This report was originally published by JD Heyes at Natural News
It’s looking more and more like it will take a major attack against the U.S. power grid before the government and electric industry come together and get serious about protecting it.
According to a new investigative report that likely won’t get much attention outside of certain circles, the U.S. electric grid is increasingly vulnerable as power companies lag behind in adopting better security measures.
And the result, someday soon, could be catastrophic — as in near-complete societal breakdown.
As reported by the Washington Free Beacon, the report from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, or NERC, says that the grid’s vulnerability is heightened by an unprecedented wave of attacks that threaten to cripple the entire country.
NERC notes further that amid a wave of stepped-up attacks against key power stations, the organization has had difficulty convincing power companies to step up their protective measures meant to thwart would-be attackers and terrorists.
Since 2014, according to the Congressional Research Service, which cited from the NERC report, “security risks to the power grid have become an even greater concern in the electric utility industry,” though the power sector “has not necessarily reached the level of physical security needed based on the sector’s own assessments of risk.”
The Free Beacon noted further:
In the three years since federal overseers implicated a series of new standards for physical security of grid locations, the industry has worked to improve its defenses but has struggled to implement all of the government’s recommendations, according to the report.
The slow moving pace of reforms, combined with an increased threat level and inability of the federal government to warn of upcoming attacks, has fueled concerns that the U.S. electric grid could be easily taken down by a rogue actor.
“There is widespread belief that bulk power critical assets are vulnerable to physical attack, that such an attack potentially could have catastrophic consequences, and that the risks of such attacks are growing,” the report says. “But the exact nature of such potential attacks and the capability of perpetrators to successfully execute them are uncertain.”
The report has resonated among members of Congress, especially in lieu of a rifle attack in September 2016 against a transformer substation in Utah — the latest in a string of similar attacks dating back to at least April 2013, when attackers targeted an electric power station near San Jose, Calif., which took 27 days to repair. (Related: MIT researchers create device they claim can “generate electricity from air.”)
Then as now, lawmakers and federal officials aren’t sure if the attacks are local acts of vandalism or part of a larger domestic terrorism movement.
“Although the electric power sector seems to be moving in the overall direction of greater physical security for critical assets, many measures have yet to be implemented and the process of corporate realignment around physical security is still underway,” the NERC report noted, leaving out a comprehensive review of all pressing national security threats.
“The September 2016 rifle attack on a 69 kV transformer substation in Utah—which reportedly left 13,000 rural customers without power for up to eight hours—showed that similar incidents could occur almost anywhere on the grid,” warned the report.
Should rogue actors — terrorists — take down a large portion of the grid, nearly all experts agree that societal chaos would result almost immediately.
“While to date there have been only minor attacks on the power system in the United States, large-scale physical destruction of key parts of the power system by terrorists is a real danger,” the National Academy of Sciences warned in a recent report. “Some physical attacks could cause disruption in system operations that last for weeks or months.”
Stay up-to-date on this story and others like it at Terrorism.news.
J.D. Heyes is also editor-in-chief of The National Sentinel.
Sources include:
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The big problem with a physical attack on facilities is that we don’t make a lot of that equipment anymore. We have to get it from a foreign country. EPA, unions, and taxes have destroyed our industry.
Recovery Transformer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIpLwp2YuDk
No, corporate greed and wanting to buy everything on the cheap destroyed our industry. You will never have industries in this country, willing to pay decent wages as long as corporations are allowed to buy our infrastructure from foreign companies. It is all about profits and their shareholders.
“No, corporate greed and wanting to buy everything on the cheap destroyed our industry. ”
Your 100% correct. They call it Comparative Advantage. Its great in theoretical economics that doesn’t look at the damage that it does to individual nations. Regarding unions, the US Textile Industry, largely non union an even in a union environment paying $15/hr lost its manufacturing to Asian labor making 50 cents (or less) per hour.
Globalist Greed is the culprit
Well Opinions are like A-Holes everyone has one. On this subject mine is way out of date; Long ago 30 years I knew A LITTLE ABOUT THE SUBJECT NOW EFFECTIVELY I DON’T. But please stick with me. Years ago; a primary vulnerability was the gas pipelines. So many of the new power plants were gas without any fuel storage. I knew of a few locations where a little physical could disable most of the power in S. CA. I begin to wonder if quietly we haven’t really done a lot about the problem. Solar and wind power are a lot more diffuse and robust. Home solar 10 years ago was effectively non existent. Just at the rate we have been growing in, 10 more years I’m not sure we give a XXXX about the GRID.
Start looking at the number of stores that have invested in their own solar power, Wal Mart, REA , COSCO and others, I think perhaps a lot is being done. I’d like to read something from someone who looks at what we are going to have shortly.
Paranoid, the problem with that is those solar arrays are tied into the grid. There is NO storage system. No sun=no power. Those arrays just make the power meter run backwards and give them energy credit. We have giant solar farms here and when the sun goes down its back on the grid time. In fact the most expensive part of a stand alone solar system is the storage batteries.
