If you're stuck in line for a day waiting to get over the pass for avalanche control/clean-up, where do you recharge that Tesla?

It’s possible they have footage from the substation. But with footage from adjacent areas they’re “Oh, here’s where you parked. Here you are getting out of the car with weapons” and “Oh, you drove in from that direction? Makes sense based on who we think you might be.” …

Christmas brings new round of attacks on Northwest power grid

The Christmas crimes are the latest in a string of physical attacks on the Northwest power grid.

Update 12/25, 10:30 p.m.: A fourth substation was attacked and set on fire Sunday night, according to the Pierce County Sheriff's Department.

Electrical utilities reported physical attacks on the power grid at three locations outside of Tacoma, Washington, before dawn Christmas morning.

About 15,000 people lost power, according to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department.

The sheriff’s department is calling the incidents “burglaries,” though nothing was stolen from the three substations.

Substations are a key part of the electrical grid that keeps the nation’s lights on. They convert high-voltage electricity to the lower voltages utility customers use.

“It is unknown if there are any motives or if this was a coordinated attack on the power systems,” according to a statement from the sheriff’s department.

Tacoma Public Utilities, which suffered damage at substations in suburban Spanaway and Graham, called the incidents “attacks” and said its facilities were “deliberately targeted.”

Puget Sound Energy, which suffered damage at a substation in Puyallup, called it “vandalism.”

Sgt. Darren Moss Jr of the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department took issue with calling the incidents “attacks.”

“There's nothing that we have found yet that says this is a terrorist attack,” Moss said.

“At this point, we believe their goal was to shut down the power. The reasons for that, we don't know yet,” he said.

“It could be a disgruntled employee,” Moss said.

Tacoma Public Utilities later walked back the term “attack.”

“Per the Pierce Co Sheriff, we can’t characterize these as an attack without first completing the investigation,” spokesperson Jessica Wilson said in a text message late Sunday afternoon.

Moss said the three substations – all within about six miles of each other – were close enough that one person could have carried out all three incursions.

The three substations all have high chain-link fences and security cameras.

“We do have some evidence with the surveillance cameras at each one of these facilities,” Moss said.

He said the security cameras were added after a rash of metal thieves trying to break in to do some very illegal and dangerous recycling.

“Those people are lucky as heck they didn't kill themselves,” Moss said.

Motives, methods unclear

Some Puget Sound Energy customers in Puyallup lost power as a substation there was damaged around 2:40 a.m. on Dec. 25. Puget Sound Energy restored power by 5 a.m. but did not notify the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department for nearly nine hours after the attack, according to the department.

Tacoma Public Utilities customers in parts of Spanaway and Graham lost power at 5:12 a.m., according to the utility’s power outage map. At 5:26 a.m., the sheriff’s department received a call that someone had broken into and damaged a Tacoma Public Utilities substation on 46th Avenue East in Spanaway. Deputies responding to the call learned of an attack at a second Tacoma Public Utilities substation about two miles away.

Moss said whoever broke in cut through locks at two of the substations and cut through a chain-link fence at the third. He declined to describe any of the damage done inside the fences.

“We don't want to have any copycats or anything like that,” Moss said. “But in each of the instances, the suspects broke into the fenced area and then vandalized the equipment inside to cause a power outage.”

The Christmas crimes are the latest in a string of physical attacks on the Northwest grid. At least nine substations in Oregon and Washington have been attacked since mid-November, according to documents obtained by KUOW and Oregon Public Broadcasting.

Whether any of these attacks are connected is unclear.

U.S. Department of Energy data shows the Northwest grid has been physically attacked more in 2022 than in the past six years combined.

Federal agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bonneville Power Administration have been alerting Northwest utilities of the threat of sabotage since before unknown attackers shot up a substation in North Carolina Dec. 3, cutting power to tens of thousands of customers.

In January, the Associated Press reported a U.S. Department of Homeland Security warning that domestic terrorists have been developing “credible, specific plans” to attack electrical infrastructure since at least 2020.

In February, three white supremacists from Indiana, Ohio, and Wisconsin pleaded guilty to crimes related to a plot to attack the power grid in several regions of the United States.

