Sniper Attack on Sub-station a dry run

Discussion in 'Tin Foil Hat Lounge' started by Elessar, Feb 6, 2014.


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  1. Elessar

    Elessar Monkey+++

    Fox news reported this article and I love the last line of the report; they have done a good job keeping security at the forefront? Are you out of your mind? I think we have monkeys trying to protect the grid.
     
    Elessar, Feb 6, 2014
    #1
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  2. swampbilly

    swampbilly Gone Galt

    Just look at the TSA for an example of the quality control.
     
    swampbilly, Feb 6, 2014
    #2
    Yard Dart likes this.
  3. Yard Dart

    Yard Dart Vigilant Monkey Moderator

    Well the article was interesting to me when I caught it yesterday. I must have missed this in the news last year.....or they just kept it really quiet. I wonder what kind of rounds they were shooting into the transformers, probably nothing more than a standard hunting round like a 30-06 (kept the ammo generic and not to specialized.. harder to trace). I have worked in the electrical industry for a long time and this event does not surprise me one bit. It is so easy to take down these sub-stations with little risk of getting caught or injured in the process. Most mid to smaller stations, at least out here on the West coast, have no 24-hour on site personnel. Their means of security rely on alert neighbors, locked gates and fence sensors.... bout it. When the fed's talk about how safe the power grid is..... I just cringe and laugh. It is only a matter of time before a spectacular event takes down a regional grid, much like the trees falling down took out the East coast in 2003.

    If this was a practice run by terrorist the next event will be significant and with multiple facilities engaged simultaneously...though I would have expected a follow up event before now IMO.

    We had an incident in Seattle two years ago when a piece of sheet metal for an adjacent building blew off the roof top, where the mechanical contractor was doing some work. Came right down into the sub-station next door and popped several circuits when it landed on the wires..... down right spooky to the guys that happen to be working in the power house at the time. The local cops had to step in when things got heated between the two crews..... something about the talk of throwing the guys off the roof got folks excited..... ;)
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 11, 2014
    Yard Dart, Feb 6, 2014
    #3
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  4. swampbilly

    swampbilly Gone Galt

    Talk about a large piece of chaff.
     
    swampbilly, Feb 6, 2014
    #4
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  5. VHestin

    VHestin Farm Chick

    That is one downside to today's infrastructure, too much is connected, meaning if one part fails, the whole system is shot. Not really such a thing as 'localized' anymore.
     
    VHestin, Feb 6, 2014
    #5
    swampbilly likes this.
  6. ghrit

    ghrit Bad company Administrator Founding Member

    The answer lies in distributed control systems, a control heirarchy that allows local control if the central control system goes down. It's used in power plants and other centralized systems, but isn't yet extended to the grid.
     
    ghrit, Feb 6, 2014
    #6
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  7. kckndrgn

    kckndrgn Monkey+++ Moderator Emeritus Founding Member

    I've always thought our electrical grid could be easily damaged. Look at all the high power lines that zig zag across the nation. A lot of them go through fields and open areas, so a few guys go out and plant charges on the base of a few dozen towers. BOOM, just cut a major artery.

    in conjunction with that, in a half dozen mid sized cities have a few guys with suppressed 22's go around and shoot at the residential transformers.

    I don't think it would take long to bring the system to it's knees.
     
    kckndrgn, Feb 6, 2014
    #7
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  8. Darwin

    Darwin Monkey

    Funny as hell "snipers Take it out" anyone with a rifle or pipe bomb can do it. I saw this story on another sight and busted a gut. Maybe some good ol boy was pissed with his bill. I find it funny and would love to do it myself in dreams only ! Here in BC we have the BC hydro wich are the biggest crooks ever they are in much need of a lesson.hahaha
     
    Darwin, Feb 6, 2014
    #8
  9. BTPost

    BTPost Stumpy Old Fart,Deadman Walking, Snow Monkey Moderator

    It doesn't take a lot of Brains, or even a Firearm, to take out a Substation...... a 20Ft length of CHAIN, AND A PICUP TRUCK, will do nicely....
    Just stand in the Bed, and swing the chain around, and launch it at the 50KV lines, feeding the Site, where they go into the CrossBars, Feeding the Transformer Primary. They are usually with 25 ft of the Fence Line. You only have to cause the Input to Trip, and that whole section of the Grid is DEAD... Until they come remove the chain..... If it is still in existence, and NOT Vaporized.
    This isn't Rocket Science..... Just plain High School Physics...... I am NOT a Terrorist, and I do NOT even Play one on Television, AND there isn't a Grid within 250 Miles of where I live..... ......
     
