Homeland
Security
Current Nationwide
Threat Level
ELEVATED
Daily Open Source Infrastructure
Report for 14 August 2009
Significant Risk of Terrorist Attacks
For information, click here:
http://www.dhs.gov
Top Stories

The U.S. Department of Justice announced that two men from Oklahoma and Texas
pleaded guilty on Wednesday to conspiring to manufacture and sell oilfield pipe couplings
stamped with a certification mark owned and registered by the American Petroleum
Institute, without a license or other authorization to do so. (See item 12)

Reuters reports that pirates probably hijacked a 4,000-ton, 98-meter merchant ship which
disappeared after sailing through the English Channel last month, its operator said on
Wednesday. A hijacking in European waters would be almost unprecedented in modern
times. (See item 17)
Fast Jump Menu
PRODUCTION INDUSTRIES
• Energy
• Chemical
• Nuclear Reactors, Materials and Waste
• Critical Manufacturing
• Defense Industrial Base
• Dams Sector
SUSTENANCE AND HEALTH
• Agriculture and Food
• Water Sector
• Public Health and Healthcare
SERVICE INDUSTRIES
• Banking and Finance
• Transportation
• Postal and Shipping
• Information and Technology
• Communications
• Commercial Facilities
FEDERAL AND STATE
• Government Facilities
• Emergency Services
• National Monuments and Icons
Energy Sector
Current Electricity Sector Threat Alert Levels: Physical: ELEVATED,
Cyber: ELEVATED
Scale: LOW, GUARDED, ELEVATED, HIGH, SEVERE [Source: ISAC for the Electricity Sector (ES-ISAC) [http://www.esisac.com]
1. August 12, Reuters – (International) Kuwait Qaeda group planned refinery
attack. An al Qaeda-linked group arrested in Kuwait planned to attack the OPEC
member’s Shuaiba oil refinery, a daily newspaper said on August 12. The group
planned to attack the 200,000 barrels per day refinery and the state security building, as
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well as the camp, daily newspaper al-Anbaa reported, citing unidentified sources
familiar with the investigation. Kuwait said on August 11 it had foiled a plan by a sixmember Qaeda-linked cell to bomb a U.S. army camp and other important facilities,
but gave no further details. An interior ministry statement said all six members of the al
Qaeda-linked cell had confessed after being arrested.
Source: http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKLC44036120090812
2. August 12, KFDM 6 Beaumont – (Texas) Power outage prompts Total to evacuate
some employees. A power outage at the Total Refinery in Port Arthur prompted the
company to evacuate some contract workers as a precaution, according to information
KFDM News has received from an administrative manager for Total. She said the
company is investigating to determine why the electricity went out to some parts of the
plant at about 10:45 a.m. on August 12. Power has since been restored and refinery
operations are returning to normal. She told KFDM News there was no fire or
explosion and no injuries, but the company evacuated some employees as a precaution
while it looks into the cause of the outage.
Source: http://www.kfdm.com/articles/total-33478-outage-evacuate.html
3. August 12, United Press International – (International) Locals attack Nigerian
pipeline. Local militants in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria attacked a gas pipeline
operated by Royal Dutch Shell as critics blast a recent cease-fire agreement. A
spokesman for the Nigerian Joint Task Force (NJTF) said the attack was carried out by
local militants in the region, the Wall Street Journal reports. He blamed “aggrieved”
locals for the attack, not organized militias who reached a cease-fire agreement earlier
in the year. Militants with the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta
(MEND) launched a series of attacks on oil facilities operated by Chevron and Royal
Dutch Shell during the summer, declaring war on the national energy sector in an effort
to gain access to oil revenue. MEND declared a cease-fire July 15 following a
government amnesty effort. Critics complain the cease-fire will do little to allay
concerns about the disparity in oil wealth, however. The NJTF spokesman said Royal
Dutch Shell shut the pipeline down to control the damage during the weekend.
Source: http://www.upi.com/Energy_Resources/2009/08/12/Locals-attack-Nigerianpipeline/UPI-30901250102052/
4. August 12, WSAZ 3 Huntington – (West Virginia) Workers exposed to weak
ammonia solution at power plant. About a dozen workers at the AEP Mountaineer
Power Plant in Mason County were exposed to a weak solution of ammonia and water
during the afternoon of August 12, a spokesperson with Appalachian Power says. He
told WSAZ.com that about a dozen contract workers were testing a pump at the plant in
New Haven and apparently left a valve open. When the pump was turned on, a weak
solution of ammonia and water sprayed all of the workers in the area. Most of the
workers were showered off with water and showed no signs of injuries, but 2 to 3
workers were taken to the hospital as a precaution, according to the spokesman. Mason
County 911 dispatchers said that they were initially called to respond to the plant, but
the plant later called them to cancel emergency responders because the incident was not
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as big as they first thought.
Source: http://www.wsaz.com/news/headlines/53057072.html
5. August 11, PhillyBurbs.com – (New Jersey) Worker burned at substation. A Jersey
Central Power & Light employee was badly burned on August 10 at a utility substation,
according to emergency officials. The worker, whose identity was not released,
suffered serious burns while working on electrical fixtures at the Cookstown-New
Egypt Road substation, said a captain with the Plumsted Township Fire District and
New Egypt Emergency Squad. The fire district and emergency squad are based in
nearby Plumsted, Ocean County, and were among the first responders to the incident.
Exactly how the worker was shocked or burned was not available. A utility spokesman
confirmed that an employee was injured while making repairs but would not specify
what occurred. The incident caused about 19,000 customers in North Hanover, New
Hanover, Springfield, Pemberton Township and Plumsted, to lose power for more than
an hour, the spokesman said.
Source:
http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/news_details/article/28/2009/august/11/workerburned-at-substation.html
For another story, see item 45
[Return to top]
Chemical Industry Sector
6. August 13, Industrial Info – (National) Extension of chemical plant security
standards approved. Chemical plant owners in the United States can expect to meet
the same standards for plant-site security for at least another year. The chemical facility
anti-terrorism standards program was going to expire in October, but the House and the
Senate have recently funded a bill for the Department of Homeland Security to extend
the standards another 12 months. Most plant owners within the Chemical Processing
Industry are relieved these standards have been extended in the existing format and do
not carry any additional requirements for inherently safer technologies.
Source: http://www.industrialinfo.com/showAbstract.jsp?newsitemID=149302
7. August 12, WJHL 11 Johnson City – (Tennessee) Eastman chemical spill in Holston
River. There was another chemical spill at Eastman Chemical Company on August 12.
