Woodland substations hit before N.C., Tacoma as nation looks to increase security

Jeff Zimmerman, 53, owner of the auto repair shop Trailer Sales, has property next to the Robinson Road substation near Woodland High School and the Dike Access Road Walmart. He said his construction equipment was damaged the same day as the Nov. 17 attack.

Contractor Brian Kemp, 42, was doing work on Zimmerman’s property and told The Daily News that on Nov. 17 someone tried to hot wire his forklift and damaged it in the process. Kemp said he alerted the FBI about the vandalism.

Nationwide attacks

On Thanksgiving Day, a Bonneville Power Administration electrical substation in Clackamas, Ore., was attacked in what BPA Vice President of Field Service John Lahti called a deliberate assault on the station to “damage equipment and cause a power outage.”

According to the FBI, two substations in Moore County, N.C., were damaged by gunfire on the night of Dec. 3 at two locations 10 minutes apart. Some 45,000 customers were left without power for four days.

On Christmas Day, four substations were attacked in the Tacoma area, and an estimated $3 million of damage knocked out power for more than 15,000 households.

Puyallup residents Matthew Greenwood, 32, and Jeremy Crahan, 40, were arrested Dec. 31 for allegedly sabotaging the four Puget Sound Energy and Tacoma Power substations. Greenwood told federal authorities that their motivation was to cut the substations’ power to burglarize local businesses that would be left in the dark, according to an affidavit.

Greenwood and Crahan are each charged with one count of conspiracy to damage energy facilities; Greenwood was also charged with possession of an unregistered firearm after the FBI found unregistered guns underneath his mattress. If found guilty, they could serve years in a federal prison.

FBI spokesperson Steven Bernd would not comment on the Woodland attacks or any connections to Tacoma, but said in an email that “the two men arrested were arrested for their participation in all four attacks in Pierce County.”

Protecting substations

Substations convert high-voltage electricity to lower-voltage electricity for homes and businesses. They can be targets because they are often unmanned and in remote locations, officials say.

Daniel Kirschen, 65, a professor in the University of Washington’s Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, said substations are relatively easy targets because there are so many of them.

“The grid is an impressive machine. It has enormous economic benefits and reliability benefits. What needs to happen is to improve the physical security of the substations to make attacks more difficult or less likely,” said Kirschen.

Doug Johnson, senior spokesperson for the BPA, said the company has 300 substations across the region, some of which are manned. He said the BPA is enhancing security features in light of the Thanksgiving Day attack in Clackamas.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission announced Dec. 15 it is studying the physical security standards of the nation’s electrical grid. The commission is an independent agency that regulates the interstate transmission of electricity, natural gas and oil.

The Department of Energy’s Office of Cybersecurity reports the number of substation disturbances in Washington jumped in 2022.

The department reports three electrical substations were vandalized in Washington in 2021, and another was a possible physical threat and listed under “suspicious activity.”

Eleven substations were hit in Washington through August 2022. Nine attacks occurred before those in Woodland. Seven of those were described as “intentional human action;” two were cyber-attacks; and one was listed as “suspicious activity.”

Kirschen advised telling authorities about questionable events.

“If you see something, say something,” he said. “If you see suspicious activity report it.”