Oh for sure, it was "domestic terrorists" not vandals who shot up an electrical substation.

[Fear The Guns]

No word on the negroes and hispanics who have been stealing
copper.

Newly reported details about a 52-minute sniper attack on a
central California electrical substation last year are raising
concerns from Capitol Hill and beyond, amid questions over
whether it was the work of terrorists.

The April 16, 2013, attack had not been widely publicized until
The Wall Street Journal reported new details in a story on
Wednesday. The attack reportedly started when at least one
person entered an underground vault to cut telephone cables, and
attackers fired more than 100 shots into Pacific Gas &
Electric’s Metcalf transmission substation, knocking out 17
transformers.

Electric officials were able to avert a blackout, but it took 27
days to repair the damage.

The FBI doesn’t think the incident was a terror attack, an
agency spokesman told the Journal. However, Jon Wellinghoff,
chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission at the
time, disagrees.

Wellinghoff, a now-retired George W. Bush appointee, called it
“the most significant incident of domestic terrorism involving
the U.S. power grid that has ever occurred.”

No arrests have been made in the case. But the Republican-led
House Energy and Commerce Committee said Wednesday that
lawmakers continue to follow the probe and that protecting the
grid remains a top priority.

"We are aware of the attack and continue to monitor the
investigation closely,” a committee spokeswoman told
FoxNews.com. “Committee staff has been briefed by agency
officials and industry representatives. The security and
reliability of the grid is a pressing concern, and we will
continue our work to mitigate all emerging threats."

Wellinghoff, who spoke to the Journal, based his conclusion that
this was terrorism on the analysis of experts he brought to the
crime scene. The analysis pointed to the shell casings having no
fingerprints and evidence that the shooting positions had been
pre-arranged.

Wellinghoff went public with the story after briefing federal
agencies, Congress and the White House, citing national security
concerns and fear that electric-grid sites don’t have adequate
protection.

In addition, retired PG&E executive Mark Johnson said at an
industry gathering a few months ago that he feared the attack
was a dress rehearsal for a larger event, according to the
Journal.

The utility company responded to a call seeking comment by
referring FoxNews.com to a statement from the Edison Electric
Institute.

"The industry takes its role as critical infrastructure
providers very seriously," said Scott Aaronson, the institute's
senior director of national security policy. "Publicizing
clearly sensitive information about critical infrastructure
protection endangers the safety of the American people and the
integrity of the grid.”

Joy Ditto, a vice president with the American Public Power
Association, told FoxNews.com about a recent meeting on Capitol
Hill that dealt specifically with the attack and included a
bipartisan group of senators, industry executives and federal
agencies.

She said utility companies have been able to prevent such
attacks in large part because they share information with
related parties.

However, she also said the meeting, which covered a broad range
of topics, concluded with a commitment from executives to keep
the senators better informed and a desire for additional
legislation to legally protect those who share information about
issues like attacks and disaster preparation.

“But we’d prefer not to see more regulations,” she said.

Though the attack on the San Jose substation didn’t cause a
blackout, isolated incidents have in fact caused major problems
on the U.S. electric grid.

In 2003, for example, downed trees toppled transmission lines,
creating a series of blackouts across Canada and the eastern
U.S. that lasted for days.

Security for the grid has long been a concern for government and
the utility industry, but most recently the focus has been on
the risk of cyber attacks.

Mike Hyland, an APPA senior vice president, argued Wednesday the
industry indeed took notice of the attack but has been on high
alert for decades -- responding to such issues as the Y2K
computer issue, the 9/11 terror attacks, Hurricane Katrina and
most recently Superstorm Sandy.

“The industry has done a good job of keeping security at the
forefront,” he said.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/02/05/2013-sniper-attack-on-
power-grid-still-concern-in-washington-and-for-utilities/
 
 

[Fear The Guns]