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Homeland Security Daily Open Source Infrastructure Report for 18 August 2009

Current Nationwide Threat Level

ELEVATED

Significant Risk of Terrorist Attacks

For information, click here: http://www.dhs.gov

Top Stories

According to the Wall Street Journal, a series of minor earthquakes in North Texas may have been caused by a wastewater disposal well connected to natural-gas production in the area, Chesapeake Energy Corp. told State regulators on August 13. (See item 4)

Bloomberg reports that a Miami man and two computer hackers living “in or near Russia” were charged on August 17 in New Jersey with stealing 130 million credit and debit card numbers from Heartland Payment Systems Inc., 7-Eleven Inc., Delhaize Group’s Hannaford Brothers Co., and two identified national retailers. (See item 16)

Fast Jump Menu

PRODUCTION INDUSTRIES SERVICE INDUSTRIES

• Energy • Banking and Finance

• Chemical • Transportation

• Nuclear Reactors, Materials and Waste • Postal and Shipping

• Critical Manufacturing • Information and Technology

• Defense Industrial Base • Communications

• Dams Sector • Commercial Facilities

SUSTENANCE AND HEALTH FEDERAL AND STATE

• Agriculture and Food • Government Facilities

• Water Sector • Emergency Services

• Public Health and Healthcare • 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 17, KYW 3 Philadelphia – (Delaware) Freighter carrying 100,000 barrels of oil ran aground near Delaware Memorial Bridge. A massive freighter was stranded for hours after running aground near the Delaware Memorial Bridge. The 750 foot long “Jill Jacob” became stuck while in the Delaware River at about 10 p.m. on August 16. Despite reports it had been freed, the vessel appeared to remain stranded the scene at

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about 10:30 a.m. on August 17. The ship was carrying approximately 100,000 barrels of oil. No leaks or injuries have been reported. The U.S. Coast Guard is investigating. Source: http://cbs3.com/topstories/tanker.oil.delaware.2.1131516.html

2. August 15, Virginian-Pilot and Associated Press – (Virginia) Half of diesel fuel recovered after leak in Hampton marina. The U.S. Coast Guard says about half of the diesel fuel that spilled into a Hampton harbor during floods on August 13 has been recovered. About 100 gallons trickled beyond booms and is expected to dissipate into the harbor during the weekend. The heavy rains on August 12 and 13 over-filled an underground diesel fuel pipe at the Salt Ponds Marina and sent about 200 gallons into the water. Hazardous materials teams from Hampton and Newport News worked with the Coast Guard and the Virginia Department of Emergency Management to contain the leak from 4:30 to 9 p.m. Staff from the marina had suspected the underground pipe had a leak and had called a company out to check. They opened the concrete to access the tank, but the heavy rains seeped in and over-filled the pipe, which supplies two 10,000 gallon tanks, sending the fuel into the water on August 13. At 9 p.m. the two cities’ hazardous materials teams cleared the marina, leaving the Coast Guard and Virginia Department of Emergency Management to work with a private contractor that would do the clean-up. Neither the marina nor nearby beaches were closed, and no fishing advisories were issued. A private clean-up crew will continue to monitor the site. Source: http://hamptonroads.com/2009/08/half-diesel-fuel-recovered-after-leak-hampton-marina

3. August 14, Associated Press – (International) Mexico nabs thieves who siphoned millions of dollars of gas. Mexican police busted gas thieves twice this week, said a spokesman at Mexico’s state oil monopoly Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex. In a colonial village a few hours west of the capital, police caught nine people on August 13 who had siphoned more than 17,000 gallons of fuel from a pipeline into waiting tanker trucks. On August 12, just one hour south of the California border near the popular beaches of Rosarito, police plugged three different taps, including one that was operating inside a small, wooden shack. But those busts will do little to plug a stream of stolen petroleum products, millions of dollars worth of which is smuggled across the border and sold to U.S. refineries, according to the U.S. Justice Department. While Mexican authorities try to patch the leaks, U.S. officials are tracking proceeds from various Texas bank accounts and taking a close look at several Texas companies to quell the theft at their end. To date, the companies identified are small fuel distributors, not the major U.S. refiners. Mexico’s federal police commissioner has said the Zetas, a fierce drug gang aligned with the Gulf cartel, used false import documents to smuggle at least $46 million worth of oil in tankers to unidentified U.S. refineries. Mexico froze 149 bank accounts this year in connection with that crime. A senior vice president at Turner Mason & Co., a Dallas-based petroleum consultancy, said it’s unlikely any major U.S. refiner knowingly bought stolen products. Source: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,539601,00.html?test=latestnews

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4. August 13, Wall Street Journal – (Texas) Wastewater disposal well may have caused Texas earthquakes. A series of minor earthquakes in North Texas may have been caused by a wastewater disposal well connected to natural-gas production in the area, Chesapeake Energy Corp. told state regulators Thursday. Chesapeake said it had shut down two disposal wells “as a precautionary measure.” The Dallas-Fort Worth area has experienced more than a dozen small quakes since last October, though there have been no reports of significant damage or injury. The area lies at the heart of the Barnett Shale, a huge natural-gas field where thousands of wells have been drilled in recent years. Many locals suspect a connection, especially because gas production in the area involves injecting water into the ground at high pressure to crack open the gas-bearing rock, a process known as “hydraulic fracturing.” Researchers from Southern Methodist University in Dallas have deployed seismic sensors in the area to study the phenomenon. On Thursday, the researchers said preliminary results suggest the quakes do not appear to be connected to drilling or fracturing itself. But they said their research does show a “possible correlation” between the quakes and a salt water disposal well operated by Chesapeake on the southern end of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125020088034530363.html

For more stories, see items 48 and 51

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Chemical Industry Sector

5. August 16, KVOA 4 Tucson – (Arizona) I-10, frontage road reopen after hazmat situation. Part of westbound I-10 and the frontage road shut down between Orange Grove and Ina reopened early August 16 after being closed for several hours. About 9:30 p.m. on August 15, firefighters say an 18-wheeler headed to California blew a tire along the freeway. They say a highly flammable liquid was leaking from the truck. The hazmat team later identified the substance as isopropanol. The truck carried 12-thousand gallons of the chemical. Firefighters say a pressure relief device on a tank holding the liquid failed, due to warm temperatures inside the truck. A private clean-up company removed that tank and emptied the others. Firefighters say seven people — including the truck driver — were evaluated at the scene for possible exposure. Source: http://www.kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=10937301