Eastman officials say there was a brief accidental discharge in the South Fork Holston
River due to the over-pressurization of a process reactor. The spill was a mixture of
diethyl ether, the same type of spill that occurred on July 28, 2009, and tetraethyl
pyrophosphate. Representatives from Department of Environment and Conservation’s
Johnson City field office conducted a site investigation. Eastman reports no employees
were injured but approximately one dozen fish were killed. Eastman does not expect
this release to have any further adverse impact on the South Fork Holston River. A
team is investigating the incident.
Source:
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http://www2.tricities.com/tri/news/local/article/eastman_chemical_spill_in_holston_riv
er/30480/
[Return to top]
Nuclear Reactors, Materials and Waste Sector
8. August 13, Vermont Press Bureau – (Vermont) Vermont Yankee NRC: Dry cask test
was eliminated. The concrete-and-steel “dry casks” used at the Vermont Yankee plant
to store spent nuclear fuel were not tested as completely as they should have been,
according to federal regulators. But the decision by Holtec International, the New
Jersey company that built the casks, to omit one set of tests does not pose a safety risk
because there were other kinds of inspections done on those casks, and the waste stored
in the casks is not as hot as allowed, meaning they are safe even though they were not
tested with pressurized helium as required under a federal licensing agreement, Nuclear
Regulatory Commission officials said Wednesday. About 109 of the casks that were
not completely tested are in use nationwide, including five at Vermont Yankee,
regulators say. “The violation is a concern” because the canister “is relied upon to
prevent the release of radioactive material,” according to a letter from the NRC to
Holtec. “It is also relied upon to maintain an inert environment and sufficient helium
pressure to keep cladding temperatures below the acceptable limit.”
Source:
http://www.timesargus.com/article/20090813/NEWS02/908130358/0/OPINION02
9. August 13, Middletown Times Herald Record – (New York) NRC report says Indian
Point safe. The Indian Point nuclear power plant in Buchanan is safe enough to
function for at least another two decades, according to a final report issued by the NRC
Wednesday. The federal agency’s Safety Evaluation Report examined the plant’s aging
management program and its license renewal application, which, if approved, would
keep the site running through 2035. Officials with Entergy Nuclear, the company that
owns and operates Indian Point, called the technical thumbs-up an important milestone
for its two reactors, which began operating in 1973 and 1975. “It demonstrates that
Entergy met all of its obligations to ensure that the plant can operate safely for another
20 years,” said a company spokesman. The 932-page report examined pipe corrosion,
metal fatigue and other systems inside the reactors. The final review also included
satisfactory conclusions to 20 “open items,” or sticking points from NRC’s draft study.
Those topics included fire protection, pump failures and potentially hazardous leaks.
Source:
http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090813/NEWS/908130319
/-1/NEWS
[Return to top]
Critical Manufacturing Sector
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10. August 13, WTAP 5 Parkersburg – (Ohio) Employee treated and released after
explosion. The Washington County Sheriff says a 51-year-old man of Belpre was taken
to Marietta Memorial Hospital after an explosion on August 13 at Eramet Marietta on
Ohio State Route 7. Hospital officials say the man was treated and released. An Eramet
spokesperson says an internal investigation is already underway at the plant to
determine the cause of the accident, and make sure it does not happen again. She says
an employee was driving a vehicle hauling a large warm bowl-shaped piece of
solidified metal. The bowl of metal dropped from the vehicle and made contact with
water on the ground. This caused an explosion.
Source: http://www.wtap.com/news/headlines/53116577.html
11. August 12, Associated Press – (International) Gunmen fire on U.S. miner Freeport
bus in Indonesia. Gunmen fired on a bus that had just dropped off employees working
for U.S. company Freeport at the world’s biggest gold mine on August 12, a company
spokesman said. No one was hurt in the attack in Indonesia’s easternmost Papua
province, the spokesman said, adding that “to ensure the safety of our employees and
families, we have temporarily closed (part of) the road.” Police previously arrested nine
suspects, all facing charges of premeditated murder and illegal weapons possession, for
a spate of ambushes near the mine that have left three dead since July 8. Two Freeport
employees were among those detained by police. Papua, a remote and underdeveloped
region, is home to a low-level insurgency seeking independence from the government
thousands of miles away in the capital, Jakarta. It is unclear if the rebels, who have
been implicated in attacks in the past, were involved in the latest shootings.
Source:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090812/ap_on_re_as/as_indonesia_freeport_shooting
12. August 12, U.S. Department of Justice – (National) Two defendants plead guilty in
counterfeit pipe coupling scheme. Two men from Oklahoma and Texas pleaded
guilty on August 12 to conspiring to manufacture and sell counterfeit pipe couplings.
They pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit goods and
commit fraud. They each face up to five years in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for
November 5, 2009. In their plea agreements, the two men admitted that they conspired
with another co-defendant in a counterfeiting scheme to manufacture and sell oilfield
pipe couplings stamped with a certification mark owned and registered by the
American Petroleum Institute (API), without a license or other authorization to do so.
API’s certification program is a quality-control program designed to insure against
injury and catastrophic loss from substandard, unsafe products. The API monogram
certifies that products and equipment used in the exploration and production of
petroleum and natural gas meet certain API standards, specifications and recommended
practices. Couplings that do not meet the API standards are sold for limited service
applications at substantially lower prices than API-certified products. Only
manufacturers licensed by API after meeting strict quality control standards, and who
are subject to continued monitoring by API, are authorized to manufacture and sell
products containing an API certification mark. According to the plea agreement, they
acknowledged that they not only manufactured and sold couplings containing an API
certification mark without a license, but profited at the expense of customers by
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manufacturing many of those couplings using substandard materials.
Source: http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/August/09-crm-792.html
For another story, see item 28
[Return to top]
Defense Industrial Base Sector
13. August 13, Santa Cruz Sentinel – (California) Lockheed fire at 1,000 acres;
Evacuations ordered, 250 structures threatened. Flames leaped into the night sky
above the ridges of the Santa Cruz Mountains on August 12 as a wildland fire burned
out of control in the rugged hills between the end of Empire Grade Road and Swanton.
The Lockheed Fire burned in heavily wooded terrain as winds howled through the
canyons, whipping the fire through the dry vegetation under the cool night air. At 1
a.m., Cal Fire said the out-of-control fire had consumed 1,900 acres and was growing,
but at 3 a.m. they said the earlier number was wrong and put the size back at 1,000
acres. At least four strike teams were called in; the last was sent to Big Creek Lumber
for structure protection. Minutes earlier, mandatory evacuations were ordered for the
entire Swanton area of about 600 residents, and 250 structures were threatened. Cal
Fire crews are using the nearby Lockheed Martin Space Systems campus as one
command center as they strategize how to reach the fire. At least two dozen fire trucks
and construction equipment was staging at the parking lot of the Lockheed Martin
facility. A stream of fire trucks and dozers were making their way up Empire Grade
Road around 10 p.m. to stage at Lockheed. The fire is not near the facility but on a
ridge toward the coast. Lockheed Martin is 3,700 acres with defensible space around it.