True, but look at what was 10 years ago. Look at ten years from now. That’s why the power Co’s are worried. If storage keeps coming down and the Solar roof becomes real the Major Grid is dead, and so are the huge power Co’s.
I look forward to the day I get to run my own little mini-reactor in my back yard.
You won’t get a reactor, you will get illegal aliens living in your backyard, that is until they take your house…
Real life “Camp Of The Saints” type invasion is headed this way. Today, as you read this.
“An army of illegal aliens is marching on America”
https://hotair.com/archives/2018/03/31/army-illegal-aliens-marching-america/
America’s days are numbered. Soon, “infrastructure” will be the least of your worries.
Me too; Mk-86 thermonuke here I come. Always wondered if Cold Fusion was killed because of possibility someone could do that. They never came out with any data that made reasonable anything
Actually if you have a solar rig that jacks your meter back’ards, the Power Co will be pi$$ed and shut you down when they find out about it.
They are mandated by the Feds to buy your solar electrical energy using an interface and meter set-up that they approve of and they buy your kw-hrs at WHOLESALE rates (like maybe 1 to 2 cents per kw-hr)
Meters spinning backwards would be ‘stealing’ from them at the RETAIL rate ( 6 cents per kw-hr and higher…much higher in some locations)
<bb
Grid tied Solar does not allow you to store your power with batteries, because if the grid fails they dont want any back feed in the power lines while the lines are repaired. Grid tied Solar will save you money but if the Grid fails your Solar becomes worthless and shuts down anyway.
So go find good South facing land and design and build a full 100% Off The Grid House.
Thar, they make inverters that do both. Its called grid tied with battery backup. You can use them as strictly off grid if you want. They will provide power to your house AND feed the excess back to the grid. If the grid fails ALL grid tie inverters have an anti islanding device that prevents power from being fed to the grid while no power is present on the grid. It has to sense that the grid has power BEFORE it will send power out to it.
Genius, enphase Co. That makes the panel micro inverters actually makes a lot of computer enhanced programs for battery banks. Out in places like California, they have peak and non peak hours for buying electricity.
So what enphase does is, sucks power from the grid, say in off peak hours to charge your battery bank. Then when the time falls unto the more expensive tier say like at 7 AM, your home system then your cuts your power off from the grid and gets it from your battery bank, which kicks in during the peak times and you get cheaper stored power from your batteries to help keep your Grid tied bill to a minimum.
Its smart computer technology. More exciting things to come as all of this smart solar technology unrolls in the market place. Enphase is a leader in solar power production.
Power companies are loosing their monopolies so watch them attack the solar industry with BS regulations and import tarriffs on solar pannels and taxes on solor products.
Using solar power to pump water uphill into a storage lake during the day, and letting it flow downhill at night to run a turbine generator, is about 80% efficient which is the same as a expensive battery system.
Most ALL Existing Housing and even New House construction is not designed to accept Solar. Its not facing south and is design with lack of real energy efficiency. Todays housing are power pigs. Low 8 ft ceilings that trap hot air so you have to run your AC full time to keep it cool. It should be mandatory that you have a South Facing roof with a tilt slope of 37 to 45 degrees so solar can be added to the roof in the future. The south side roof to not have any obstructions like septic risers or vents that restrist panel placement. Most all housing today is designed to be grid tied energy hogs. Back before AC, houses had tall 10 foot ceilings with large double hung windows where the top half of the window could be lowered with counter weights to get rid of the room’s hot air by the tall ceiling with a nice cross breeze.
What windows sold today can you lower the top window pane to let hot air out. Since heat rises. Its fixed and you need to turn on another power pig ceiling fan to displace the hot air. Its all about keeping the power Co’s in business.
You pretty much need to custom design houses to accept roof top solar with proper roof tilt facing South, or have the yard space with good southern exposure for a ground mount solor system array.
The US Building Codes need a major overhaul to be more renewable energy designed for solar roof placement if a ground systen cant be placed like in small yard lots in the city.
Until the US starts putting common sense into house construction building codes, we will remain the energy hogs of the world.
Im going through construction permitting right now for an addition, and all the needless bullsh!t they require is total BS.
Jas,
You may want to pay for the EPA, Union, and excessive taxation BS but I do not.
Blame corporate greed all you want but most corporations only make a few pennies on the dollar every year. It is the banks that have really good returns.
You want to know what greed is? Become a member of the Longshoreman’s union.( I was a member for a while) while I did not work the barges I learned about their pay and how they get paid.
$200,000 a year to run a forklift seems out of whack.
Why did the US Textile Industry, largely low paying, leave the country.?
Wages
The hourly wage of an experienced longshoreman under the most recent union contract, affecting U.S. East Coast ports, is $35 per hour; with wages for newcomers starting at $20. A longshoreman’s total compensation, though, includes benefits that amount to 24 percent of the hourly wage and a bonus for each container of cargo they work with. The bonuses and benefits drive the potential hourly compensation up to $44.20 per hour, or $91,998 per year for a longshoreman who works 40 hours each week.
Industry paying half (or less) of this wage fled the US for virtual slave labor in a Free Trade environment.
According to Euromonitor, Chinese hourly wage hit USD3.6 in 2016.
