Blackout in North Carolina caused by Gunfire

[EndtheMadnessNow]

Power is out for ~40,000 customers in Moore County, North Carolina near Fort Bragg after someone shot up a substation on the same night as a drag show. Wait till you learn who organized the protest below!

‘Intentional Vandalism’ Leaves 40,000 Without Power in N.C.

Several substations across Moore County were reportedly shot up.

A major power outage in North Carolina that left almost 40,000 people in the dark on Saturday night was caused by “intentional vandalism” at numerous substations, police said.

Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields said in a statement that the blackout that began just after 7 p.m. was “being investigated as a criminal occurrence.”

Chief Mike Cameron of the Southern Pines Fire and Rescue Department told the local newspaper, The Pilot, that the substations had been damaged by gunfire.

A reporter from the paper who visited one substation smelled oil leaking from it and saw an access gate snapped off its pole. Workers were scouring the area for bullet casings.

The sheriff did not suggest what the motive might be, but a local conservative activist who organized a protest against a drag show said on Facebook that she was visited by deputies.

“I welcomed them to my home. Sorry they wasted their time,” Emily Grace Rainey wrote.

“I told them that God works in mysterious ways and is responsible for the outage. I used the opportunity to tell them about the immoral drag show and the blasphemies screamed by its supporters. I told them God is chastising Moore County, thanked them for coming and wished them a good night. Thankful for the LEOs service, as always.”

Two hours earlier, Rainey had posted the message: “The power is out in Moore County and I know why.” And around the same time, she posted a picture of the Sunrise Theater, which was putting on the sold-out drag show, with the caption “God will not be mocked.”

Several dozen protesters gathered outside the theater Saturday evening, and the show, “Downtown Divas,” a fundraiser for Sandhills Pride, went on under tight security.

It was unclear whether investigators think the vandalism that caused the power outage had any connection to the event.

Incident also made the NY Times..."As utility companies began responding to the different substations, evidence was discovered that indicated that intentional vandalism had occurred at multiple sites,” the statement said, adding that deputies had been deployed to various locations to provide “site security.”




For background on violent extremist attacks on infrastructure see the following PDF (via George Washington Edu)


22 SOLDIERS AT FORT BRAGG TIED TO EXTREMIST GROUPS (Dec 23, 1995)

The same woman, Emily Grace Rainey, the disgraced PSYOP officer that led a group to the "stop the steal" coup attempt had organized a protest against the LGBT+ event yesterday and was questioned by police for implying the power outage was God's will.

Hello there,


Army investigating officer for attending pro-Trump rally in D.C. (Jan 11, 2021) | WRAL (May 27, 2020) with local news video clip.



Despite all the theories on the Interwebs I remain skeptical that this (power outage) was a military op. They'll (CT social media larpers) try to muddy the waters with nonsense like they did last time after the mass murder at the LGBT+ "Club Q" in Colorado Springs.

Flashback to the attacks on a power substation in California and our infrastructure is still apparently susceptible to this kind of stuff...



NY Times

The Calif incident is the one where four guys wearing night vision goggles lit up the cooling tank on a power transformer with AK47s, without hitting any of the surrounding infrastructure, and then disappeared without anyone claiming responsibility or it ever happening again. To date the attack has never been solved... The Metcalf Sniper Attack (check-out that website!)

Note, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission had ordered the imposition of mandatory physical security standards (for substations) in 2014.

Seems the only way to stop it is by posting guards at anything that can be sabotaged, which of course is cost prohibitive.

Despite our so-called high tech surveillance with overly sophisticated algorithms & hive-mind drone swarms, apparently not up to the job compared to armed human guards. Though if someone is hellbent determined to take out a power station/critical infrastructure they will find a way to do it.

[SimeonJ]

Major Tests for total blackout.

[ABNARTY]

Good summation here too:

[Ninurta]

......

Two hours earlier, Rainey had posted the message: “The power is out in Moore County and I know why.” And around the same time, she posted a picture of the Sunrise Theater, which was putting on the sold-out drag show, with the caption “God will not be mocked.”

It's odd that Emily was able to post something to the internet with the power out, no?

22 SOLDIERS AT FORT BRAGG TIED TO EXTREMIST GROUPS (Dec 23, 1995)

I know that there were some Special Forces troopers at Bragg in the 80's and 90's that had started an underground organization in their personal, rather than official, capacities. They even had an underground newsletter called "The Liberator" for a while.

But I'm with you - this was not a military op, at least not by military in any official capacity. 

