Dec 10, 2022 3 min read

Christmas lights were extinguished in Moore County, N.C., for much of the last week.

And that was actually the least of the community’s problems.

Gunfire crippled two electric substations in the rural county Saturday, plunging it into darkness for days on end. Because of the extent and type of damage, power could not be quickly restored. It brought business in much of the county to a standstill, shuttered schools, and made life extraordinarily hard for elderly residents and those dealing with health challenges. A curfew was put in effect, and residents who were lucky enough to leave did so, staying with relatives elsewhere until the power came back. A lack of functioning traffic lights led to an increase in traffic accidents. One official called it “a malicious, criminal attack on the entire community.”

There has been speculation it could have been carried out to bring the curtain down on a drag show that was happening at a theater, but, as of the end of the week, authorities had not apprehended a suspect or determined a motive.

The travails of Moore County, N.C., attracted national attention, and they should serve as a cautionary tale for the rest of us – a few bullets fired by someone intent on drunken vandalism on a Saturday night, or someone wanting to wreak havoc in a more calculated fashion, could cause real damage – and long-lasting harm – to the power grid that is absolutely crucial to the functioning of everyday life.

Earlier this year, the FBI reported an increase in threats to electric power infrastructure by right-wing extremists who hope to foment disorder and, in their twisted reasoning, spark a civil war that would reorder society in a way more to their liking. The Department of Homeland Security has issued similar warnings. The electricity grid is also a tempting target for foreign antagonists like Russia or China, who could attack through a series of keystrokes and mouse clicks. Many experts believe we have fallen behind in protecting our power infrastructure.

What can be done? Experts who have studied the issue believe there needs to be a dedicated agency that identified vulnerabilities and threats. They also say that physical security can be upgraded at certain sites, with the addition of fences and motion-detector alarms. The use of microgrids, which are able to function independently of the larger electrical grid and supply power to sites like churches, neighborhoods, schools and college campuses, are also recommended.

Remember how we never really believed that a deadly pathogen could lead to 1 million casualties in the United States and upend our whole existence for months on end? We shouldn’t assume that widespread and long-lasting power outages are only the stuff of thrillers or science fiction. Steps should be taken to protect the power infrastructure that we all rely on.