6. August 14, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency – (Kansas; Nebraska) Pipeline firms to pay $3.65 million to settle claims related to 2004 ammonia spills in Nebraska and Kansas. A pipeline company and two of its former operating firms will jointly pay a civil penalty of $3.65 million to resolve violations of the Clean Water Act resulting from anhydrous ammonia spills in Nebraska and Kansas, the Justice Department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced on August 14. The spills which occurred in 2004 resulted in significant fish kills in surrounding waterways. Magellan Ammonia Pipeline, of Tulsa, Oklahoma; Enterprise Products Operating, of Houston, Texas; and Mid-America Pipeline Company, also known as MAPCO, also of Houston,

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agreed to the settlement in the form of a consent decree filed today in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kansas. In a complaint filed jointly with the consent decree, the United States alleges that Magellan, which owned the pipeline, along with operating firms Enterprise and MAPCO, were responsible for two anhydrous ammonia spills in 2004. The first spill occurred on Sept. 27, 2004, near Blair, Nebraska, killing an estimated 1,000 fish along North Creek and a golf course pond; and the second spill occurred on Oct. 27, 2004, near Kingman, Kan., killing more than 20,000 fish along a 12.5-mile section of Smoots Creek. The United States further alleges that as operators of the pipeline system, Enterprise and MAPCO violated the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Liability and Compensation Act (CERCLA) by failing to immediately notify the National Response Center about the spills. Under the terms of the settlement, Magellan has agreed to spend an additional $550,000 on improvements to prevent or minimize releases along selected segments of its pipeline system, and will establish a program to minimize third-party damage to the system. Magellan presently operates the ammonia pipeline, having terminated its operating agreement with Enterprise and MAPCO in 2007. Source: http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/0/2119DA1A49E5AB41852576120078A4DC

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Nuclear Reactors, Materials and Waste Sector

7. August 17, Reuters – (Illinois) Exelon Ill. LaSalle 2 reactor shut. Exelon Corp’s 1,120-megawatt Unit 2 at the LaSalle nuclear power station in Illinois shut from full power by early Monday, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in a report. Electricity traders said the unit tripped Saturday due to a turbine trip. Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSN1733640720090817

8. August 14, Reuters – (California) PG&E says will replace bushings at Diablo Canyon 2. Pacific Gas & Electric Co workers will replace bushings on a key transformer at its Diablo Canyon Unit 2 in California, a PG&E spokeswoman said on Friday. She would not say how long the 1,150-megawatt Unit 2 would be offline. Unit 2 shut down Thursday. A replacement bushing for the transformer is on site, and workers since Thursday have been preparing to replace the bushing in case tests showed that was needed. The shutdown has not greatly affected wholesale power prices because this summer has been relatively mild, and ample generation reserves are on hand, traders said. Also limiting demand is this year’s recession. Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSN1432049920090814

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Critical Manufacturing Sector

9. August 16, Los Angeles Times – (Alaska) Alaska’s Kensington gold mine gets a green light. The controversial Kensington gold mine in southeast Alaska has won an important go-ahead from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which approved an amended permit that will allow the mine to dump millions of tons of waste into a nearby lake. The project has been the subject of a national environmental fight over whether navigable lakes and rivers can be used as repositories for toxic mine tailings. The corps last week announced it was extending Coeur Alaska’s permit until 2014 and reiterated that the company could construct a tailings storage facility in Lower Slate Lake, below the mine. The U.S. Supreme Court this year upheld the project, but the federal Environmental Protection Agency in July urged the Corps of Engineers to take a second look at the lake disposal plan. The EPA and several conservation organizations have advocated that mine operators think about turning the waste material into a paste and depositing it on land on the other side of the mine. Opponents of the lake disposal option at the mine about 45 miles north of Juneau said they had not seen the corps’ full decision, and it was not clear whether the agency had ruled out alternative disposal options. And, they said, the EPA still could step in and veto the permit — although that would be a rare exercise of its authority. Most conservation groups don’t oppose the mine itself, which would be an important new economic engine for southeast Alaska. Source: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-alaska-mine16-2009aug16,0,7610363.story

10. August 16, Reuters – (International) Gunmen attack bus near Freeport’s Indonesian mine. Gunmen fired at a bus on a road leading to Freeport McMoran Copper & Gold Inc’s mine in Indonesia’s Papua province, wounding five people, police said on August 16. The Grasberg mine, about 3,400 km (2,100 miles) east of Indonesia’s capital of Jakarta, has the world’s largest recoverable reserves of copper and the largest gold reserves. It is the second time since August 12 that a Freeport bus has been fired upon and follows a series of shootings last month, in which an Australian technical expert and a Freeport security guard were killed and several others injured. Two men were hit by shrapnel and three were injured by glass that shattered when the bus carrying Freeport employees was shot at on August 16, said a national police spokesman. The vehicle was part of a 16-bus convoy guarded by 20 security officials, he said. Last month, police arrested eight suspects, two of whom were working for Freeport, over a spate of shootings near the Grasberg mine. The mine has been a source of friction over its environmental impact, the share of revenues going to Papua and payments to Indonesian security forces who help guard the site. Source: http://in.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idINLG22278120090816

August 14, Reliable Plant – (Iowa) Blackhawk Foundry agrees to clean up Iowa facility. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 7 and Blackhawk Foundry and Machine, of Davenport, Iowa, have reached an agreement that requires the

11.

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company to address the presence of lead contaminated soils at its facility at 323 South Clark Street in Davenport. The specific requirements are outlined in an Administrative Order filed today in Kansas City, Kansas. The agreement requires Blackhawk to excavate and properly dispose of lead contaminated soil. Blackhawk will then construct a gravel cap over the excavated area. The cap will ensure that remaining soil does not run off during rainfall and flood events and that any contaminated dust does not fly away during dry and windy conditions. EPA also requires Blackhawk to prevent future land uses of the facility that would cause unacceptable exposure to contaminated soil. There should be no residential use of the property without cleanup to EPA-approved residential standards (400 parts per million). In any subsequently issued property deeds, Blackhawk must also identify the location of surface impoundments and prevent installation of water supply wells. EPA will monitor the effectiveness and protectiveness of the excavation and the institutional controls. Source: http://www.reliableplant.com/article.aspx?articleid=19449&pagetitle=Blackhawk+Foundry+agrees+to+clean+up+Iowa+facility

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Defense Industrial Base Sector