The Calif incident is the one where four guys wearing night vision goggles lit up the cooling tank on a power transformer with AK47s, without hitting any of the surrounding infrastructure, and then disappeared without anyone claiming responsibility or it ever happening again. To date the attack has never been solved... The Metcalf Sniper Attack (check-out that website!)

Now THAT'S how you run a guerrilla op! Just light it up and disappear, and don't talk. If your opponents are not bright enough to figure out what they fucked up enough to piss you off, that ain't YOUR lookout!

Note, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission had ordered the imposition of mandatory physical security standards (for substations) in 2014.

Seems the only way to stop it is by posting guards at anything that can be sabotaged, which of course is cost prohibitive.

Despite our so-called high tech surveillance with overly sophisticated algorithms & hive-mind drone swarms, apparently not up to the job compared to armed human guards. Though if someone is hellbent determined to take out a power station/critical infrastructure they will find a way to do it.

I have some personal experience of that. Right after 9-11, I was on a team posted to secure an oil transmission pipeline. We were spread too thin - my section of it was 5 miles long, and I'm just shy of 2 feet across the shoulders. 2 feet don't compare well to a 5 mile stretch to cover.

Later, I was posted at a chemical site that they expected an attack at. There were two 40,000 gallon tanks sunk into the ground in concrete bunkers containing chemicals volatile enough that if they were attacked, would explode strongly enough to leave a crater 60 feet deep, 600 feet wide, and the shock wave would have leveled 16 square miles of the local infrastructure... and people... and children... and pets. The "bunkers" had open tops (no idea whose genius idea that was), but at least we had perimeter fencing and alarms to warn of intrusions.

Power substations are different. You can't really sink them underground in bunkers, and they depend on vulnerable transmission lines to get the product out into distribution. Either standoff shooting at the substation itself or taking out transmission lines and towers will end the party, and not much guards stationed at the substation itself can do about either possibility in the event of a determined attack. Neither will the attackers ever get caught if they simply vanish like a puff of smoke and keep their yaps shut.

Determined "extremists" can ruin your whole day if they take out several substations at once, a few bridges necessary to bring in backup supplies, and maybe a few well-placed cratering charges in access routes to boot, and then just vanish into the aether.

Let's not even mention the fact that replacement parts are not generally stockpiled, but ordered on an as needed, just in time basis, and so have to be manufactured if they are required in any quantity... and so far as I know, neither the government nor the utilities have addressed that little problem in all the years since it was discovered to even BE a problem.

It wouldn't really take much to totally screw us, really.

Odd that this evening, our power went out for about 15 minutes or so. It was as black as a banker's heart outside (just my kind of night!) with the exception of ONE window in ONE house that had light. I don't think it was a coincidence that the particular house in question has no electricity anyhow - sometimes, civilization becomes too dependent on technology. That house didn't.

.

[EndtheMadnessNow]

Ninurta - Interesting story & info!


Adding on to the spooky, suspicious substation events.

Hello, did the lights stay on in Florida?

Report shows ‘intrusions’ at Duke Energy power stations in Tampa Bay, elsewhere in Florida

Just days after what officials are calling a “targeted” attack at two Duke Energy substations in North Carolina, NewsNation has obtained federal documents showing evidence of at least six other “intrusions” at Duke Energy substations in Florida.

In September, Duke Energy Florida experienced at least half a dozen “substation intrusion events,” according to an incident report obtained by NewsNation.

On Sept. 21, an intruder “forced entry” into the Zephyrhills North substation in Pasco County, manually tripping equipment that caused an outage lasting nine minutes, according to a report filed with the U.S. Department of Energy.

One day later, someone “forced entry” at Duke’s East Clearwater substation in Pinellas County, again manually tripping equipment that caused an outage lasting two minutes.

The two substations are about 50 miles apart and both incidents took place in the early morning hours between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m.

The report filed by Duke Energy Florida said the two latest incidents followed four other “similar substation intrusion events,” all of which occurred in the state during the month of September.

Earlier in the month, an intruder entered Duke’s Bay Ridge substation in two separate incidents on Sept. 10 and Sept. 13. The Orange Blossom substation was targeted on Sept.18, as was the Zephyrhills substation on Sept. 21.

Federal law enforcement suspects the people behind the Florida intrusions likely have inside knowledge of the grid and understand how to power down equipment without causing damage, according to a memo obtained by NewsNation.



“The fact that someone has potentially identified a critical substation and then has knowledge of those critical pieces of equipment inside that substation leads me to believe that they’re dealing with people who have inside knowledge,” the memo read.

