‘It could happen again’: After NC electrical attack, security is a priority for lawmakers
READ MORE
Moore County Power Outages
Thousands of people in Moore County, NC lost power for days in December 2022 after electrical substations were attacked. Here is the latest coverage from The News & Observer.
Expand All
In the wake of the attack on Moore County’s electric substations with gunfire that left thousands of people and businesses without power for several days, North Carolina legislative leaders are seeking ways to protect the state’s infrastructure.
Top leaders cautioned that they want to wait until more information is known about the damage in Moore County, which has been described by officials as an intentional act to disable the substations with gunfire, before proposing specific new laws.
“Until we know all the facts and have some idea of who did the damage, it’s hard to speculate beyond the brought-up need for hardening some of the infrastructure,” Senate leader Phil Berger, an Eden Republican, told reporters on Tuesday during a brief, no-votes Senate session Tuesday. “So I think there will be some efforts to look at how we protect that infrastructure.”
Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore, a Kings Mountain Republican, both want to see protections for more utilities than just those electric substations.
“You’ve got all sorts of other stuff out there — water and sewer facilities,” Berger said. “And so I think it just brings that to attention. And I’m sure there will be some suggestions as to what we ought to do and how we ought to pay for it.”
Berger said once law enforcement completes its investigation and can give answers to who committed the attacks and why, that will help lawmakers decide how best to respond. However, lawmakers don’t have to wait for that before starting the process, he said.
“It’s pretty clear no matter what the motivation of the folks that caused the damage was, that we can move forward with assessments as to how we can protect some of that infrastructure from — even if it’s just vandalism, we probably would need to be doing that,” he said.
Moore called the precision of the attack “a little frightening.”
“But it really opens up the conversation we’ve had before about other aspects of ensuring that everything from your water supply, to of course electrical, to everything else is as hard as it can be, and is protected from those who would try to commit terrorism. I mean, that’s basically what that is,” Moore told reporters on Tuesday after a House session.
“It’s one of those things, I want to get information. I want to find out what things are working well. Maybe there’s some ways that can be improved. But it certainly is worth that conversation,” he said.
Moore noted that conversations were held more than 20 years ago after Sept. 11, 2001, about making it more difficult to damage government buildings and sensitive or key infrastructure.
“I think it needs to be frankly, part of a broader conversation of just readiness and preparedness, not only for those kinds of acts, but also for other emergencies,” Moore said.
Utility attacks under investigation
Berger said state laws could also be changed to “discourage folks from from doing this.”
He said his concern about an attack like the one in Moore County is “that it could happen again, in another place.”
“You could have situations where multiple sites — I believe it was two on this occasion — where you could have half a dozen in multiple counties get hit, if if folks were so motivated to do something like that.”
Gov. Roy Cooper told reporters last week that it was “too easy” for the electrical substations to be disabled.
“This was a malicious attack that was intentional,” Cooper said last week. “People knew what they were doing to disable the substation. And for that much damage to be caused, causing so much problem, economic loss, safety challenges to so many people for so long — I think we have to look at what we might need to do to harden that infrastructure.”
Moore wants to work with Duke Energy to learn what fortifications can be achieved. He said there should be backup equipment as well.
On Monday, Duke Energy officials were questioned by the N.C. Utilities Commission about the attacks, The News & Observer reported.
The FBI, state and local law enforcement are all involved. Anyone who has information about the case should contact the Moore County Sheriff’s Office at 910-947-4444 or the FBI at 800-CALL FBI. Rewards of up to $75,000 total are being offered by the state, Duke Energy and Moore County for tips that lead to arrests and convictions of those responsible for the attacks.
For more North Carolina government and politics news, subscribe to the Under the Dome politics newsletter from The News & Observer and the NC Insider and follow our weekly Under the Dome podcast at campsite.bio/underthedome or wherever you get your podcasts.
This story was originally published December 13, 2022 at 5:52 PM with the headline "‘It could happen again’: After NC electrical attack, security is a priority for lawmakers."
.jpg)
.JPG)
