clothes and jackets.
For very long term, some choices are solar, wind, or make your own fuel using corn. I’ve read that you can get a converter for a generator so that you can burn ethanol, which you can make if you have the materials and space to raise the corn/crop.
These are not options that I have researched, since we have a good source of wood on our own properties. Good Luck.
Great post, thank you for taking the time. I now realize that I am missing sleeping bags! I will definitely add them to my list.
I live in a single family bungalo style home, that sits on a 40’x140’ lot. Since it is just Buford the Coon Hound and me, I have plenty of space for stuff. The issue comes to the actual storing of fuels...
You are welcome. So you have plenty of space to develop a plan for a sustainable garden to supply your own food, and maybe produce your own fuel.
Bottom line is you either have to store it or make it. Even if you store it, you will eventually need to make it, if there’s a really long period of shortage/unavailability.
You might want to do a search on urban homesteading. There’s a guy in California who only has 1/10 of an acre IIRC, and he is providing much of his own electricity, food, and fuel. Should give you some good ideas.
We began to garden again about 5 years ago. Planted a lot of fruit trees, berry bushes, and vegetable gardens, even growing some grains. Learning what works and what is easiest. We can, dehydrate, and freeze much of our own food, now - really cheap organic produce and no fears of E-Coli, pesticides-etc.
amen, come quickly Lord Jesus!
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.