“The defendants in this case wanted to attack regional power substations and expected the damage would lead to economic distress and civil unrest,” FBI counterterrorism division assistant director Timothy Langan said in a press release.

The Puyallup substation is Puget Sound Energy’s third to be attacked since November. The Bellevue-based private utility has provided few details on any of the incidents, citing an ongoing FBI investigation.

https://www.kuow.org/stories/three-electrical-substations-attacked-xmas-morning-in-pierce-county

is this where you come, now that your facebook group is empty? :(

Hint: they do not

All of your comments read like you are just a couple hairs shy of putting on a batman outfit and hanging out on rooftops.

>The sheriff’s department is calling the incidents “burglaries,” though nothing was stolen from the three substations.

typical

Or they have an idea & need more evidence.

In other words they have no idea who did it.

The chances of problems from poor visibility, spray from trucks, and other drivers, are probably more relevant than the winter weather right now. The pass isnt "just sit back and cruise", even in good weather, till you've driven it a few times.

You’re reading just a tad too much into this lol. It’s possible people might have captured some relevant information on their personal security systems so the investigators are asking people to check. That’s some pretty standard investigation shit is it not?

I can't imagine a world where the substations don't have security cameras. But it's possible that the security cameras didn't capture anything helpful, or they're just trying to gather as much information about where this person went, who they might have talked to, and what behaviors they were displaying.

Whenever driving in winter conditions I make sure to have emergency supplies in the car such as sleeping bag(s), water, food. Just in case something were to happen and you're stranded waiting for a tow.

Electric companies have been upgrading physical security on substations for quite some time. Cameras are already present at many across the US. They are being used to analyze faults with equipment, such as electrical substation fire that started forest fires a few years ago.

They are also rolling out technology like shot detection sound devices, infrared cameras. They are tapped into tracking cell phones with local providers. They have anti-drone technology coming on line now, that are essentially EMP guns.

The problem is that people are shooting these from a distance, outside of camera range. But there are only so many lines of sight on substations, so police are hoping that a camera sees people with rifles and other identifying information they can follow up with.

I know you’re upset, but right now the solutions to this problem is more money and higher electrical rates.

You do realize the police aren't the utility companies, right?

You’re arguing that people shouldn’t provide surveillance footage of a probable terrorist attack to law enforcement?

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Sure... But Why not install cameras at the substations like Decades ago? Every time the criminals out smart the cops WE are asked to help them. If they were forward thinking leaders they would have already trouble shot the situation.. Its Real easy to do nothing then ask the People for help when its to complicated to figure out. Its Embarrassing. This is not asking folks to look at footage to find a suspected criminal this is an act of Terror Strait up so where is DHS in all of this? asking the people for help? Then when we ask for help the police are just too busy, so we are told to file a report online.... THIS is unacceptable. They have the resources that WE pay for!! USE THEM!!!

Thanks for the help everyone. I think we should wait until next year for a big winter drive like this. I appreciate everyone's time and input

Since you’re in Pullman do you have proper snow tires on your car? Those make more of a difference than AWD does, and combining the two gives you a lot more control and traction. I definitely agree with everything the others are saying here though!

So put Cameras up at the substations? Why is this not happening? lol How embarrassing... actually right after 9/11 I was concerned about this exact thing!! but of course the all powerful American DHS would be on top of it.... NOPE. I thought of doing this Decades ago!!! But I guess the Government hasn't figured it out yet... What a Joke. To be fair I did see a Thurston County Sheriff SUV parked at one substation the other day.. lol

Nice rant, but asking for people to check footage isn't drastically different from asking witnesses to come forward, which is usually a good idea...

I think this is the conclusion we're coming to. I need to drive it once in good weather to feel the roads better, then maybe I can do it in a future year during the winter break

I’d like to point out that in this type of case, Cops are doing their job in asking for additional information as their own and the electric companies has come up short so far.

“WSDOT Snoqualmie pass Twitter“ And “WSDOT Snoqualmie Pass”. Google that and should take you directly to the most updated info. I make the trip pretty regularly, drive slow, keep your distance, there are bad drivers out there, be a good one.