Sabotage incident reported

In an article that took up nearly a full page, the Wall Street Journal last week reported that in April 2013 telephone cables at Pacific Gas and Electric's Metcalf transmission substation in San Jose were cut, followed by 20 minutes of attacks by snipers that took out 17 transformers that provide power to Silicon Valley. Power officials were able to keep power flowing with rerouts and other measures, but the newspaper quoted Nevadan Jon Wellinghoff—then chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) as saying it was “the most significant incident of domestic terrorism” targeting the power grid.

Wellinghoff, former Nevada utility consumer advocate, said he went public about the incident because no arrests have been made, and he believes the power system remains vulnerable to the point that it is a matter of national security. He said the U.S. Navy Surface Warfare Center investigated the San Jose attack and called it a professional job. A FERC analysis concluded that surprisingly few such attacks could cut power to most of the nation.