12. August 14, Global Security Newswire – (California) Airborne laser passes another test. A U.S. aircraft prototype for the third time in less than three months successfully engaged a mock enemy missile, the Missile Defense Agency announced August 13. The Airborne Laser, a converted 747-400F jumbo jet designed to use advanced technology to track and destroy ballistic missiles in the boost phase of flight, on August 10 acquired the target near the California coast and initiated the sequence to destroy the weapon with three on-board lasers. Although the Airborne Laser underwent similar trials in June, this was the first time data was collected using sensors on the practice target. The aircraft is scheduled to continue engagement testing over the next few months, leading to an exercise that calls for destruction of a target simulating the boost-phase flight of a ballistic missile. Source: http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20090814_9355.php

13. August 14, Nextgov – (National) Firm awaits decision on whether Defense will disclose contractor ratings. The Presidential Administration upheld the previous Administration’s practice of denying taxpayers access to a Defense Department database that tracks contractor performance. An appeal to a recent Freedom of Information Act request is pending, but industry groups say they are confident Defense will respect their position to continue to bar public access to the ratings. Since 2007, the FOIA Group Inc., which consults with major companies, law firms and nonprofits, has unsuccessfully challenged Defense to disclose the aggregate scores each contractor receives from federal agency from program managers, contracting officer’s representatives, engineers and other agency officials who work with the companies. The ratings are based on, among other things, the quality of the product or service, timeliness, cost control and business relations. The ratings are stored in a database

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called the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System. The database serves as a kind of Consumer Reports for agency contracting officials who are evaluating competitive bids for government work. Contracting officers and other federal managers use the system to help make contract award decisions, and to improve government-contractor relations. Only federal officials can enter the password-protected database. Contractors are able to see their data to ensure accuracy and provide feedback to the government. “Just like a report card for your kid in school, as a taxpayer, you should be able to know how poorly or how well these contractors,” which often receive contract awards that exceed several hundred million dollars, are working, said the founder of FOIA Group and a former staffer for the Army Command Counsel who served on Defense’s FOIA task force. “If a contractor is doing poorly the public has a right to know, the contracting community has the right to know.” Source: http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090814_2834.php?oref=topstory

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Banking and Finance Sector

14. August 17, Bloomberg – (National) BB and T says Colonial loan losses may reach $5 billion. BB&T Corp., the North Carolina lender that took over Colonial BancGroup Inc. recently, expects $5 billion in credit losses from the transaction with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. assuming most of the charges, the company said in an investor presentation today. A loss-sharing agreement covering about $15 billion of assets calls for the FDIC to reimburse BB&T for 80 percent of losses of up to $5 billion, and for 95 percent over that amount, BB&T said on August 17. The bank plans to sell $750 million of stock to bolster capital. BB&T will have “no negative earnings impact until losses exceed $5 billion,” the Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based bank said in the report posted on its Web site. “If the entire covered portfolio were charged off, BB&T’s maximum exposure would be less than $500 million (pretax),” the lender said. Colonial, the Alabama lender facing a criminal probe, had its banking operations closed by regulators and taken over by BB&T August 14 in the largest U.S. failure since Washington Mutual Inc. collapsed in September. Branches and deposits of Colonial Bank were turned over to BB&T. Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a.Wzr900p6Ak

15. August 17, Pacific Coast Business Times – (California) FDIC deadline looms for Affinity Bank. August 20 could be a big day for Ventura-based commercial real estate lender Affinity Bank. That is the day the bank will have to show state and federal regulators that it has either raised a lot of money, shed a lot of troubled loans or come up with some other way to boost its ratio of freed-up money to total loans. It is the first deadline set out in a cease and desist order the bank received in April from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the California Department of Financial Institutions demanding that Affinity Bank increase its capital ratios. The bank – which has nearly 70 percent of its loans tied up in commercial real estate and has not seen a profit since 2007 – needs to raise about $45 million, cut its loan portfolio by more than $500 million or find some combination to get to the ratio federal state regulators are looking

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for. Source: http://pacbiztimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1037&Itemid=1

16. August 17, Bloomberg – (National) U.S. indicts three in theft of 130 million accounts. A Miami man and two unidentified computer hackers were charged with stealing 130 million credit and debit card numbers in what the Justice Department said was the largest such prosecution in U.S. history. The Miami man and two hackers living “in or near Russia” were indicted on August 17 by a federal grand jury in Newark, New Jersey, for the theft of data from Heartland Payment Systems Inc., 7-Eleven Inc., Delhaize Group’s Hannaford Brothers Co., and two identified national retailers. The hackers stole 130 million card numbers from Heartland, a bank-card payment processor, starting in December 2007, by using malicious computer software, according to the 14-page indictment. An undetermined number of card numbers were stolen from 7-Eleven and 4.2 million from Hannaford, a regional supermarket chain, according to the indictment. “This investigation marks the continued success of law enforcement in tracking down cutting edge hacking schemes committed by hackers working together across the globe,” an acting U.S. attorney said in a statement. The case is U.S. v. Gonzalez, U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey. Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aZgn6q0t1XQI

17. August 15, Agence France-Presse – (National) Five more U.S. bank closures brings total to 77. US regulators have shut down five more regional banks, bringing the total number of US bank failures to 77 this year, the US government announced. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) said Colonial Bank of Montgomery became the largest US bank to fail this year after it was declared bankrupt and had the bulk of its assets taken over by rival BB&T. All of Alabama-based Colonial’s 346 branches will reopen on August 15 “and operate as branches of BB&T,” the FDIC said. The list of closed banks also included the Community Bank of Nevada in Las Vegas that was closed by order of the Nevada Financial Institutions Division, which appointed the FDIC as receiver. As of the end of June, the bank had total assets of 1.52 billion dollars and total deposits of about 1.38 billion. Also shut down was the Community Bank of Arizona in Phoenix, which will be taken over by MidFirst Bank from Oklahoma City. The bank had total assets of 158.5 million dollars, most of which will be purchased by MidFirst Bank, the FDIC said. The Oklahoman bank will also assume all of the deposits of Union Bank of Gilbert, another Arizona institution shut down by regulators. The closed financial institutions also include the Dwelling House Savings and Loan Association of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gfBxbjghNylq15QkGCOPoJdq5Z8A

18. August 14, KDVR 31 Denver – (Colorado) FBI launches $80 million credit card fraud investigation. A major FBI investigation is underway in Colorado, involving bank and credit card fraud. This investigation could involve as much as $80 million in

