Homeland
Security
Current Nationwide
Threat Level
ELEVATED
Daily Open Source Infrastructure
Report for 28 August 2009
Significant Risk of Terrorist Attacks
For information, click here:
http://www.dhs.gov
Top Stories

According to the Associated Press, a fire broke out Thursday at Sterling Services, a bulk
petroleum facility, in Hamtramck, Michigan, sending flames and black smoke hundreds of
feet into the air, interrupting Amtrak passenger rail service, and forcing hundreds of people
to evacuate the area. (See item 3)

The Asbury Park Press reports that the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant in Lacey, New
Jersey was operating at half its generating capacity Wednesday following a new tritium
leak discovered Monday. This is the second leak since the plant was relicensed on April 8.
(See item 7)
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 27, U.S. Department of Justice – (Illinois) United States and Illinois file Clean
Air Act lawsuit against Midwest Generation. The U.S. and the state of Illinois have
filed a civil complaint against Midwest Generation LLC, alleging that the company
violated, and continues to violate, the Clean Air Act, announced the Justice
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Department, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Illinois Attorney
General’s office. The complaint alleges that Midwest Generation made major
modifications to its coal-fired power plants in Illinois without also installing and
operating required pollution control equipment. As a result, Midwest Generation’s six
Illinois power plants, which have a combined capacity of more than 6,000 megawatts,
are illegally emitting massive amounts of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and particulate
matter. The complaint also alleges that emissions from Midwest Generation violated
opacity and particulate matter limits. The lawsuit, filed by the Justice Department on
behalf of the EPA and the state of Illinois Attorney General’s Office, asks the court to
order Midwest Generation to install and operate state-of-the-art air pollution control
technology to substantially reduce emissions from the Midwest Generation power
plants. The suit also seeks civil penalties up to the maximum amount authorized by
law, as well as actions by Midwest Generation to mitigate the adverse public health and
environmental effects caused by the violations. To combat these adverse effects, the
EPA and the Justice Department are pursuing a national initiative, targeting electric
utilities whose coal-fired power plants violate the law. The suit was filed in the U.S.
District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
Source: http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/August/09-enrd-877.html
2. August 27, Washington Record-Herald – (Indiana) Diesel theft nets man 2 years. A
Indiana man has been sentenced to two years in prison for stealing nearly $15,000
worth of diesel fuel from True North Shell at the U.S. Route 35-Interstate 71
interchange. The Waverly man’s hearing was held Monday in Fayette County Common
Pleas Court after he was found guilty earlier this month of 18 felonies, including nine
counts of vandalism, eight counts of theft and one count of possession of criminal tools.
He was also convicted of attempted theft, a misdemeanor of the first degree. On
February 24, an off-duty clerk at True North Shell observed two semi-trailer trucks
near the diesel fuel pumps and saw two men taking the protection panel off of one of
the pumps. When authorities arrived, the man, 54, was driving one of the trucks away
from the fuel station and was pulled over for expired tags. The Fayette County Sheriff’s
deputy found that he had “universal fuel pump keys” in his possession.
Source:
http://www.recordherald.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=13
3916
3. August 27, Associated Press – (Michigan) Fire rages at chemical plant near
Detroit. A fire broke out Thursday at a chemical plant in Hamtramck, near Detroit,
sending flames and black smoke hundreds of feet into the air, interrupting Amtrak
passenger rail service, and forcing hundreds of people to evacuate the area. The fire
broke out about 11:30 a.m., and Hamtramck officials quickly called in the Detroit and
Highland Park fire departments for assistance. The fire is at Sterling Services, a
company involved in the biofuel business. There were no reports of injuries. Amtrak
passenger rail service was suspended between Pontiac and Detroit, about 20 miles
apart. An Amtrak spokesman said passengers will be shuttled between the cities by
charter bus. Residents were evacuated for about a half-mile around the fire, said the
executive director of the Hamtramck Housing Commission. That included a nearby
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complex of 36 buildings containing 300 apartments and some 700 to 800 residents,
though he said not all were home at the time of the blaze. An evacuation center was set
up at a nearby senior center with water available for evacuees. About 15 or 20 people
had arrived by about 1 p.m. The plant is in an industrial area with several small
factories. Sterling Services Ltd. is registered as a bulk petroleum facility that stores
large quantities of gasoline or other fuels, said a spokesman for the Michigan
Department of Environmental Quality. State or federal environmental officials will
monitor air quality at the scene. Sterling Services is a subsidiary of Southfield-based
Sterling Oil & Chemical Co. Inc., according to a company Web site. The Hamtramck
facility is on more than five acres and has a storage capacity of about 5 million gallons.
Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5goc8VWKIhOO60FQkeT2kXp5-pMAD9ABBTNO0
4. August 25, Associated Press – (Wisconsin) Study: 4 Wis. power projects ignored
Clean Air Act. Four construction projects at state-run power plants dating to 1995
violated the Clean Air Act by increasing pollution without installing required controls,
according to a state report. A 2007 lawsuit filed by the Sierra Club raised questions
about whether state officials were following the act’s requirements to obtain permits for
construction at state plants and install equipment to cut emissions. Under a legal
settlement with the environmental group, the Department of Administration was
required to check more than 25 projects dating back to 1995 for compliance. The
review, obtained this month by the Associated Press through an open records request,
found three projects at Capitol Heat and Power in Madison and one at a plant in
Waupun violated the act’s requirements. The state is already moving to fix the
violations at both plants by studying cleaner alternatives than coal to run them. The
study found all other projects were routine maintenance that would not have required
permits and tighter controls. But that conclusion has drawn criticism from the Sierra
Club, which claims the study was not thorough enough and that other plants remain in
violation of the act.
Source: http://wcco.com/wireapnewswi/Report.finds.4.2.1143343.html
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Chemical Industry Sector
See item 3
[Return to top]
Nuclear Reactors, Materials and Waste Sector
5. August 27, Reuters – (Alabama) TVA Ala. Browns Ferry 3 reactor up to 23 pct
power. The Tennessee Valley Authority’s 1,105-megawatt Browns Ferry 3 nuclear
power unit in Alabama was at 23 percent power early Thursday as it began to exit a
brief outage, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in its power reactor status
report. The unit, in Decatur, Alabama, about 80 miles north of Birmingham, was
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manually shut late Monday due to the loss of two of three condensate booster pumps
because of low pump suction pressure, the NRC said in an event notification report
earlier this week.