Chinese factory workers are now getting paid more than ever: Average hourly wages hit $3.60 last year, spiking 64 percent from 2011, according to market research firm Euromonitor. That’s more than five times hourly manufacturing wages in India, and is more on par with countries such as Portugal and South Africa.
That is just slightly lower than minimum wage in most US southern states.
I was referring to my ILWU in Hawaii.
Most guys here work really odd hours and days.
There is only so much dock space and they have
to alternate it with “love boats”.
It is not a 40 hour week like 9 to 5.
That is why they can rack up tremendous
overtime and really big bucks.
We who live here have to pay 25% more for
“stuff” because of this union
and the union requirement for our shipping.
American made, American flagged,
and American crewed.
Hawaii would be a pretty cheap place to live
if it weren’t for Democrats and unions.
Your example is not connected to the massive industrial manufacturing exodus from the developed to the developing world which has, at this point, endangered US security. The extreme delta in wages, benefits, environmental, safety and health afforded people in the civilized nations is too much to pay when virtual slave labor is available in other nations.
Globalist corporate greed is dragging down the developed world. Only a few nations located primarily in Northern Europe which supply a relatively small market of ultra high quality goods have escaped its effects. As seen the $15/hr US Textile Industry is far too much to pay when labor in Pakistan is available for 25 cents / hr. Its a race to the bottom. As USMC Major General 2 time MOH recipient has stated, first go US business and the dollar out o the country then followed by the US military to protect it. This is why we have 800 bases around the world and our people die. not or our security, freedom or safety but for globalist business expansion. This occurs while the entire Main Stream Media, owned line hook and sinker by the aforementioned repeat images of the Flag Over Iwo Jima. Its indisputable fact.
Dang relik, If the union is paying so much why don’t you get a job with them? Or have Juan Hulio do it for 5 bux an hour?
Gen
I’ll tell you about Longshoremen working the docks.
You don’t just walk in and get a job, you need to be sponsored.
Most good paying jobs in Hawaii are the same. You need a
sponsor or you won’t get into a union, no matter how
competent you are.
The word they use here is Ohana, you have to be family.
Family, AKA mafia
Capitalism worst system ever…until you compare it to every other system ever tried. Go see how electric service is those comand control economies..Cuba, Venezuela,etc.
Get off their Greed Grid. ? destroying ending in Cimpanies or the government to fix anything. Its been over 3 years now, Ive been living off the grid. No Mo Elect bills here. 100% Solar runs my BOL. Get out of the city dependency of grid pacifiers. Take charge of your life and lock in your power and solar energy costs for the next 25 years. My ROI RETURN ON SOLAR investment is just 4 to 5 years. Free electricity for the next 25 years. I may have to replace my battery bank about every 10 Years $1000 cost, but thats about it. And I have a back up gas generator to run things or keep the battery bank charged. Its maintence free. Just check the water level in the batteries once a month thats it.
Off the Grid is a No Brainer.
Hate the spell ck cell phone bs. I meant to say. Stop depending on power companies or the government to fix anything.
TSB. I was six years old when I saw my first electric light bulb.On of course, made me wet my pants. To this day I have oil lamps and lanterns. As long as I live I will never be without them.
My solar runs everything fine too but as far as a backup generator I went to a propane gen. I used the gas gen so little that it just gummed up (I use stabilizer religiously) and was a pain in the ass. Sometimes I would go 2 years with it just sitting in the shed. Scored a new (1 hour on it) generac 5500 watt propane gen for 500 bux. A lot of people are switching to propane gen’s that have solar in my area.
Conversion kits are becoming more readily available to convert generators from gasoline to propane or natural gas. Some kits allow switching on the fly for dual or tri fuel flexibility.
Size of your system in Watts?
Battery capacity in Watts?
Inquiring minds want to know.
This is a prepper site even though we talk lots of politics.
This is my off grid cabin:
1140 watts solar array
1260Ah battery bank (12 volt). 6- L-16 420Ah batteries.
Midnite solar 80 amp MPPT controller
Magnum energy (not recommended) 2K inverter charger.
I run 2 small refrigerators (soon to be three) radio’s , stereo, lights, power tools, pumps, etc.
At our home near town we have :
1040 watts of solar panels and 4 enphase microinverters. The last power bill was 39 bux.
Designed and installed by a union worker lol 😛
Gen,
Thanks!
I tried to direct import my solar panels and LiFePo batteries but ran into significant problems. I’m still working that problem.
I can get everything to the dock in Honolulu, but customs is the killer. You basically have to import everything as “parts”.
It’s really a racket to import stuff into America.
My system as designed is about 8 times bigger than yours but it will serve two homes and a wood/auto/welding shop.
I bought an AIMS split phase 220 inverter as I can order parts from Digikey and repair it myself. AIMS is as about brutally simple as it gets, electronics wise.
I use 220 whenever I can.
And since I’m retired, I’m no longer in a union.
