Terror in the NC piedmont

[suspectdevice]

So- two electrical substations were shot up Saturday night as a drag show was about to start, and now 40,000 people are without power for the foreseeable future.

What can we do to further harden our infrastructure against right-wing terror? Gates and fences and signs are no longer enough. A high powered rifle in the right(wrong) hands appears to be enough to bring an entire county to it’s knees.

[Bob Ross]

So- two electrical substations were shot up Saturday night as a drag show was about to start

I'm guessing this refers to a quarter-mile car race and not a campy musical number performed by heavily made-up men in women's clothing, but either way I can't figure out the connection to a firearms discharge. Was someone protesting the race/song? Was someone celebrating the race/song? Were they just using the event as cover for an act of terrorism? Pretty weird.

[rec head]

I have no answers but as someone that likes to think things through I find the whole electrical grid ridiculous. It seems like the type of thing where there should be some redundancy and backups. Kind of like supply chains.

[gregl]

I have no answers but as someone that likes to think things through I find the whole electrical grid ridiculous. It seems like the type of thing where there should be some redundancy and backups. Kind of like supply chains.

Executive summary: the grid can handle some level of typical problems. It can't handle terrorism, domestic or otherwise. Want to bring the US to our collective knees? Just shut off power, internet, and cell service. Per reporting from multiple media outlets, there is some level of redundancy for typical outages caused by weather events and equipment failures. The NC outage was caused by a targeted attack that made significant damage beyond that typically and/or historically expected. The damage was significant enough to remove the ability to route around the affected substations.

Greg

[rwsaunders]

This report was on 60 Minutes earlier in the year after someone fired some .50 cal rounds into a couple transformers in California. Essentially, taking out 9 select substations would cause a coast-to-coast blackout.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/america...es-2022-08-28/

[thollandpe]

I have no answers but as someone that likes to think things through I find the whole electrical grid ridiculous. It seems like the type of thing where there should be some redundancy and backups. Kind of like supply chains.

As it turns out we’re actually doing something to address that. Literally as I type this.

From a notice I’m reading, "As part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Grid Deployment Office (GDO) is administering a $10.5 billion Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnership Program (GRIP) to enhance grid flexibility and improve the resilience of the nation’s power grid.”

That bill earmarked a total of $23 billion to modernize and expand the grid. It’s kind of a big deal.

DOE launches new grid modernization office

The vote tallies for the “Bipartisan” Infrastructure Bill are instructive. But a win is a win.

[72gmc]

Between the Jackpot (The Peripheral) and The Road, one could begin to think of going off the grid before the grid goes off.

[AngryScientist]

On one hand I can certainly understand and appreciate the importance of the free press, but on the other hand, stuff like this making major news is scary. Never know when the wrong yahoo with a hunting rifle and an agenda will realize how much damage can be done with a really low level of sophistication.

[htwoopup]

On one hand I can certainly understand and appreciate the importance of the free press, but on the other hand, stuff like this making major news is scary. Never know when the wrong yahoo with a hunting rifle and an agenda will realize how much damage can be done with a really low level of sophistication.

Well, it seems that it has been a discussion among certain groups for some time and it is only we normal folks who have been less aware...as to yahoos, there could be random ones but that isn't quite as scary as the ones who collectively have been discussing it.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...hwest-attacks?

[dgaddis]

On one hand I can certainly understand and appreciate the importance of the free press, but on the other hand, stuff like this making major news is scary. Never know when the wrong yahoo with a hunting rifle and an agenda will realize how much damage can be done with a really low level of sophistication.

After spending 10yrs doing process piping design for chemical plants, and being of the age where I watched 9/11 live on TV in the 11th grade, I've often worried about an attack at a chemical plant. These plants have big quantities of bad bad really bad stuff (I've worked in plants that produce ammonium nitrate for example) and the only security is usually a senior citizen in a guard shack and a tall chain link fence around the plant. And these plants are dotted all over the country.

[Mabouya]

Between the Jackpot (The Peripheral) and The Road, one could begin to think of going off the grid before the grid goes off.

In that case, I'm going to need a different basement.

The one I have now is a walk-out, with a bunch of windows, so there's no way I'd be able to keep some of my neighbors locked up down there for future consumption.

[bigbill]

There are off-grid communities within 10-20 miles of my house. Most just want to be left alone, and some are moving every two weeks because they're on BLM land. There is one house I ride past that has a wall made of water totes. Many hundred totes stacked two high surrounding about four acres of property. A tote is 4x4x4' and filled with water. I talked to the guy, he is more concerned with nuclear war than anarchy. Water is an excellent shield against radiation. We also have the trailer park where Terry Nichols and Timothy McVey lived, so there's that.

People living off-grid here would be homeless in other parts of the county. They typically have an old RV trailer and a vehicle that runs well enough to haul water and move the house occasionally. If they have kids, they're likely "home schooled" which means they are mostly feral and never get an education. There are no easy answers for these folks and their children. This area is turning into a snowbird landing spot, so a bunch of 55+ people who have already raised their kids elsewhere, don't really have a dog in the fight, so we continue to have some of the worst schools in the country. Uneducated and poor, and unfortunately many affected are Native American.

[bcm119]

As it turns out we’re actually doing something to address that. Literally as I type this.

From a notice I’m reading, "As part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Grid Deployment Office (GDO) is administering a $10.5 billion Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnership Program (GRIP) to enhance grid flexibility and improve the resilience of the nation’s power grid.”

That bill earmarked a total of $23 billion to modernize and expand the grid. It’s kind of a big deal.

DOE launches new grid modernization office

The vote tallies for the “Bipartisan” Infrastructure Bill are instructive. But a win is a win.

There's a long list of good things tucked into that infrastructure bill that never saw any press.

[suspectdevice]

Bon Ross, this is 2022.
Moore County is proud of its racetracks, but this is the Culture Wars turning into real violence- Queens, not piston pushers are who were targeted here.

[j44ke]

I am sure improvements to the grid are innumerable. Most utility companies won’t do anything not mandated by the government, and the government is hardly willing to do anything that would give the utilities an excuse to raise customer rates.

Reading between the lines on some of the comments from NC, it sounds like they feel the shooter knew what to shoot to make repair more complex and power outage longer. If so, that sounds like a utility employee to me.

Edit: or someone who watched 60 Minutes or has the internet or or or or……….

[vertical_doug]

https://www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/docum...nt-17MAR21.pdf

It isn't like Homeland security is unaware. I am sure they are monitoring the chatter.

[thollandpe]

The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street.

[vertical_doug]

I'm watching NHK News Broadcast from Japan tonight, and they are showing the 'targeted' attack on the power grid in the US.

They also highlight in 2021, a group of 3 were arrested and another group of 4 men were arrested in Idaho for planning an attack.
I believe the ATF will make an arrest sooner rather than later.

[suspectdevice]

Power still not back on, but pictures of the county sheriff mugging with a loony lady who got kicked out of the Army after storming the capital are easy to find on the internet.

We are all so effed.

[vespasianus]

Power still not back on, but pictures of the county sheriff mugging with a loony lady who got kicked out of the Army after storming the capital are easy to find on the internet.

We are all so effed.

Some of us have been effed for years. The continual erosion of the educational system and the political rise of the evangelicals will drag the USA into the third world.