Source: http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKN2729461420090827
6. August 27, Reuters – (California) PG&E Diablo Canyon 2 reactor slips to 77 pct
power. PG&E Corp’s (PCG.N) 1,150-megawatt Diablo Canyon 2 nuclear power unit
in California was at 77 percent power early Thursday, down from full power on
Wednesday, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in its power reactor status
report. The unit, in Avila Beach, about 195 miles northwest of Los Angeles, had just
returned to full power from a recent outage. The adjacent 1,150-MW Unit 1 continued
to operate at full power on Thursday, the NRC report said.
Source:
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSN2730782120
090827
7. August 26, Asbury Park Press – (New Jersey) Oyster Creek reduces power
generation to fix leak. The Oyster Creek nuclear power plant in Lacey was operating
at half its generating capacity Wednesday following a new tritium leak discovered
Monday. A plant spokesman said the reduction in power generation “allows us to gain
safe access to the turbine building and into the 6-inch aluminum line which was found
to be leaking.” A Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman said that the leak
appears to be from an aluminum, non-safety-related condensate transfer line. “The leak
is about 48 hours old, and we have a rigorous monitoring system,” the plant spokesman
said Wednesday. “We contacted the state nine minutes within getting a positive hit on
tritium within a water sample taken.” The plant spokesman said the plant will repair or
replace the line. “There is no half-stepping on this,” he said. “They (plant engineers)
will work 24 hours a day to get this done quickly and get it done right.”
Environmentalists who oppose the power plant’s operation were quick to respond. The
director of the New Jersey Sierra Club said, “This is the second leak since the plant was
relicensed. This shows the plant is unsafe and should be closed pending an independent
evaluation.” The NRC renewed Oyster Creek’s operating license on April 8.
Source:
http://www.app.com/article/20090826/NEWS/908260349/1070/NEWS02/Oyster+Cree
k+reduces+power+generation+to+fix+leak
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Critical Manufacturing Sector
8. August 27, Spokane Spokesman-Review – (Washington) Fire damages masonry
business. A fire ignited by a building’s leaky oil system and a welding torch caused
thousands of dollars in damage August 26 to a longtime Spokane Valley masonry
business. Spokane Valley firefighters were called to E. Trent Ave. at about 10 a.m., and
arrived to find smoke coming from the eaves. Crews were able to control the fire
quickly. Before firefighters arrived, a company employee had shut the valve to the
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building’s pressurized oil system, keeping the fire from spreading, officials said. No
injuries were reported. The damage was estimated around $10,000, officials said.
Source: http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2009/aug/27/fire-damages-masonrybusiness/
9. August 27, Associated Press – (National) Boeing: First flight for Dreamliner by
year-end. After repeated delays, Boeing Co. said August 27 its 787 aircraft will be
ready for its first test flight by year-end and its first delivery in the fourth quarter next
year. The maiden flight of the next-generation aircraft, built for fuel efficiency with
lightweight carbon composite parts, has been delayed five times already. The inaugural
flight was originally slated for the fall of 2007. The delays have cost Boeing credibility
and billions of dollars in anticipated expenses and penalties. When it reported its
second-quarter earnings last month, the aircraft manufacturer said it was still assessing
the financial impact of the latest delay. The eagerly anticipated long-range passenger jet
has been delayed mostly because of production problems. With the 787, Boeing has
taken a new approach to building airplanes, relying on overseas suppliers to build huge
sections of the plane that are later assembled at the company’s commercial aircraft
plant near Seattle. Ill-fitting parts and other problems have hampered production, but
Boeing and some analysts say the plane — Boeing’s first all-new jetliner since the 777,
which airlines began flying in 1995 — eventually will prove a financial and
technological success. The latest delay came in June, when the company said earlier
that it needed to reinforce an area in the side of the aircraft. Boeing expects it will
produce 10 airplanes per month in late 2013.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32579613/ns/business-aviation/
10. August 25, Wilmington News Journal – (Delaware) Claymont steelworker sent to
hospital after fire breaks out. A blaze from a one-alarm fire at a Claymont, Delaware
steel company sent an employee to the hospital on August 24 after he suffered smoke
inhalation. The man, a worker at Evraz Claymont Steel Company, formerly known as
CitiSteel, was taken to Crozer-Chester Medical Center in Upland, Pennsylvania. The
Claymont Fire Company chief said the fire started in a furnace refractory at 6:11 p.m.
Molten steel from a container dripped onto an electrical panel and caused the blaze, the
company chief said. The employee was working on a crane above the container and
was not able to escape without help. Firefighters had to use ropes to free him because
there was no visibility inside the room, he said. More than 20 employees were
evacuated. Fire companies from Talleyville, Brandywine Hundred, Holloway Terrace,
Five Points, and Wilmington helped extinguish the blaze. The fire was under control at
7:26 p.m. The unit had smoke damage but it was not extensive. The State Fire
Marshal’s Office is investigating.
Source: http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20090825/NEWS/908250351
11. August 24, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission – (National) CPSC alert:
Whitco Co. LP Stadium Light Poles can fall over, posing risk of serious injury and
death. The U. S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is alerting the public,
school officials, facilities managers, and municipal and public safety officials that
outdoor steel stadium light poles manufactured by Whitco Co. LP, of Fort Worth,
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Texas can fracture or crack and fall over, posing a risk of serious injury and death to
patrons and bystanders from being hit or crushed. To reduce the risk of injury, Whitco
Co. LP outdoor steel stadium light poles should be inspected immediately. CPSC has
confirmed nine incidents in which Whitco Co. LP poles installed from about 2000
through 2006 fell. In one incident, a pole fell through the roof of a school gymnasium
causing significant damage. In two incidents, a pole fell onto outdoor bleachers causing
significant damage. The majority of incidents occurred in Texas, though the Whitco
Co. LP poles have been installed in other states. To date, CPSC is not aware of any
injuries. CPSC has also confirmed that nearly 50 Whitco Co. LP poles that have not
fallen had developed fractures and/or cracks next to the weld that joins the pole to its
base plate. The fallen and cracked poles were located near or around school football
stadiums and gymnasiums.
Source: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09321.html
For another story, see item 19
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Defense Industrial Base Sector
12. August 26, Defense News – (Virginia) U.S. ammo plant amid $168M
renovations. The U.S. Army and ATK are making progress on a $168-million
modernization of the government-owned, contractor-operated Radford Army
Ammunition Plant in Radford, Virginia. The facility, in operation since the early 1940s,
produces 26 million pounds of nitrocellulose per year in more than 200 configurations.
It is North America’s sole provider of nitrocellulose, the key ingredient needed to make
propellant for ammunition fired from tanks, artillery, mortars, and small- and mediumcaliber guns. The facility is amid renovations funded by Congress over the past several
years, service officials said. In fact, there are plans to begin production in a new, $230million facility by 2016. “If you drive through the plant, you will see a WWII-, Koreaand Vietnam-era infrastructure that we are slowly trying to upgrade and modernize,”
said the commander of the Radford facility. “The future vision for the nitrocellulose
plant is to take this process that is spread out and very manual in nature and very
energy-inefficient and put it all under one roof similar to modern plants that are used
today all over Europe,” said the ATK chief engineer for energetics. “Anything that gets
shot downrange by our men and women in uniform somehow, some way, uses
nitrocellulose. Most often it is the most abundant ingredient in the propellant that
propels the projectile out of the gun barrel or out of the rocket tube headed
downrange.” Renovations thus far have included replacing a floor with acid-resistant
concrete. New instruments in the acid tanks will help keep the mixture homogeneous.
New “deflaking” equipment will allow the fibers in the nitrocellulose to move more
easily as they are mixed. Some manual operations have been automated, such as mixing
the chemicals needed to produce nitrocellulose.
Source: http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=4252360&c=AME&s=TOP
-6-
13. August 25, WVIT 30 West Hartford – (Connecticut) Chemical reaction closes Vernon
streets. Police are investigating what they said is a small chemical reaction at
Amberbelle Textiles on East Main Street in the Rockville section of Vernon,
Connecticut after a worker mixed some lye and another chemical, according to the state
Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Three people were taken to a local
hospital because of breathing problems, according to local dispatchers, and East Main
and Grove streets are closed. One of them was the employee who was mixing the
chemicals, according to DEP. The mixing caused a chemical fog. The company makes
high-tech fabrics for the Mars Pathfinder parachute, as well as leisure and recreational
products. Caution tape remains up at the scene.
Source: http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local-beat/Chemical-Spill-ClosesVernon-Streets-54769177.html
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Banking and Finance Sector
14. August 27, Bloomberg – (International) Swiss negotiator for UBS says IRS may seek
more data. Switzerland’s chief negotiator in the UBS AG tax case said the U.S.
Internal Revenue Service may request names of American clients from other banks
after the Swiss government agreed to hand over UBS account details. “It is possible
that the IRS will ask for more data on U.S. customers at other Swiss banks,” the
individual who led discussions for the Swiss foreign ministry said on August 26 in
written comments to Bloomberg News. The individual is the country’s most senior
diplomat and a mathematician by training. A disclosure similar in scope to the August
19 agreement is “questionable” because UBS is the only Swiss bank to admit unlawful
behavior in its efforts to win rich U.S. clients, he said. The IRS plans to target more
banks, law firms and entities that help Americans hide assets, the IRS commissioner
said when the settlement was announced. While Swiss banks manage about 27 percent
of the world’s offshore wealth, tax evasion through offshore accounts robs the U.S. of
$100 billion annually, according to U.S. officials. Under the deal, UBS agreed to
provide Swiss authorities with details of 4,450 accounts where “tax fraud or the like” is
suspected. While Switzerland has a year to decide which data to pass on to the IRS,
legal appeals may delay the transfer beyond that time period, according to a Swiss
justice ministry spokesman.
Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aH7Ud2ZQb7bg
15. August 27, WKYC 3 Cleveland – (Ohio) Cleveland: Largest mortgage scam in U.S.
history uncovered here. Just as Cleveland became the foreclosure capital of the
country, prosecutors say a savvy man with an eye for real estate found a way to scam
and profit. The defendant, of Beachwood, was charged August 25 for masterminding
the largest mortgage scam in U.S. history. For over thirty minutes, representatives from
the FBI, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office and Cuyahoga County prosecutors
explained in detail how the defendant capitalized on the crisis. Prosecutors allege he
would enlist “straw buyers” to purchase foreclosed homes. A second set of buyers
would then use false documents to acquire bank loans that allowed them to buy the
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home at twice the original purchase price. The defedant and his team would then pocket
the difference, leaving the lenders holding the bag. In all, 453 homes were purchased
with $44 million in fraudulent loans.
Source: http://www.wkyc.com/news/local/news_article.aspx?storyid=120479&catid=3
16. August 27, Reuters – (National) Wilbur Ross says FDIC bank rules better. A
billionaire investor said on August 27 that while he plans to invest further in banks, the
capital requirements for private equity investment in the sector set by regulators
yesterday are limiting. The investor, in an interview with Reuters Television, said the
Federal Deposit Insurance Corp decision on Wednesday to set a Tier 1 common equity
ratio at 10 percent rather than the 15 percent previously proposed did not go far
enough. “We will now be able to be a bidder, whereas at the 15 percent capital level it
would have been ridiculous ... We’ll be in the game, but not as aggressively as we had
been,” he said. He said an equity ratio of 7.5 percent would still be 50 percent more
than a typical bank must have to be well capitalized, and would reduce the capital
required to buy a bank while also improving returns. He said he is particularly
interested in the Sun Belt states, including Florida, Arizona, Texas and potentially
Nevada, where retail deposits are strong.
Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/innovationNews/idUSTRE57Q2SJ20090827
17. August 26, Virginia Gazette – (Virgina) C&F Bank warns of phishing scam. C&F
Bank is warning customers about a scam targeting cell phone customers of Verizon and
Sprint. According to a statement issued by the bank on August 2, the scam involves an
attempt to use e-mail or text messages to extract account or personal information from
people who may or may not be C&F customers.The message will ask the recipient to
respond to a “problem” and ask for account numbers, passwords, etc. No bank will ask
customers for sensitive account information. In this case, it appears a large amount of
Sprint and Verizon cellular numbers were acquired by criminals. The same message
was sent to all recipients, inserting a bank name, in some cases C&F, in the subject
line. Anyone receiving the suspicious e-mails or messages is asked to call the bank and
report the incident.
Source:
http://www.vagazette.com/articles/2009/08/26/news/doc4a95ab8fa95d3667611286.txt
[Return to top]
Transportation Sector
18. August 27, KPIX 5 San Francisco – (California) Chemical spill closes southbound
101 in Brisbane. The California Highway Patrol (CHP) closed access to all of
southbound U.S. Highway 101 in Brisbane late Tuesday night to accommodate
hazardous materials crews working to clear the area of an unknown substance, a CHP
officer said. Units first received reports of a toxic cloud coming from smoldering debris
on the right shoulder of southbound Highway 101 near Sierra Point Parkway around
9:30 p.m. A preliminary investigation determined that 1-liter bottles, possibly dumped
on the shoulder, were leaking a chemical causing a hazardous cloud. A Sig-alert closing
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the far right hand lane was issued at 10 p.m. so a hazardous materials team could
respond. At 11 p.m., a full closure of southbound lanes was issued as a Sig-alert update.
Southbound traffic was diverted to Interstate Highway 280 in San Francisco. There was
no determination yet of what the chemical causing the closure might be.
Source: http://cbs5.com/local/101.chemical.spill.2.1146223.html
19. August 26, Associated Press – (North Carolina) Oak Island bridge girders must be
replaced. The North Carolina Department of Transportation (DOT) said five girders
being used for the new Oak Island bridge must be replaced. The Star-News of
Wilmington reported Wednesday that DOT has rejected five girders because of
manufacturing defects. Four girders were already in place when an inspector saw a
hairline fracture in one girder as it was being hoisted from a barge to a bridge. The state
then examined the four 160-foot-long girders that were in place. The girders are laid
across concrete supports for the bridge’s roadway. A DOT spokeswoman said the
department sent a letter Monday to the contractor.
Source: http://www.wlos.com/template/inews_wire/wires.regional.nc/27bfd4bbwww.wlos.com.shtml
20. August 26, CNN – (National) 10 more airports tapped for baggage screening
upgrades. Some $700 million in economic stimulus money intended to upgrade
baggage screening systems at airports will go further than originally expected,
Department of Homeland Security officials said Wednesday. The new systems can
process up to 500 bags an hour, compared to the 150 to 160 bags per hour on the older
machines, the TSA said. The DHS said the money will now upgrade systems at 10
additional airports. Earlier this year the DHS announced funding for baggage screening
at airports in 15 cities. The money will be used to speed up construction of in-line
baggage screening systems, which take advantage of the airline’s existing conveyor
belt systems to check bags, eliminating the need for minivan-size bomb detection
systems now found in many airport lobbies. In addition to the $700 million intended for
checked baggage systems, $300 million is being allocated for checkpoint technology,
such as new X-ray machines, “whole body imaging” technology and bottled liquid
scanners.
Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TRAVEL/08/26/airport.stimulus/
21. August 26, San Jose Mercury News – (California) Bomb threat causes brief
evacuation of Caltrain’s San Jose Diridon station. San Jose police evacuated
Caltrain’s Diridon Station on Wednesday afternoon, after a caller reported finding a
written bomb threat. An initial police sweep discovered no suspicious packages. The
station was reopened just before 3:30 p.m. During the station closing, Caltrain stopped
one northbound train at the Diridon Station. Another northbound train was already
north of San Jose and continued with its usual schedule, a Caltrain spokesman said.
Police received the report of the bomb threat at 2:18 p.m.
Source: http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_13209264
22. August 26, Sacramento Bee – (National) Screening program causes confusion at
Sacramento airport. A new federal airport program designed to weed out potential
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terrorists is creating unwanted side effects: confusion among some travelers and travel
companies. The federal Department of Homeland Security’s “Secure Flight” program
requires passengers to submit middle names, birth dates and gender when they buy
tickets. Officials say the new identification requirements will help reduce the number of
fliers mistakenly suspected as terrorists because their names are similar to those on
federal watch lists. “The goal is to make it seamless and, with more than 99 percent of
passengers, allow them to get through the airport more easily,” a Transportation
Security Administration (TSA) spokeswoman said. Airlines were supposed to start
asking ticket buyers for full names several months ago. This month they were supposed
to add birth dates and gender to their forms. But some major airlines and booking
companies are not yet asking fliers for the information as TSA has given carriers a few
months to alter computer systems to collect the new information. Federal agents at
airport security checkpoints are, for now, allowing people through if names on
boarding passes don’t exactly match a flier’s driver’s license or other government
identification.
Source: http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/2139098.html
23. August 25, KIAH 39 Houston – (Texas) Bush Airport to receive funds for Ike
repairs. Hurricane Ike caused significant damage to Houston’s three main airports
when it roared across Houston on September 13, 2008. Overall, airport officials say
damage from the storm was in excess of $18 million dollars, most of it at the city’s
largest airport, Bush Intercontinental. Tuesday, the Federal Emergency Management
Agency awarded a $1.9 million grant to the City of Houston for repairs at Bush Airport.
The airport has already repaired much of the damage so flights could resume. Among
the areas damaged: the automatic people mover in Terminal B, water damage to the
Federal Inspection Services facility, and roof/water damage to Terminal C. Hobby
Airport also suffered damage from Ike. The Central Concourse and various hangers had
water and wind damage. Ellington Field had minor water damage to some buildings
and some roof damage to the T-hangar building.
Source: http://www.39online.com/news/local/kiah-airport-ike-damagestory,0,5877931.story
For another story, see item 3
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Postal and Shipping Sector
Nothing to report
[Return to top]
Agriculture and Food Sector
24. August 26, Sedalia Democrat – (Missouri) Contamination causes stink at Tyson
plant. An incident of contamination at the Sedalia Tyson plant has company officials
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looking for a culprit. In early August, a “foreign object was discovered in a small tub of
unprocessed raw material,” according to a statement from a plant spokesman. Fox 4 in
Kansas City reported that the foreign object was feces but the spokesman refused to
comment on what was found in the tub. He added that, “The raw material involved was
condemned and did not enter commerce; and a complete cleaning and sanitation of the
area was conducted.” The affected products were destroyed. The incident is still under
investigation. Plant managers are offering a reward for information that would lead to
the identity of the culprit.
Source: http://www.sedaliademocrat.com/news/span-18695-style-font.html
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Water Sector
25. August 27, Loveland Connection – (Colorado) Early tests show diesel in Poudre
River following asphalt spill. On the morning of August 18, a tanker truck carrying
asphalt-tar was driven off Colorado Highway 14 and into the Poudre River. About
5,000 gallons of the 300-degree tar spilled into the river seven miles west of U.S. 287,
immediately solidifying as it hit the water. What was left behind were several large
masses of hardened tar stretched out for yards along the shoreline. Preliminary water
quality tests conducted by the city of Fort Collins have shown traces of diesel fuel in
the Poudre River, but the tests were not very rigorous and further testing by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will show how much the tar spill is
contaminating the river, said the Fort Collins Water Resources and Treatment
Operations Manager. The city diverted its municipal water intake from the Poudre
River to Horsetooth Reservoir after the accident to prevent contamination of the city’s
drinking water, but the EPA is concerned cancer-causing hydrocarbons could be
flowing downstream. Officials said it it is unlikely many contaminants are leaching
from the hardened slick into the water, but the pending test results will confirm that.
The only water quality concern from the tar, he said, is the potential for contamination
from polyaromatic hydrocarbons, which are toxic to aquatic life and are known to
cause cancer in humans. The spill could take up to two weeks to clean up, said an
Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forests spokesman.
Source: http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20090827/LOVELAND01/90827006
26. August 27, Johnstown Tribune-Democrat – (Pennsylvania) Water plant ‘failure’. The
Northern Cambria’s water authority, which won a court fight to force customers with
wells to drink its public water instead, failed to promptly report recent E. coli
contamination. And a state investigation is revealing an operation so shoddy that an
alarm system has been disabled for months, or even years. It started with a boil-water
notice in July, but no warning of E. coli, and the case grew from there. State
Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) investigators uncovered nine
dangerous violations during a recent probe of the Northern Cambria Municipal
Authority’s water treatment plant, and inspectors are calling the dysfunctional
operation “a misappropriation of federal and state loan funds.” Enforcement action will
include fines and reminders of the legal obligations of water treatment operators under
- 11 -
the Clean Water Act, said a DEP spokeswoman. Northern Cambria officials were tightlipped, saying some problems are already being corrected. The list of violations of state
and federal regulations includes failure to report a contamination emergency as
required, failure to investigate, failure to respond, and failure to meet even the most
basic standards. The findings are ironic, because the water authority fought and won in
the courts, from the lowest to the highest state level, when a group called the
Constitutional Patriots Inc. argued that residents should not be forced to use public
water. The courts ruled that wells could be kept, but not used for domestic purposes,
regardless of water quality.
Source: http://www.tribune-democrat.com/local/local_story_239004858.html
27. August 26, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency – (Washington) Seattle and King
County agree to step up efforts to reduce sewer overflows to Puget Sound. The
City of Seattle and King County have agreed to increase their efforts to protect Puget
Sound from wastewater overflows during severe rainstorms, according to compliance
orders issued today by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). EPA issued
the orders to address violations of the two governments’ federal Clean Water Act
wastewater discharge permits. “We know that sewer overflows regularly deliver
harmful pollution to Puget Sound,” said EPA’s acting regional administrator in Seattle.
“What we are requiring of the city and county is clear: They must take steps to reduce
the volume and frequency of overflows. We must make sure our treatment plants are
doing their best to reduce the amount of untreated wastewater entering Puget Sound
waters.” Seattle and King County have combined sewer systems, which carry
wastewater and storm water to a sewage treatment plant before being discharged into a
nearby water body. During heavy rainstorms, these systems can exceed their capacity
and overflow. The extra water gets piped or pumped, with little or no treatment,
directly into Puget Sound-area waters. In 2007 Seattle’s system overflowed
approximately 249 times and King County’s system overflowed approximately 87
times. Each year, an estimated 1.94 billion gallons of untreated sewage and polluted
runoff are discharged from Seattle and King County combined sewer overflow outfalls
into Puget Sound or its tributary waters. This overflow can also carry high levels of
grease, petroleum and other chemicals from roadways, parking lots and other paved
surfaces. Both the city and county have already added some water storage capacity to
their systems, which has reduced the volume of overflows.
Source:
http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/0/EABE4B202B37FC9B8525761E0067E36
F
[Return to top]
Public Health and Healthcare Sector
28. August 27, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – (Pennsylvania) Bio-terror laboratory fails
inspection. Allegheny County, Pennsylvania’s $5.6 million bio-terror laboratory in
Lawrenceville has failed an inspection, delaying once again the opening of the facility
that was finished in 2007 but has been beset by an assortment of delays, poor
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construction and breakdowns. An independent inspector cited the lab for faulty alarms
signaling a power failure and poor seals around doors and other areas of the biosafety
level-3 lab that could allow contaminated, potentially deadly air to leak out. The
Allegheny County Health Department has moved workers into other parts of the
10,000-square-foot facility and hopes to have the 500-square-foot “BSL-3” lab fixed,
reinspected and operational in time for the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh September 2425. The BSL-3 laboratory is outfitted with special ventilation systems, equipment and
safety features that allow it to test for bioterror agents like anthrax, plague and
botulism. Passing the inspection allows it to become part of the federal Laboratory
Response Network.
Source: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09239/993579-53.stm
29. August 26, Associated Press – (Colorado) Wash. man accused of abortion clinic
threat. A Washington man has been indicted for allegedly threatening the family of an
employee at one of the few clinics in the country that performs late-term abortions. The
seventy-year-old Spokane, Washington resident faces a charge of making an interstate
threat and a charge of violating a 1994 law that protects access to reproductive health
services. An indictment unsealed Wednesday accuses the man of calling the Boulder
Abortion Clinic in Boulder, Colorado in June and threatening to kill family members of
an employee.
Source:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gUIkKx1qkNNOpG_Vz4hmDCwcfnwD9AAT7582
30. August 26, KPRC 2 Houston – (Texas) Ambulance catches fire at hospital. A hospital
activated its internal disaster plan after an ambulance caught fire. The fire broke out at
an underground entrance at St. Joseph’s Hospital on St. Joseph Parkway near La
Branch Street at about 9:30 a.m Wednesday. Employees in the accounting office above
the bay where the ambulance caught fire were relocated. The hospital’s emergency
room was not accepting patients. No injuries were reported. The cause of the fire is
under investigation.
Source: http://www.click2houston.com/news/20564600/detail.html
31. August 26, Firce Government IT – (National) CDC taps social media to spread word
on swine flu. The Centers for Disease Control (CSC) is planning to use every type of
electronic communication available, as well as social networking, to get information
out about the swine flu. Among the tools in its arsenal to help communicate about the
H1N1 virus are Twitter, YouTube videos and text messaging, as well as email blasts
and web pages. The agency has already gotten some good exposure on this subject,
according to the director of the CDC’s e-health marketing division. H1N1 videos on
CDC.gov have gotten 100,000 page views so far, but the same videos on YouTube
have received more than 2 million views, she said. The director said the strategy also
includes putting information on other websites, not just expecting people to come to
CDC.gov. The CDC also has taken other steps to get the word out. Schools, for
instance, can embed CDC widgets on their own websites. Also, the CDC has several
Twitter Feeds with more than 700,000 followers to release flu information. Finally, the
- 13 -
CDC is piloting texting health alerts.
Source: http://www.fiercegovernmentit.com/story/cdc-taps-social-media-spread-wordswine-flu/2009-08-26
32. August 25, Rome News-Tribune – (Georgia) Woman makes bomb threat. A Rome,
Georgia, woman was arrested Tuesday afternoon after allegedly phoning in a bomb
threat to the hospital where she was a patient. According to Floyd County Jail records,
she was arrested by Floyd County police around 5 p.m. at Floyd Medical Center on
Turner McCall Boulevard. Reports stated that she called 911 and stated that she “had
set up a bomb at FMC.” An emergency plan was put into action and preparations were
made to clear the building, but police and dispatchers were able to determine that the
woman was a patient at the hospital and had made threats to leave against medical
advice.
Source: http://romenews-tribune.com/pages/full_story/push?article-Report+Woman+makes+bomb+threat+ &id=3258446&instance=home_news_lead_story
[Return to top]
Government Facilities Sector
33. August 27, Associated Press – (International) U.S. Navy: Pirates fire on U.S.
helicopter. Somali pirates holding a hijacked ship off the coast of Somalia fired at a
U.S. Navy helicopter as it made a surveillance flight over the vessel, the first such
attack by pirates on an American military aircraft, the Navy said Thursday. The
helicopter, which is based on the USS Chancellorsville, was not hit and there were no
injuries, the Navy said. The copter was flying on Wednesday over a Taiwanese-flagged
fishing vessel, the Win Far, which pirates seized along with its 30-member crew in
April and were holding south of the Somali port town of Hobyo. The helicopter was
about 3,000 yards away from the ship when the pirates opened fire with “a large caliber
weapon,” the Navy said in a statement. The helicopter did not return fire, it said. Since
seizing the Win Far in the Gulf of Aden, the pirates have used the vessel as a base for
other commercial ships.
Source: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,543462,00.html?test=latestnews
34. August 27, Bangor Daily News – (Maine) Teen charged in Caribou bomb threat. A
student at Caribou High School was charged Wednesday with terrorizing and filing a
false public report in connection with a bomb threat that was made at the school
Tuesday afternoon. A Caribou police officer said he would not release any details about
the student, including the teen’s name, age or sex, because the suspect is a juvenile.
Efforts on Wednesday afternoon to find out the suspect’s name were unsuccessful. The
police spokesman said that terrorizing is a Class C felony, punishable by up to five
years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000. Filing a false public report is a Class D
misdemeanor. The bomb threat was received at the high school around 2 p.m. Tuesday.
School officials and police then evacuated the building and students and teachers were
sent home for the rest of the day. A search of the school did not turn up a bomb.
Source: http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/117896.html
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35. August 27, Daily Collegian – (Pennsylvania) Chlorine gas sends three fraternity men
to hospital. A lethal gas cloud formed after members of the Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity
of Pennsylvania State University mixed cleaning chemicals in a bathroom Wednesday
night, briefly sending three students to the hospital. Police responded to a call that
fraternity members were choking and vomiting after mixing ammonia and bleach in the
bathroom. The fraternity’s vice president said an official from the Penn State
Hazardous Materials (HazMat) Response Team told him the mixture was five times the
lethal dose of chlorine gas. The gas cloud was contained in the bathroom and did not
circulate throughout the fraternity house. Authorities told the residents they would be
able to return after the gas was cleared from the house, he said.
Source:
http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2009/08/27/chlorine_gas_sends_three_frate.aspx
36. August 27, WBTW 13 Grand Strand – (South Carolina) Bomb threat at Marlboro
County High, 2 hour delay for students. Bennettsville Police and Marlboro County
Deputies have bomb sniffing dogs at the Marlboro County High School Thursday
morning after the school received a bomb threat. The Bennettsville police chief said
police received a call before school started this morinng of a bomb inside the school.
The school was immediately evacuated, the police chief said. The school is operating
on a 2 hour delay as authorities look for any possible explosive devices. All entrances
and exits are closed off, as well as roads surrounding school.
Source:
http://www2.scnow.com/scp/news/local/pee_dee/article/bomb_threat_at_marlboro_cou
nty_high_2_hour_delay_for_students/71938/
37. August 26, Ventura County Star – (California) Electrical fire causes evacuation at
government building. More than 100 people were evacuated from a Ventura County
government building in Oxnard Wednesday morning after a small electrical fire sent
smoke billowing into the structure, authorities said. The fire was reported about 11 a.m.
in the County of Ventura building at 1400 Vanguard Drive, said a Oxnard fire
department spokeswoman. Between 100 and 200 employees and visitors were
evacuated from the building, the spokeswoman said. Several Ventura County Human
Services Agency programs are based in the building. No injuries were reported. When
Oxnard firefighters arrived, they found heavy smoke on the second floor of the
building, the spokeswoman said. They located the source of the fire in an electrical
control panel and conduit in an electrical equipment room and cleared smoke from the
building, the spokeswoman said. It was unclear if the fire was still burning when
firefighters arrived.
Source: http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2009/aug/26/electrical-fire-causesevacuation-at-government/
38. August 26, U.S. Department of Justice – (National) Sixth person pleads guilty to
illegally accessing confidential passport files. A sixth individual pleaded guilty today
to illegally accessing numerous confidential passport application files. The female
suspect, 28, of District Heights, Maryland, pleaded guilty before a U.S. Magistrate in
the District of Columbia to a one-count criminal information charging her with
- 15 -
unauthorized computer access. The suspect is scheduled to be sentenced on December
15, 2009. According to court documents, the suspect worked fulltime for the State
Department as a citizens services specialist in the Office of Children’s Issues from June
2003 through July 2006. In pleading guilty, the suspect admitted that she had access to
official State Department computer databases in the regular course of her employment,
including the Passport Information Electronic Records System (PIERS), which contains
all imaged passport applications dating back to 1994. In pleading guilty, the suspect
admitted that between March 4, 2004, and June 1, 2006, she logged onto the PIERS
database and viewed the passport applications of more than 65 celebrities and their
families, actors, professional athletes, musicians, models and other individuals
identified in the press. The suspect admitted that she had no official government reason
to access and view these passport applications, but that her sole purpose in accessing
and viewing these passport applications was idle curiosity.
Source: http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/August/09-crm-869.html
For another story, see item 11
[Return to top]
Emergency Services Sector
39. August 27, Occupational Health and Safety – (National) FEMA issues report on
personal preparedness in America. The Federal Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA) has released a new report titled Personal Preparedness in America: Findings
from the 2009 Citizen Corps National Survey that offers data on the public’s thoughts,
perceptions, and behaviors related to preparedness and community safety for multiple
types of hazards. FEMA says the report’s findings are particularly relevant as the
nation prepares for a possible pandemic flu outbreak, hurricane season, and other
hazards. Results from the national survey have important implications for the
development of more effective communication and outreach strategies to achieve
greater levels of preparedness and participation, the agency says. For example, the
results indicate that 30 percent of Americans have not prepared because they think that
emergency responders will help them and that more than 60 percent expect to rely on
emergency responders in the first 72 hours following a disaster. While government will
execute its functions, communications to the public should convey a more realistic
understanding of emergency response capacity and emphasize the importance of selfreliance. FEMA concludes that messaging should thus speak to a shared responsibility
and stress that everyone has a role to play in preparedness and response.
Source: http://ohsonline.com/Articles/2009/08/27/FEMA-on-PersonalPreparedness.aspx
40. August 27, SeaCoast Online – (Maine) Radio communication upgrade OK’d in
Kittery. The Kittery, Maine, town council unanimously signed off on an upgrade for
public safety radio communications. The council vote provides for 2-Way
Communications Service of New Hampshire to perform work that is half-repair, halfupgrade, which Kittery’s fire chief said would provide improved signal strength and
- 16 -
coverage town-wide. He said the upgrades became especially critical after police radio
communications briefly failed, forcing them to draw on the fire department’s antenna.
While that is working at the moment, he noted that the fire department is now seeing
reduced signal strength, and an upgrade would significantly improve the range of the
town’s public safety communications system and cut down on interference from
neighboring towns.
Source: http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20090825-NEWS-908250382
41. August 26, Naples Daily News – (Florida) Florida EMS medical director pulls
medics. Twenty-five North Naples firefighters are no longer allowed to work as
paramedics because they have not met training requirements set by Collier County’s
medical director. North Naples’ fire chief said the move puts good medics out of
commission and endangers residents. “What he’s done is minimized the fire
department’s ability to save lives,” he said. “We’re going to have to stand there and
wait to give life-saving medication until an ambulance arrives at the scene. That puts
our guys in a pretty hard spot.” The medical director said he is actually protecting those
residents. He said the 25 firefighters who have not met advance life support
requirements can still provide basic life support — using defibrillators, administering
oxygen, taking blood pressure and setting up intravenous lines.
Source: http://emsresponder.com/article/article.jsp?id=10274&siteSection=1
42. August 24, Associated Press – (Kentucky) Smoking ban imposed after Ky. prison
riot. A top state public safety official said he found some buildings nearly gutted, with
windows shattered, computer equipment and light fixtures slammed against walls and
toilets destroyed, when he inspected a central Kentucky prison Monday in the aftermath
of a riot. He said the damage at the Northpoint Training Center is so severe, he expects
several buildings will have to be torn down and rebuilt. Officials banned smoking — at
least temporarily — after the Friday riot and were forced to relocate more than half of
the facility’s 1,200 prisoners. About 700 prisoners were moved out of the mediumsecurity facility about 30 miles south of Lexington. About 200 were sent to the Marion
Adjustment Center in St. Mary. About 500 remained at Northpoint inside a 196-bed
dorm that was not severely damaged, the prison chapel, gymnasium and a unit of 60
single cells.
Source: http://www.newsday.com/smoking-ban-imposed-after-ky-prison-riot1.1389916
For another story, see item 30
[Return to top]
Information Technology Sector
43. August 26, Nextgov – (National) DHS to test Obama’s national cyber response plan
with third large-scale exercise. The Homeland Security Department’s third largescale cybersecurity drill in September 2010 will test the national cyber response plan
currently being developed by the U.S. Presidential Administration, said industry and
- 17 -
government participants in the simulation exercise during a conference on August 25.
Cyber Storm III will build upon the lessons learned in the two previous exercises that
took place in February 2006 and March 2008, and provide the first opportunity to
assess the White House strategy for responding to a cyberattack with nationwide
impact. “The national cyber response plan will be an offshoot of a lot of the findings
that came out of Cyber Storm I and II that will formalize the roles and responsibilities,”
said the director of the cyber exercises program in DHS’ national cybersecurity
division. He participated on an afternoon panel at the GFirst conference in Atlanta
hosted by the department’s U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team. “It’s not a
direct cause-and-effect relationship, but a lot of questions bubbled up [from the
exercises],” followed by the announcement along with the U.S. President’s 60-day
cyber review that a response plan should be developed. Details of the national cyber
response plan are still being finalized through weekly meetings with stakeholders from
federal government and industry. An initial report is scheduled to be released in
November, less than a year before Cyber Storm III kicks off, said the vice president of
government affairs and critical infrastructure protection at Juniper Networks, who is
among the industry representatives involved in both the plan’s development and the
Cyber Storm exercises.
Source: http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090826_9168.php?oref=topnews
44. August 26, New York Times – (International) Defying experts, rogue computer code
still lurks. The rogue software program known as Conficker that glided onto the
Internet last November has confounded the efforts of top security experts to eradicate
the program and trace its origins and purpose, exposing serious weaknesses in the
world’s digital infrastructure. Conficker uses flaws in Windows software to co-opt
machines and link them into a virtual computer that can be commanded remotely by its
authors. With more than five million of these zombies now under its control —
government, business and home computers in more than 200 countries — this shadowy
computer has power that dwarfs that of the world’s largest data centers. Computer
security experts decoded the program and developed antivirus software that erased it
from millions of the computers. Researchers speculate that the computer could be
employed to generate vast amounts of spam; it could steal information like passwords
and logins by capturing keystrokes on infected computers; it could deliver fake
antivirus warnings to trick naive users into believing their computers are infected and
persuading them to pay by credit card to have the infection removed. There is also a
different possibility that concerns the researchers: That the program was not designed
by a criminal gang, but instead by an intelligence agency or the military of some
country to monitor or disable an enemy’s computers. The experts have only tiny clues
about the location of the program’s authors. The first version included software that
stopped the program if it infected a machine with a Ukrainian language keyboard.
There may have been two initial infections — in Buenos Aires and in Kiev. The
program is protected by internal defense mechanisms that make it hard to erase, and
even kills or hides from programs designed to look for botnets. A member of the
security team said that the FBI had suspects, but was moving slowly because it needed
to build a relationship with “noncorrupt” law enforcement agencies in the countries
- 18 -
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/27/technology/27compute.html
45. August 26, Fileforum – (International) Microsoft Windows Server Update Service
(WSUS). WSUS is the new name for the next version of Windows Server Update
Service (WSUS). WSUS (previously SUS 2.0) is a feature of Windows Server. It is a
patch and update tool that offers an effective and quick way to help a user get secure
and stay secure. It represents the first step toward delivering core software distribution
and update management infrastructure in Windows. It has both a server and client
component. WUS will support updating Windows operating systems as well as all
Microsoft corporate software over time. When initially released, it will support
updating Windows XP Professional, Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003, Microsoft
Office XP, Office 2003, SQL Server 2000, MSDE 2000, and Exchange Server 2003.
Source: http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/Microsoft-Windows-Server-UpdateService-WSUS/1106866721/1
46. August 26, SCMagazine – (International) Twitter XSS vulnerability not yet fixed. A
major cross-site-scripting vulnerability in Twitter that could result in a user’s account
being taken over has yet to be fixed despite Twitter’s claim that it has, according to the
software developer who discovered the bug. The developer first described the
vulnerability, which allows malicious JavaScript code to be inserted into tweets, on
August 25 on the blog of a search marketing executive. Twitter’s application
programming interface (API), used by developers to create applications to post tweets,
such as TweetDeck, TwitterFox or HootSuite, does not properly filter the URL of these
programs. As a result, users could actually insert malicious JavaScript code along with
a URL. “With a few minutes work, someone with a bit of technical expertise could
make a Twitter ‘application’ and start sending tweets with it,” the developer explained
in a blog post on August 26. “It can be arranged so that if another Twitter user so much
as sees one of these tweets, and they are logged in to Twitter, their account could be
taken over.” Because of the bug, attackers could capture account credentials, redirect a
user to a site of their choosing, alter a user’s tweets or “followers,” or send messages
from a compromised account. “The main impact is that it could be abused by anyone
really, to steal your [login] details or impersonate your Twitter,” the developer, who
works for search engine optimization company, Bronco Internet, told
SCMagazineUS.com.
Source: http://www.scmagazineus.com/twitter-xss-vulnerability-not-yetfixed/article/147352/
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/.
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[Return to top]
Communications Sector
Nothing to report
[Return to top]
Commercial Facilities Sector
47. August 27, United Press International – (California) Rock slide prompts hotel
evacuation. A rock slide splayed debris in a parking lot, forcing a hotel in Yosemite
National Park to evacuate its guests, a hotel official said. The falling rocks, some
reported as large as a microwave oven, were near the Royal Arches on the north side of
Yosemite Valley. As many as 80 guests at the historic Ahwanee Hotel when the slide
occurred were relocated to other lodging, a Yosemite spokesman said. No one was
injured but three vehicles were damaged. Officials said the hotel and the surrounding
area would be closed until at least Friday as a precaution, KSEE-TV of Fresno
reported. Dust clouds kicked up by the rockfall obscured views of the 4,737-foot
granite dome known as Half Dome temporarily, officials said.
Source: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/08/27/Rock-slide-prompts-hotelevacuation/UPI-43981251374124/
48. August 26, West Virginia Media – (West Virginia) Foul odor evacuates Fairmont
building. The Fairmont Fire Department evacuated the Elks 294 building in downtown
Fairmont due to a noxious chemical smell in the building. The incident happened
around 11:00 Wednesday morning. Occupants in the Adams Street building
complained of irritated eyes and respiratory systems after smelling the odor. The two
people inside the building at the time of the incident were taken to Fairmont General
Hospital as a precaution. The Office of Emergency Services, Fairmont Fire and Police
Departments, the Department of Environmental Protection and the WV Regional
Response Team worked for several hours Wednesday afternoon to determine the source
of the odor. Officials say the cause was a chemical booby trap, designed to keep people
from breaking into a safe. Officials discovered 4 glass tubes of a chemical irritant
strapped to the inside of a safe, if anyone tried to drill or break into the safe the
chemical would chase them away. One of the tubes broke due to old age and
deterioration. Officials say no one was seriously injured.
Source: http://www.wboy.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=65404
For more stories, see items 3 and 11
[Return to top]
National Monuments and Icons Sector
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49. August 27, Cape Cod Times – (Massachusetts) Bacteria close national park beach to
swimmers. Cape Cod National Seashore rangers closed the lifeguard-patrolled area of
Race Point Beach to swimming on Wednesday because of high bacteria levels.
Seashore officials don’t know the cause of the high bacteria levels, according to the
chief ranger. Water quality is sampled weekly at the beach during the summer, in
accordance with federal and state guidelines. That sampling will occur daily until the
bacteria count returns to normal and the beach is reopened for swimming, he said. High
bacteria counts at Seashore beaches are relatively rare, according to the Seashore
superintendent.
Source:
http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090827/NEWS/9082703
09/-1/NEWSMAP
50. August 27, Associated Press – (Pennsylvania) Man gets 5-10 years for burning Pa.
covered bridge. A northwestern Pennsylvania man has been sentenced to five to 10
years in prison for setting fire to a historic covered bridge and unrelated charges of
shooting at an occupied car. State police say the 24-year-old Conneautville man was
drunk and set fire to the bridge because he wanted to do something people would
remember him for. The man pleaded guilty in July to causing $1 million damage to the
Gudgeonville bridge in Girard Township on November 8, 2008. The bridge was built in
1868 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The man’s co-defendant
in the arson is scheduled for trial in September.
Source:
http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/state/pennsylvania/20090827_ap_mangets
510yearsforburningpacoveredbridge.html
[Return to top]
Dams Sector
51. August 26, KPLU 88.5 Tacoma – (Washington) Dam’s condition forces flooding
precautions. Volunteers may soon be knocking on the doors of 20,000 residents in
south King County, Washington to warn them about flooding this winter on the Green
River. The Howard Hanson Dam will not be at full capacity. The cost to protect public
facilities alone, including a county jail and elections office, could run into the tens of
millions of dollars. Already brochures have gone through the mail to everyone living in
the potential flood zone. It is an area that has not flooded in half a century, since the
Howard Hanson Dam was built upstream on the Green River in 1962. After a briefing
about the potential for waters to go as much as 10 feet over the levees this winter,
members of the King County Council worried people may not realize the risk. They
urged the assistant county executive to arrange for in-person doorbelling for every
residence in the flood zone. Major businesses are also making contingency plans. The
valley between Tukwila and Auburn houses major warehouses for the region’s food
supply. FedEx has a distribution center there. Boeing is there. And, in a worst case
scenario, the county jail could face an evacuation. The county elections office is on
low-ground in Renton. Moving or protecting such facilities may require as much as $35
- 21 -
million. The County Council is preparing to allow the Executive to declare an official
flood emergency before any flooding happens, to speed up the permitting process. The
Army Corps of Engineers is currently building a temporary buttress at the dam, which
started leaking last January. A permanent fix could take several years to design, pay for
and build.
Source:
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kplu/news.newsmain/article/1/0/1547437/KPLU.Lo
cal.News/Dam’s.Condition.Forces.Flooding.Precautions
[Return to top]
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
Contact Information
Content and Suggestions:
Send mail to NICCReports@dhs.gov or contact the DHS Daily
Report Team at (202) 312-3421
Subscribe to the Distribution List:
Visit the DHS Daily Open Source Infrastructure Report and follow
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Contact DHS
To report physical infrastructure incidents or to request information, please contact the National Infrastructure
Coordinating Center at nicc@dhs.gov or (202) 282-9201.
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
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restrictions. DHS provides no warranty of ownership of the copyright, or accuracy with respect to the original source
material.
- 22 -