Mine is an AIMS too, 6kva split phase 230, 12kva surge. With it’s automatic transfer switch I barely or never even notice when the grid goes down. One night recently the power went out, I saw only a slight flicker in the lights while watching TV in our living room but didn’t think anything of it until I later walked into the kitchen and peered out to see a dark street. Went outside and the whole neighborhood was in the dark, except my house, which was brightly lit as always. Our neighbors were in front of their houses looking at our house wondering why we were the only house lit.
My FL Off-Grid Cottage: Testing this out, been good for 3 yrs now. The Power flows this way through the components
*1200 Watts Solar Array Collectors – 4x 300 Watt panels Ground Mounted on a pool screen framing, aluminum and light weight and wind resistant. Batteries and all electronics located behind and under the panels in a sealed twin box. Cost for Panels now about .50 cents a Watt.
*Outback 80 MPPT Controller, is excellent, about $550
*8 x 6 Volt Duracell Batteries, Hooked in series for 12 V, then paralleled for a true 12 V Bank. Cost $1000+
*Then a Harbor Freight 3000 Watt / 6000 Watt Inverter to 110 which runs to my Cottage Fusebox for full wired Cottage inside and out/ lights and wall switched just like any other house. Cost about $300. No, its not a true sine wave inverter.
Maybe in 1.5 years had to run the Generator 1 time to charge up the Battery Bank. Runs like a top. This is doable for small cottages and BOL’s. Runs small fridge, all lights energy efficient. Power tools, radios, Internet satellite dish which is on a lot.
Later, I will build a Garage with a south facing roof with proper tilt degree for full day’s sun and use that for a really full power off the grid. Like 8000 to 10,000 Watts or more.
Get the little meter “KiloWatt” and Harbor Freight to meter what each of your appliances uses. You will soon realize how to down size and get real of what you really need. No more Electric Coffee Pots 800 Watts, and anything to heat an appliance is not efficient using solar. Go with propane.
Enphase microinverters work great for grid Tied solar.
Say there, if you have your controller or inverter in the same box with the batteries you need to change that asap! Even if you have sealed batteries it is extremely bad to have any electronics in a battery case. Your battery case should also be vented even if you have sealed batteries. I hope like hell you haven’t done the above!!!!
A neighbor of mine didn’t have his battery shack vented well enough and one hot day the hydrogen gas exploded and burned his house and everything to the ground.
Hey G. Read above again in my description. I said Twin box. Batteries on one side and the electronics on the other side. The lid is cracked for ventilation.
Yes there are a lot of tips people need to know when designing a solar power system. Using the right guage wire and same battery cable wire lengths between the batteries. Never add a new battery to an old battery bank. Every battery should be bought and fully charged then added at the same time.
When the batteries are charging I can hear them bubbling. And used Distilled water to keep the battery fluid up and full. I check mine once a month on the first to make sure. Low water could destroy the battery lead cells.
My system is Ground mounted about 5 yards away from my cottage. And any power surge will trip my Fusebox and shut down. I also tied the ground mount system down with wire cables and 4 screw in the ground anchors and was just fine through the last hurricane. Did not blow away.
Solar Panels 12 Kw (40 300 watt panels)
Batteries 60 Kw
Sine inverters 8Kw
Panels facing East, South East, South, South West and West
Anywhere the sun is in the sky we make power. It’s all about the winter when you lose 45 degrees of sun arc on December 22nd.
I got a pallet of 325 watt panels for .40 a watt, from santansolar dot com last spring. Their deals change weekly. Currently they have panels for .62 a watt.
Red,
Thanks,
I have an email into them (San Tan solar)for freight costs,
on a pallet of 330 watt panels.
60 kW, That is one hell of a battery system you have.
I’m going with a LiFePo battery bank. it initially
is pricey but long term about 1/3 the cost on a per watt
basis. I’m going to start with a 6.8 kW bank and see
how it goes. Your 25 or so batteries cost about $10,000
(assuming L16 batteries). I also assume you probably only use 6kW out of the batteries per day so you don’t kill your batteries too fast.
My LiFePo batteries will cost $7200, for two of them and I can cycle them at 6kW per day, they carry a ten year warranty.
Historically I use about 3 kW per night(electric stove).
So I will find out how it works, it is easy to add in another battery to take it to 10.2kW capacity.
Hey Rellik,
I have been down the L-16 battery road. They don’t last long when hooked up in multiple strings. You can’t properly equalize them in long strings.
We have 12, two volt 2,350 amp Rolls batteries wired in series for a 24 volt system. The typically have a 20 year life, but since they seldom go below 90%, we should get 25 plus years.
This looks like good BUG OUT property:
https://www.landandfarm.com/property/Prime_Lake_Property_at_Lake_James-3460787/?utm_source=criteo&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=cpc
🙂
The good news,,,,
The majority of the critters negatively affected by wide spread blackouts are dummocraps
I don’t know about a single rouge actor but a dozen or so rouge actors working in unison might pose a serious threat.
*rogue
Let’s not be hasty now. “Rouge Actor” has a nice ring to it… ?
Well ok but the rouge actors are not trying to take down the power grid…they’re trying to be the power grid … so there might be some confusion?
Would it be called terrorists or Rogue Actors if the grid went down right after an AR-15 confiscation order?