Duke Energy Florida said it is actively investigating the incidents with law enforcement and has installed video surveillance equipment and posted guards at substations in the area, according to the incident report dated Sept. 22.

It appears several attacks on the power infrastructure in Oregon and Washington may have predated the attack in North Carolina that grabbed national headlines.

Motive behind the attacks isn't clear (per usual), though officials say they appear intentional...

String of electrical grid attacks in Pacific Northwest is unsolved (Dec. 8, 2022)

Emails obtained by OPB and KUOW show that at least six electric substations in the region have been attacked, at least two by people with firearms

The electrical grid has been physically attacked at least four times in Oregon and Western Washington since mid-November, causing growing alarm for law enforcement as well as utilities responsible for parts of the region’s critical infrastructure.

According to information obtained by Oregon Public Broadcasting and KUOW Public Radio, at least two of the incidents bear similarities to the attacks on substations in North Carolina on Saturday that left thousands of people without electricity for days.

Portland General Electric, the Bonneville Power Administration, Cowlitz County Public Utility District and Puget Sound Energy have confirmed a total of six separate attacks on electrical substations they manage in Oregon and Washington. Attackers used firearms in at least some of the incidents in both states, and some power customers in Oregon and Washington experienced at least brief service disruption as a result of the attacks.

From two years ago:

White supremacists plotted to attack US electric grid by shooting into power stations, FBI says (Dec 22, 2020)

MINNEAPOLIS — White supremacists plotted to attack power stations in the southeastern U.S., and an Ohio teenager who allegedly shared the plan said he wanted the group to be "operational" on a fast-tracked timeline if President Donald Trump were to lose his re-election bid, the FBI alleges in an affidavit that was mistakenly unsealed.

The teen was in a text group with more than a dozen people in the fall of 2019 when he introduced the idea of saving money to buy a ranch where they could participate in militant training, according to the affidavit, which was filed under seal along with a search warrant application in Wisconsin's Eastern U.S. District Court in March. The documents were inadvertently unsealed last week before the mistake was discovered and they were quickly sealed again.

The teenager wanted the group to be "operational" by the 2024 election because he believed it was likely a Democrat would win, but "the timeline for being operational would accelerate if President Trump lost the 2020 election," according to the affidavit.

An informant told investigators that the teen "definitely wanted to be operational for violence, but also activism." 

The Ohio teen, who was 17 at the time, also shared plans with a smaller group about a plot to create a power outage by shooting rifle rounds into power stations in the southeastern U.S. The teen called the plot "Light's Out" and there were plans to carry it out in the summer of 2021, the affidavit states.
...
This investigation apparently began after a fourth man, from Canada, was stopped while trying to enter the U.S. The man told border agents that he was going to visit the Ohio teen, whom he had recently met over an encrypted app, according to the affidavit. Agents found Nazi and white supremacist images on his phone. 

Hmm, not so sure I buy that whole media/FBI story.

Another alleged neo-Nazi plot (involving Atomwaffen) to attack a power grid in Colorado back in 2020...

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4) - Xcel Energy has acknowledged to 11 News sister station CBS4 that it is aware of an alleged plot to disable the nation’s power grid, which included a possible attack on an El Paso County substation.

The FBI is investigating a neo-Nazi group that is believed to have been planning an attack on the United States power grid. The plot was being called “Lights Out.” One of the structures targeted that is mentioned in the details of the investigation is outside of Colorado Springs. It’s called “Midway” and it is operated by Xcel.

KKTV CBS Denver (Dec 23, 2020)

The official stories are, well, highly suspicious as usual.

Now, a 1 minute word from lord of the flies Malthusian, techno-utopian, green grid sponsor, Ernst Stavro Blofeld:

[Ninurta]

"Cyber pandemic"? Schwab is off his meds again.

There was a post-apocalyptic fiction novel called "Lights Out" by an author writing under the pseudonym of Half Fast, I think, that circulated on the internet a few years ago. You can probably still find copies of it laying around the 'net if you look. I find it interesting that the alleged "white supremacists" chose that for their operational title.

I also wonder just how much of this "white supremacist" government-generated chatter is really just a cover for all the hostile-state actors and saboteurs that the BidenHarris regime is allowing to pour across the southern borders with impunity. What makes them think it is "white supremacists" if they can't catch any of them to verify?