A Lockheed safety official was not sure if the facility was in the direct path of the fire.
On Empire Grade Road, residents and others were preparing for the blaze. A guard at
the Lockheed facility said she has been ordered to let all fire crews inside the gates and
to expect them in all night.
Source: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/ci_13047312?source=most_emailed
[Return to top]
Banking and Finance Sector
14. August 12, U.S. Department of Justice – (International) North Miami Beach resident
arrested in foreign currency investment scheme. The acting United States attorney
for the southern district of Florida and the acting special agent in charge, Federal
Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office, announced on August 12 that a
North Miami Beach resident was arrested earlier on August 12 on mail and wire fraud
charges arising from an investment fraud scheme in which more than 100 investors lost
approximately $4,000,000. The suspect is currently being held without bond. A pretrial detention hearing is scheduled for August 14 before the duty Magistrate Judge. As
alleged in the Indictment, from January 2002 through November 2004, the suspect
defrauded investors by soliciting investments for the purported purpose of trading
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foreign currencies in the international foreign exchange market. The suspect caused
investors to believe that, based on his alleged extensive experience trading foreign
currencies, he would trade foreign currencies on the investors’ behalf in return for a
share of the profits generated by his trading activities. Investors were led to believe that
the suspect was generating positive monthly returns trading foreign currencies each and
every month during the course of the scheme. In fact, during most of the scheme’s
existence, the suspect did not even attempt to trade foreign currencies, and, when he did
attempt to do so, he lost significant amounts of investors’ money. As the Indictment
alleges, the suspect used most of the investors’ money for his own personal benefit and
to make payments in Ponzi scheme fashion to investors who occasionally sought to
redeem some of the money that they had invested with him and his various corporate
entities.
Source: http://miami.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel09/mm081209.htm
15. August 11, Detroit Free Press – (Michigan) No explosives in packages at Macomb
credit unions. Authorities have determined that two suspicious packages left outside
credit unions in Eastpointe and Warren on August 11 are not explosives and people
who were evacuated because of the incidents have been able to return to their locations,
police in both cities said. The package at Peoples Trust Credit Union, 30800 Van Dyke,
in Warren contained a travel mug and shirt wrapped in plastic, police said. The package
did not appear to contain death threats against police officers once officers were able to
read a note with the items, police said. In Eastpointe, the suspicious briefcase-type bag
left outside Michigan First Credit Union at Gratiot and Toepfer is believed to be a
service call box left by an electrician or someone doing work in the area, police said. It
does not appear the two incidents are connected, Eastpointe police said. Warren police
evacuated between 50 and 60 people from Peoples Trust Credit Union, just south of 13
Mile, and the Fifth-Third Bank next door. Eastpointe police also evacuated the area
around Michigan First Credit Union.
Source: http://www.freep.com/article/20090811/NEWS04/90811033/1006/NEWS/Noexplosives-in-packages-at-Macomb-credit-unions
16. August 10, American Chronicle – (National) Internet gambling payment processor
charged with bank fraud, money laundering. The acting U.S. attorney for the
southern district of New York and the assistant director-in-charge of the New York
office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), announced on August 10 the filing
of an indictment charging a suspect with bank fraud and other offenses stemming from
his role in processing more than $350 million for Internet gambling companies. Since
at least 2007 through June 2009, the suspect opened a number of bank accounts in the
United States under various corporate names, such as KJB Financial Corporation,
Account Services Corporation and Check Payment Financial Co. In opening the
accounts, he and his co-conspirators falsely represented that the accounts would be
used for such purposes as issuing rebate checks, refund checks, sponsorship checks,
affiliate checks and minor payroll processing. In fact, the suspect and his coconspirators used the accounts to receive funds from offshore Internet gambling
companies that offered, variously, poker, blackjack, slots and other casino games. The
suspect and his co-conspirators then disbursed those funds via checks to U.S. residents
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seeking to cash out their gambling winnings. The suspect and his co-conspirators
provided false and misleading information to U.S. banks about the purpose of the
accounts because the banks would not have processed the transactions had they known
they were gambling-related. In total, the suspect and his co-conspirators processed
more than $350 million transferred from a Cyprus bank account to various U.S. bank
accounts for this purpose. The suspect is charged with one count each of conspiracy to
commit bank fraud, conspiracy to engage in money laundering and conspiracy to
operate an illegal gambling business.
Source: http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/113778
[Return to top]
Transportation Sector
17. August 13, Reuters – (International) Mystery deepens over disappearing merchant
ship. Pirates probably hijacked a merchant ship which disappeared after sailing through
the English Channel last month, its operator said on August 12. The Kremlin has
ordered Russian warships to join the hunt for the 4,000-ton, 98-meter bulk carrier
Arctic Sea, whose mysterious fate has baffled national maritime authorities across
Europe and North Africa. The Maltese-registered vessel, carrying a cargo of timber
worth $1.3 million, was supposed to have docked on August 4 in the Algerian port of
Bejaia. It never arrived, raising fears of a rare case of piracy in northern European seas.
“My view is that it is most likely that the vessel has been hijacked,” the director of the
Finnish company Solchart, which operates the vessel, told Reuters. “It is unclear where
the vessel is now.” A wave of piracy has hit shipping off Somalia, and an international
naval force patrols its coast in an effort to protect merchant vessels. But a hijacking in
European waters would be almost unprecedented in modern times. “If this is piracy,
and it seems most likely of all that it is, then it is one of the first cases in recent history
of piracy in these seas,” he said. Concerns over the safety of the 15-member Russian
crew were raised after the Malta Maritime Authority said it received reports the ship
had been boarded by armed men in masks posing as anti-drugs police in Swedish
waters on July 24. Swedish authorities said none of its law enforcement agencies had
been involved. An editor of Russia’s respected Sovfracht maritime journal, said that the
ship may have been carrying a secret cargo unknown to the vessel’s owners or
operators.
Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE57C17T20090813
18. August 13, Knoxville News-Sentinel – (Tennessee) NS train cars derail at TVA’s
Kingston ash-spill site; no injuries. A road was reopened Thursday morning after two
empty rail cars derailed near Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) Kingston Fossil
Plant ash-spill site Wednesday night. Swan Pond Road reopened about 5:40 a.m., TVA
said in a statement. No one was injured when the cars derailed, and emergency officials
were notified. The rail cars, belonging to Norfolk Southern Railroad, were being moved
into position to be ready for loading ash on Thursday, according to TVA. Preliminary
results indicate operator error while reversing the direction of the train, according to
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TVA.