    BTPost, Feb 6, 2014
    #9
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  10. VHestin

    VHestin Farm Chick

    What I noticed most about the article was that it took 27 days to repair the damage. This was only a sub-station. If there was a major attack on a main station, it would be even longer. And people generally think of only electricity as powering the lights and electronics and so forth, but it could also cripple the water supply if there are no backups at the source/distribution areas. All the more reason to have plenty of goods on hand.
     
    VHestin, Feb 6, 2014
    #10
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  11. BTPost

    BTPost Stumpy Old Fart,Deadman Walking, Snow Monkey Moderator

    Most Grid Receiving Stations and subStations are on a Loop, so that if any one section of Transmission Line goes down, they can Open the Switches and Isolate that bad section, and reroute the Power, around the other way, on the loop. Many times when a Sending Station Major Transmission Line goes down, the Power Dispatcher can route the Power down another Line, and cross-connect it back to the Receiving Station on another Interconnect Line. This gives the Grid, some of it's Redundancy. Where things get dicy, is when they lose Control Links to these Major Stations, and things go into Automatic Load Shedding, and Islanding.
     
    BTPost, Feb 6, 2014
    #11
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  12. kellory

    kellory An unemployed Jester, is nobody's fool. Banned

    Gas pumps are electric as well, when the power fails, there is no gas available for generators.
     
    kellory, Feb 6, 2014
    #12
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  13. mr72clean

    mr72clean Monkey

    There's very high probability this could happen since the administration is rolling out the carpet for terrorist and their sympathisers.

    Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk
     
    mr72clean, Feb 7, 2014
    #13
  14. Gator 45/70

    Gator 45/70 Monkey+++

    Gator 45/70, Feb 7, 2014
    #14
  15. PLA

    PLA Monkey++

    Hypothetically of course

    A tank of Helium, 6-8 space blankets, super glue and string, and a simple pyrotechnic release under a particular area vulnerable to a giant short............................
     
    PLA, Feb 7, 2014
    #15
  16. PLA

    PLA Monkey++

    A 12 volt farm suction pump rated for a 16 foot lift and flammable liquids will raise the fuel just fine, and the fuel will wait patiently for me to get there with my pump.

    I'll see your scenario and raise you 1 farm boy with a mind to make things work...............


    Edit; The pump shown above is a bilge pump, not a vertical suction pump. Its also rated for ignition abatement but NOT pumping flammables. Ill find where I got my pump, it works as intended and tested with both water , gasoline and diesel. Ill post asap
     
    PLA, Feb 7, 2014
    #16
  17. kellory

    kellory An unemployed Jester, is nobody's fool. Banned

    kellory, Feb 7, 2014
    #17
  18. kellory

    kellory An unemployed Jester, is nobody's fool. Banned

    You are assuming WROL. I'm not. Assuming the clerk is agreeable, any standard hand crank fuel pump would do just fine. But without a means to log the sale, he will just lock everything up and say "sorry, closed. Come back later"
     
    kellory, Feb 7, 2014
    #18
  19. kellory

    kellory An unemployed Jester, is nobody's fool. Banned

    And if the situation goes to SHTF, with a few PVC parts and a bit of pipe, I could easily make either a hand pump, or dipper for fuel tanks, but post SHTF, fuel theft will be a killing offense. And even if just an emergency like Katrina, there will always be a price to pay later, possibly prison.
     
    kellory, Feb 7, 2014
    #19
  20. PLA

    PLA Monkey++


    Actually no Im not assuming anything but a trade to put the owner of the station back in business, the only one back in business in fact.......

    Sorry, Im obviously on yet another forum with small minds and 1 track thinking
     
    PLA, Feb 7, 2014
    #20
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