Something to consider.
Well , i for one am thankful the power grid is still powered up by private entities . Im in no hurry for the government to rush in and take control over it . My thoughts are that we are in better hands now .
Just look at what has happened to health care once the government got involved , geeze , no brainer . These agencys put out these reports that make it sound like the government should step in and take control , but thats the idea , right ?
You want the government telling you how much electric you can have and when ?
Ill take my chances with “rouge” actors , lmao .
The power companies have the gov. in their back pocket.
I have friends that retired and built a new home in Arizona.
Their home is 100% solar powered and the backup generator has only ran a few times in the past several years, yet they were required by law to connect to a pubic utility.
On a local level the incentive to go solar has been taken away while the power companies have increased their rates to pay for THEIR shiny new solar field operations.
Personally I don’t need the power company or the government to make electricity.
……….Where the hell is Genius when you need him?
There isn’t much you can do in a place that requires grid connection except move somewhere that allows total off grid. Shut the main breaker from the grid off and just use solar. You will have to pay the minimum extortion fee still…
The good news in Arizona is that the UTILITIES you are required to connect to, are required to buy your excess energy … at wholesale rates; which is the same price they pay for excess energy from PRK.
So now your friend has TWO backups !!! 🙂
I have said before that I work in the power industry. I am a supervisor at a power station. Physical attack is a real threat. There is no security other than a fence at most power stations and all substations. If people knew where to hit it is easy. I will post the latest industry news now which has to do with cyber security.
Cyberattacks did not compromise nuclear power plants. The AP (3/16, Daly) reports that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in a statement that “a Russian government hacking operation aimed at the U.S. power grid did not compromise operations at any of the nation’s power plants.” The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission “also said the incident had no operational impacts on interstate transmission of electricity.” Nonetheless, Energy Secretary Perry “said the prolonged cyberattack ‘demonstrates exactly why’ he is creating an Office of Cyber Security and Emergency Response.’” Perry said that the new office “will consolidate and strengthen efforts to ‘combat the growing nefarious cyber threats we face,’” and added “that his department worked closely with other federal agencies and energy providers to help ensure that hacking attempts ‘failed or were stopped.’” The AP (3/16) also moved an abbreviated version of its coverage.
Platts (3/16, Canonica, Freebairn) reports that several US nuclear plants “experienced multiple cyberattacks in mid-2017, and the corporate networks of some plant owners were affected, US Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman David McIntyre said in an email Friday.” However, “there was no adverse impact to any of the NRC-regulated safety, security or emergency preparedness functions,” McInyre said. He did “not name the plants in question, but there were news reports in July citing anonymous government sources identifying Wolf Creek, a Kansas nuclear plant, as having been targeted.”
EnergyWire (3/16, Sobczak, Subscription Publication) reports Bill Gross, “director of incident preparedness at the Nuclear Energy Institute, pointed out that the technical details in the DHS bulletin were already available last year.” E&E News “first reported last year that multiple nuclear power generation sites had been hit by the hacking campaign, though nuclear safety was not affected.” The New York Times “later reported that Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corp., based out of Kansas, fell into the hackers’ crosshairs.” NEI’s Gross “declined to speculate on what, if anything, may have been stolen from nuclear power companies’ corporate networks, but he pointed out that the highest-risk ‘safeguards’ information would be kept isolated from administrative computers.” Gross said, “Certainly, the protective measures that we have in place preclude the types of attacks that were described in the bulletin today,” adding that there is “really no digital pathway into the [nuclear] plant.”
The Kansas City (MO) Star (3/16, Londberg, 574K) reports, “The Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corp. in Burlington, Kan., was one target of numerous cyberattacks against electric, water and power plants in the U.S.”
The Hill (3/16, Bowden, 2.4M) reported that federal regulators with the NRC “said Friday that a Russian cyber attack aimed at the U.S. power grid last year did not compromise operations at any U.S. nuclear power plants.” According to the Hill, the NRC “said corporate networks at some of the 99 U.S. power plants it licenses were breached, but that no safety or security functions were accessed.” Additional coverage was provided by TIME (3/16, Jenkins, 18.9M) and Japan Times (3/17, 12K), among other outlets.
Science advocacy group urges rejection of nuclear plant protection limitation petition. Reuters (3/16, Gardner) reports the Union of Concerned Scientists on Friday “urged the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission…to reject a longstanding industry request to limit cyber attack protections at nuclear plants.” A senior scientist from the group, Edwin Lyman, said in regards to the Trump Administration’s public blaming of Moscow on Thursday for hacking into nuclear power and other energy infrastructure: “In light of the growing cyber threat to nuclear plants highlighted by yesterday’s alert, the agency should now simply reject” the petition filed by the Nuclear Energy Institute in 2014.