Source: http://www.ble.org/pr/news/headline.asp?id=27240
19. August 12, Aviation Web – (New York) Calls intensify for closing of Hudson VFR
corridor. The horrific midair accident above the Hudson River August 8 that killed
nine people in a Piper Saratoga and a Europcopter AS350 helicopter has prompted calls
from officials across the Northeast to impose stricter restrictions on the VFR corridor
through New York City’s congested airspace. On August 11, 15 members of Congress
sent a letter to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) administrator comparing the
lack of regulation to the “Wild West” and saying “we should seriously consider
banning all flights below 1,100 feet until radar systems are available to track them.”
The National Air Transportation Association (NATA) said this week the media
attention following the accident has been misplaced. “The characterization of the
airspace as devoid of regulation is inaccurate,” said NATA in a news release. “The
airspace being referred to as ‘uncontrolled’ only indicates that there is no active radarbased control of flights. Operations in this airspace are still subject to numerous
regulatory requirements.” The NATA president added: “Until the NTSB releases their
findings, I believe it is imperative that we follow the advice of [the mayor of New
York] and avoid unnecessary speculation.” The letter from Congress suggested that all
aircraft in the corridor should be required to file flight plans, and “at a minimum, the
FAA must require the installation of the Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCASII), and a Mode C Transponder, on all aircraft that seat less than 10 people.” The group
called for the FAA to act not only to regulate the Hudson River corridor, but “to
provide greater oversight of small aircraft operations throughout the country.”
Source:
http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/CallsIntensifyForClosingOfHudsonVFRCorri
dor_200990-1.html
20. August 12, NetworkWorld – (International) Study: Air cargo security seriously
lacking. There are serious security problems in international air cargo transportation
and the controls around it, according to a report released this week by the International
Transfer Center for Logistics and the Technische Universitat of Berlin. The research,
which was commissioned by the World Cargo Center GmbH in Frankfurt, surveyed
third-party distribution companies and freight handlers that provide supply chain
services about their security controls and perception of security risk. The report claims
a lack of standardized regulations in air and freight security are driving many of the
problems, and 56 percent of companies surveyed said the lack of consistency in this
area is their biggest security challenge. A lack of security awareness among staff was
cited by 61 percent of freight handlers as a problem. Technology and buildings were
also named as areas of weakness: 24 percent of service providers and 39 percent of
freight handlers consider the surveillance technology in air freight centers to be
inadequate. Additionally, 28 percent of companies and 56 percent of freight handlers
criticized the entrance controls to freight centers.
Source: http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/081209-study-air-cargo-securityseriously.html
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For another story, see item 3
[Return to top]
Postal and Shipping Sector
21. August 13, IT Pro – (International) UPS forced to encrypt devices after data
breach. UPS, the parcel service and global transportation business, has encrypted all of
its British laptops and smartphones after it breached the Data Protection Act last year. It
has also signed an ‘undertaking’ with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO),
promising that it will keep personal information more securely. It comes less than a
year after an incident where an unencrypted password-protected laptop was stolen from
a UPS employee while abroad. It was never recovered. It contained the payroll
information of around 9,000 British UPS employees, together with confidential data
including names, addresses, dates of birth, national insurance numbers, salary and bank
details.
Source: http://www.itpro.co.uk/613882/ups-forced-to-encrypt-devices-after-databreach
22. August 13, WBRZ 2 Baton Rouge – (Louisiana) Suspect accused of hoax bombs tries
to block retrial. A man who mailed more than 200 hoax bomb threats and anthrax
letters after the September 11th attacks is seeking to block federal prosecutors from
bringing him back to trial after an appeals court threw out his conviction earlier this
year when they ruled that the trial judge improperly stopped the suspect from arguing
insanity. The suspect’s attorney argues in court filings that prosecutors waited too long
to retry the case, missing the mandated 70-day “speedy trial” time limit. A hearing on
the issue is set for Friday. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in April overturned
the suspect’s conviction and 30-year prison sentence for mailing the threatening letters,
many filled with baby powder that recipients feared was anthrax. The threat letters
were mailed to government offices, doctors, prominent community members, law
enforcement agencies, media outlets and businesses throughout south Louisiana.
Source: http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/suburban/53089402.html
[Return to top]
Agriculture and Food Sector
23. August 13, KXTV 10 Sacramento – (California) Ammonia leak forces Lathrop plant
evacuation. Employees of a Lathrop, California meat packer were evacuated after an
ammonia leak that occurred at approximately 8 a.m. on Wednesday morning. About 65
employees of the Swiss America Sausage Company on Darcy Parkway were affected,
said emergency responders. There were no reports of illness or injury. According to
Lathrop-Manteca fire officials, a valve on a pipe carrying ammonia became stuck and
when an employee tried to repair it, it broke. Employees of nearby businesses were told
to shelter in place — meaning stay in their buildings and turn off the air conditioning.
A San Joaquin County Emergency Services Hazmat team was on site. Authorities told
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News10 it would take several hours to clear the scene and make sure it was safe for the
meat processor workers to return. By 2 p.m., the building was cleared of any danger,
though county health officials would still have to authorize the business opening its
doors again to workers.
Source: http://www.news10.net/news/story.aspx?storyid=65032&catid=2
24. August 13, Democrat and Chronicle – (New York) Ammonia cloud released at
Upstate Farms milk plant in city. An anhydrous ammonia release from the Upstate
Farms Cooperative Inc. plant in Rochester, New York early Thursday sent two
Rochester police officers to the hospital and affected at least one family in the
neighborhood. Six people, residing in a house across the street from the plant with
windows open, were affected by the ammonia cloud, but they were not transported to
the hospital, said the deputy chief of the Rochester Fire Department. There were 25 to
30 people inside the plant at the time of the release, but nobody inside the plant was
injured. Several officers and the plant workers were treated at the scene. Residents of
the area were not evacuated, but residents in a three-block area received a call from
911. “One of the workers inside the plant was doing some maintenance on the system,”
the deputy fire chief said. “He had the system shut down for three hours, and that
allowed the anhydrous ammonia to expand and have increased pressure, which
activated the release valve. This was a normal operation of the system, however, the
cloud that happened in the neighborhood is not (normal).” An investigation has started
as to how the cloud of ammonia escaped into the neighborhood.
Source: http://rocnow.com/article/local-news/200990813002
25. August 11, Colorado Springs Gazette – (Colorado) OSHA fines Sinton Dairy. Sinton
Dairy Foods Co. LLC faces $50,575 in fines after federal worker safety regulators
Tuesday cited the company for five willful or serious violations of health and safety
rules related to Sinton’s anhydrous ammonia refrigeration system. The Occupational
Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) cited the Colorado Springs-based company
for failing to follow an established preventative maintenance program for the system.
