During a hearing in Pinehurst, North Carolina, Friday, a congressman accused Duke Energy of not paying attention to security warnings before two substations were attacked in Moore County.
The Dec. 3 attack, when two substations were shot up, cut power to 40,000 homes and businesses. Many of those people were without power for days as Duke worked to repair the substations. No one has been arrested in the attacks.
“That was a very sophisticated attack,” said Mark Aysta, who works in security at Duke Energy and one of the witnesses at the hearing.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee held a public hearing in North Carolina on securing the electrical grid a little more than six months after that attack.
“There was an intelligence security memo detailing at least 15 incidents over the course of less than a year showing extremists openly threatening and calling for sabotage against the energy side, especially electricity substations,” said Rep. Gary Palmer, an Alabama Republican.
“You ought to be taking the steps to protect that infrastructure. So why haven’t you?” he said to Duke’s Aysta.
Three days before the attack, the Department of Homeland Security sent out a warning about possible attacks on the power grid.
“When we get specific intelligence about increased threats in an area, we will surge security resources, work with our law enforcement and intelligence partners to do just that,” Aysta said, responding to the congressman.
“I don’t think you did that,” Palmer said, citing a similar attack in California and two people arrested planning attacks in Washington and Oregon. “You didn’t take additional steps to secure your infrastructure. I think that’s a problem.”
Responding to the accusations, Aysta said, “We briefed our teams in the field to be additionally vigilant.”
“We cannot protect the thousands of substations across our jurisdictions,” he said.
In his prepared remarks at the beginning of the hearing, Aysta said Duke Energy has increased surveillance at the Moore County substations. He said they reviewed security at all of the company’s substations in the six states where it operates.
One of the biggest issues in the Moore County attack is that the substations did not have a backup where the company could have routed power from another part of the grid. Aysta said the company was prioritizing security at substations that do not have that kind of backup.
“Through this lens, we’ve identified opportunities to increase security and surveillance and we’re developing implementation schedules for this work,” he said. The company is also working to stage critical parts for equipment so it can be quickly moved to where it’s needed and on better rapid-response plans, Aysta said.
In the two-hour hearing, committee members questioned Aysta, along with William Ray, head of the state’s Division of Emergency Management, Tim Ponseti with the SERC Reliability Corporation, and N.C. State University’s Jordan Kern, a professor in industrial engineering.
The congressional committee traveled to North Carolina on the invitation of Rep. Richard Hudson, a North Carolina Republican who sits on the committee and represents the area where the substations were attacked. Hudson said his own house was in the area that lost power.
Rep. Rick Allen, a Georgia Republican, questioned why investigators have not made an arrest in the attacks.
“I am really disappointed that we have not found the perpetrators of this and I’m not sure we’re making efforts to do that,” the congressman said. “We’ve got to up our game here.”
