Terrorists Possibly Targeting Texas, Chat Cites Attack in July; Energy Facilities on Alert

United States Intelligence Agencies early this month eavesdropped on two suspected Al Qaeda operatives discussing potential terrorism in Texas timed for the Fourth of July Weekend raising the spectre of an attack on Energy Facilities in the Houston area, officals said Monday.

That information which did not specify a target, an exact time or type of terrorist attack, was passed along to state officials.

With Texas as the target, officials are especially concerned about oil, gas facilites and pipelines because Al Qaeda terrorists in the past have talked about attacking the energy sector as a way of damaging Americas economy, officials said.

A Federal official confirmed an account first published in Newsweek Magazine that a possible Al Qaeda operative known as 'Sakr' told another person during an Internet Chat Room conversation that an attack had been planned for a long time, and that terrorists inside the United States were waiting for approval from a man dubbed 'The Sheik' before striking in early July.

The information was much more intriguing to intelligence analyists than much of the avalanche of vaguely suspicious electronic intercepts, because Sakr had sent a message predicting 'good news' coming from Morocco shortly before a successful terrorist strike in that country.

Not too sure they are just trying things in Iraq.

http://1010wins.com
Breaker Failure Shuts Down Indian Point 3
Jun 23, 2003 12:08 pm US/Eastern

The Indian Point 3 nuclear power plant shut down automatically when an electrical breaker failed at a substation across the street, the plant's owner announced Monday.

Entergy Corp. spokesman Jim Steets said there was no release of radioactivity and no threat to public safety when the breaker cut out on Sunday afternoon. He said that while the cause of the failure was not known, there was no sign of terrorism or sabotage.

The Indian Point plants' safety and security have been a major issue in the northern suburbs since the terrorist attack on New York City in 2001.

The same breaker, which is in a Con Edison switchyard but is owned and maintained by Entergy, failed in November, knocking out Indian Point 3 for six days.

The breaker, which connects the plant to the region's electrical grid, failed Sunday afternoon. Equipment designed to protect the plant automatically disconnected it from the grid and shut down the nuclear reactor, Entergy said.

Indian Point 2, the other reactor at the site in Buchanan, was unaffected and continued operating at full power.

Entergy said the outage could last several days.

Although temperatures near 90 are forecast for the next few days, the plant shutdown is not expected to endanger the flow of electricity, said Con Edison spokesman Chris Olert.

"We don't anticipate any problems," he said.

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