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fraudulent transactions. Four people were arrested on August 14 and many more arrests are expected as this investigation continues. Two of those people arrested two women with Russian backgrounds appeared in federal court here this afternoon. And while the Feds are being tight-lipped about their investigation it is apparently a very large scale organized operation. Federal agents with police raided an Aurora car dealership and at least a dozen other locations across the metro area looking for evidence connected to a much larger bank fraud investigation. The owner of Maaliki Motors says agents told him he is “not” one of the targets of criminal investigation, that they wanted his sales records for evidence. “A bunch of people bought some cars on credit cards,” said the owner, “And that’s really their credit card fraud I think, we had all the documentation in the deal jackets so they can make copies and basically let us know what’s gonna come of it.” Federal indictments against the two women who appear in court Friday afternoon say each was part of an organized effort to defraud banking institutions out of large sums of money, assets and property using a variety of schemes. Source: http://www.kdvr.com/news/kdvr-credit-fraud-invest-081409,0,3844775.story

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Transportation Sector

19. August 16, Associated Press – (Maine) Derailed train closes Route 2. Traffic is flowing again today on Route 2 in northern New Hampshire after a freight train derailment closed the highway on August 15. The accident happened just over the border in Gilead, Maine. Officials say the train derailed shortly before 2 p.m. — sending 20 cars off the tracks. No one was injured, but route two was closed and nearby residents were evacuated. The train was transporting paper products and was operated by the Genesee & Wyoming company. Route 2 reopened early morning of August 16. Source: http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=10939018

20. August 15, Associated Press – (Connecticut) Conn. woman charged with terrorism for false claim. A Southbury woman has been charged with terrorism after authorities say she told a telephone operator that an airplane was going to blow up on August 13 at Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Stratford. She told state superior court judge on August 14 that she made the claim because she wanted to get into an alcohol rehabilitation program. Stratford police and the FBI, and police were able to trace the call to her home in Southbury. The 40-year-old was charged with an act of terrorism, making a false police report and threatening. Her lawyer said his client had previously appeared at a rehabilitation clinic intoxicated. The judge ordered Mercaldi held in lieu of $25,000 bond. Source: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/national/northeast/view/20090815conn_woman_charged_with_terrorism_for_false_claim/srvc=home&position=recent

21. August 11, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association – (California) Proposed power plant could cause turbulence at French Valley. Exhaust plumes from a proposed power plant 1,685 feet east of Runway 18/38 at French Valley Airport (F70) in

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Riverside County, California could create turbulence in the traffic pattern and introduce a hazard to aircraft, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) told the county on August 10. French Valley Energy Partners proposed the 49 megawatt power plant, which, according to its own analysis, would create light turbulence on the downwind leg of the traffic pattern for Runway 18. While the FAA determined that the height of the associated exhaust stack does not create a hazard to navigable airspace, the agency is not required to evaluate the effects of exhaust plumes on navigable airspace. AOPA also provided a copy of its letter to the Riverside County Airport Land Use Commission (ALUC) for an August 13 meeting in which the commission will hear a report regarding the French Valley plant. The ALUC staff report in July 2008 had recommended that the commission draft a letter requesting that a forthcoming Environmental Impact Report address the issues of turbulence and wind shear; the commission ultimately issued a finding that the project was consistent with the 2007 French Valley Airport Land Use Compatibility Plan. AOPA is also working with the FAA’s Obstruction Evaluation Service to have plume effects included in obstruction evaluations. Source: http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/region/2009/090811french.html

For more stories, see items 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6

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Postal and Shipping Sector

22. August 14, Santa Barbara Daily Sound – (California) White powder proves harmless. A suspicious powder in a thick bundle of paper has been deemed harmless by hazardous materials teams after authorities shut down Santa Barbara, California, County’s social services building and quarantined two employees who were exposed to the substance August 14. Fire and law enforcement officials responded to the scene. Fire crews evacuated the building and isolated the two employees. The powder had been spilled outside the building near the drop box as well as inside the building, somewhat complicating the efforts of hazmat workers. A lieutenant with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department said FBI agents had joined the investigation. Depending on the contents of the note, which the official described as lengthy, authorities may consider the incident a terrorist threat, he said. Source: http://www.thedailysound.com/News/081409hazmat

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Agriculture and Food Sector

23. August 17, Reliable Plant Magazine – (Georgia) Georgia poultry processor faces $380K in OSHA fines. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is proposing $379,800 in penalties against Mar-Jac Poultry Inc. for safety and health violations at its Gainesville, Georgia facility. The company is being cited with four willful violations with a proposed penalty of

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$252,000 for failing to update its hazard analysis in five year intervals as required, to establish specific procedures to maintain the integrity of process equipment and to institute equipment and procedural changes for the ammonia refrigeration system in 2004, 2005, and 2008. The employer also has failed to perform the required compliance audits for 2000, 2003, and 2007. OSHA defines a willful violation as one committed with plain indifference to or intentional disregard for employee safety and health. The plant is being cited with 37 serious safety and health violations for $127,800 in proposed penalties. Source: http://www.reliableplant.com/Article.aspx?articleid=19447

24. August 16, WOWT 6 Omaha – (Nebraska) Nebraska beef plant catches fire. Omaha Fire Department investigators still do not yet know if a fire at the Nebraska Beef Plant was sparked by lightning early Sunday morning. A storm rolled through Omaha just as the fire broke out at the plant near 36th and L streets around 3:30 a.m. There was a lot of lightning in the area. No one was hurt. Firefighters arrived to find smoke and flames coming from a window on the third floor in the back of the building. The blaze was contained to a storage area and caused $60,000 in damage. Source: http://www.wowt.com/home/headlines/53347162.html

25. August 14, Associated Press – (Oklahoma; Arkansas) Judge in Oklahoma: Poultry litter is solid waste. A federal judge ruled Friday that poultry litter could be classified as a solid waste under federal environmental laws when applied in excessive amounts on farmland. The decision was a partial victory for the state of Oklahoma in its environmental lawsuit against 12 Arkansas poultry companies. The case has drawn national attention because it could lead to similar lawsuits across the country challenging how the industry does business. A trial is set for September 21. On Thursday, attorneys for the poultry companies argued the litter should not be labeled solid waste because it has a beneficial use as a fertilizer and a market value. The state argued that litter was “patently” solid waste. The 1 million-acre watershed spans parts of Oklahoma and Arkansas and has 1,800 poultry houses, which produce an estimated 345,000 tons of chicken waste each year. Source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/32419806

For another story, see item 6

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Water Sector

26. August 16, Chandler East Valley Tribune – (Arizona) Chandler uses emergency funding to repair sewer leak. The Chandler City Council declared an emergency last week after the Public Works Department was caught without the necessary equipment to handle a major sewer line break that collapsed a large segment of McQueen Road August 3. The council made an emergency allocation Thursday of up to $1 million to bring in private contractor McCarthy Building Companies, according to a city spokesman. The McCarthy construction firm already was working on a nearby $71

