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North Carolina power outage: Federal memo flags Washington, Oregon substation attacks similar to Moore County

Published December 7, 2022 12:02pm EST

Recent power grid sabotage expands outside Moore County, federal memo warns

By Danielle Wallace | Fox News

A federal memo warned substations in Washington and Oregon recently suffered physical attacks similar to the targeted gunfire toward the power grid over the weekend in Moore County, North Carolina, where tens of thousands still remain without electricity on Wednesday.

NewsNation obtained a federal law enforcement memo warning, "Power stations in Oregon and Washington have reported physical attacks on substations using handtools, arson, firearms, and metal chains possibly in response to an online call for attacks on critical infrastructure."

The memo said the aim is "to cause widespread power failures with the potential impact of social disruption and violent anti-government criminal activity."

"In recent attacks, criminal actors bypassed security fences by cutting the fence links, lighting nearby fires, shooting equipment from a distance or throwing objects over the fence and on to equipment."


An ambulance is seen in front of a hospital without electricity as tens of thousands are without power in Moore County, North Carolina. (Peter Zay/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

On Nov. 11, sheriff’s deputies in Jones County, North Carolina, reported that criminal vandalism caused 12,000 people to lose power for days and that investigation remains ongoing.

No suspects have been identified or arrested in that case.

As of Tuesday, an estimated 35,000 customers remained without power, but Duke Energy officials said the final customers were expected to be back online before midnight Wednesday, moved up from the original estimate for Thursday. The power company said gunfire caused significant damage to equipment, which needed to be replaced.

The new equipment has arrived, and crews are calibrating and testing it to synchronize with the electric grid. Power will come back in waves of a few thousand customers restored at a time.


Unlit traffic lights are seen as tens of thousands are without power on Moore County, North Carolina, after an attack at two substations. (Peter Zay/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

At the peak of the outages Saturday into Sunday, some 45,000 customers were without power.

Moore County schools will be closed Wednesday and Thursday. One resident has since been found dead in their home in Moore County, but the death was not immediately linked to the outages.

Authorities have yet to confirm the motive or name any suspects or arrests in connection to the targeted shootings of two substations in Moore County on Saturday night, and the FBI is assisting in the investigation.

Fox News Digital also confirmed Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was briefed on the outages in Moore County.



A view of the substation while work is in progress as tens of thousands are without power in Moore County, North Carolina. (Peter Zay/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

In February, the Justice Department secured guilty pleas from three men accused of plotting to shoot substations, or power grids, with powerful rifles across the country.

The FBI said the defendants were White supremacists and expected the damage would cost the government millions of dollars, lead to power being out for months and evoke civil unrest and p
otentially a race war prompting the next Great Depression.



A view of the substation while work is in progress as tens of thousands are without power on Moore County, North Carolina, after an attack at two substations. (Peter Zay/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

They were Christopher Brenner Cook, 20, of Columbus, Ohio; Jonathan Allen Frost, 24, of West Lafayette, Indiana, and of Katy, Texas; and Jackson Matthew Sawall, 22, of Oshkosh, Wisconsin. They each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists.

Federal law enforcement have sounded the alarm to domestic terror threats to critical infrastructure for years.

In a new threat bulletin released last week, the Department of Homeland Security warned, "targets of potential violence include public gatherings, faith-based institutions, the LGBTQI+ community, schools, racial and religious minorities, government facilities and personnel, U.S. critical infrastructure, the media, and perceived ideological opponents."

Thousands of service members and their families at Fort Bragg have been impacted by the Moore County outages, and base leadership is ensuring servicemembers have flexibility in their schedules.

Danielle Wallace is a reporter for Fox News Digital covering politics, crime, police and more. Story tips can be sent to danielle.wallace@fox.com and on Twitter: @danimwallace.

A bit ironic and coincidental that this occurs just as “far right extremists” attempt to overthrow the German government…

Aaaand it's "white supremacists" again. Actually, such attacks have "watermelon" written all over them.

I was wondering when this was going to happen. Following the incident some years ago (in California, IIRC), the only surprise was how long it took for the follow up attacks. Good timing, though, at the start of winter.

Well, of course it’s white supremacists targeting the “LGBTQI+“ crowd the the media to ignite a race war and trigger the next Great Depression.





In other words, they don’t know who it is or why they’re doing it.

Our power grid and electrical substations are quite vulnerable to this sort of thing. The power companies need to address this issue.

quote:

Originally posted by egregore:
Actually, such attacks have "watermelon" written all over them.

What does this mean?

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
Our power grid and electrical substations are quite vulnerable to this sort of thing.

Yup. I've been wondering for years how long it'd take somebody to figure that out and take advantage of it.

Same applies to natural gas distribution and communications.