Democratic lawmaker calls Trump ‘a security threat.’ Breitbart (3/16, Key, 1.32M) reported Rep. John Garamendi in an appearance Friday on CNN’s “Situation Room” described the Trump presidency as “a very serious security threat” to the U.S. and asserted, “It is time to get this guy out of there.” Garamendi continued, “I’ve had it with this president. We have a situation in which he has been one year, not pushing back against Putin in Russia. During that entire year, Russia has not only continued to hack our election processes but also hacking into, gaining control of nuclear power plants, water systems, sanitation systems, aviation systems. That is an act of war, nothing less.” He added, “It would be an article of impeachment if he hasn’t done what he can do to protect the very essential elements of this nation – our grids, our nuclear. It is one more thing on top of all this other stuff.”
Mike in VA
Our work background are similar. Its my contention that even if the generation or transmission side could be hacked shutting it down is one thing but image is quite a different story. Equipment is protected with hard wired interlocks impervious to outside influence (except hand on, on site of course). A physical attack is just that. You can guard generation facilities but there is too much in transmission to even contemplate.
damage not image
The hacking is overblown as no permanent damage should result. I shutter at the thought of physical and I’m uncomfortable even having a discussion about its vulnerabilities least a nut get ideas.
K2,
A guy with cash ,a decent 4WD, a 50 Cal Barret semi-auto, and a case of ammo can probably shut down the west or east coast in a day or two. The electrical would be down for months.
Luckily for us, nutcases only want to shoot, drive over, or bomb innocent people.
We are lucky. An animal caught in a transformer or power line shut down power for 2.5 hours tonight on Friday night at the end of the month on a holiday weekend. Not good.
Have you ever seen what happens when a druggie gets into
a substation? It isn’t pretty.
They literally blow apart.
More than one rodent put its nose on phase A and tail on phase B with resulting catastrophic effect. The very nature of transmission has vulnerability all over it.
just pile car tires around the wooden poles and set then on fire. especially those cross country high tension lines.
Garamendi, was a complete dolt as a state legislator in California, flatulating verbally about things that he knows and knew nothing about. I put zero credibility in anything coming out of Garamendi or any of his spokesholes. He’s far more clueless and dangerous than Trump.
This is mostly BS saying the Russians hacked into a power grid. I could hack in it and use a VPN VIRTUAL IP address from any location in the world. It was probably Israehell using a Russian VPN IP Address to then blame Russia. Most News is Propaganda Fake news. The US has Government FBI and NDA White Hat Hacks breaking in and hacking every other country out there. So stop the BS propaganda. I not buying into the blame Russia for everything. Israehell had attacked the US more than Russia.
Most Computer system Hacks in the US originate from China or eastern block Euro Nations like Ukraine.
Meant to say NSA white hat paid hackers not NDA.
All these US Military bases abroad are out post listening posts to suck digital data out of that country and they hack into that countries systems constantly. The US set up a full command cyber security branch of the military to do that and counter cyber hacking.
Kevin
So true. A physical attack would be easy as I said. Just shooting transformers in the right places and you could cause massive blackouts. Our southern border being open does not help matters. I have wondered if a few teams of our enemies are already here.
I hope this never happens but I can say for sure we are on borrowed time unless we protect our grid and I just don’t see that happening. Time will tell.
Mike
I did not see your comment before I typed my much later comment in.
You are right!
Damn man, I am getting my stuff together to outfit the new 4 wheeler (Already have most of this in each of the other two)
Tire plug kit, tool kit, 12volt compressor, snatch block, 12 volt outlet, flashlight/batteries, mainstay 3600 food bar, space blankets, paracord, waterproof rain gear, lighters, water, first aid, knife, rope, toilet paper, binoculars, oil, trail marking tape, pencil/paper, slime for the tires, mess kit, duct tape, damn man a couple hundred bux just for the basics. That does not include my bugout bag if I was bugging out with it. I have had to use my supplies to help others in the past because they don’t carry shit with them (except beer) which is a good trade lol 🙂
Snatch block, that like a salt lick? Haha, tastes like salty fish. Mmmm.
Turbine operator here. Been in fossil/hydro for quite a few years. Power plant work is dangerous and difficult. Not to mention there is a lot to know. Many people cannot do it to be straight about it. For the union haters, GFY. Aside from their fucking political affiliation they are necessary in this field. In regards to physical security, it’s not practical to attack stations. All 3 of us know this. The hacking angle is the real threat. They will never harden against emp and they simply cannot protect against hacking. These are facts, so prepare accordingly.
Back in the late 70’s and early 80’s, I worked in a power plant as an engineer. Been to Wolf Creek on a inter-plant visit. Security? Granted it’s been stepped up since 9/11; but, it is deplorable to use that word. Sure, daytime it seems all up to snuff; but come night – the wee hours?, no. Usually some half-awake couple of guys supposedly making their rounds and keeping an eye on the gates and cam system. It is the same all over. Where I now live in Florida – TECO is a prime example of this same flaw. Any dedicated a**hole bent on bringing things down could take out an entire plant with a moderate amount of planning and minimal efforts. Here’s one for you all to think about. Ever see basketball shoes and such hanging from a power line some kid threw up there? We all have, I’m sure. Now, imagine some log-chain, concrete reinforcing mesh panels…. . My point is that low-tech can almost always defeat high-tech. Never lose sight of that fact. Cams? Some strategically placed and pointed dog/kitty toy lasers bought at a Dollar General or flea market will do the trick, overload any cam. And on and on. No, there is no such thing as invulnerability.