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million project to expand capacity at the city’s Airport Water Reclamation Plant, a wastewater treatment facility at McQueen and Queen Creek roads, from from 10 million gallons of sewage per day to 15 million. Had McCarthy not been there, the city would have faced delays in investigating the leak and getting it and the roadway fixed, he said. Because of the leak’s location, it represented a potential threat to Chandler’s ability to treat wastewater and a public safety issue, according to a report from the municipal services director and the assistant public works director. City officials were alerted to the sewer line break early this month after an unrelated power outage at the adjacent treatment plant, according to the report. After the break was found, city officials rerouted the flow of sewage, he said. Customers were not affected, officials have said. Source: http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/143088

27. August 15, Spokane Spokesman-Review – (Washington) Phosphorous ban appears to be working. A year after Spokane County became the only place in the country to ban dish detergents made up of more than 0.5 percent phosphorus, data shows that water coming into Spokane’s sewage plant had 10.7 percent less phosphorus than the annual average the previous three years. That amounts to 181 pounds of phosphorus each day and is better than expected. What flows into the river from the plant likely is not affected much by the new law because treatment pulls out much of the phosphorus, said the plant operations superintendent. The biggest impact is for homes on septic or drain field systems, in which water — and phosphorus — filter back into the groundwater. “Any phosphorus reduction you can see there is going to have benefit to the river,” he said. Phosphorus is not dangerous to humans, but in rivers and lakes, it spurs algae growth that can pull oxygen from the water, killing fish. The problem has been intense in Long Lake, where treated waste water along the Spokane River ultimately flows. On average, Spokane discharges 38 million gallons of treated water daily. By 2014, an addition to the plant, expected to cost about $130 million, will cut phosphorus emissions by 10 times or more, according to the city. Source: http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2009/aug/15/phosphorous-ban-appears-be-working/

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Public Health and Healthcare Sector

28. August 17, Baltimore Sun – (National) Rocket scientist or the next Unabomber. A 22 year old man, who had built 21 pipe bombs by the time he was 13, when he detonated one in his mother’s Temple Hills apartment, was expected to appear in court August 17th to answer charges that he possessed another working pipe bomb while standing near the University of Maryland BioPark facility in Poppleton last summer. The man had expressed a desire to bomb the Los Angeles federal complex in his personal journal and has claimed social connections to the Bloods gang. He has spent time in at least three detention facilities and has been arrested while carrying a “creditable WMD” recipe, according to the FBI.

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Source: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bal-md.bomb17aug17,0,4109530.story

29. August 15, Associated Press – (New York) NYC health officials drill for bioterror attack. The New York City Department of Health conducted a drill Saturday to assess the city’s ability to quickly distribute medications to large numbers of New Yorkers. A school on the Lower East Side was used for the exercise. During a major public health emergency or outbreak of disease, sites like schools would be used as hubs for distributing antibiotics or vaccines. Saturday’s scenario depicted a widespread airborne anthrax release across the city. Source: http://www.wcax.com/global/story.asp?s=10935659

30. August 15, ABC News – (Washington) Emergency room patient pulls gun, killed. A police officer shot and killed an emergency room patient early today in Olympia, Washington, after the man allegedly pulled out a gun as hospital staff were preparing him for tests on a head injury and he refused to give up the weapon, police said. Police had already taken two other weapons from the man, who was brought to the Providence St. Peter Hospital by a family member sometime before 2 a.m., an Olympia Police Department official said. Hospital staff immediately began treating the wounded man for the gunshot wound, but they were unable to save him and he died there in the treatment room. Source: http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=8337018&page=1

For another story, see item 39

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Government Facilities Sector

31. August 17, Greeley Tribune – (Colorado) Weld bomb squad detonates canisters found near school. Five canisters were found and detonated Thursday about a half-mile from Mead High School in Weld County, Colorado. The canisters were found on August 13 by construction workers grading dirt on Weld County Road 7. Members of the Weld County Bomb Squad then responded and detonated the devices, according to a spokeswoman for the Weld County Sheriff’s Office. School was not in session at the time, the spokeswoman said. Two of the canisters, which were about the size of soup cans, were believed to be smoke bombs. The other three, which had fuses and were about the size of road flares, were likely used as training devices for lighting a fuse. Source: http://www.greeleytribune.com/article/20090817/NEWS/908169981/1002/NONE&parentprofile=1001

32. August 16, Lamar County Sheriff’s Office – (Georgia) Sheriff’s news release on Gordon bomb threat. After a bomb threat to Gordon College was received on August 16, Gordon College Campus Police and Plant Operations, the Barnesville/ Lamar County Fire Department, units from the Lamar County Sheriff’s Office, Barnesville

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Police, a Grifin Police Department canine unit, the Georgia State Patrol, and Lamar County Emergency Management searched over 1,000 student rooms, classroom buildings, administrative buildings, and the athletic buildings. The bomb squad and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) were also alerted. Students were allowed to return to their rooms with instructions to remain vigilant toward unusual circumstances about an hour and a half after the threat as made. Because of the cooperation of over 50 emergency response personnel, working as a team, every room on campus was searched in less than three hours of the receipt of the 911 call. Source: http://www.barnesville.com/archives/1126-Sheriffs-news-release-on-Gordon-bomb-threat.html

33. August 14, South Florida Sun-Sentinel – (Florida) Vero Beach student made bomb threats to skip classes, prosecutors say. One of two students charged with making bomb threats to Vero Beach High School in Vero Beach, Florida, this spring said it all started because he wanted to skip classes, according to court documents filed by the prosecution. Hundreds of students were repeatedly evacuated between March 3 and April 30 by six anonymous false bomb threats made by phone. The suspect is charged as an adult because he is accused of being the key person in the case. An 18-year-old woman is charged with being involved with one of the false bomb threats. She is being tried as a juvenile because she was under 18 at the time the alleged crime was committed. Source: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/florida/sfl-vero-beach-bomb-threats-bn081409,0,6395136.story

34. August 14, Associated Press – (District of Columbia) Abu Ghraib lecture canceled after threats. Organizers canceled a lecture at the Library of Congress by the woman who became a symbol of the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal after threats caused concerns about staff safety. The former Army reservist had been scheduled to discuss her biography Friday as part of a veterans forum on Capitol Hill. In a notice to members, the president of the Library of Congress Professional Association said the event was canceled due to staff safety concerns. A Vietnam War veteran and German acquisitions specialist at the library who organized the event said he had been receiving threats. Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32417570/ns/us_news-military/

35. August 14, KTVB 7 Boise – (Idaho) Idaho may sue feds over Yucca Mountain decision. It appears Idaho may be headed for another lawsuit over its stockpile of highly radioactive waste at the Idaho National Laboratory. The nation’s nuclear waste repository in Nevada is supposed to open next year, but the President predicts the $13.5 billion facility is dead. With the help of Senate Democrats he is cutting off the money supply to make sure the storage facility is not revived. Idaho has a long standing contract with the Department of Energy to remove and then store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain. An Idaho Senator said this week that it is a political move and he can not get an answer from the the Presidential administration about its alternate plan, so he is making a prediction of his own - a lawsuit against the federal government.