The company also was cited for violations involving electrical hazards and for
violations involving operating procedures and mechanical integrity procedures for the
system. The agency said it cites willful violations when employers exhibit plain
indifference to or intentional disregard for employee safety and health. It cites serious
violations when death or serious physical harm is likely from a hazard about which an
employer knew or should have known. Sinton said in a statement Tuesday that it has
corrected the violations and “is committed to protecting the health and safety of its
employees and it took immediate action following OSHA’s inspection of its facility
earlier this year.”
Source: http://www.gazette.com/articles/sinton-60015-safety-dairy.html
26. August 11, Associated Press – (California) Ranches ordered evacuated as fire
spreads in northern Santa Barbara County. Authorities have ordered the evacuation
of 14 ranches near a wildfire in northern Santa Barbara County, California. The order
was issued Tuesday, hours after authorities closed nearly 111 square miles of the Los
Padres National Forest. A Forest Service spokesman said most of the closed area is
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inaccessible backcountry. He says ranchers are moving their horses and other livestock.
The 4-day-old wildfire in the San Rafael Wilderness area of the forest has scorched
more than 32 square miles of brushy canyon lands and crested a ridge a few miles from
the ranches. More than 1,000 firefighters are battling the blaze. It is 10 percent
contained.
Source: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-us-californiawildfire,0,2049320.story
[Return to top]
Water Sector
27. August 13, Mobile Observer – (New York) National Guard addressing water crisis
in Gowanda. Hundreds of questions surely remain for the many Gowanda residents
affected by recent flood damage but answers are beginning to surface. Following his
press conference and assessment of the damage done in Silver Creek, governor met
with local officials at Gowanda Middle School Wednesday evening to brief everyone
on the matters at hand. “As everybody knows, the water system here in Gowanda has
been severely compromised, and not helped by a fire to one of the homes just a couple
of hours ago,” he began. “The local reservoirs have overtopped and have severely
reduced the amount of available water that is here. The sewer system has been
damaged, the mayor reports that hundreds of homes have been damaged, the police
department and municipal buildings have received damage, the Tri-County Hospital
has been evacuated and closed as of early Monday morning and it will remain closed
for some period of time.” The damages found in Erie and Cattaraugus counties that he
eluded to have been roughly estimated at around $19 million, $7 million shy of the
federal threshold for disaster relief aid. Despite the rough estimate, he said he believes
the $26 million worth of damage required could come from the Gowanda area alone.
“The department of transportation, the state police, the department of environmental
conservation, the health department, the office of mental health and the Red Cross are
all working as hard as they possibly can here,” he said. To aid in water distribution and
cleanup duties, the National Guard has been called in. Forty National Guard soldiers
and 14 heavy duty pieces of equipment were deployed on Panther Drive in Gowanda
early Wednesday afternoon to begin their work.
Source: http://www.observertoday.com/page/content.detail/id/527710.html?nav=5047
28. August 13, San Diego Union-Tribune – (California) Company must pay $600,000 for
pollution. Regional water pollution cops fined an industrial company $600,000
Wednesday and threatened to nearly double the penalty if the company does not meet
deadlines leading up to treatment of a contaminated groundwater plume in El Cajon,
California. In February, the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board had
proposed a fine of $2.3 million — one of the agency’s largest ever — against Ametek
Inc. It said Ametek failed to deal with trichloroethene and other toxins that leaked
under the company’s former plant on Greenfield Drive. The board has pushed for
mapping and treatment of the chemicals for more than 20 years but has been delayed by
legal challenges, bureaucracy and earlier efforts to win compliance without penalties.
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Water regulators expressed hope Wednesday that Ametek will make substantial
progress to reduce the largest plume of its kind — about a mile long — in the county. A
waste tank had leaked tens of thousands of gallons of pollutants before it was removed,
the water board said. The water board lowered its fine after revising the number of days
it figured Ametek had violated water-quality laws. The total penalty would top $1
million if Ametek does not meet the terms of the settlement agreement. Ametek owned
the 17-acre site, where it operated an aerospace and electronic manufacturing business,
from 1968 to 1988. A previous owner had installed a sump for storage of waste
materials, and that tank leaked the chemicals.
Source: http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/aug/13/company-must-pay600000-pollution/
29. August 12, Science Daily – (National) High levels of estrogens discovered in some
industrial wastewater. In a recent study, civil engineering researchers in the
University of Minnesota’s Institute of Technology have discovered that certain
industries may be a significant source of plant-based estrogens, called phytoestrogens,
in surface water. They also revealed that some of these phytoestrogens can be removed
through standard wastewater treatment, but in some cases, the compounds remain at
levels that may be damaging to fish. The researchers studied wastewater streams from
19 different industrial sites in Minnesota and Iowa and analyzed them for six
phytoestrogens. They found very high concentrations of these hormone-mimicking
phytoestrogens, up to 250 times higher than the level at which feminization of fish has
been seen in other research, in the wastewater discharged from eight industrial sites,
including biodiesel plants, a soy milk factory, a barbecue meat processing facility and a
dairy. They also detected high concentrations of phytoestrogens in the water discharged
by some municipal wastewater treatment plants. The good news is that the researchers
revealed that phytoestrogens can be removed from water as it goes through standard
treatment. In fact, they saw more than 90 percent removal of these compounds from the
water. Unfortunately, sometimes 99 percent removal is needed to reach levels that are
considered harmless to fish.
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090810162105.htm
30. August 12, New Jersey Local News Service – (New Jersey) Electrical fire damages
Parsippany sewage treatment plant. The township of Parsippany’s wastewater
treatment plant is running on an emergency generator after a fire destroyed a key
electrical panel on August 12, the facility’s superintendent said. He said the fire burned
the main switchgear around 4:30 a.m., but it was quickly extinguished by Parsippany
firefighters. Authorities were still investigating the cause of the fire. There were no
injuries, police said. Power headed into the South Edwards Road facility from the street
must pass through the main switchgear, he said. Plant officials took the panel offline
and planned to have more emergency generators running later that day. “There will be
no loss in electrical power for normal service,” he said. “We will have absolutely no
disruption in service to the township.” He said the damaged switchgear, believed to be
more than 35 years old, would likely be replaced rather than repaired.
Source:
http://www.nj.com/news/local/index.ssf/2009/08/electrical_fire_damages_parsip.html
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31. August 12, Oregonian – (Oregon) Environmental officials say chemical spill did not
harm Lake Oswego waterways. State environmental officials said a chemical spill
near Lakeridge High School apparently did not harm Lost Dog Creek or Oswego Lake.
Lake Oswego firefighters called the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality after
a suspicious foam was spotted early Wednesday in the creek, which flows into the lake.
