The attack on the Metcalf power substation in April 2013 came very close to shutting down the electrical grid for Silicon Valley. The WSJ reported that in the 30 minute attack “snipers opened fire on a nearby electrical substation. Shooting for 19 minutes, they surgically knocked out 17 giant transformers that funnel power to Silicon Valley. A minute before a police car arrived, the shooters disappeared into the night.”
“This wasn’t an incident where Billy-Bob and Joe decided, after a few brewskis, to come in and shoot up a substation,” Mark Johnson, a retired vice president of transmission for the utility PG&E, the company operating the Metcalf substation. “This was an event that was well thought out, well planned and they targeted certain components.”
Regulators and the utility industry have long worried about the physical security of the U.S. electrical grid, but there is disagreement on how much more can be done to keep the grid safe. FERC has already required utilities to establish minimum security standards for the grid.
“I don’t want to downplay the scenario [a former FERC commissioner] describes,” Gerry Cauley, chief executive of the North American Electric Reliability Corp., a body that reports to FERC. “I’ll agree it’s possible from a technical assessment.”
Cauley said that even if some substation were taken offline, most people would have their power back within a few hours. A more pressing worry form utilities is the threat of cyber attack on the grid. There have been 13 reported cyber incidents in the last three years, according to the WSJ, though no major outages have yet been linked to these events.
The WSJ also notes that there were “274 significant instances of vandalism or deliberate damage in the three years, and more than 700 weather-related problems.”
Andy and Ceil Barrie have been battling the Summit County commissioners who decided to seize the Barrie’s property. Similar to the Bundy Ranch battle in recent news, these government officials give lame excuses to justify their unconstitutional property grabs. This constant overreach at the hands of bureaucracies are an assault against American taxpayers, along with an assault against our constitutional rights in the pursuit of happiness (granted to us by our Creator).
Wouldn’t it be nice if the government put as much energy—not to mention the use of taxpayer funds—into protecting the US border?
Fox News reports the following:
BRECKENRIDGE, Colo. – ”They’re spending us to death,” said landowner Andy Barrie.
He is not talking about property taxes, inflation or even the cost of skiing in glitzy ski country. Rather, he’s talking about the legal fight he and his wife have been waging to save their pristine piece of mountain property — with breathtaking views of Colorado’s high country — from being taken over by the county through eminent domain.
Their battle is a unique test of private property rights. […]
The isolated parcel is surrounded by 2.2 million acres of White River National Forest, and is essentially an island of private property. It includes an old mining cabin, an outhouse and a shuttered gold mine. The area is popular with hikers.
The couple’s trouble started when the U.S. Forest Service took them to task for using a utility vehicle to drive from their main residence to their cabin. They say they never went off-road, and petitioned for the path to be declared a county road.
The county, though, responded by trying to buy the Barries’ higher-elevation property in order to protect and preserve it as open space. The Barries, who never had any plans to develop it, did not want to sell.
That’s when the county pulled their trump card.
Unbeknownst to the Barries, the previous owner had remodeled the cabin without permits. So Summit County commissioners voted to condemn the property for wiring and plumbing (even though the cabin has none) and filed for eminent domain.
“I understand that we are all trying to save these beautiful mountains and make them accessible to everyone, but you know that property has been sitting there since President Garfield signed our land patent, and we’re not doing anything bad there,” Ceil Barrie said.
Last week, the two sides participated in required, formal mediation with a judge. Summit County, which refused interview requests, released a statement saying: “Both parties engaged in productive negotiations in pursuit of a voluntary settlement regarding the purchase. … We are optimistic that a resolution will be reached within a matter of weeks, if not days.”
The Barries’ hopes are dimming. Asked if recent mediation pointed to a way for the Barries to keep the land in the family name and avoid eminent domain, Andy Barrie responded flatly, “No, they’re taking it.” […]
Read more here.
Contact information for the Summit County Commissioners HERE.
Socialism is not the Answer 