My understanding is there is some redundancy built into the system, but that costs money and consumers are reluctant to pay.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
My understanding is there is some redundancy built into the system, ...

The electrical grid/distribution? Yes, there is. That's why, during storms, you'll sometimes see the lights go out briefly, or dim, then return. But it has limits.

I thought that a coordinated attack of any substations in a given region would be a cheap and effective way for terrorists to wreak havoc. Maybe back in 1991 ish when I went to force protection officer school. The instructor said I was a devious person.

Many of the large items within a substation are super expensive and cities don’t have backups just laying around. Deplete the spares and it’s game on.

I was disappointed in the coverage of these attacks. Once it hit the news , copy cats now have the idea.

And I saw this morning that it’s happening in the PNW….

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
Our power grid and electrical substations are quite vulnerable to this sort of thing. The power companies need to address this issue.

Agree! Our electrical and natural gas infrastructures are so exposed that it is incredible that they haven't been targeted more. They are an easy and effective target for any terrorist group to attack to cause the most disruption with the least amount of risk.

quote:

Originally posted by MikeinNC:
I thought that a coordinated attack of any substations in a given region would be a cheap and effective way for terrorists to wreak havoc. Maybe back in 1991 ish when I went to force protection officer school. The instructor said I was a devious person.

It's called "thinking like your [potential] opponent." I run thought experiments like that, in my head, frequently.

The truth is the vast majority of our energy and communications infrastructure is really rather fragile and largely depends upon the good will/lawfulness of the populace to leave it alone.

Problem is that good will/lawfulness is rapidly evaporating.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:

quote:

Originally posted by egregore:
Actually, such attacks have "watermelon" written all over them.

What does this mean?

Not to speak for egregore, but the term "watermelon" is often used to describe the environmentalists/ global warming believers that supposedly act out of concern for the planet ("green" on the outside), but at the core of their ideology they are Communist/ Marxist/ Socialists ("red" on the inside).

I'm not sure which pundit coined the term first, but I've heard it used for maybe 15 years or more.

They could build cement walls around much of the structure, greatly reducing the ease at which attacks could be successful. Be prepared is a great moto.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
I was wondering when this was going to happen. Following the incident some years ago (in California, IIRC), the only surprise was how long it took for the follow up attacks. Good timing, though, at the start of winter.

As have I. The Metcalf incident in California in 2013 did something like $15 M in damage although, IIRC, there was no widespread loss in power.

I'm sure you recall the attack on a gas pipeline in your neck of the woods last Winter.

These latest attacks have been going on for a couple days now and I was surprised to see they weren't being discussed, either here on the forum or even by the media, although the Georgia run-off probably held center stage over the last several days. I was watching and waiting a bit to see if anymore information such as who was responsible would be released.

quote:

They were Christopher Brenner Cook, 20, of Columbus, Ohio; Jonathan Allen Frost, 24, of West Lafayette, Indiana, and of Katy, Texas; and Jackson Matthew Sawall, 22, of Oshkosh, Wisconsin. They each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists.

All young men in their early to mid 20s from different parts of the US.

A lot of things aren't reported in the media, probably the root problem for the country jumping the tracks.

Thank God DHS Secretary Mayorkas has been brought up to speed on this spreading situation; I feel better already.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:

quote:

Originally posted by egregore:
Actually, such attacks have "watermelon" written all over them.

What does this mean?

I've been away from the computer. Watermelon means environmentalist wackos, green on the outside, red for communist on the inside. I wouldn't put this kind of attack past them.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
My understanding is there is some redundancy built into the system, ...

The electrical grid/distribution? Yes, there is. That's why, during storms, you'll sometimes see the lights go out briefly, or dim, then return. But it has limits.

That's actually not correct. There's generally no actual redundancy built into the distribution system of the electrical grid. Dimming (short term brown out conditions) and/or extremely brief outage conditions (lights flickering) are the result of Reclosers on the Distribution System doing what they're designed to do, which is briefly open to allow short circuit/damaged areas to be disconnected without losing the entire grid area, and then 'reclosing' to maintain power to unaffected areas.

From the Eaton website:

A recloser is an automatic, high-voltage electric switch. Like a circuit breaker on household electric lines, it shuts off electric power when trouble occurs, such as a short circuit. Where a household circuit breaker remains shut off until it is manually reset, a recloser automatically tests the electrical line to determine whether the trouble has been removed. If the problem was only temporary, then the recloser automatically resets itself and restores the electric power.

Reclosers are used throughout the power distribution system, from the substation to residential utility poles. They range from small reclosers for use on single-phase power lines, to larger three-phase reclosers used in substations and on high-voltage power lines up to 38,000 volts.

More info at the link --> https://www.eaton.com/us/en-us...ls-of-reclosers.html