The fire marshall said an investigation showed that a paint-like water-soluble binder
applied to the nearby Lakeridge track ran into the creek after a heavier-than-expected
rainfall overnight. “Its like a paint and a polymer, “ he said. “The rain apparently
dissolved it before it could completely cure and harden.” The binder was applied to the
track through a contract with Atlas Track&Tennis, a Tualatin-based company that
specializes in athletic surfaces. Atlas has hired an environmental contractor, Clearwater
Environmental Services of Wilsonville, to clean up the spill.
Source:
http://www.oregonlive.com/clackamascounty/index.ssf/2009/08/residents_warned_to_s
tay_out_o.html
[Return to top]
Public Health and Healthcare Sector
32. August 13, New York Times – (International) Swine flu rattles nerves as it spreads in
India. India is struggling to cope with the spread of swine flu, with at least 17 deaths
confirmed from the virus and nearly 1,200 diagnosed cases. The outbreak has caused
panic in much of the country, with schools, theaters and shopping malls closing in
many places. The government is grappling with competing and sometimes conflicting
goals: preventing widespread panic, but preparing for the worst. It has made available
tens of thousands of test kits and has built up a stock of 20 million doses of a generic
version of the antiflu drug Tamiflu. India’s vast and densely packed population,
coupled with a patchy and fragile health care system, has raised fears that the swine flu
pandemic could take a particularly large toll here. As of Tuesday, 5,000 people had
been tested in India, and 1,193 had been found to have influenza A(H1N1). About half
have already recovered. The World Health Organization says that 177,457 cases have
been confirmed and that 1,462 people have died worldwide.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/13/world/asia/13india.html?_r=1
33. August 12, Wall Street Journal – (National) FDA sets new rules on experimental
drugs. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration finalized new regulations Wednesday
designed to provide broader access to experimental drugs for seriously ill people who
have exhausted all other commercially available treatments. The new rules, which were
posted on the FDA’s Web site Wednesday, mostly clarify regulations explaining how
patients can receive drugs in development outside of a clinical trial, and set standards
for when drug companies or researchers can charge for the treatments. Many patients
can obtain access to experimental products by participating in a study of the drug. Not
all patients qualify for such trials, but they can seek FDA approval to obtain a drug or
biologic outside such a trial through a so-called expanded-access program.
Source:
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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203496804574346830701075664.htm
l
[Return to top]
Government Facilities Sector
34. August 12, Associated Press – (International) Swine flu cases climb among U.S.
soldiers in Iraq. The number of American troops in Iraq diagnosed with swine flu has
climbed to 67, making U.S. soldiers the largest group in the country to come down with
the potentially deadly virus, Iraqi health officials said Wednesday. The figures were
released by the Iraqi health ministry as it detailed steps being taken to control the
spread of the virus, which last week claimed its first fatality in the southern holy city of
Najaf. A 21-year-old Iraqi woman, who had visited the city’s Shiite shrines, later died
of swine flu. The health ministry has also confirmed that 23 Iraqis and six other
foreigners have been diagnosed with the virus. Their nationalities were not disclosed.
All the U.S. troops had either been treated or were undergoing treatment, said the
deputy Iraqi health minister. There have been no fatalities among American forces, he
said. The U.S. military did not immediately confirm the figures released by the Iraqis.
But earlier this week, it said 51 soldiers had been diagnosed, while another 71
suspected cases were in isolation.
Source:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jcX7Q5ejiq4g05rCXVa5Uvuq
VRMQD9A1BENO0
35. August 12, Portsmouth Herald – (New Hampshire) Man with gun at NH Obama
event ‘intended no harm.’ A Hampton contractor charged with having a loaded pistol
in his truck, outside the high school where the U.S. President was due to visit,
“intended no harm,” according to someone who answered the phone at his business
Wednesday. “He’s just somebody who was forgetful and he made a big mistake,” said
a man who answered the phone at Plain & Fancy Brick Work. The masonry company is
owned by the 62 year-old suspect who was arrested Tuesday on a charge of having a
concealed weapon without a license. The arresting officer said that after the suspect
was taken into custody for sneaking past security officials at the high school in advance
of the Presidential visit, a warrant was obtained for a search of his pickup truck. Inside,
he said, police found a loaded .380 Kel Tec semiautomatic pistol, with a round in the
chamber and concealed in some type of bag.
Source: http://www.bostonherald.com/business/healthcare/view.bg?articleid=1190596
36. August 11, Berkeley Daily Californian – (California) UC Berkeley School of
Journalism server hacked. Almost 500 applicants to the UC Berkeley Graduate
School of Journalism were notified today that their Social Security numbers and other
private data may have been compromised in a recent campus security breach. A hacker
broke into a private segment of the journalism school’s primary public web server in
July and potentially accessed sensitive information of 493 people who applied to the
school between September 2007 and May 2009. However, while campus information
- 15 -
technology officials confirmed that a breach had occurred, they said there was no
indication that the information had been stolen or misused.
Source:
http://www.dailycal.org/article/106235/uc_berkeley_school_of_journalism_server_hac
ked
37. August 10, Louisville Courier-Journal – (Kentucky) Ammonia leak closes old jail
building. An ammonia leak in the basement of the old jail building in Louisville,
Kentucky Monday forced the evacuation of the building and sent one person to the
hospital. The leak occurred when three people were attempting to remove an old printer
that was once used for copying blueprints, said a spokesman for Louisville Fire &
Rescue. A line that fed anhydrous ammonia into the machine was ruptured during the
work, the spokesman said. Workers, who had come in from Frankfort to do the job,
were not aware the line was active, the spokesman said. It was attached to a 100-gallon
tank holding the ammonia. The spokesman said it was unclear exactly how much of the
chemical was released. One worker was taken to University Hospital with what
appeared to be non-life threatening injuries. The two others were treated and released at
the scene. The building houses the Jefferson Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office and
other court services, including the Jefferson District Court archives and state Court of
Appeals offices.
Source: http://www.courierjournal.com/article/20090810/NEWS01/908100340/1008/NEWS01/Ammonia+leak+cl
oses+old+jail+building
[Return to top]
Emergency Services Sector
38. August 13, San Diego Union-Tribune – (California) Fogging machine to sanitize
ambulances. With a more intense wave of swine flu expected to hit this fall, San
Diego’s ambulance provider this month has begun sanitizing its rigs with a new
fogging machine to prevent viruses and bacteria from gaining a foothold in the
vehicles. The machine, which was purchased by San Diego Medical Services
Enterprise, sprays a nontoxic “dry mist” disinfectant into the sealed-up ambulance and
destroys harmful particles that cling to surfaces, fabric, and electrical equipment and
hard-to-reach crevices. Near the end of the 10- to 15-minute cycle, the vehicle’s engine
is turned on, and the fog is circulated through the ambulance’s air ducts. San Diego
Medical Services Enterprise plans to use the $40,000 device, made by Florida-based
Zimek Technologies, on each of its 80 ambulances every month, or more often when
needed. Employees will continue to use disinfecting wipes on the ambulances several
times each day as well. Company officials had considered buying the device for years
but decided to do so this year due to the outbreak of swine flu, scientifically known as
H1N1 influenza.
Source: http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/aug/13/fogging-machinesanitize-ambulances/?metro&zIndex=148629
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39. August 12, San Diego Union-Tribune – (National) State to get $7 million for border
violence. Border States will share $30 million in federal grants to prevent drug-related
violence in Mexico from spilling into the United States, although representatives of
many U.S. border cities said Tuesday that crime rates are down. The Homeland
Security Secretary announced the grants Tuesday at a conference in El Paso, Texas.
California is scheduled to get $7 million under the Operation Stonegarden program.
Texas will get nearly $13 million, Arizona will get more than $7 million and New
Mexico will receive nearly $3 million. Representatives of U.S. communities along the
border said the federal money would help keep cross-border violence in check.
Although most noted a decline in crime rates, the mayor of McAllen, Texas, said
violence is up sharply in small, rural areas near his city.
Source: http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/aug/12/state-get-7-millionborder-violence/
40. August 10, KMGH 7 Denver – (Colorado) Denver Fire submitted false training
records. The Denver Fire Department turned in thousands of hours of faulty and
fraudulent records to an insurance rating agency that helps set insurance prices for
homeowners and businesses, a CALL7 investigation found. More than 13,000 hours of
training records for 85 firefighters show them doing the same training, on the same date
for the same number of hours. That is virtually impossible since the firefighters were at
different houses on different shifts, said the state’s director of the Division of Fire
Safety, who believes the records were intentionally falsified. Denver’s fire chief said
the repeated entries were an accident and no one in his department intentionally turned
in falsified records. A number of firefighters who had 30 to 40 hours of training put
down for a single, 24-hour day.
Source: http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/20328520/detail.html
[Return to top]
Information Technology Sector
41. August 13, The Register – (International) Virus arms race primes malware numbers
surge. Half (52 percent) of new malware strains only stick around for 24 hours or less.
The prevalence of short lived variants reflects a tactic by miscreants aimed at
overloading security firms so that more damaging strains of malware remain undetected
for longer, according to a study by Panda Security. The security firm, based in Bilbao,
Spain, detects an average of 37,000 new viruses, worms, Trojans and other security
threats per day. Around an average of 19,240 spread and try to infect users for just 24
hours, after which they become inactive as they are replaced by other, new variants.
Virus writers — increasingly motivated by profit — try to ensure their creations go
unnoticed by users and stay under the radar of firms. It has now become common
practice for VXers to review detection rates and modify viral code after 24 hours. The
practice goes towards explaining the growing malware production rate. The amount of
catalogued malware by Panda was 18 million in the 20 years from the firm’s
foundation until the end of 2008. This figure increased 60 percent in just seven months
- 17 -
to reach 30 million by 31 July 2009.
Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/08/13/malware_arms_race/
42. August 12, The Register – (International) WordPress bug resets admin
password. Developers of the widely used WordPress blogging software have released
an update that fixes a vulnerability that let attackers reset the administrator password.
The bug in version 2.8.3 is trivial to exploit remotely using nothing more than a web
browser and a specially manipulated link. Using the special URL, the old password is
removed and a new one generated in its place with no confirmation required, according
to this alert published on the Full-Disclosure mailing list. The flaw lurks in some of the
PHP code that fails to properly scrutinize user input when the password reset feature is
invoked. According to WordPress documentation here, the bug has been fixed by
changing a single line of code so the program checks to make sure the input supplied
for the new password is not an array. If it is, the user gets an error message and must try
again. After this article was first published, version 2.8.4 was released. That would
appear to be the end of it, but two security researchers wonder aloud here whether it
would have made more sense to check instead whether the input is a string. After this
article was first published, WordPress documentation showed the suggestion from
security researchers was being formally adopted.
Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/08/12/wordpress_password_reset_bug/
43. August 12, The Register – (International) CA auto-immune update trashes
systems. A beserker update to CA eTrust anti-virus software created confusion on
August 12. The 33.3.7051 update labeled a large number of binaries (.DLL and .exe
files) — including some components of eTrust itself — as infected with something
called StdWin32. These files were sent off to quarantine, resulting in disabled systems
that may be far from easy to recover. Users are strongly advised to block the update.
Temporarily disabling on-access scanning, normally a bad idea, might also be worth
considering. Several Register readers have informed us of the problem. “CA have got it
so wrong with this update that the Anti-Virus is even renaming core elements of its
own program directory, to be honest E-Trust could be deemed a virus in itself,” one
correspondent notes. CA issue a statement on August 12 explaining that the glitch was
due to an engine overhaul that had obviously gone wrong, it said that it has developed a
remediation tool.
Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/08/12/ca_auto_immune_update/
Internet Alert Dashboard
To report cyber infrastructure incidents or to request information, please contact US-CERT at sos@us-cert.gov or
visit their Website: http://www.us-cert.gov.
Information on IT information sharing and analysis can be found at the IT ISAC (Information Sharing and
Analysis Center) Website: https://www.it-isac.org/.
[Return to top]
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Communications Sector
44. August 13, Lawrence Journal-World and 6News – (Kansas) Maintenance hampers
local Internet access, takes down local Web sites. Planned maintenance early on
August 12 by Level 3 Communications, one of the vendors that provide Internet
bandwidth to Sunflower Broadband, went awry and hampered several local Web sites.
That unsuccessful maintenance led to hours-long Internet outages for Sunflower
Broadband customers and prevented some users outside of the Sunflower Broadband
network from accessing LJWorld.com, KUsports.com and other World Company Web
sites. Most users who subscribe to Sunflower Broadband were still able to access
LJWorld.com and other World Company sites, but some had intermittent access
problems. By the evening of August 12, Internet service had been restored to most of
the community, Sunflower said, though the fix was only a temporary one. Level 3
officials were still trying to identify the initial cause of the outage. The Sunflower
Broadband general manager said Level 3 was one of three bandwidth providers for
Sunflower Broadband. The other two continued working through the outage, but as
bandwidth use peaked in the after-work hours, the two remaining Internet providers
could not handle the traffic load. The manager said Level 3 became aware of the
problem early August 12 and spent most of the day looking for the cause. Sunflower
officials said the problem could not be addressed at the local level, but only by Level 3.
