TERRORISM: Transmission Tower Attempt

Persons unknown damaged an electric transmission tower that carries electricity from Quebec to New York State, at a site only 10 miles from the US border. Provincial Police, including explosives experts, are investigating the suspicious substances found at the site. These are being analyzed. They have referred the incident to their terrorism unit.




Quebec has massive hydro-electric developments in the northern part of the Province and supplies substantial amounts of electricity to the US North East.

The significance of this event is the possibility that the North American power grid will come under attack. I am speculating that since the tower was only damaged, the sabateurs may be "experimenting" to see what techniques and amount of explosives are needed.


[edit on 4-12-2004 by Banshee]

I'm not sure if this is related or not, but in Oak Creek, Wisconsin on College Avenue and 13th Street, an electrical tower was knocked down due to explosives on October 9, 2004. It seems like the terrorists are preparing for something. It's quite important because that tower is just South/East of the Major Airport in Milwaukee, General Mitchell Airport. Additionally, there are a couple of huge oil drums/tankers for the airport and there is a military airport nearby. I'm not sure that it's related to terrorism or the recent incident, but it seems all too coincidental.

Originally posted by cdrout13
I'm not sure if this is related or not, but in Oak Creek, Wisconsin on College Avenue and 13th Street, an electrical tower was knocked down due to explosives on October 9, 2004. It seems like the terrorists are preparing for something. It's quite important because that tower is just South/East of the Major Airport in Milwaukee, General Mitchell Airport. Additionally, there are a couple of huge oil drums/tankers for the airport and there is a military airport nearby. I'm not sure that it's related to terrorism or the recent incident, but it seems all too coincidental.

Just to set the record straight there were no explosives envolved in Milwaukee. What they did was remove bolts from towers and some were seen taking Photos of the Waukesha or Pewaukee Plant related story and link to the source is below.

Bolts taken from towers, police say

The number of incidents is disturbing, but they have happened over an extended period of time. Also, it may turn out to be difficult to distinguish ordinary vandalism and nutbar activities from genuine terrorism. I don't see a pattern as yet.

Does anyone think last year's black-out in the Northeast was terrorist related? Perhaps a 'practice' run? Any thoughts?

Wasn't the last blackout partly related to security holes in NT 4.0 controlling some of the switch stations unintentianally hit by internet worms?

I'm very concerned about terrorism and what affects my home state NY.

SourGrapes, I do believe that last rolling black-out was terror related.

The towers are vulnerable, out in the open, they need to place
surveillance cameras on all of them.

Originally posted by Countermeasures
Wasn't the last blackout partly related to security holes in NT 4.0 controlling some of the switch stations unintentianally hit by internet worms?

They should be using Slackware 10.0

I am very familiar with this one and let me tell you that it is scary indeed. The United States government is taking this possibility very seriously indeed. The $$ damage is in itself a very big problem but the damage to the economy could be dramatic.

I have thought about this possibility before these tower attacks happened. A coordinated attack at key grid locations could theoretically take down a large majority of our grid, crippling the US. In addition, this would be all too easy to do. Anyone with an acetelyne torch can take down one of those towers within 5 minutes.

The great Northeast blackout of 2003 was NOT caused by terrorism or sabotage. See the reports at www.pserc.wisc.edu...

Unfortunately, the grid is also threatened by neglect and underinvestment in maintenance and upgrades.

Someone mentioned putting cameras on all the towers. That is simply infeasible, given the numbers involved. The real solution is to upgrade the system to make it more robust and to include failsafes, redundancies and alternative pathways - like the phone system. We should do this anyways, terrorism or no.

I had 9 years as a Armed In-House Electric Utility Security Officer. We had pipe bombings, power transformers shot, and all kinds of vandalism. In 1990 we had a number of transmission lines and power transformers that were damaged by gunfire. The shooter was using armor piercing 7.62mm. We had a department of 26 former Law Enforcement and ex military officers. Our Director of Security was a retired Deputy Chief of a large Police Department. We were parlized by these attacks. Off duty law enforcement were placed at key sub stations and power plants. The shooter would find a area that was not covered and hit us. Cameras were installed and were immdeiately blown off the poles by gunfire. This all ended when the shooter decided to end it. The moral of this story is the Electric Infrastructure is extremely vulrnable. Our substation directory looked like a small town phone book. Transmission towers and substations are spread all over the countryside. The security departments of these utilities DO NOT have the resources to defend against a coordinated terror attack. Will there be enough National Guard troops to place in all the power plants and substations? Can local law enforcement handle the task? The answer is NO. Another issue is who pays for the security upgrades. Most Electric Utilities security apparatus is designed with internal and external theft in mind. However, there are a few companies that have taken a proactive stance regarding the terror threat. In conclusion we have a long way to go in securing our Electric Grid.

www.cisworldservices.org...

[edit on 6-12-2004 by sitrep]

This is a real concern for USA and Canada... I said before that the Electrical grid should be a security concern for both of the countries. Just imagine if they blow out power lines and attack after the Black out... The 2 countries will be paralyzed and nothing could be done. After imagine if they blow up the electrical production facility in northern quebec... A big part of the us and Canada will not have electricity for a long time... Going back to the stone age

FYI...

There's a thread in RATS about concerns over the relative ease of disabling our national grid.

Good reason to take stock of your "camping" gear. Do you have a back up source of heat and light? How about extra food and blankets? Do you have some cash stashed away for when the ATMs are all down?

I had an electrical fire one November and was without power for a week while repairs were done. Even with my fireplace burning night and day, the house never got above 55. My pets were chilled, I got the flu, and it felt like I was living in a cave. Even being able to escape to work for 8 hours a day wasn't enough to cheer me up.

I can only imagine what life will be like if a whole chunk of the country is without power in the middle of winter. No food but what's on the store shelves. And some stores won't be able to do business anyway. People in rural areas depend on wells for water, and wells require electric pumps to function. The list of complications is endless.

It's always a good idea to have 72 hours worth of emergency supplies, and anyone into camping probably has enough gear to wait out a week or so. But now is a good time to check out your resources. Don't be stuck in line for the last loaf of bread or tank of propane.

--Saerlaith

Good points, preparedness is essential.

A quick search of ATS returns lots of links to help you prepare your self/family/home.

An anti-globalization group known as the Initiative for International Resistance has claimed responsibility for the attempt on the Hydro-Quebec transmission tower. See the complete followup article at www.theglobeandmail.com..." target="_blank" class="postlink" rel="nofollow"> www.theglobeandmail.com....

This may or may not be genuine, especially if no one has ever heard of this group before. It would have been more convincing had the group issued a release simultaneously to the sabotage; doing so after a news report may indicate nothing more than an attempt to capitalize on someone else's action.