CBS San Francisco: […] Crews were working to clean up an oil spill caused by bullet holes at a PG&E transmission center just southeast of San Jose, a PG&E spokesman said. […] “We are currently on site assessing the magnitude of the vandalism and the impact,” he said. […]
ABC 7: Bullets damage PG&E substation in San Jose […] PG&E spokesman JD Guidi said shots were fired at the substation. “It does appear that there were gunshots to our facility,” he said. […]
KTVU: Vandalism to major power transformer triggers power alert […] Utility officials issued an emergency flex power alert for the Silicon Valley Tuesday after vandals riddled a key PG&E substation with bullets. […] PG&E was reporting heavy damage to transformers at the substation following gunshots heard during an apparent vandalism in the early morning hours. […] Guidi said the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office was investigating the incident. A sheriff’s spokesman was not immediately available for comment.
NBC Bay Area: Statewide Emergency Alert to Conserve Energy After PG&E Substation Vandalized […] About 10,000 gallons of oil began leaking Tuesday morning from a transformer at a San Jose PG&E substation […] As of 10 a.m., hazardous material crews were still cleaning up the mess, and deputies have not yet been able to get inside. […] Two hours after the gunfire was reported, PG&E called the sheriff’s office to report that their security fence had been “breached” in the 100 block of Metcalf Road near U.S. Highway 101. About the same time, and not too far away, Gilroy and Morgan Hill police departments reported that 911 calls from land lines were not working Tuesday morning. Stenderup said it was too early in the investigation to tell if the events were related.
San Jose Mercury News: […] There were multiple gunshots heard at the facility,” said PG&E spokesman Jason King. “We have crews on the scene and we are currently assessing the situation.” […] PG&E reported that at least five transformers were damaged. […]
CBS broadcast here
Sent to us by a reader.
I knew it was time to leave California and for this very reason. They are going to shut off all the power and water to the area. Then blame it on vandalism or terrorism. The whole place is going to turn into Thunderdome overnight.
My money is on gang members.
Drunk cops.
If this becomes a trend; the “grid” will catastrophically fail. As a professional in the maintenance of very poorly maintained and managed water treatment and power supply infrastructure, and practically no security: acts like this can, and will, crash the entire system.
10,000 gallons of oil = a very large transformer. They do not keep spares, sometimes they have trouble locating replacements for the tiny transformers you see on utility poles. The transformers in the sub stations typically take as long as 3 years to build.
Any extremest organization, or small cell, with the intent of crashing the grid; could bring it down in a matter of days simply by shooting up a relatively small number of those large transformers, causing such an overload on surviving transformers, transformers that are typically 10+ years past their designed life expectancy either to “trip” or destructively fail.
Remember: “3 years”, to replace these transformers = 3 years “off the grid” = chaos, anarchy, martial law, riots, looting, violence, starvation,and NO WATER. No power = NO WATER or sewage processing. Imagine raw sewage 30 feet deep in some urban areas within 3 days of failure (typical water treatment plants have 3 days of diesel fuel for emergency pumping operations, after that…..???).
This is a real threat that has received less attention than the federal grant given to study the sex life of the mosquito!
If you don’t live on a well secured hill top with independent water supply and food: YOU ARE SCREWED!
kim,
Your comment is so true. I work for a company who has many large transformers to power our in-house equipment. The lead-time to replace these transformers can be years. That is why we have “critical spares.” Unfortunately, the utility companies rarely have such spares for their own equipment.
It wouldn’t take much for vandals, terrorists, etc. to crash the grid.
This very thing was predicted to happen just a couple months ago. I can’t remember who wrote the article, but it floated around the internet for a week or so.
The article described how “lone Wolf” or “cell group Patriot” would be blamed for an attack on Pow/Gen/Distribution stations…it even detailed how it would/could be done and also highlighted the fact that spare parts are non-extant.
The article went on to say how the attackers on 4-wheelers could have a hay-day and would be near impossible to monitor all Transfer stations and even more so to catch the perps.
Damned amazing how internet articles and Govt. terror drills play out and become reality.
AGAIN…We are Being PLAYED….