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Source: http://www.ktvb.com/news/localnews/stories/ktvbn-aug1409-yucca_mountain.de7fd9b1.html

36. August 13, Associated Press – (Louisiana) Thibodaux student booked in making threats. Lafourche Parish, Louisiana’s sheriff says a student at Thibodaux High School was taken into custody for making threats at the school. The sheriff said the school’s resource officer acted after the boy became orally abusive with the school’s administration and threatened to blow up the school. The teen was booked with communicating false information of a planned bombing on school property, interfering with the educational process, and disturbing the peace. Investigators said there is no reason to believe he had any tools to carry out or any intention to actually carry out the threats. Source: http://www.nola.com/newsflash/index.ssf?/base/national-46/1250169061263220.xml&storylist=louisiana

For more stories, see items 22 and 28

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Emergency Services Sector

37. August 16, Austin American-Statesman – (Texas) Police, sheriffs establishing regional intelligence center. Beginning next year, law enforcement agencies in Central Texas plan to start sharing information at a federally funded, multimillion-dollar intelligence center — one of dozens of such “fusion centers” across the nation. As part of the information exchange, the Austin Regional Intelligence Center will give investigators broader access to confidential information about suspects or criminal organizations. For instance, officers now can troll national and state databases to see whether a suspect has been convicted of crimes or has outstanding warrants. The center will also allow investigators to access reports from neighboring departments that show any involvement suspects may have had with police there, including investigations into crimes they may not have been charged with. Investigators at the center also will be able to access certain databases created by other agencies, such as those documenting suspected gang members and drug traffickers. Officials currently do not have immediate access to such information from neighboring agencies but can seek it as part of an investigation, a process that detectives said can take days and stall their work. Too often, they said, they may not know when to turn to neighboring towns or counties to further their investigations. Source: http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/2009/08/16/0816fusion.html

38. August 15, WLS 7 Chicago – (Illinois) Fire truck and vehicle collide, 7 injured. Seven people, including five firefighters, were hurt Saturday when a Chicago fire truck and another vehicle collided on the South Side. The fire truck was responding to a fire call when the accident happened. The two vehicles ended up crashing into a

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traffic light pole and knocking it over. The firefighters were all hospitalized in stable condition Saturday night. One of the civilians was in serious condition and the other in critical condition. The cause of the accident is under investigation. Source: http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=6967306

39. August 13, Lewiston Sun journal – (Maine) National Guard drill at high school to prepare for possible H1N1 riot. Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School in Paris, Maine, was the site of a National Guard riot control drill on the morning of August 13 morning to prepare in the event of a panic over distribution of serum to treat the swine flu. The school has been designated by state officials as a distribution site for the H1N1 flu vaccine. The drill is to prepare for a worst-case scenario should the serum have to be transported from Augusta and people rush to get it. On Thursday morning, National Guard humvees traveled from Augusta to Paris with vials of fake serum. The National Guardsmen enacted the roles of panicked citizens and military police and practice what they would do, such as using tear gas, in the case of a riot. Source: http://www.sunjournal.com/node/105339/

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Information Technology Sector

40. August 17, Wall Street Journal – (International) Hackers stole IDs for attacks. Russian hackers hijacked American identities and U.S. software tools and used them in an attack on Georgian government Web sites during the war between Russia and Georgia in 2008, according to new research to be released on August 17 by a nonprofit U.S. group. In addition to refashioning common Microsoft Corp. software into a cyber-weapon, hackers collaborated on popular U.S.-based social-networking sites, including Twitter and Facebook Inc., to coordinate attacks on Georgian sites, the U.S. Cyber Consequences Unit found. While the cyberattacks on Georgia were examined shortly after the events in 2008, these U.S. connections were not previously known. The research shows how cyber-warfare has outpaced military and international agreements, which don’t take into account the possibility of American resources and civilian technology being turned into weapons. Identity theft, social networking, and modifying commercial software are all common means of attack, but combining them elevates the attack method to a new level, said a former cybersecurity chief at the Department of Homeland Security. “Each one of these things by itself is not all that new, but this combines them in ways we just haven’t seen before,” said the former cybersecurity chief, now CEO of computer-security company NetWitness Corp. The cyberattacks in August 2008 significantly disrupted Georgia’s communications capabilities, disabling 20 Web sites for more than a week. Among the sites taken down were those of the Georgian president and defense minister, as well as the National Bank of Georgia and major news outlets. Taking out communications systems at the onset of an attack is standard military practice, said the chief technical officer at the USCCU and a former cyber-sleuth at the National Security Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency. Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125046431841935299.html

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41. August 14, Dark Reading – (National) New virus appears as response to Craigslist ad. Email security experts at Red Condor are warning email users about a new virus currently undetected by most virus scanners. The virus is embedded in an email that appears to be a response to a craigslist advertisement. The email containing the virus, which was detected August 12, 2009 by Red Condor’s Zero Minute Defense Network, includes the subject line, “Re: Car For Sale on craigslist.” The email content suggests that the user requested pictures for a car being sold on craigslist and invites the recipient to view the images in a Picasa album. Clicking on the link to the album installs a virus. “Only 13 out of 41 virus scanners detected the file as a virus when Red Condor first identified it,” stated the chief executive officer of Red Condor. “This means that if the message was delivered and a user clicked on the link, they’d likely be infected even if they had an anti-virus program running on their desktop computer. With increasingly more ways to get malicious content onto computers and corporate networks, it is important that companies’ security solutions are capable of responding quickly and appropriately to eliminate potential threats. Traditional signature-based virus engines are simply not enough protection against today’s spammers and cybercriminals. After all, it only takes one click.” Source: http://www.darkreading.com/security/vulnerabilities/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=219400086&subSection=Vulnerabilities+and+threats

42. August 14, SCMagazine – (International) Microsoft leads browsers in malware, phishing defense. It appears that the comprehensive security features built into Internet Explorer 8 (IE 8) are paying off for Microsoft. The browser, released in March with a number of enhanced phishing and anti-malware components, blocked an average of 81 percent of socially engineered malware and stopped 83 percent of suspected phishing sites — topping four other major browsers, according to new tests conducted by NSS Labs. NSS based its findings on two weeks of analyzing 593 phishing sites and 608 unique URLS that contained malicious software, the company’s president told SCMagazineUS.com on August 13. “Everyone thinks Microsoft stinks at security,” he said. “They need to get some credit for some of the good stuff they’ve done. Microsoft has been a big target for attacks for a long time, and that’s actually a benefit to them. They’ve learned how they can turn that around and protect themselves better.” In catching and stopping socially engineered malware, a significant drop-off occurred after the Microsoft browser. Firefox 3 was next in line, blocking 27 percent. Apple’s Safari 4 thwarted 21 percent, followed by Google Chrome (seven percent) and Opera 10 (one percent). The browsers, as a group, performed relatively better in offering phishing protection. Firefox deterred 80 percent of suspected fraud sites, Opera caught 54 percent, followed by Chrome (26 percent) and Safari (two percent). Source: http://www.scmagazineus.com/Microsoft-leads-browsers-in-malware-phishing-defense/article/146505/

43. August 14, The Register – (International) Hacktivist vuln still plagues UN.org. The official website of the United Nations has yet to fix a vulnerability that more than two years ago allowed hacktivists to replace official content with their own activist messages. According to the Errata Security CEO, the same SQL injection flaw that

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plagued the site in August of 2007 remains unfixed now. It is invoked by doing nothing more than adding a stray character to the ASP parameter of a un.org link, such as http://www.un.org/apps/news/infocus/sgspeeches/statments_full.asp?statID=10’5. “Despite the fact a high-school intern can fix the bug in 5 minutes, the bureaucracy means that the organization must spend tens of thousands of dollars to fix the bug,” the CEO wrote. “The other lesson is that the cost of NOT fixing the bug is low. The UN can simply live with the problem, and clean up after every hack.” As The Register reported in 2007, hacktivists used the bug on the UN’s Apache-powered website to replace speeches by the Secretary-General with pacifist messages. While that attack appeared to be the work of activist critics of the global organization, it is not a stretch to imagine criminals hacking the site to surreptitiously send visitors to sites that push malicious drive-by exploits. Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/08/14/united_nations_website_vulnerable/

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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Communications Sector

44. August 15, Helena Independent Record – (National) Computer problems behind Bresnan outage. Internet and telephone customers of Bresnan Communications found themselves without service for up to several hours on August 13 and 14. A company spokesman said computer problems in Colorado were to blame. “The outage was caused by corruption of routing tables on a particular type of server,” the spokesman said, who also noted that the company’s television service was never interrupted. “That corruption spread throughout the network, and as one router was fixed, the corruption spread to another router.” The spokesman said engineers worked throughout the night to incrementally restore service to the company’s customers in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Utah. By midday August 14, he said, service was nearly completely restored. “We’re a communications company and we really understand the impact this has had on our customers,” he said. “And we apologize to the customers who were affected.” Source: http://www.helenair.com/articles/2009/08/15/local/80lo_090815_bresnan.txt

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Commercial Facilities Sector

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45. August 17, Associated Press – (Florida) Nation Digest: Tropical Storm Claudette threatens Florida coast. Brewing in the Gulf of Mexico, Tropical Storm Claudette brought heavy rain to the Florida Panhandle on Sunday. Claudette had winds of at least 50 mph but was not expected to cause significant flooding or wind damage. Lurking more ominously in the Atlantic was Tropical Storm Bill, which was quickly turning into a powerful storm over the open Atlantic with sustained winds of 65 mph. Ana, a tropical storm that had also been churning in the Atlantic, weakened to a depression. Heavy rain began in the afternoon in Pensacola, Florida as Claudette approached. On Pensacola Beach, the National Park Service closed low-lying roads that connect the restaurants and hotels to the undeveloped National Seashore. Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/16/AR2009081602247.html

46. August 15, WBBM 780 Chicago – (Illinois) Aurora casino evacuated after suspicious package found. An Aurora, Illinois casino was evacuated Saturday morning after a suspicious package was found attached to an employee’s vehicle. Emergency personnel responded about 11:50 a.m. to the Hollywood Casino after a casino employee found a device attached to his personal vehicle after he finished work Friday night. The employee went home with the device Friday night and turned it in to casino security when he returned to work Saturday morning, the release said. The casino was evacuated and New York Street was closed between Illinois Route 25 and River Street for about an hour, according to the release. The Kane County Bomb Squad determined the device was not incendiary and did not pose a threat, the release said. Nobody was injured. Aurora police are investigating. Source: http://www.wbbm780.com/pages/5013337.php

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National Monuments and Icons Sector

47. August 15, Associated Press – (California) Pot growers responsible for Los Padres forest fire, authorities say. Investigators have determined that a week-old wildfire burning in the Los Padres National Forest was started by a cooking fire set by marijuana growers. Santa Barbara County sheriff’s officials said in a news release today that its narcotics unit and U.S. Forest Service special agents found that the camp where the blaze started was part of a drug organization run by Mexican nationals, who were growing pot plants at the site. In the weeks before the fire, the sheriff’s narcotics unit had been working to shut down cultivation sites in the area. Investigators believed the suspects were still in the forest and trying to escape on foot. The fire has charred 131 square miles and forced the evacuation of more than 230 homes. Source: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/08/pot-growers-responsible-for-los-padres-forest-fire-authorities-say.html

For another story, see item 45

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Dams Sector

48. August 17, Associated Press – (International) Explosion at Russia’s largest hydroelectric plant kills 8. An accident during repair work at Russia’s largest hydroelectric plant killed at least eight workers Monday, while 54 others were missing, investigators said. The explosion of a transformer caused the engine room to flood at the Sayano-Shushinskaya power station in southern Siberia, the Investigative Committee of the federal prosecutors office said. The plant’s dam was not damaged, and the accident posed no threat to towns further south along the Yenisei River, the Emergency Situations Minister said. The accident caused an oil spill, however, and the slick was floating downriver, the ministry said. Two of the plant’s 10 turbines in the engine room were destroyed, and a third was seriously damaged, said the acting chief executive of the plant’s owner, RusHydrop. He said the repairs would be difficult. “We’re probably talking about years rather than months to restore three of the 10 turbines,” he said on state-run television. Source: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,539913,00.html?test=latestnews

49. August 17, Springfield News-Leader – (Missouri) Divers retrieve broken blade at Stockton Dam. On the morning of February 4, the 320-ton hydropower turbine at the Stockton Dam steel blades had sheared off and plunged 60 feet to the bottom of the water outflow tube inside the dam. “We heard a loud boom! and then a second boom! and all the vibration alarms came on,” recalled an electrical trainee. “It was shaking the building below our control room — bad enough that tools were shaking off the walls.” The 24-foot-wide turbine spun wildly out of balance, sending vibration pulses through the concrete-and-steel powerhouse. On Wednesday, a commercial dive team from Kentucky retrieved the severed blade — which weighs nearly five tons — after eight trips deep inside the outflow tube. Working 61 feet below the surface and with less than a foot of visibility, divers placed powerful jacks beneath the curved blade, lifting it enough to slide steel rollers underneath. A shore-side crane used cables to pull the blade out of the tube, and divers then looped heavy lifting straps around it for the slow hoist out of the water. The blade had a 5-foot-long crack, will be shipped off for metallurgical testing. The turbine’s five other blades also will get close scrutiny to see if they might be prone to a similar fate. The Stockton Dam operations manager, said the dam has lost $37,000 a day in electrical sales — based on what the dam produced in 2008 — because of the break. It will cost about $33.5 million to bring the dam back online. Stimulus funds will be available to help with the repairs. Source: http://www.news-leader.com/article/20090817/NEWS01/908170362/1007/Divers-retrieve-broken-blade-at-Stockton-Dam

50. August 16, Sierra Sun – (California) Army Corps looking at Martis Creek Dam stability. The Army Corps of Engineers are ramping up end-of-summer work on Martis Creek Dam before winter weather arrives. According to a press release, increased crews and heavy equipment will be on and around the dam for the end of summer. The Corps is investigating the dam’s stability, ranked as one of the six riskiest Army Corps dams in the country. The dam was built more than 30 years ago on glacial till, which

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could allow seepage under the dam, destabilizing it. Recent studies also indicate earthquake faults near or under the dam. The risk to down-stream residents in kept to a minimum, however, by keeping the lake at a very low level, according to the release. Source: http://www.sierrasun.com/article/20090816/NEWS/908149988/1051

51. August 15, Associated Press – (International) Farmers seize 13 policemen, 4 civilians at Peruvian dam, demanding ransom of fertilizer. Farmers freed 13 police officers and four civilians seized at a hydroelectric dam in Peru’s Andean region after local officials agreed Saturday to provide them with fertilizer. Authorities said the hostages were held for nearly 24 hours at a church in Huallamayo, a town about 215 kilometers (133 miles) northeast of the capital, Lima. The director of police, told radio RPP that talks involving government officials, the power plant company and farmer representatives produced agreement on releasing the prisoners. He said the government promised fertilizer would be delivered within 15 days. Enersur, a French-Belgian company that operates the power station, said the dam’s electricity output was under 40 percent of normal because of damage inflicted by the farmers. It said a control room was destroyed and a floodgate damaged. Source: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-lt-peru-famers-hostages,0,721439.story

52. August 15, Rochester Post-Bulletin – (Minnesota) Rushford levee could need more repairs. Two years after Rush Creek spilled over its banks and soaked the city of Rushford, repairs to the city’s flood-damaged levees are nearing completion. While the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has funded the $1.5 million repair project, recertifying the levy is the next hurdle for city officials. The levees protecting Rushford many need a makeover to meet Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) standards. The Rushford city administrator said the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has awarded the city a $282,000 grant so it can do a recertification study. According to a preliminary study done by a private engineer from called USR Corp., the levees are allowing water to seep underneath them. He believes more repairs will be needed to make the levee certifiable. The city has until August 2011 to prove to the FEMA that its levees meet federal standards. The levees are provisionally certified until then. ”The 2007 event was a 500- to 600-year flood and we’ll never be able to protect the city from that kind of flood,” he said. Once repaired, he said the levees suppose to protect the city from a 100-year flood. Source: http://www.postbulletin.com/newsmanager/templates/localnews_story.asp?z=2&a=412016

53. August 14, WABI 5 Bangor – (Maine) Erosion threatens homes in Winslow. Some folks in Winslow are being warned about a possible safety issue. Six homes on Dallaire Street that sit on a slope overlooking the Sebasticook River are in danger because of erosion. The problem began last summer when the halifax dam was breached. The heavy rains we received this summer have caused considerable movement in the soil, causing concern. The town has applied for a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to buy the properties in danger, and relocate the

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residents. In an effort to minimize the safety risk, the town hired engineers to monitor the problem. They also hope the data will help their effort to get the grant. “The town has been working diligently using this engineer information to try to put this grant together so we can purchase houses and remove the houses before they become a huge issue and be fair to the citizens so they can get the money that is due to them.” added the Winslow fire chief. The town expects to hear from FEMA in September as to whether or not they will receive the grants. Meanwhile, residents on Dallaire Street are being asked to check their homes for cracks, or changes, and to notify officials if they see anything. Source: http://www.wabi.tv/news/7120/erosion-threatens-homes-in-winslow

54. August 13, WWL 4 New Orleans – (Louisiana) N.O. East residents divided over plan to use clay to build levees. It is a plan that has split residents in a high-priced New Orleans subdivision: whether or not to allow the Army Corps of Engineers to extract 113 acres of clay from the Eastover subdivision to build levees. Some say it is the only way the neighborhood will survive, while others worry about the damage such a project could cause. “The only option on the table is ... to sell the dirt and make a lake out of it,” a resident said. “We have to make the best out of a bad situation. Nobody’s come up with any other plan to help us.” That was the plan a subdivision developer said was unanimously approved by the Eastover Homeowners Association in February 2007, allowing him to sell the clay to the Army Corps of Engineers, then develop that property into a lake to enhance the neighborhood. But at Thursday’s corps meeting, which ultimately factors in to whether or not the Eastover site will be approved as a clay source, some New Orleans East residents protested outside of the meeting, while others asked their pointed questions inside. A corps representative said there would be truck traffic, road damage, noise and vibration, but they did not expect long-term impacts to New Orleans East. Source: http://www.wwltv.com/topstories/stories/wwl081309cbeastover.da1cf1d5.html

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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

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 instructions to Get e-mail updates when this information changes.

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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 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.