As usual the government will react after the fact and only to cover their asses and point fingers. This too will become political. When it happens, heads need to roll.
The US Government wants the grid to crash so they can blame Russia to give them an excuse for WW3.
Well duh
All of this crazy ass nonsense going on an what is the answer many of these damn fools have – Let’s get rid of guns. Oh okay, that is a GREAT answer you mental midgets. Folks, NEVER give up your guns to anyone, never!
Power outage tonight for 2.5 hours. I have a battery-operated radio and happened to hear that the outage was due to an animal that contacted a transformer. Happend on a Friday night, at dinner time. Not fun.
Hey I’m sayin hey Banger, OldGuy,Relik,Jim,Mike,Kevin,Grunty, Paranoid … Ok everybody
Happy Easter slash April Fools Day ….. Ok?
It is early,
but Jesus has risen.
I think he might still be in bed.
He was supposed to come over and mow my lawn. Gotta love that cheep non union labor! Oh wait, you mean gee zus not hey soos, sorry…
The Pope just said there is no Hell. Pope Francis has just become a Whistleblower on Religion’s Fraud. If there is no Hell then there is no reason to Fear. Hell is a Fake Fear to dupe their stupid flock of sheep into obeying religious rules of superstition and give up their wealth to the church.
Since there is no Hell as the Pope confirmed, there is No need to Fear, so this pretty much makes Religion irrelevant. Kind of like reducing Religion to more of a social get-together, hobby or superstition club.
I don’t have any problem with people following religion, its your choice. Just don’t make any public policy based on a superstitious Hoax that could affect everybody.
Pope Francis’s Quote: “They are not punished, those who repent obtain the forgiveness of God and enter the rank of souls who contemplate him,” Francis said in response, “but those who do not repent and cannot therefore be forgiven, disappear. There is no hell, there is the disappearance of sinful souls.”
So there you have it. No such place called Hell. I also say tgere is no heaven either and not one soul has ever been saved and given ever lasting life. Its all a Fraud.
The church’s double talk. They preach to you to believe and get ever lasting life, then the preacher also requests you leave your life estate to the church upon your death. Its all a big Hoax Fraud that Relgious BS. Buyer beware!!
Legal fraud, and tax free too. Damn I really need to build a church so I can get in on the scam and retire rich off the religious suckers, err, believers.
Happy easter.
They should of cancled easter. they found the body. I cut firewood today. But we are eating fried rabbit for dinner.
Happy Easter to you Down By The River and everyone else too.
Go look at the photos of those burned while trying to “Steal Electricity.” their whole bodies get fried.
The round electrical transformers on Utility poles contain a fluid. Bullet hole in tge bottom and one at the top will drain the fluid and the transformer overheats and fails. Its been said the fluid can be turned into deisel fuel. Remember that in a Grid Down / Mad Max McGiver remedy for fuel fix. Catching the fluid is the hard part when draining.
Transformer oil has a very high flashpoint. It won’t burn in a diesel engine.
So, there should be gubmint regulations power companies should follow on security?
Same crap gets regurgitated every few months. More fear porn for the key board warriors.
“Increasingly Vulnerable”
I take exception to the “Increasingly”. It’s vulnerable by the very nature of its existence, no more or less than decades ago.
The transformer oil has changed over the years. Now I think it is mineral oil. It used to have pcb’s in it which are known to cause cancer. I am not sure if it could be turned into diesel or not. But it is an oil. As the saying goes any oil is better than no oil.
Used fryer oil makes your exhaust smell like french fries lol.
Notice how so many products are labeled as having ingredients that are “known to cause cancer in the state of California”? Well I’m glad I don’t live in California.
Ha ha ha, good one 🙂
Ya, must be the air in Ca that reacts with stuff to cause cancer,,, that or its the liberal thought gass that does it, still a pollutant
Off Topic: Now,two weeks later after the cordite has cleared in Florida.this is my most humble opinion. Hoggs is saying he was hiding in a closet with other students during the shooting. And the only thing he could think of,could possibly do is take out his cell phone camera and interview those hiding with him. That right there tells me more than I want to know about him.How about if he acted like the man he pretends to be and actually did something useful,like help evacuate other students? Contrary to popular newsies,he is/was not brave. He is a self indulgent narcissist who craves the attention. We dont need gun control,we need MEN !
Reports say that he recorded that interview hours BEFORE the shooting. And that he wasn’t even there during it. And he is in his 20’s and doesn’t go to school. This little faggot has been caught in soooo many lies… I just want to beat that fooker to death…
Wouldn’t waste the effort on him.
If the grid goes down I would prefer it happened during the extreme cold in winter. that way it would kill off the greatest number of culls. gardens would be dormant. So the starving wouldn’t be able to raid them. most folks wouldn’t have any heat. or a way to cook and clean. And their water pipes would freeze. Those who fail to prep are gonna be shit out of luck.
Works for me too lol.
I like extreme winter.