I'm informed that there are 9 specific substations strung across the US that, if knocked out, would cause a cascading grid failure similar to the one that struck the northeastern US in the 1990's, but longer-lasting and nation-wide. I don't think their battery-powered Hot Wheels cars would do very well under such conditions.

Make no mistake - the actual targets of these inconvenience attacks know the exact why of them, but have not yet figured out a way to tie it to "white supremacists", so they keep it close to the vest until they can, and the attackers seem not to be interested in claiming their "messages", as they are probably pretty sure their opponents know the why of it, too, and thus feel no need to brag. 

Loose lips sink ships, as they say, and their ship ain't been sunk yet, which seems to verify that old axiom.

I personally think there is a good possibility that theses are just warning shots across the bow, serving notice to someone that they'd best fix a few things before it gets all out of hand, but who knows?

Isn't it interesting that out of all these attacks, the only one to get major press was a minor one that inconvenienced a Drag Queen show? Things that make you go "hmmmm...".

.

[Snarl]

Either standoff shooting at the substation itself or taking out transmission lines and towers will end the party, and ... simply vanish like a puff of smoke and keep their yaps shut.

... can ruin your whole day if they take out several substations at once, ... and then just vanish into the aether.

If the grid of substations is taken out, the whole of the population will turn on the government, or turn away from it. Memory doesn't serve well at the moment, but blasting 7 or 9 of these stations would take down the entire continental grid. I think I saw an estimate saying that it would take more than ten years to recover. And, anyone that determined wouldn't stop after the ninth one was taken out (is my bet).

Second order effect of nuclear power plant meltdown is No Joke McDoke. If a power plant can't offload the energy generated into the grid, it has to be shutdown ... and right quick too. Problem is getting people there who can do it ... and very few approaches into any facility like that. A smart team laying in wait to pop 'em as they rush in ...

Third order effect is the inability to get the grid back up to 100%, even if it is not entirely taken out.

Long haul transmission lines are incredibly vulnerable to small arms fire. One skilled marksman (who does that disappearing act you mentioned) can repeatedly cause severe short-term outages. But, with a small support team can turn those in to long-term events.

And if there's no further indicator of more damage being inflicted, how do you know and how do you stop folks who continue to run amok? Ten years to see electricity again? I don't think I've got ten years left in me. A lot less than that with no running water and nothing efficient to get it hot.

You can't claim victory ... if you don't live to see the end of the war.

[EndtheMadnessNow]

Just adding on some related targeted power stations I came across:

Group With Ties to Racially Motivated Violent Extremists Including two Former Marines Facing Additional Charge of Targeting Energy Facilities (Aug 20, 2021)

RALEIGH, N.C. – Today, Paul James Kryscuk, 35, Liam Collins, 21, Jordan Duncan, 26, and Joseph Maurino, 22, were charged via a third superseding indictment obtained in the Eastern District of North Carolina. Collins and Duncan are former Marines assigned previously to Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina.  The defendants are charged with conspiracy to damage the property of an energy facility in the United States.

According to the indictment, Collins, Kryscuk, Duncan, and Maurino researched, discussed, and reviewed at length a previous attack on the power grid by an unknown group.  The group in that attack used assault-style rifles in an attempt to explode a power substation. Between 2017 and 2020, Kryscuk manufactured firearms while Collins stole military gear, including magazines for assault-style rifles and had them delivered to the other defendants.  During that time, Duncan gathered a library of information, some military-owned, regarding firearms, explosives, and nerve toxins and shared that information with Kryscuk and Collins.

The indictment also alleges that the defendants discussed using homemade Thermite, a combination of metal powder and metal oxide which burns at over 4000°F to burn through and destroy power transformers.  In mid-2020, Collins asked others to each purchase 50 pounds of Tannerite, a binary explosive containing aluminum powder and oxidizers, and can be used to make Thermite.  In October 2020, a handwritten list of approximately one dozen intersections and places in Idaho and surrounding states was discovered in Kryscuk’s possession, including intersections and/or places containing a transformer, substations, or other component of the power grid for the northwest United States.  If destroyed, the damage caused could exceed $100,000.

The defendants have also been charged, in previous indictments, with conspiring to manufacture, transport, and sell hard to obtain firearms and firearm parts in a manner that would hide these purchases from the federal government.

Power grids, food plants, fuel depots/pipelines, water plants, the past 2 years is far more than just coincidental and I don't buy it's the so-called far right extremists. They are not that organized. More like paid (domestic or foreign) covert ex-military chaos squads. Like what has been done in so many other countries the past 60 years.

4 minute wrap up of strange happenings concerning the US Power grid: