Homeland Security Daily Open Source Infrastructure Report for 21 July 2009

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Homeland

Security

Daily Open Source Infrastructure

Report for 21 July 2009

Current Nationwide

Threat Level

ELEVATED

Significant Risk of Terrorist Attacks

For information, click here:

http://www.dhs.gov

Top Stories

According to Reuters, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission responded the week of

July 13 to a scare at Babcock & Wilcox’s nuclear facility in Lynchburg, Virginia that

turned out to be non-threatening. (See item 12 )

The Associated Press reports that federal investigators are trying to find out why the operator of a San Francisco light-rail that crashed into a parked train and injured 48 passengers on July 18 had turned off the automatic controls moments before the collision.

(See item 22 )

Fast Jump Menu

PRODUCTION INDUSTRIES

Energy

SERVICE INDUSTRIES

Banking and Finance

Chemical

Transportation

Nuclear Reactors, Materials and Waste

Postal and Shipping

Critical Manufacturing

Defense Industrial Base

Dams Sector

Information Technology

Communications

Commercial Facilities

SUSTENANCE AND HEALTH

Agriculture and Food

Water Sector

Public Health and Healthcare

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.

July 19, KSWT 13 Yuma – (Arizona) Power outage in Yuma County.

According to

APS, two equipment failures happened at the Yucca Power Plant in Yuma, Arizona around 5:30 p.m. on July 19. At the peak of the outage, 14,000 homes were without power. As of 8:30 p.m., half of those homes have power restored. As of 9:30 p.m., only

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1,900 homes were without power in the Foothills. By 9:40 p.m., APS says power was restored to all homes. APS says the cause of the outage has not been determined yet.

Source: http://www.kswt.com/Global/story.asp?S=10752149

2.

July 18, News 8 Austin – (Texas) Power lost to thousands in Northwest Austin.

The power was out to thousands in Northwest Austin, Texas the afternoon of July 18.

According to Austin Energy, a substation went out, leaving 17,000 people without electricity. Shortly after 4 p.m., a piece of the substation overheated and caught on fire, causing the entire substation to malfunction. The Austin Fire Department extinguished the fire. Power was restored to customers just after 7 p.m. The outage caused some major traffic problems and collisions after the traffic signals failed.

Source: http://www.news8austin.com/content/your_news/default.asp?ArID=246885

3.

July 18, Palatka Daily News – (Florida) Source of fire at Seminole is found.

Experts have reached the portion of the Seminole Generating Station where a fire broke out on

July 15, and will be working to determine the cause. “We have determined that the origin of the fire was in area of electric leads below the Unit 1 generator,” the senior public affairs representative and spokesman for Seminole Electric Cooperative said on

July 17. There are still no answers as to how the fire began. Workers had to disassemble a metal structure housing the damaged turbine to reach where the fire occurred below the turbine, he said. Flames erupted shortly before 9 a.m. on July 15 as the power plant was running at full capacity to meet summer electricity demands. The plant’s emergency response team contained the fire and, with assistance by local firefighters, the blaze was extinguished a short time later. Crews used foam and water to put out the flames.

Source: http://www.palatkadailynews.com/articles/2009/07/19/news/news02.txt

4.

July 15, KOB 4 Albuquerque – (New Mexico) Vandals hit Four Corners oil wells.

San

Juan County deputies say a vandal responsible for $100,000 in damage to 10 oil wells is probably familiar with oil fields. The wells were hit over the July 11 weekend in the

Flora Vista area. Deputies say the culprit or culprits used heavy tools to smash electrical panels, drain fuel tanks, and cause other damage. A deputy says the community ultimately pays for the damage when the cost of repairs is passed on to them. “We do not want this to take place again. It disrupts production,” he said. The 10 wells targeted are owned by Conoco Phillips. Deputies say a disgruntled employee could be responsible for the damage. He says with 24,000 well sites in San Juan County, deputies need help catching vandals.

Source: http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S1030858.shtml?cat=519

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For another story, see item 32

Chemical Industry Sector

5.

July 19, KJRH 2 Tulsa – (Oklahoma) Ammonia leak sealed, residents back home. As many as 100 people in Pawnee County returned home on July 18, after an early morning chemical leak forced them to evacuate. Authorities evacuated five square miles around

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Skedee, when anhydrous ammonia began leaking around 1:30 a.m. from a Magellan

Midstream Partners pipeline. Hazmat crews sealed the leak just before 4:30 p.m. Even though the leak has been sealed, Magellan will continue to monitor air safety on July 19.

The Magellan Midstream Partners pipeline runs from Verdigris to Enid, then up to

Minnesota.

Source: http://www.kjrh.com/content/news/2viewgc/story/Ammonia-leak-sealedresidents-back-home/1Lpp9FrgckquDPM2QJdFrw.cspx

6.

July 18, Fire News Online – (North Carolina) Fire rages through fertilizer plant.

About 100 firefighters from several Robeson and Bladen County fire departments responded on July 18 to a blaze at the Southern States Cooperative fertilizer plant on

Old Whiteville Road. The fire at the plant, just off N.C. 72, was reported at about 9:40 a.m., according to a lieutenant with the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office. He said that no injuries have been reported and apparently no workers were in the plant when the blaze erupted. As of early afternoon, the cause of the fire was still unknown. Those units responding to the fire included: Lumberton Fire Department, Lumberton Rescue Squad and Lumberton EMS; volunteer fire departments from East Howellsville, Britt’s,

Allenton and Raft Swamp; Lumberton Police Department; and the Robeson County

Sheriff’s Office. Bladen County responders included: Elizabethtown Fire Department;

Tar Heel Fire Department; Dublin Fire Department; Tobermory Fire Department; and

Bladen County EMS.

Source: http://firenewsonline.com/?p=56

7.

July 18, Democrat and Chronicle – (New York) Nobody injured in explosion, fire at

Livingston County plant. An explosion and small fire broke out at a Livingston County organic peroxide plant on July 17. No one was injured in the incident at the Arkema plant, 3289 Genesee St., in Piffard, Livingston County. The organic peroxide was in the process of cooling in a cabinet when it exploded around 5:30 a.m., the plant manager said. Several area fire departments were called to the scene. The cause of the explosion is still being investigated.

Source: http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20090718/NEWS01/907180327/1002/NE

WS/Nobody+injured+in+explosion++fire+at+Livingston+County+plant

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For another story, see item 27

Nuclear Reactors, Materials, and Waste Sector

8.

July 20, Reuters – (Maryland) Constellation Md. Calvert 1 reactor to exit outage.

Constellation Energy Group Inc’s 873-megawatt Unit 1 at the Calvert Cliffs nuclear power station in Maryland started to exit an outage and ramped up to 10 percent by early

Monday, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) said in a report. The unit shut on July 16 to fix a failed containment air coolant motor, which helps maintain pressure and cooling in the containment.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN202945320090720

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9.

July 20, Reuters – (Illinois) Exelon Ill. Lasalle 1 reactor shut. Exelon Corp’s 1,118megawatt Unit 1 at the LaSalle nuclear power station in Illinois shut by early Monday from full power early Friday, the U.S. NRC said in a report. The 2,238 MW LaSalle station, which entered service in 1984, is located in Seneca in LaSalle County, about 70 miles southwest of Chicago. There are two units at the station, the 1,118 MW Unit 1 and

1,120 MW Unit 2. Unit 2 continued to operate at full power.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSN20438772009

0720

10.

July 20, Associated Press – (Missouri) University of Missouri holding mock emergency drill at nuclear research reactor. The University of Missouri planned to hold a mock emergency drill Monday at the nuclear research reactor on the Columbia campus. The drill will involve the Columbia fire and police departments, University

Hospital, and other emergency responders. The NRC requires such practice drills every two years. The reactor is located on Providence Road south of Memorial Stadium. It is the country’s largest campus-based research reactor.

Source: http://www.fox2now.com/news/sns-ap-mo--missouriresearchreactor,0,776533.story

11.

July 17, Cleveland Plain Dealer – (Ohio) Sloppy work at Perry nuclear power plant worries NRC. The NRC is concerned about sloppy workmanship and employee inattention to detail at the Perry, Ohio nuclear power plant. The NRC wants plant-owner

FirstEnergy Corp. to explain how it plans to correct these problems at a public meeting

Tuesday night in Mentor. The agency will also take questions from the public. Perry’s troubles cropped up more than a year ago, NRC records show, and despite the Akronbased utility’s efforts, have continued this year, said the agency. Perry is operating safely, the NRC stressed, but workers have continued to make small mistakes on routine, day-to-day jobs, in a number of unrelated areas. Such mistakes are not in themselves a safety concern, but they are often the first signs at a nuclear plant that the culture of safety first is eroding and attention to safety is slipping. For example, inspectors have noted inadequate documentation of routine maintenance and repairs at

Perry, documentation that plant workers facing problems in the future would need. Onsite NRC inspectors have catalogued the little mistakes, including problems with carrying out “corrective action” programs that Perry managers designed to correct previous poor performance, according to the agency. “Performance at the Perry Nuclear

Power Plant during the assessment period continued to exhibit weaknesses in the area of human performance,” the director of reactor projects for region wrote to the company in

March. “The effectiveness and sustainability of your corrective actions continues to be of concern.”

Source: http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2009/07/sloppy_work_at_perry_nuclear_p

.html

12.

July 17, Reuters – (Virginia) NRC responds to scare at B&W nuclear plant in Va.

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The NRC responded the week of July 13 to a scare at Babcock & Wilcox’s nuclear facility in Lynchburg, Virginia, that turned out to be non-threatening, a spokesman for the NRC said on July 17. B&W staff declared an alert — the lowest level of NRC emergency classifications for fuel facilities — after identifying a potential radiation issue in the uranium recovery area. A saw used to cut fuel components was found to have discharged oil into a container with an unknown amount of highly enriched uranium. The potential threat was due to the possibility of “bad geometry,” said a spokesman for the NRC. A chain reaction resulting in either a “burst” or sustained release of radiation can occur when highly enriched uranium comes together in sufficient quantity or in a container of “correct” shape, the NRC said in a release. The oil and metal shavings were not supposed to be together in the container. After B&W analyzed the material, it determined only a small amount of uranium was in the oil. The incident did not pose any harm to the workers or public. “Since the amount of uranium in the oil was unknown, it was important to take a conservative approach,” said an NRC

Region II Administrator in a release. The NRC spokesman could not say what kind of metal B&W was cutting. Officials at B&W were not immediately available to comment.

The Lynchburg Nuclear Operations Group facility is one of only two private U.S. facilities licensed to possess and process highly enriched uranium, according to the

B&W web site.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN1748405920090717

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Critical Manufacturing Sector

13.

July 18, Bucks County Courier Times – (Pennsylvania) Fire marshal: Chemical vapors led to fire at Warrington plant. Corrosive chemical vapors played a central role in igniting a fire at a Warrington circuit manufacturing plant that spewed acrid smoke throughout the area and triggered health and environmental concerns, a fire official said.

The Bucks County Fire Marshal said the June 7 fire at Flexible Circuits on the 200 block of Valley Road began accidentally. Vapors emitted from 15-foot-long vats containing liquid chemicals — like acid — corroded electrical wiring in an area of the plant over a period of years. The damaged wires generated powerful heat that caused flames to spark in walls. Soon, a fire was roaring. Complicating matters was the fact that smoke produced by the fire’s early flames was not initially detected by smoke alarms, the Fire

Chief said. Despite fears that chemicals might prove dangerous to area residents, an investigation determined there were no safety concerns for people living along the road, which is the boundary between Warrington and Warminster.

Source: http://blogs.phillyburbs.com/news/bcct/fire-marshal-chemical-vapors-led-tofire-warrington-plant/

14.

July 17, Chronicle of Higher Education – (National) Texas A&M U. faults boat’s manufacturer for deadly 2008 accident. An internal investigation by the Texas A&M

University system has concluded that design and construction flaws in a sailboat led to a boating accident that killed a crew member and left five others stranded for 26 hours in the Gulf of Mexico last summer. The university’s report, released July 17, contradicts the U.S. Coast Guard’s conclusion that improper care, repairs, and maintenance of the

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38-foot boat caused the June 2008 disaster, which occurred during a race from

Galveston, Tex., to Veracruz, Mexico, the Houston Chronicle reported. In its report, the

Coast Guard concluded that the keel of the Cynthia Woods had been damaged by repeated groundings and had not been properly repaired by students at Texas A&M’s

Galveston campus. The report found no evidence of design or manufacturing flaws. The general counsel for the A&M system told regents that the groundings and repairs had not contributed to the accident. He said the boat’s hull was too thin and the backing plate that attaches the keel to the hull was too narrow. The boat’s manufacturer, Cape Fear

Yacht Works, issued a statement challenging that assertion.

Source: http://chronicle.com/news/article/6803/texas-am-u-faults-boats-manufacturerfor-deadly-2008-accident

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15.

July 17, BBC News – (International) U.S. firm averts French explosion. A U.S. construction equipment firm has agreed to pay extra compensation to French workers who had threatened to explode gas canisters at their plant. Staff at JLG Industries in

Tonneins, south-western France, made the threat in order to get better redundancy terms for 53 workers. It is the third such incident in which workers have threatened violence against employers. In the JLG deal, the 53 affected workers were each guaranteed

30,000 euros ($42,000) in severance pay. Meanwhile, a tense stand-off continues at the bankrupt New Fabris car plant in Chatellerault, south-west of Paris, where workers have also made a threat to blow up the factory. They have given a July 31 deadline for

Renault and Peugeot, which provided 90 percent of the plant’s work, to pay them 30,000 euros each. Renault and PSA Peugeot said it was not their responsibility to pay workers.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8156329.stm

Defense Industrial Base Sector

16.

July 17, Online Defense and Acquisition Journal – (National) Regs hinder Osprey defenses. The Marine Corps Commandant has promised that the controversial MV-22

Osprey will be flying in Afghanistan by the end of the year. He recently told a

Washington audience that the Osprey “has gone from a wounded duck to a poster child in terms of what aircraft with that leap-ahead technology can do.” Not so, according to some lawmakers on the Hill who are calling for an outright end to V-22 production, claiming the tilt-rotor suffers from low readiness rates and lacks the maneuverability to evade hostile ground fire. One of the plane’s more vocal critics, the chairman of the

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said at a hearing last month that the plane is a failure and “its time to put the Osprey out of its misery.” Osprey critics brandished a June GAO report that cited maintenance and reliability problems and questioned the plane’s ability to fly in “high-threat” environments. Commanders in

Afghanistan say that the Taliban has beefed up its air defenses and that it may now have some newer generation shoulder-fired missiles, or MANPADS. High-threat or not, at a minimum, then, the Osprey should have the ability to survive against occasional

MANPADS. Marine sources confirmed to me that a Marine Osprey flying in Iraq successfully evaded a MANPAD, which contradicts GAO’s statement about Osprey vulnerability. One of the reasons GAO gave, was that the Osprey lacks an onboard

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defensive gun to hose down hot landing zones. Now, the Marines are fitting machine guns to the plane to give it some defensive capability, so that should help out in that area. GAO also said: “The V-22 had maneuvering limits that restrict its ability to perform defensive maneuvers.” A Marine officer said the maneuvering limits in the official Naval Air Training and Operating Procedures Standardization were set by engineers who did not carry out the full battery of tests on the plane because of money shortages during the operational test phase. The Osprey’s troubled developmental history meant the focus was on keeping the plane in the air, not on testing it in battlefield situations.

Source: http://www.dodbuzz.com/2009/07/17/regs-hinder-osprey-defenses/

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For another story, see item 41

Banking and Finance Sector

17.

July 20, Washington Post – (National) Bailout overseer says banks misused TARP funds. Many of the banks that got federal aid to support increased lending have instead used some of the money to make investments, repay debts or buy other banks, according to a new report from the special inspector general overseeing the government’s financial rescue program. The report, which will be published on July 20, surveyed 360 banks that got money through the end of January and found that 110 had invested at least some of it, that 52 had repaid debts and that 15 had used funds to buy other banks. Roughly 80 percent of respondents, or 300 banks, also said at least some of the money had supported new lending. The report by the special inspector general calls on the Treasury

Department to require regular, more detailed information from banks about their use of federal aid provided under the Troubled Asset Relief Program. The Treasury has refused to collect such information. Doing so is “essential to meet Treasury’s stated goal of bringing transparency to the TARP program and informing the American people and their representatives in Congress about what is being done with their money,” the report said. In a written response, the Treasury again rejected that call. Officials have taken the view that the exact use of the federal aid cannot be tracked because money given to a bank is like water poured into an ocean.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2009/07/19/AR2009071901770.html

18.

July 20, Wall Street Journal – (National) Commercial loans failing at rapid pace. U.S. banks have been charging off soured commercial mortgages at the fastest pace in nearly

20 years, according to an analysis by The Wall Street Journal. At that rate, losses on loans used to finance offices, shopping malls, hotels, apartments and other commercial property could reach about $30 billion by the end of 2009.

The losses by regional banks on their commercial real-estate loans will be among the most watched details as thousands of banks report second-quarter results over the next two weeks. Many of the most troubled banks have heavy exposure to commercial real estate. So far, 57 banks have failed this year.

The $30 billion estimate is based on financial reports filed by more than 8,000 banks for the first quarter. The trend continued as a handful of major banks

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reported second-quarter results, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., J.P. Morgan

Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp. Regional banks tend to have higher exposure to commercial real estate than these big financial institutions.

The commercial realestate market, valued at about $6.7 trillion, represents 13 percent of the U.S.’s gross domestic product. But the recession and scarce credit are pushing more commercial developers and investors into default. Meanwhile, property values continue to decline, and banks are required to record a loss on any troubled real-estate loans where the appraised value falls below the amount owed.

Delinquencies on commercial mortgages held by banks more than doubled to about 4.3 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier, Foresight Analytics estimates. A Congressional Representative from New York, who heads the House’s Joint Economic Committee, said she is working with Treasury

Department officials on a plan to try to head off rising defaults on commercial mortgages before they cascade into a crisis.

Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124804759792663783.html

19.

July 20, Bloomberg – (New York) CIT said to weigh $3 billion bondholder funding offer. CIT Group Inc., the 101-year-old commercial finance company seeking to ward off bankruptcy, may announce an agreement for $3 billion in financing from bondholders as soon as July 20, a person briefed on the board’s deliberations said. The funds would give the New York-based company a chance to restructure its debt outside of bankruptcy, said the person, who declined to be identified because the talks are confidential. The lender’s board accepted the deal on July 19, the New York Times reported. CIT needs time to strike deals with bondholders to reduce debt after the U.S. declined to give the firm a second bailout. CIT, which reported $3 billion of losses in the last eight quarters, received a $2.33 billion rescue in December after converting to a bank holding company to be eligible to sell bonds backed by the Federal Deposit

Insurance Corp. “We still think it is a losing effort in the intermediate term although some bondholders may end up better than others with this structure,” said an analyst at

CreditSights Inc. in New York. “The wholesale model is dead and creating a branch deposit system from scratch is too expensive for CIT and takes too long to build to help any time soon.” Barclays Capital is arranging the funding, said another person familiar with the negotiations. The financing will carry an initial rate of about 10.5 percent, the

New York Times said. Creditors including Boston-based hedge fund Baupost Group

LLC, CapRe, Centerbridge Partners LP, Oaktree Capital Management LLC, Pacific

Investment Management Co. and Silverpoint Partners agreed to provide the money, the

Financial Times reported.

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a6wi06W2VqUs

20.

July 20, Los Angles Times – (California) FDIC takes over Vineyard Bank and

Temecula Valley Bank. Two failed Southern California banks will reopen on July 20 under new owners, after the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took control of them on

July 17. Vineyard Bank of Corona, which has 16 branches, was sold to California Bank

& Trust of San Diego, the FDIC said. Separately, Temecula Valley Bank of Temecula and its 11 branches were sold to First Citizens Bank and Trust of Raleigh, North

Carolina.

Both Vineyard and Temecula Valley have been careening toward collapse for the last year amid huge losses on loans related to real estate. Vineyard had assets of $1.9

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billion as of March 31, the FDIC said. Temecula Valley’s assets were $1.5 billion as of

May 31. All deposits of the two banks, except those brought in by brokers, will be transferred to the acquiring banks. As often occurs in small-bank failures, the FDIC will pay off the brokered deposits, which tend to be so-called hot money that was looking for above-average yields on savings certificates.

The demise of Vineyard and Temecula

Valley brings the total number of failed U.S. banks this year to 57, including eight in

California.

Source: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-banks20-2009jul20,0,7301936.story

21.

July 17, Wall Street Journal – (Georgia; South Dakota) Regulators shut Bankfirst and

First Piedmont Bank. South Dakota banking regulators on July 17 closed Sioux Fallsbased BankFirst, marking the 55th bank failure of 2009 and the second of July 17.

The

Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was named receiver and said all deposits of the failed bank would be acquired by Alerus Financial N.A. of Grand Forks, North Dakota.

BankFirst’s two branches are scheduled to reopen on July 20 as branches of Alerus

Financial.

The FDIC said BankFirst had total assets of $275 million and total deposits of

$254 million as of April 30. Alerus Financial plans to purchase $72 million in assets from the failed bank. Separately, the FDIC has struck a deal with Beal Bank Nevada to purchase $177 million in loans from BankFirst.

The FDIC expects BankFirst’s failure to cost its deposit insurance fund an estimated $91 million.

Earlier on July 17, Georgia regulators closed First Piedmont Bank, brokering a deal for its deposits to be acquired by First American Bank and Trust Co. of Athens, Georgia. First Piedmont had total assets of $115 million and total deposits of $109 million as of July 6.

Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124786803817960155.html

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Transportation Sector

22.

July 20, Associated Press – (California) Rail operator’s actions questioned in Calif. crash. Federal investigators are trying to find out why the operator of a San Francisco light-rail that crashed into a parked train and injured dozens of passengers had turned off the automatic controls moments before the collision. Had he kept the autopilot on, the train would have slowed down before arriving at the West Portal Station and likely not careened into the other train while going 23 mph, a National Transportation Safety

Board investigator said July 19. He added that the operator never engaged the emergency brake. The investigator said a mechanical inspection of the train that caused the accident has so far not uncovered any problems. The crash on July 18 injured 48 people, four seriously, in the latest in a series of commuter train wrecks in recent months in the U.S. None of the injuries were life-threatening. A chaotic scene unfolded after the westbound train struck the end of the other train at a boarding platform. The operator was pinned inside his damaged compartment, said a San Francisco fire lieutenant.

Neither the investigator nor local transit officials would identify the driver, but said he started as a San Francisco bus driver in 1979 and switched to light rail in 2007. He was hospitalized after the crash and a drug test had been administered, which was standard procedure for crashes. Investigators will interview the operators to determine the cause and they would look at whether cell phone use played a factor in the crash, as is standard

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in all train accident investigations. It was the fourth major subway or commuter rail accident in the last 10 months.

Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hh7Aq1au0WcMPqQWhayVGs

OCwAwwD99I20181

23.

July 20, Associated Press – (California) Fire forces evacuation at Sacramento airport. Officials say operations are back to normal at Sacramento International Airport after an electrical fire forced the evacuation of a terminal and disrupted flights July 19.

The Sacramento fire captain says the fire early July 19 in a second-floor computer room was quickly extinguished but the amount of smoke required Terminal A to be ventilated.

An airport spokesperson says flights were delayed for about two hours during the evacuation. No injuries have been reported.

Source: http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2009-07-20-sacramento-electricalfire_N.htm

24.

July 20, Los Angeles Times – (California) Security officer shot at San Diego light-rail platform. Police in San Diego County were searching July 19 for a suspect who shot an on-duty security officer twice on a light-rail train platform and then stole the officer’s gun and ammunition before fleeing. The officer from San Diego Metropolitan Transit

System (MTS) was patrolling the Grossmont Trolley Station on Fletcher Parkway about

10:15 p.m. on July 18 when he was approached by the suspect, who was carrying a semiautomatic pistol, according to a statement released by the La Mesa Police

Department. The suspect fired his own weapon, hitting the officer, and then fled with the officer’s firearm, gun belt and spare magazines. The officer was taken to Sharp

Memorial Hospital and is listed in stable condition, the statement said. At the time of the shooting, about eight people were waiting for two trains that stop at the station, said an

MTS spokeswoman. She said security officers are assigned to stations to assist passengers.

Source: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-rail-shooting20-

2009jul20,0,336997.story

25.

July 19, WCVB 5 Boston – (Massachusetts) MBTA passengers evacuated from tunnel.

A power outage forced Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) officials to close down parts of the Green Line on July 18, cutting off subway service through Boston’s back bay and stranding dozens of passengers underground. MBTA officials said the electrical problem was caused by an overhead power cable near

Arlington Station at about 4 p.m. Service was shut down between Kenmore Station and

Park Street during the outage, and MBTA buses took passengers along the route until service was restored two hours later. A passenger said he was traveling underground when the power outage stranded his Green Line trolley between Copley Station and

Arlington Station. He and the other passengers waited for about an hour before they were taken off the trolley and escorted back through the tunnel on foot to Copley

Station, he said. An MBTA spokesman confirmed that passengers from at least one trolley were evacuated through the tunnels when service was shut down. The service was delayed 25-30 min on the rest of the Green Line by the power outage. The Green

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Line began running again at 6:15 p.m. after repairs were made.

Source: http://www.thebostonchannel.com/mostpopular/20102925/detail.html

26.

July 17, Contra Costa Times – (California) Water service is restored to LAX terminal. Water service was restored to Terminal 2 at Los Angeles International Airport on July 17, about 20 hours after a water main break flooded a parking lot and forced the shutdown of service to parts of the airport, but the water flowing into the terminal still has not been deemed safe for human consumption. The 12-inch water main ruptured just about 4 p.m. on July 16 under the south side of parking structure 2B, which is across from Terminal 2, said a spokesman from Los Angeles World Airports, the city agency that operates LAX. The water was turned off some 50 minutes after the break, leaving restrooms and food and beverage concessions closed in Terminals 2 and 3. There were no flight delays due to the incident.

Source: http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_12860229?nclick_check=1

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For more stories, see items 5 ,

27 , and

32

Postal and Shipping Sector

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See item 38

Agriculture and Food Sector

27.

July 19, Greene County Daily World – (Indiana) Reel & Sons Feed & Grain destroyed in blazing inferno. On July 19 firefighters responded within 2 minutes to a report of a fire at Reel & Sons Feed & Grain elevator and feed mill in Worthington, Indiana. Within about an hour the structure became a total loss. The Worthington-Jefferson Township

Volunteer Fire Department (WJVFD) was first on the scene. ‘There have been no injuries but the Greene County Ambulance Service and the Red Cross have been here all afternoon,’ said a training officer. At least 35 firefighters responded to help fight the fire. WJVFD trucks and a tanker were quickly followed by trucks and firefighters from the Bloomfield Fire Department, Jasonville Fire Department and Highland Township

Fire Department as well as personnel from the Worthington Police Department and

Greene County Sheriff’s Department. The training officer did not offer any speculation about the cause of the fire and said he had not yet been able to assess damage to surrounding buildings. A row of storefront buildings stood across the tracks from the elevator, a building containing large amounts of chemicals stood across the street, and the training officer said the Jasonville Fire Department had kept spray on another business building adjacent to the Reel property on the north side. The training officer also added that the railroad was also notified of the situation and all rail traffic on the tracks through town had been halted.

Source: http://gcdailyworld.com/story/1555797.html

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28.

July 16, KSBW 8 Salinas – (California) 2 peninsula fires treated as suspicious. Fire investigators are treating two of the four fires that took place along the Californian

Peninsula during the past week as suspicious. The latest arson fire took place the morning of July 15 at Lattitudes Restaurant in Pacific Grove. The owner of Lattitudes said his 4-year-old restaurant was spared from any major damage because firefighters were able to put out the blaze within 10 minutes. Monterey and Pacific Grove police are treating the fire as arson after finding a Molotov cocktail on the roof. Detectives are looking into whether the fire at Lattitudes is connected to an arson fire that took place on

July 13 inside Creative Visions, a tattoo parlor on Lighthouse Avenue. The blaze caused an estimated $50,000 in smoke and fire damage to the tattoo parlor. A fire also caused an estimated $1 million in damages to a Japanese Restaurant on Alvarado Street the week of July 6. Fire investigators are currently working to determine the cause of that fire. The fourth fire took place at an apartment complex on Park Avenue. Police ruled out arson in the apartment fire on July 15.

Source: http://www.ksbw.com/news/20075173/detail.html

Water Sector

29.

July 19, Associated Press – (National) Invasive quagga mussels a growing threat.

Two years after an invasive mussel was first discovered at Lake Mead, Nevada, the population has firmly established itself and gone on a breeding binge, with numbers soaring into the trillions. Despite efforts to stop their spread, scientists say it is only a matter of time before quagga mussels appear throughout the West’s vast system of reservoirs and aqueducts, raising operation and maintenance costs by untold millions.

Water agencies and wildlife managers in California, Arizona, Nevada and Utah have put in place aggressive measures to try to prevent their spread, including mandatory decontamination or quarantine of boats traveling from infested areas or chlorinating some water inlets to try to kill off the mussels. But as their counterparts in the northeast and Great Lakes region have found, eradicating the mussels is virtually impossible. The thumb-size mollusks attach to almost anything and can clog drains and pipes, freeze up cooling systems, kill off native species and render power boats inoperable. ‘Over time, maybe not this decade or the next, I would think eventually they’ll be almost around the country,’ said a fishery biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Florida. In the

West, the mussels have colonized the lower Colorado River, which 27 million people rely on to irrigate crops, produce drinking water and operate businesses. Lake Mead is just one of a string of huge reservoirs on the Colorado that store and divert water into aqueducts and pipelines feeding parts of California, Arizona and Nevada. The

Metropolitan Water District of Southern California expects to spend between $10 million and $15 million a year to address quagga mussel infestations in its 242-mile

Colorado River aqueduct and reservoirs.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31980811/ns/us_news-environment/

30.

July 19, St. Petersburg Times – (Florida) Fire extinguished at water treatment plant.

A fire at a water treatment facility off Bruce B. Downs Boulevard early on the morning of July 19 was brought under control in about 30 minutes. A resident of an apartment

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complex near the city water plant reported flames coming from a large building at the facility at about 12:30 a.m. The first crew to arrive at the facility near Dona Michelle

Drive called for a second alarm. The fire was under control by about 1 a.m.

Source: http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/fire/article1019717.ece

31.

July 17, Milford Daily News – (Massachusetts) Hydrant blows, floods yards. Early on the morning of July 16 in Franklin, Massachusetts, a Lincoln Street hydrant ‘blew off’ the waterline, letting loose hundreds of thousands of gallons of water onto nearby driveways and yards and ripping up the sidewalk and street, said the Public Works director. Police alerted the DPW to the incident in front of Lincoln Street, near the Helen

Keller Elementary and Annie Sullivan Middle schools 6 a.m., he said. “We’ve had lots of problems with this water main. There have been at least six leaks in the last couple years, and this was the biggest. The roadways and sidewalk all blew out, the sidewalk is sinking and there’s a big hole about six by 10 feet. It’s a big mess,” he said. The problem was caused by the age of the hydrant, which is 70 years old, he said. For now,

DPW workers will fix the leak in the hydrant and repair the road, which is a temporary,

$20,000 solution until they have funds to fix the whole water main, he said. At one point, about 50 residents and the school were without water, said the director, who expected everyone’s water to be restored by day’s end. He estimates the cost to replace the road, sidewalk and pipe will be $1.5 million.

Source: http://www.wickedlocal.com/franklin/news/x931237101/Hydrant-blows-floodsyards

32.

July 17, Port Clinton News Herald – (Ohio) Oil spill will cause no problems on river.

The February oil spill near Cygnet will not cause problems for the Portage River, according to an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official. During Thursday’s meeting of the Portage River Basin Council at the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, the

EPA official gave an update on cleanup efforts. On February 19, more than 32,000 gallons of crude oil spilled into the Middle Branch of the Portage River. She told members of the council a 22-inch pipe had a 1/16-inch break at a fitting. ‘This pipeline is very old,’ she said. Crude oil spilled onto two fields. “The surface was all black oil, one inch to three inches deep,” she said. Clean-up crews found old field tile, which transported the oil to a nearby creek, a tributary of the Portage River. Oil was found as far as 15.7 miles downriver, she said. Workers used booms, skimmers, and underflow dams to catch the oil. Later some banks were washed while others were burned with propane torches to get rid of the crude. The area’s high rainfall might have helped. “It really has flushed it out,” she said. While crews continue to work on the fields where the spill occurred, some protective equipment is left in place on the waterways in case something goes wrong, according to the EPA official. Groundwater assessments are also being conducted in the direct area.

Source: http://www.portclintonnewsherald.com/article/20090717/NEWS01/907170304

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Public Health and Healthcare Sector

33.

July 19, Houston Chronicle – (Texas) HFD seeks cause of fire destroying city warehouse.

Arson investigators are trying to determine what caused a one-alarm fire that destroyed a City of Houston Health and Human Services warehouse late Saturday night, authorities said. During the blaze, the roof burned away and one of the warehouse’s walls collapsed, leaving the building a total loss. No one was injured in the fire.

Source: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hotstories/6536914.html

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34.

July 17, Fierce Healthcare – (California) Kaiser hospital hit with another fine for privacy violation.

In 2008, California became the first state to enact a law requiring providers to let individuals know if personal medical data had been breached. Now, the state has hit Kaiser Permanente’s Bellflower Hospital with the second of two six-figure fines for failing to protect electronic medical record data from its own employees. The

California Department of Public Health issued an administrative penalty of $187,500 the week of July 13 against the facility after concluding that the hospital didn’t do enough to protect patient health information. Bellflower Hospital was previously slapped with a

$250,000 fine in May for violations taking place in mid-March. Eight employees were cited in the latest security breach, one of whom was named in an earlier breach.

Source: http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/kaiser-hospital-hit-another-fine-privacyviolation/2009-07-17

Government Facilities Sector

35.

July 17, Bluefield Daily Telegraph – (Virginia) Judge hands down stiff sentences in bomb threats. A man charged with making a bomb threat to the Tazewell County,

Virginia, courthouse has been sentenced to 19 years in prison. The 43 year-old suspect, from Amonate, Virginia, had been charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit a bomb threat and one count of making a bomb threat in connection with bomb threats to the courthouse in June and September of 2008, the Tazewell police chief said. The suspect was sentenced Thursday by the circuit county judge to 20 years with one year suspended leaving the man with an active 19 year sentence to serve in a state correctional center. A second person, a 36 year-old female from Amonate, was charged with two counts of making bomb threats, and was sentenced by the judge to 30 years in prison with 23 years suspended leaving an active penitentiary sentence of seven years.

Source: http://www.bdtonline.com/local/local_story_198205944.html

36.

July 17, Associated Press – (Georgia) Ex-Fort Benning worker admits burning headquarters. A former Fort Benning civilian employee has pleaded guilty to burning down the post’s historic Judge Advocate General’s headquarters, causing almost $10 million in damage in a fit of anger at her co-workers. The 31 year-old suspect pleaded guilty to arson on July 15 in federal court in Columbus, home of the west Georgia military installation. The suspect, who had worked at the JAG office before being

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dismissed during an investigation into another matter, faces five to 20 years in prison.

Sentencing has not been set. “She was disgruntled with her fellow employees, who wouldn’t support her in an investigation into the theft of office supplies,” her attorney said on July 17.

Source: http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=10745506

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Emergency Services Sector

37.

July 20, Eureka Times Standard – (California) State IOUs discourage help from local fire chiefs. When the state fire alarm sounds, firefighters across California respond, but the promise of IOUs instead of paychecks has some departments hesitating. State legislators have yet to determine a budget, forcing some state departments to issue registered warrants, also known as IOUs, instead of checks. The state’s mutual aid program — involving most fire departments that help battle summer blazes — may suffer for it. A spokesman for the California Emergency Management Agency said that as a result there has been talk of local fire departments being unable to respond to a mutual aid emergency, like a bad fire, earthquake or a tsunami. While the Eureka Fire

Department is not considering rolling back its agreement to assist Cal Fire with wildland fires at this time, that is a possibility for the future, Eureka’s fire chief said. The department has a fire engine on loan from the state, he said. When their assistance is requested, Eureka firefighters climb on board and head off to help — sometimes for as long as a month, the chief said. In return, the state reimburses the city for its personnel costs. Reimbursement for mutual aid help usually takes from 90 to 120 days. The concern on the part of the Humboldt County Fire Chiefs Association and the department is that with the particularly tight financial situation, no one can afford to put that money out and wait for increasingly delayed reimbursement.

Source: http://www.times-standard.com/localnews/ci_12874917

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38.

July 17, Toledo Blade – (Ohio) White powder in mail sent to Toledo police called harmless. Two undercover Toledo police officers went to St. Vincent Mercy Medical

Center on July 16 for observation after coming into contact with a white powder that had been mailed to the downtown police station. The officers were on the fourth floor of the downtown Safety Building at about 1 p.m. and opened a box addressed to the police department, a captain said. They went to the hospital as a precaution. The Toledo Fire

Department tested the substance and found nothing harmful. The powder probably came from the packing, he said. Hazmat teams were called to the Safety Building, and Erie

Street was closed for the staging of fire equipment. The elevator to the fourth floor was turned off, but operations otherwise were not interrupted, he said. Nobody was allowed to enter or leave the emergency room at St. Vincent once the officers arrived, a hospital spokesman said. Patients in the emergency room were kept away from the officers as a precaution.

Source: http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090717/NEWS02/907170338

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Information Technology

39.

July 20, Money Times – (International) Mozilla denies vulnerability as exploitable in new version of Firefox. A flaw discovered in the new version of Firefox is not exploitable, said Mozilla on July 19, responding to reports of another susceptibility in the browser.

The vulnerability, originates from the software’s Unicode text handling system which let a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code through Web sites Mozilla on July 17 had announced the availability of Firefox 3.5.1 to fix a critical security vulnerability traced in the browser’s new TraceMonkey JavaScript engine.

But reports by security researchers at the Internet Storm Centre revealed vulnerability in Firefox

3.5.1 which might lead to code injection. BM Internet Security Services and the

National Vulnerability Database have reported vulnerability as critical.

The vulnerability, originates from the software’s Unicode text handling system which let a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code through Web sites. If the visitor hits the affected page, the software breaks downs, launching denial of service attack.

There is no defense available at the moment other than deactivating Java script which is not practical for many web users.

Source: http://www.themoneytimes.com/featured/20090720/mozilla-deniesvulunerability-exploitable-new-version-firefox-id-1077048.html

40.

July 17, The Register – (International) Clever attack exploits fully-patched Linux kernel. A recently published attack exploiting newer versions of the Linux kernel is getting plenty of notice because it works even when security enhancements are running and the bug is virtually impossible to detect in source code reviews.

The exploit code was released on July 17 by an individual who works for grsecurity, a developer of applications that enhance the security of the open-source OS. While it targets Linux versions that have yet to be adopted by most vendors, the bug has captured the attention of security researchers, who say it exposes overlooked weaknesses.

Linux developers

“tried to protect against it and what this exploit shows is that even with all the protections turned to super max, it’s still possible for an attacker to figure out ways around this system,” said a senior security researcher at Immunity. “The interesting angle here is the actual thing that made it exploitable, the whole class of vulnerabilities, which is a very serious thing.” The vulnerability is located in several parts of Linux, including one that implements functions known as net/tun. Although the code correctly checks to make sure the tun variable does not point to NULL, the compiler removes the lines responsible for that inspection during optimization routines. The result: When the variable points to zero, the kernel tries to access forbidden pieces of memory, leading to a compromise of the box running the OS.

Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/07/17/linux_kernel_exploit/

41.

July 17, Government Computer News – (National) Trust but verify: Security risks abound in the IT supply chain. With one in 10 information technology products on the market considered counterfeit, and software products developed across the globe at risk of subversion, it is hard to overstate the national security concerns regarding the use of

IT products delivered through the global supply chain. The cyber security risks inherent in the Federal Government’s procurement of and reliance on IT hardware and software

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from various non-pedigreed sources have been well reported. This article — prepared collaboratively by members of the International Information Systems Security

Certification Consortium’s Government Advisory Board Executive Writers Bureau — explores various cyber risks to the IT supply chain, which include theft of intellectual property, logic bombs and self-modifying code, deliberately hidden back doors and features for unauthorized remote access, as well as risks from fake or counterfeit products.

Source: http://gcn.com/Articles/2009/07/17/Commentary-ISC2IT-supply-chainsecurity.aspx?Page=1

42.

July 17, The Register – (International) Memory-hogging bug offers universal browser crash exploit. Security researchers have published details of a security flaw that can crash multiple browsers across multiple platforms.

There are many more flaws out there that are more serious, but the security shortcomings in JavaScript’s DOM (Document

Object Model) are nonetheless noteworthy because the issue affects Firefox, Safari,

Opera, Chrome and Internet Explorer to a lesser or greater extent. Even smartphones, such as the iPhone and Nokia N95, as well at the Sony PS3 might be forced to crash using the approach, obliging users to reset devices.

The flaw works by tricking a browser into allocating huge chunks of memory, behavior likely to result in a crash.

Using JavaScript’s DOM (Document Object Model) to create a selection menu on a web page with a very high value sets up the trick. H Security explains that the coding trickery results in a huge allocation of memory.

This is not in itself a problem if the memory area is defined as read only, but problems arise in the many cases where browsers fail to stop overwrites, leading to two processes trying to get at the same portion of memory at the same time and therefore provoking browser crashes.

The flaw presents a browser crash rather than malware injection risk in all cases. Crashing is most easily achieved on IE, with all versions of Microsoft’s browser affected. Versions of Ubuntu running

Konquerer might be forced to reboot if exposed to attacks based on the bug because of a memory management failure issue.

Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/07/17/universal_browser_crash_bug/

Internet Alert Dashboard

To report cyber infrastructure incidents or to request information, please contact US

CERT at soc@us

− cert.gov or visit their

Website: http:// www.us

cert.gov.

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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/.

Communications Sector

43.

July 19, Limaohio.com – (Ohio) Cable, electric outages affect thousands of customers. Electric and cable outages on July 19 affected 25,550 American Electric

Power and Time Warner Cable customers.

A spokeswoman for American Electric

Power said at 7:29 a.m. a transmission line went out of service after substation equipment was damaged by an animal. He said 8,000 AEP customers were affected, but

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power was restored by 11:30 a.m.

A communications manager at Time Warner Cable said at 7:30 a.m. a commercial power outage at the Lima office set off a chain of events that caused an outage that affected 17,500 customers. Service was restored at 12:30 p.m.

Source: http://www.limaohio.com/news/affected-39471-power-customers.html

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44.

July 19, Newsday.com – (New York) Mistake cuts off Verizon customers in

Lynbrook. The phone has gone dead for several hundred Verizon customers in the

Lynbrook area after a contractor working for National Grid mistakenly sawed through three of the communication company’s underground telephone lines on July 15. The contractor working at Ryder Avenue and Rolling Street in Malverne dug into three large

Verizon telephone cables, severing them and putting about 300 Verizon customers out of service, said a Verizon spokesman. He said he hoped service would be restored the week of July 20. A spokeswoman for National Grid said the Verizon lines were not marked on a diagram of underground cables the contractor used to determine where to dig. The agencies are working together to determine how the mishap happened, the spokeswoman said.

Source: http://www.newsday.com/news/local/nassau/nyliveri2012984773jul19,0,3689644.story

Commercial Facilities Sector

45.

July 19, United Press International – (California) Heigl, Butler part of hotel evacuation.

Two movie stars were among hundreds of people evacuated from a Los

Angeles hotel because of a bomb scare, a witness says. An unidentified witness told

People magazine that 400 hotel guests were told to leave the Four Seasons Hotel in Los

Angeles Saturday to allow police to investigate the unfounded scare. Police told People magazine the investigation was prompted by a threat from a telephone caller.

Source: http://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/2009/07/19/Heigl-Butler-part-ofhotel-evacuation/UPI-56441248025065/

46.

July 19, Associated Press – (New Jersey) Quicker warning of water problems sought in NJ.

Most states close beaches or at least issue advisories the same day that a test result comes back with high levels of bacteria. But New Jersey requires a second test to be done, often the next day, before action is taken. And that is unacceptable, said the executive director of the Clean Ocean Action environmental group. “We want the state to give people the right to know whether the water they are swimming in is contaminated with fecal material, or whether it’s safe to go in,” she said. New Jersey plans to readopt its current regulations soon, said a spokeswoman for the state health department. An advisory group will study the issue and recommend possible changes to be put in place by next summer. “That gives us some time to do a more thorough review,” she said. The executive director argued that, “They’re [state health department] sitting on confirmation from Day One that the water is contaminated, and they still let people go in it,” she said. “What kind of public health policy is that?” Rhode Island,

California, Maryland, Virginia, Delaware and New York City all either issue public advisories or close beaches based on a single bad water quality test result, said a staff

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scientist with Clean Ocean Action. At a minimum, environmental groups say, test results showing unsafe bacteria levels should be posted on a health department web site when they are received, and signs posted at the beaches alerting swimmers. “Other states post a warning after one high test for harmful bacteria; there is no reason New Jersey can’t do the same,” said a member of the national Surfrider Foundation.

Source: http://www.mercurynews.com/california/ci_12871338?nclick_check=1&forced=true

47.

July 18, Associated Press – (International) Jakarta blasts show hotel weaknesses.

Twin hotel suicide bombings in Indonesia on July 17 exposed new security weaknesses in an industry increasingly in the cross-hairs of terrorists — and pointed to evolving tactics by the militants.

By posing as guests and then checking into one of the hotels with explosives that were then assembled into bombs in the privacy of a room, the terrorists were apparently able to evade the metal detectors and vehicle checks put in place to ward off attackers.

Expensive X-ray machines, devices that detect explosives and intrusive searches of guest luggage may be the only way to stop a repeat attack.

“The authorities are not opposed to this, because they worry about the effect of the attacks, but hotel authorities and the tourist industry is a bit reluctant because they don’t want the hotels to look like bunkers,” said the director of the Center for the Study of

Terrorism and Political Violence at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. “But I think the more attacks we have of this kind, the more hotels will have to think about improving the protection.” As they are in Pakistan and other countries with a history of terrorist attacks, cars are searched before they get close to the lobby and guests either walk through a metal detector or are checked with a wand. But even if those measures are carried out strictly, smuggling in bomb-making components and explosives in luggage would likely get around them, said a Jakarta-based security consultant. “People around the world can look at what others do and mirror them, they can analyze, and then they can create a copycat attack,” said a defense analyst, former editor at Jane’s Defense

Weekly and an adviser to the British Parliament on security matters.

Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hw3HPa4XZuKo2ufagGQ9bfO emYbAD99GCFH80

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For another story, see item 27

National Monuments & Icons Sector

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Nothing to report

Dams Sector

48.

July 19, WWL 4 New Orleans – (Louisiana) ATVs tearing up Plaquemines levees. On the West Bank of Plaquemines Parish, levees run parallel along both sides of Highway

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23. Grass is not growing on the levees like it should. The problem appears in patches, stretching for about 20 miles, on both the Mississippi River and back levees in

Plaquemines Parish. The situation can be traced back to two main causes. The first has to do with soil that the Army Corps of Engineers used to repair the levees there. It turns out, the material used had a high salt content. A spokesman with the Hurricane

Protection Office of the Army Corps of Engineers says, “It turns out the salt level or the salinity level in the soil was too high for the grass to really survive.” So, the Corps decided to collect soil and material at the Bonnet Carre Spillway and place it on the levee to encourage the grass to grow. That appeared to be working, until another problem appeared. Parish officials said the off-road vehicle and ATV riders are tearing up the levees and ruining any chance that the newly planted grass will begin to grow.

“When they see these levees with no grass, they’re tearing these levee sections up,” he said. That is effectively weakening the levees because the grass helps hold them together and keep them from eroding. The need to protect that protection is taking on new urgency. Since it takes about a month for newly-planted grass to take hold, parish officials said the riding needs to stop now, before the height of hurricane season begins in mid-August. Meanwhile, the Plaquemines Parish Sheriff’s Office has started issuing citations for people caught riding off-road vehicles on the levees.

Source: http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/wwl071909cbplaq.585204ad.html

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49.

July 19, Marin Independent Journal – (California) Residents asked to watch for vandals. Hamilton residents have been urged to keep an eye out for vandals who are stealing or moving cap stones on the levee that separates the southern Novato neighborhood from San Pablo Bay. The Public Works director said there have been several recent incidents that are proving costly for the city. He urges any vandalism or suspicious activity on the levees to be reported to Novato police.

Source: http://www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_12873862

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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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To report physical infrastructure incidents or to request information, please contact the National Infrastructure

Coordinating Center at nicc@dhs.gov or (202) 282

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To report cyber infrastructure incidents or to request information, please contact US − CERT at soc@us − cert.gov or visit their Web page at www.us-cert.gov

.

Department of Homeland Security Disclaimer

The DHS Daily Open Source Infrastructure Report is a non − commercial publication intended to educate and inform personnel engaged in infrastructure protection. Further reproduction or redistribution is subject to original copyright restrictions. DHS provides no warranty of ownership of the copyright, or accuracy with respect to the original source material.

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