Legalectric

The DOT map says it all — all the roads are closed in SE Minnesota.  Maybe next week…

Cars stuck on West, a major street in Red Wing, one right here and another a block further downhill who did a 360 or more, now the cops are out there and a big pick up truck, but that car is still stuck, ???  What a mess.  It’s a good night to stay inside, and I don’t regret not going up to Grand Rapids for the Great Northern Transmission Line scoping meeting, though I miss having a visit with Charlotte!

STrib reports “white out conditions.”

And the Weather Underground says “Blizzard Warning,” but it’s 33 degrees right now.  Heavy snow, and lots of it, our boat cover collapsed.  Alan shoveled off the attached garage roof without taking a header, whew, and built a roof rake and got the snow off the garage/shop before it collapsed.  This is more like Minnesota winter as I remember it.  And it sucks just as bad as I remember it!

For your viewing enjoyment, from Jeanne, my SiL, or is it SoL (she’s probably enjoying this beautiful day in Costa Rica right now), I so needed this:

The Keystone XL pipeline has been hit with a significant problem, and a MAJOR victory for landowners in Nebraska!  Here’s the Court’s decision:

Keystone XL Eminent Domain decision — LB-1161-Court-Order-Feb-19-2014

The Nutshell version:

We found a few flower pots in the driveway of a foreclosed and abandoned house, lots of other stuff too, but this is about the plants.

One was this big potted ~18″ long thin rubbery leaved thing, and it spent the summer on the deck, but the deer ate it down to the dirt.  OK, fine, watered it a lot and put it on the table where the deer don’t go, and voila, it grew back to about 9″ but then winter came.  Got it inside, but a little late, and then forgot it on the dining room floor, and Kady Kate ate the leaves.  Then Kate ate the dirt.

KADY!  NO!

So we brought in the iron baker’s rack, stuck it in the dining room window and put all the pots over there surrounded by cat beds so the cat could enjoy the view and the plants were protected from the dog!  It worked, and a couple of weeks later, look what’s there to greet me when I got home from the transmission road show — a Valentine’s Day Flower?  Beats the hell out of a Christmas Cactus, but what is it?

Talk about being behind the curve…  a news blackout.  I’ll post this on all my sites and watch, NSA’s going to push my stats up!

Very strange timing here — an incident where “multiple transformers,” 17 transformers, or 5 transformers, 5 out of 7 transformer banks, depending what you read/hear, were taken out occurred on April 16, 2013, and it’s just now being reported.  Try googling “news blackout California substation electrical terrorism” and see what comes up. Maybe it’s that former FERC chair Wellinghoff is out there talking about it?  There was also a congressional hearing in December that got some coverage…

At the time, the incident wasn’t publicized, but since he stepped down as FERC chairman in November, Wellinghoff is raising public attention to the California sniper’s attack to demonstrate the vulnerability of the nation’s electricity system.

Wellinghoff started talking about it publicly in November, 2013 it seems.

Do some googling and see for yourself the news blackout.  Also,several articles are noting it occurred a day after the Boston Marathon bombing, but not one yet is noting that it occurred the day after taxes are due.  How many anti-tax wing-nuts are out there?

They publicized similar sabotage in Arkansas and arrested the perp (interesting, he unbolted a tower, connected a cable, and used a moving train to tip over the pole!):

Arkansas man charged in connection with power grid sabotage

Back to California — here’s what the substation and surrounding area looks like, and the actions taken, from the Wall Street Journal article:

In today’s STrib:

Who knocked out 17 giant transformers in Calif. — and why?

In the Wall Street Journal (I don’t have access… do you?):

Assault on California Power Station Raises Alarm for Potential Terrorism

From PG&E at the time:

April 16, 2013

Grid Operator Calls for Conservation after Substation Incident

April 17, 2013

PG&E Crews Continue Repair Work at Damaged Substation

Now going back to April, 2013:

Vandalism at San Jose PG&E Substation called ‘Sabotage’

AT&T Offers $250,000 Reward for Fiber Vandalism

CAISO’s Alert:

Flex-Alert-Urgent Conservation Needed Now – Santa Clara Silicon Valley  April 16, 2013

Here’s one from December, 2013, that is the most detailed and credible I’ve found:

‘Military-Style’ raid on California Power Station Spooks U.S.

In this one there’s a statement that’s a recurring theme that I think is off base, the theme being that it’s a rehearsal for a “real” attack, and in other articles calling it a “dry run,” when I’d call taking out 17 transformers a “real” attack:

“These were not amateurs taking potshots,” Mark Johnson, a former vice president for transmission operations at PG&E, said last month at a conference on grid security held in Philadelphia. “My personal view is that this was a dress rehearsal” for future attacks.

Another good detailed article in the NY Times:

Months Later, Sniper Attack at Power Hub Still a Mystery

And a video:

San Jose: Sheriff’s Office release video of attach on PG&E substation

On NPR:

Sniper Attack on Calif. Power Station Raises Terrorism Fears

In Bloomberg:

Rifle-Toting Terrorists Pose Great Threat to Power Grid

Now let’s see some other coverage that I’ll nominate for “wing-nut” status:

False Flag: New Details Emerge on Santa Clara County ‘Military-Style” Power Grid Attack

Latest ‘Domestic Terror’ Sniper Attack is Likely a Government False Flag

In which they say:

Those who still believe that this was the work of a home-grown terror cell, read between their own lines: according to the U.S. Navy investigation ordered at the request of  FERC chairman Wellinghoff, “it was a targeting package just like they would put together for an attack”.

‘Just like they would put together for a real attack’, he says?

Exactly, because this wasn’t a real terror attack.  ???  Again the mantra of a “dress rehearsal” or a “dry run.”  Isn’t taking out the fiber-optic and 911 service and then multiple substation transformers “real” enough?

Chilling: Why an Underreported, ‘Significant Incident of Domestic Terrorism’ Might Not Be A Failed Attack At All

In today’s STrib, the full article: