Silicon Valley substation attack: “This wasn't Billy-Bob & Joe after a few brewskis”

[DaveCinzano]

The attack began just before 1 a.m. on April 16 last year, when someone slipped into an underground vault not far from a busy freeway and cut telephone cables.

Within half an hour, snipers opened fire on a nearby electrical substation. Shooting for 19 minutes, they surgically knocked out 17 giant transformers that funnel power to Silicon Valley. A minute before a police car arrived, the shooters disappeared into the night.

To avoid a blackout, electric-grid officials rerouted power around the site and asked power plants in Silicon Valley to produce more electricity. But it took utility workers 27 days to make repairs and bring the substation back to life...

The attack was "the most significant incident of domestic terrorism involving the grid that has ever occurred" in the U.S., said Jon Wellinghoff, who was chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission at the time.

...The Federal Bureau of Investigation doesn't think a terrorist organization caused the Metcalf attack, said a spokesman for the FBI in San Francisco. Investigators are "continuing to sift through the evidence," he said.

Some people in the utility industry share Mr. Wellinghoff's concerns, including a former official at PG&E, Metcalf's owner, who told an industry gathering in November he feared the incident could have been a dress rehearsal for a larger event.

"This wasn't an incident where Billy-Bob and Joe decided, after a few brewskis, to come in and shoot up a substation," Mark Johnson, retired vice president of transmission for PG&E, told the utility security conference, according to a video of his presentation. "This was an event that was well thought out, well planned and they targeted certain components." When reached, Mr. Johnson declined to comment further...

Wall Street Journal
SFist (cribs WSJ)

 

[FridgeMagnet]

What's funny about this is that it was just called "vandalism". You know, those kids, they have a few beers and some bath salts, then they come along and knock out the communications to a substation and disable transformers with concerted sniper fire. Who hasn't, eh?

I'd guess that it's been tied to a right-wing group which is why they don't want to use the T-word.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

I'd guess that it's been tied to a right-wing group which is why they don't want to use the T-word.

What?

Ever hear of Waco; the Murrah Building, Ruby Ridge?

 

[DaveCinzano]

The lack of an overripe communiqué suggests that the IAF can be ruled out.

 

[Spanky Longhorn]

or any ELF types I would suppose

 

[FridgeMagnet]

What?

Ever hear of Waco; the Murrah Building, Ruby Ridge?

NO I HAVE NEVER HEARD OF THOSE



How long does it take before right-wing domestic terrorism is actually publicly admitted to be such? It's politically inconvenient. Terrorism needs to be tied to foreign policy targets.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

NO I HAVE NEVER HEARD OF THOSE



How long does it take before right-wing domestic terrorism is actually publicly admitted to be such? It's politically inconvenient. Terrorism needs to be tied to foreign policy targets.

I don't think the media is at all afraid of naming right wing terrorism as such: it's done so in the past, and the 't' word sells newspapers.

 

[8115]

SF0

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

A short search reveals that the issue is dealt with fairly regularly, by a variety of news outlets.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/07/opinion/bergen-terrorism-wisconsin/

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...-attack-from-far-right-extremist-8533040.html

http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/extreme-right-wing-political-violence-and-terrorism-9781441151629/

 

[FridgeMagnet]

It's Captain Google.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

It's Captain Google.

It's 'search engine'. You should try it sometime: you'd be amazed the things you can learn.

 

[DotCommunist]

remember when brevik didm his badness and there were people straight out the gates saying muslim terrorist then it turned out to be him and lone nutter became the mantra despite his clear sanity and devotion to a certain brand of far rightism? Funny that.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

remember when brevik didm his badness and there were people straight out the gates saying muslim terrorist then it turned out to be him and lone nutter became the mantra despite his clear sanity and devotion to a certain brand of far rightism? Funny that.

