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INDEXwiredInUSA - May 2014
Reward offered following power grid attack
Pacific Gas & Electric Co is offering a
$250,000 reward for information leading to
an arrest and conviction for a power grid
attack mounted in Silicon Valley nearly a
year ago.
The coordinated attack on 16
th
April, the
day after the Boston Marathon bombings,
cut AT&T fiber optic lines and fired shots
into a PG&E substation. The sniper bullets
put 17 transformers out of action and, with
telephone communication down, millions
of people in Santa Clara county were
asked to conserve energy.
Former
federal
energy
regulatory
commission chairman Jon Wellinghoff has
called the incident an act of terrorism.
However, FBI spokesman Peter Lee has
said that the agency has no information to
support the view, and the investigation is
ongoing.
“One year later, the perpetrator or
perpetrators of this crime remain at large
and we want to help change that,” Gregg
Lemler, PG&E’s vice president of electric
transmission operations, said at a press
conference to announce the reward.
PG&E’s reward is funded by shareholders
and comes nearly a year after AT&T offered
its own $250,000 reward for information
leading to arrests.
At the time, power was rerouted to avoid
a blackout, but it took PG&E workers nearly
a month to repair the damage. No arrests
have yet been made.
PG&E has said it plans to spend $100 million
on security measures, and has guards
stationed at substations around the clock.
MAKING
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