Source: http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2009/aug/12/maintenance-hampers-localinternet-access-takes-do/?city_local
45. August 13, FierceTelecom – (National) FCC gets serious about smart grids. While it
has pretty much kept out of the smart grid fray, it looks like the FCC is now making its
move, as it recently hired a former venture capitalist of Polaris Ventures as Energy and
Environmental director. He is being tasked with heading a team that he said “will
examine how broadband/communications infrastructure and policies can support our
national energy and environmental goals, with an emphasis on the Smart Grid.” The
idea is not completely far-fetched as Qwest Communications, for example, is providing
DSL-based backhaul network services to Xcel Energy in Boulder, Colorado. Thus far,
the loudest proponents for Smart Grid have been the National Institute for Standards
and Technology (NIST) and the IEEE, which jointly have been vocal proponents of
smart grids with the launch of their Smart Grid Interoperability Standards Project
P2030. Still, the FCC’s influence cannot be understated. Not only will the agency
develop rules and regulations for utility companies leveraging wireless spectrum and
broadband access technologies, but it also is crafting a National Broadband Task Force
that is analyzing the state of broadband in the U.S. One of the new directors first tasks
in his new role will be to hold a workshop that will look at how broadband technology
will enhance smart grid rollouts. It appears at this point that the FCC’s actual plans are
still a work in progress. “Right now we are gathering data and information from experts
that will help us develop a plan regarding broadband’s role in energy, so we’ll be able
to better answer that question in a few months,” the new director said in the earth2tech
article.
Source: http://www.fiercetelecom.com/story/fcc-gets-serious-about-smart-grids/200908-13
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[Return to top]
Commercial Facilities Sector
46. August 12, WKRG 5 Mobile – (Alabama) Local zoo hurricane ready - Alabama
hurricane Gulf Shores evacuation. In 2004, Hurricane Ivan wiped out the Alabama
Gulf Coast Zoo, forcing the evacuation of every animal and bird in the facility. Zoo
keepers and volunteers moved the animals out, one by one, and transported them to
individual safe houses further inland. “If we have a hurricane, all we have to do is lock
them down in the Category 5 night-houses and spend the night at the zoo,” said the zoo
director. Construction on the zoo’s new evacuation shelter on County Road 6 north of
Gulf Shores is nearly finished. The site of the storm shelter will also be the zoo’s new
home. The new zoo will open in 2011.
Source: http://www.wkrg.com/alabama/article/local-zoo-hurricane-ready/256504/Aug12-2009_7-58-pm/
47. August 12, Vancouver Sun – (International) Bomb defused at Vancouver-area
mall. An explosive device found in the parking lot of British Columbia’s largest mall
has been defused, according to police. Burnaby Royal Canadian Mounted Police
(RCMP) shut down an area of Metrotown Mall Tuesday afternoon after what appears to
be a pipe bomb was discovered in a parking lot near the south end of the complex.
RCMP corporal said it has not been confirmed if it was a pipe bomb or another
explosive device. The RCMP explosives team was called to the scene to dismantle the
device.
Source:
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Bomb+defused+Vancouver+area+mall/1884686/st
ory.html
48. August 11, News-Review Today – (Oregon) Half Shell concert evacuated for bomb
threat. At about 8:15 p.m. Tuesday, a bomb threat prompted the end of the concert
called the “Half Shell event” and the evacuation of Stewart Park in Oregon. The
Riverbend Police Department (RPD) watch commander captain said there are no
suspects in the case, but the investigation would continue. Stewart Park was one of
several parks in Douglas County evacuated in response to a 911 call that came in at 8
p.m. The unidentified male caller said the bomb was live and was in a cooler near the
restrooms at a park and would go off in 17 minutes if the park was not cleared. The
caller did not say which park. Attempts to trace the call were not successful, but 911
dispatch logs indicate it may have come from near the fairgrounds. Authorities were
dispatched to Stewart Park, Riverbend Park in Winston and all parks in Sutherlin. Each
park was evacuated, according to the 911 dispatch logs. Ten law enforcement officers
from RPD, Oregon State Police and the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office responded to
help evacuate the 3,000 to 3,500 people, he said. Law enforcement directed traffic out
of the park onto both Stewart Parkway and Harvard Avenue, and police vehicles
blocked the entrances to late visitors. No bomb was found, according to the 911
dispatch logs, but park officials for the county and city were notified to report any
- 20 -
unattended coolers or suspicious activity.
Source: http://www.nrtoday.com/article/20090811/NEWS/908119971/1055
[Return to top]
National Monuments and Icons Sector
49. August 13, Minneapolis Star Tribune – (Minnesota) Plane crash in Eden Prairie kills
2. On Wednesday, a 53-year-old and another person were killed when the plane crashed
minutes after taking off about 11:30 a.m. at Flying Cloud Airport in Eden Prairie.
Witnesses told police that the 1958 twin-engine Beechcraft 18 propeller-driven aircraft
had trouble taking off and that the plane dipped before it crashed in the yard of the
historic Cummins-Grill House, a city-owned brick structure that was built in 1879 by a
pioneer horticulturalist and is on the National Register of Historic Places. The
unoccupied building was not damaged, although one of the plane’s large wheels rested
on its side on the porch. The Federal Aviation Administration said the plane’s pilot was
attempting to immediately return to the airfield when the plane went down.
Source: http://www.startribune.com/local/53084212.html?page=1&c=y
For another story, see item 26
[Return to top]
Dams Sector
50. August 13, Burlington County Times – (Pennsylvania) Dam repairs under
way. Emergency repair crews are working to shore up the Hampton Lake Dam in
Southampton, which partially collapsed on the evening of August 12. The collapse is
not weather related and likely is due to old age. A spokesman for the county Board of
Freeholders said county emergency management personnel are overseeing the repairs
to the concrete and earth dam. The dam is privately owned by the developer of
LeisureTowne and is situated between that property and the Hampton Lakes
developments on Route 70. The County Emergency Management coordinator was on
the scene and said a crane was brought in to move large rocks in place to temporarily
hold the dam. He said Southampton lowered its dam in the Vincentown section, which
could have a slight impact on Lumberton, but Medford closed its dam to counteract any
impact the broken dam may have on the creek. Despite weather reports calling for
thunderstorms, he said he was not concerned, and the water is at safe levels at all of the
dams.
Source:
http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/news_details/article/26/2009/august/13/dam-repairsunder-way.html
[Return to top]
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DHS Daily Open Source Infrastructure Report Contact Information
About the reports - The DHS Daily Open Source Infrastructure Report is a daily [Monday through Friday]
summary of open-source published information concerning significant critical infrastructure issues. The DHS Daily
Open Source Infrastructure Report is archived for ten days on the Department of Homeland Security Website:
http://www.dhs.gov/iaipdailyreport
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Send mail to NICCReports@dhs.gov or contact the DHS Daily
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their Web page at www.us-cert.gov.
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material.
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