A $75,000 reward has been offered to anyone who can provide information leading to the arrest or conviction of the unknown assailants who caused a widespread power outage in North Carolina this week by unleashing gunfire on two Duke Energy substations.
Gov. Roy Cooper announced details of the reward offering Wednesday, which will be paid out collectively by Moore County, the state of North Carolina and the aforementioned Duke Energy.
"An attack on our critical infrastructure will not be tolerated," Cooper said. "I appreciate the coordinated efforts of law enforcement to leave no stone unturned in finding the criminals who did this, and I thank Moore County and Duke Energy for matching the state's reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible."
Law enforcement officials are reportedly classifying the substation incident as a "criminal attack." At this time, no suspects or motives have been publicly disclosed.
At the outage's peak, approximately 45,000 North Carolina residents and businesses were without power. In recent days, however, Duke Energy has been able to successfully replace equipment that had been destroyed in the attack, according to Cooper.
Also, Axios reports that Duke Energy plans to restore power to nearly all of its customers before midnight Wednesday.
As a short-term move to counter the power outages and avert longer lines at traffic lights and street crossings, Moore County had an announced curfew from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. EST.
The North Carolina outages have brought renewed attention to power grids in various states, and how vulnerable these electrical systems could be to criminal mischief.
According to the Governors' Wind & Solar Energy Coalition, power grids have become "regular targets" of cyberattacks through the years, but that type of damage is usually accomplished through computer hacking — not physical attacks on a substation.
"From this incident, it appears that the electrical grid continues to be extremely vulnerable," said Jon Wellinghoff, chief executive officer of GridPolicy Consulting Inc. and former chairman of the Federal Energy Regulator Commission.
The FBI published a poster in its "Most Wanted" section to inform people of the substations attack in North Carolina.
To provide tips or information, North Carolina residents are being encouraged to call (910) 947-4444.
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