This is where google can once again become an aide-memoire...

http://www.spiegel.de/international...-s-roots-in-right-wing-populism-a-776413.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19366000

http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/sep/01/far-right-support-anders-breivik

http://mondoweiss.net/2011/07/breiv...ing-ideology-that-fueled-norway-massacre.html

 

[DotCommunist]

and we had the glorious sight of the likes of Mad Mel turning backflips to distance themselves from andreas while saying its actually the fault of 'the left' anyway cos he was right in his thinking but not his actions.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

There are always idiots saying anything. Fox News also tried to distance Breivik from the right.

That's just a plurality of opinion; and is different from some sort of agreed-upon media silence with respect to right wing terrorism.

 

[Giles]

Perhaps they don't want to overly publicise this kind of stuff so as not to encourage imitators?

 

[likesfish]

The problem with the right is you really need to be half cut or on drugs to think like they do.
Pira understable
Al qaedia pretty easy to get a grip on.

FEMA death camps,chemtrails nwo etc etc its batshit

 

[DaveCinzano]

Armed terror suspect arrested trying to gain access to major Congressional office complex in Washington:

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2014...gun-into-Capitol-Hill-building/8911406129721/
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/man-arrested-enter-capitol-gun-article-1.1877178
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local...b4fc84-1281-11e4-8936-26932bcfd6ed_story.html

As noted elsewhere, Prestage is President-Elect of the National Pork Producers Council, an agricultural industry lobbying body which, in fact, has:

...been out front opposing modest animal welfare reforms, like the elimination of gestation crates which keep pigs confined their entire lives without being able to turn around [and] lobbied for new laws labeling animal advocates as “extremists” and “terrorists.” The NPPC was one of many industry groups that advocated for the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, for instance.

 

[likesfish]

Probably not a terrorist he's from south carolina so carrying a gun while you go about your business is normal
A staffer was arrested last week for forgetting he was carrying a pistol
Keys wallet phone gun
Now I like guns but much happier living somewhere where its niether legal or expected you carry a pistol for self defence.

 

[Dillinger4]

.

 

[DaveCinzano]

Probably not a terrorist

It was a wry reference to the attempts by him, his organisation and his organisation's fellow major industry players to push ‘ag gag’ laws, which would typically characterise non-violent animal welfare activists who document illegal animal abuse as ‘terrorists’, through at State and Federal level, contrasted with the fact that he has been arrested for going armed into a government building.

 

[likesfish]

Ah right
Still a fuckwit either forget he was carrying the gun Or thought he wouldnt get caught not sure which is dumber

 

[yield]

<bump>

North Carolina county under curfew after power station attack, FBI investigating

Dec 4 (Reuters) - Residents of a central North Carolina county faced a second night of freezing weather without power on Sunday after vandals opened fire on two electric substations in what authorities called a "targeted attack."

A motive for the Saturday night damage spree wasn't clear, said Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields. Due to outages, schools will be closed Monday and potentially longer. Sunday church services and a well-known golf resort were disrupted.

The incidents were being investigated by local, state and federal law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, Fields said. U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said on Twitter that she had been in contact with Duke Energy Corp (DUK.N), which owns the substations, and the Department of Energy was working with other agencies to investigate and respond.

 

[yield]

PSE substations among six attacked in Pacific Northwest in November
Dec. 7, 2022

At least six attacks at electricity substations in Washington and Oregon, including two at Puget Sound Energy substations, have been reported to the FBI in recent weeks.

Spokespeople for Puget Sound Energy, the Cowlitz County Public Utility District, Portland General Electric and Bonneville Power Administration confirmed the attacks happened in November, according to emails sent in response to Seattle Times inquiries.

The FBI declined to confirm it is investigating the attacks, but the utilities say they are cooperating with a federal investigation.

It wasn’t immediately known whether the damage to Northwest substations resulted in any disruption of power.

News of the attacks follows a shooting investigators say damaged substations in North Carolina on Saturday, leaving thousands without power. Energy experts have stressed the need to secure the power grid, warning that the nation’s vulnerable electricity infrastructure could be a target for domestic terrorists.