Mine gets into the 50’s
FEAR ME : A terrifying and hilarious map of squirrel attacks on the U.S. power grid
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/01/12/a-terrifying-and-hilarious-map-of-squirrel-attacks/?utm_term=.910668700303
http://cybersquirrel1.com/
Probability off topic but I have found this series to be interesting
https://survivalblog.com/survival-thirteenth-century-style-part-1-snow-wolf/
https://survivalblog.com/survival-thirteenth-century-style-part-2-snow-wolf/
I read a report a couple of years ago by the EMP commission that claimed a physical attack on just seven key substations could collapse the entire power grid. If such information is out there it is inevitable that our enemies possess this information. What would it take, 7 three man teams with Symtex and aoutmatic weapons and we are in the Stone Age. Trillions spent on complex weapons systems for defense yet it could all be thwarted by a few determined men with minimal low tech weaponry. The fact these places are not guarded like Fort Knox, and they are not, raises some disturbing questions about our leadership and it’s true aims. I hope it is just the Normalcy Bias at work here, but I suspect otherwise. One also has to wonder how hard it woul d be to slip 21 men across our borders, North and South with the equipment necessary to do the job.Why should Putin or Kim or anyone else detonate a nuclear weapon and risk the inevitable retaliation when they could do it so much easier with much less risk. Hell I might write a thriller about this scenario, make enough money to build myy new root cellar.
Maybe it it because they want to watch us explode from within? Never interrupt your enemy when he is destroying himself.
Democrats are going to kill us all.
Preparing for a long term Grid Down means you better have your Cast Iron cookware and know how to use it. And years of canned goods and learn to live with no refrigeration. Unless you have an off Grid solar power generation system like I am on. Hey my solar system id not full proof. Lightening could hit it and fry it and Id be back to the 1800’s. And why I also have cast Iron cookware to use on a camp fire using wood. I have a back up plan to my back up plan. Just bought 2 cast iron bread pans and will start making my own bread. Been making pizza in a cadt iron skillet on my gas grill. Yummy. Practice all your grid down skills now to iron out the kinks and while you still can go online to order your cast iron cookware. Once the grid crashes. You are all on your own for years. Good luck all.
TSB Thumbs up on the cast iron cookware! We’ve been having fun using a dutch oven outside in our firepit. There are even get togethers in campsites with classes in how to do it. There are several facebook groups devoted to it; one, Cast Iron Cooking has nearly 300,000 members. You can learn a lot from them. My favorite is Cowboy Kent Rollings videos on youtube. We like wood better than charcoal, and where will you get charcoal when the SHTF?
Food taste better cooked in cast iron too.
+whats funny is that we have known about this issue for many years, and still not a darn thing has been done to correct this..most of our utilities are still above ground easy to attack anywhere. These utility companies take the money and do nothing with it but line their pockets; thus not reinvesting in criticle areas..there is nothing that can be done at this point to save this failed republic..i hate to say this bc i love my country and am a patriot..the damage has already been done..the players are already in place…the scene is set…we will see how this plays out(its not going to be good) ..Ted Koeppel wrote about this many years ago and warned people and govt..he even said that it would not cost that much to fix..however, like Michael Jackson said “They dont really care about us” look: many other countries have public bunkers to go into in case of nuclear war…what do we have here? nothing–unless ur rich..we are fuct–we are a ++usedtacouldabeen++get over it and enjoy everyday while we are still here–
Easter Sunday & April fools day one and the same?
Don’t forget it is also passover week.
Maybe the real Easter fell on a Tuesday. lol
So what happened to MIA jebus? No show for 2000 years. How long would you wait for a blind date to show up for your date to realize she is a No Show and you have been stood up? 15 mins? How about 45 mins? An hour? How about 2000 years? The religious sheep followers still hanging on after 2000 years that their date w/ jebus will show up. Stupid is.
Yeah the organized church mafia rake in billions every year tax free from their scam, yet people still contimue to dump their earnings into it. Amazing. Fools and their money do part.
Vulnerable to false flags. Lets get real.
Mike in VA –
I work in transmission here at a utility in Indiana. The threat of physical attacks on substations is very real. Most stations are only protected chain link fence. I deal with copper and material theft occasionally.
For those who think physical attacks are not possible, look up the attack on Metcalf station in California.
It all comes down to money, and spending that money to harden the system. Shareholders don’t care about that. It’s about their bottom line.
My ideas of increasing security physically are always shot down by management. I gave up giving them suggestions.
Be safe out there.
Last call of calls … every knee is going to bend .. Every head of going to bow
*is
Having spent years in the electrical/utilities industries, as a contractor… this was pre-internet… guys had to spend 3 shifts at the control rooms and roving to maintain the equipment. The internet connections called SCADA(Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition), were installed to make remote operations and convenience primary for the plant operators, so they didn’t have to get out of bed in the middle of the night because of minor or major problems….
The SECRET to insulating all our infrastructure from any bad actors is to CUT THE WIRES that connect the internal ‘contral INFRANET’ to the Internet(public/employee access)…
I warned this town I worked for that this could happen, they listened…. they’ve never had a ‘probe’ because there is no way for a probe/hack to happen….