THE NARRATIVE IS SET – Portland officials say state-wide attacks on electrical substations were deliberate: SEVEN plants across America are sabotaged amid suspicion it’s a right-wing protest over drag events

The two attacks on Portland’s electrical substations were pre-meditated, officials said, as other states are on ‘high alert’ after Washington and North Carolina were also targeted.

Officials in Oregon are still probing the Thanksgiving electrical attacks at Portland General Electric and Bonneville Power Administration in Clackamas County.

In total, at least seven attacks have been recorded in the US in recent weeks. In North Carolina, the FBI is currently investigating if their grid attacks were triggered by opponents of a drag show. 

‘We have confirmed that this was malicious intent, it was no accident,’ Doug Johnson, a BPA spokesperson told KATU news. 

Two Portland electrical substations were deliberately targeted last month, officials reveal amid several other states reporting attacks. Pictured: a PGE transformer 

Power stations in a number of US states have been threatened or targeted for attacks in recent weeks, prompting American law enforcement to warn citizens about a need to secure the power grid

Doug Johnson, a BPA spokesperson, confirmed the attacks were intentional 

About 106 attacks on the electrical grid in the US have been reported from January to August of this year – and there have been close to 600 since 2014, according to NBC.

BPA has increased security measures to prevent additional attacks on their system following the wave of ambushes recently.

‘We actually have increased security around substations in the area just as a precaution to ratchet that up from what we typically do,’ Johnson told the news outlet.

Johnson previously said the BPA is working with the FBI on the incident and has ‘encouraged other utilities throughout the region to increase their vigilance and report any suspicious or similar activity to law enforcement.’

The FBI would not confirm or deny that it is investigating the attacks, though the companies said they are cooperating with a federal investigation.

As attacks across the country have been on the rise, the Department of Homeland Security has also warned about the threats to the US electric infrastructure.

A Duke Energy employee works to repair the damage at the Moore County substation in North Carolina 

As well as North Carolina and Oregon, there were ambushes to electrical infrastructures in Washington state in November.

Puget Sound Energy and two Cowlitz County Public Utility District substations were vandalized.

Gerald Tracy, the media engagement program manager at Puget Sound Energy said that he was unable to ‘comment on the incidents because they are both an ongoing investigation involving the FBI.’

A federal law enforcement memo revealed that the Pacific Northwest substations have described attacks using ‘handtools, arson, firearms, and metal chains possibly in response to an online call for attacks on critical infrastructure.’

‘In recent attacks, criminal actors bypassed security fences by cutting the fence links, lighting nearby fires, shooting equipment from a distance or throwing objects over the fence and on to equipment,’ read the memo.

Meanwhile, the FBI is investigating if the two attacks in North Carolina were linked to an electrical substation were intended to kill the power at a drag queen event.

An LGBTQ nonprofit in North Carolina had set up a drag show at the Sunrise Theater in Southern Pines on Saturday night around the same time when the electric facilities were targeted with gunfire around 7pm.

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