VOLUME 7 ISSUE 41
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WWW.NSJONLINE.COM
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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2022
Substation attack second in last month By Matt Mercer North State Journal RALEIGH — The massive Dec. 3 criminal attack on the electric grid in Moore County isn’t the only recent act of vandalism resulting in a loss of power for thousands of customers. On Nov. 11, a property owned by the Carteret-Craven Electric Cooperative (CCEC) in the Jones County town of Maysville was damaged. More than 12,000 CCEC customers were without power for approximately two hours, according to a statement from the cooperative.
“CCEC monitors its system constantly, and soon after the outage occurred, crews were dispatched to begin the restoration process and found that the Maysville substation had been vandalized. The Maysville substation remains offline, but CCEC is fully able to serve all of its members through other substations,” a Nov. 11 statement reads. The total cost of the damage was expected to exceed $500,000, and insurance investigators are still working to determine the extent of the damage. The cooperative said the vandals damaged
transformers causing them to leak coolant oil. Jake Joplin, CCEC CEO and general manager, stated that the cooperative “condemns this senseless act of vandalism.” The Jones County Sheriff’s Office and the State Bureau of Investigation were investigating the vandalism. Much like the attack in Moore County, the attacks occurred close to military installations in the state. Maysville sits 33 miles from Camp Lejeune and 41 miles See SUBSTATION, page A2
COVID’s lingering impact prompts Real ID deadline extension Washington, D.C. The deadline for obtaining the Real ID needed to board a domestic flight has been pushed back again, with the Department of Homeland Security citing the lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic for the slower-than-expected rollout. The deadline to have a Real ID had been May 3, 2023, but DHS announced Monday that it was pushed back two years, to May 7, 2025. “DHS will also use this time to implement innovations to make the process more efficient and accessible. We will continue to ensure that the American public can travel safely,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas said in a news release. After the May 2025 deadline, domestic travelers 18 and older on commercial flights must have a Real ID-compliant driver’s license or state photo ID identification card. Real ID also will be required to enter some federal facilities such as military bases. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Dobson won’t run for reelection to lead Labor Dept Raleigh First-term Labor Commissioner Josh Dobson, a Republican, announced Tuesday he would not seek reelection to the post he won in 2020. A former state Rep. from McDowell County, he made the announcement at the monthly Council of State meeting in Raleigh. “After much soul searching I’m announcing that I will not seek reeelection, nor will I be a candidate for any office in 2024,” Dobson said during his time alloted at the meeting. “I’m going to finish my term and focus on work force health and safety, work force development and try to help tone down the divisive nature of our politics,” he added. NSJ STAFF
Bloomberg: Moore attack shows power grid still ‘extremely vulnerable’ Raleigh The attacks that left two electrical substations riddled with gunfire and knocked out power to 45,000 homes and businesses underscores the fragility of US grids, experts told Bloomberg News. “From this incident, it appears that the electrical grid continues to be extremely vulnerable,” said Jon Wellinghoff, chief executive officer of GridPolicy Consulting Inc. and former chairman of the Federal Energy Regulator Commission. While power grids are regular targets of cyber attacks, major physical assaults on the systems are rare. The incident underscores how when successful, such strikes can have widespread consequences, according to the outlet. There have been nine physical attacks on the U.S. electrical grid so far this year, along with 60 acts of vandalism, according to U.S. Department of Energy data. The agency, which reported slightly lower numbers for the previous three years, defines physical attacks as those that disrupt grid operations or have intent to harm national security. NSJ STAFF
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AP PHOTO
House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Kings Mountain, gavels in a session as North Carolina legislators convene on the House floor in this 2020 file photo.
NC House Speaker talks about midterm results, legal cases and upcoming session Moore happy with midterm outcomes, characterized some arguments around “independent state legislature theory” as “utterly absurd.” By A.P. Dillon North State Journal RALEIGH — House Speaker Tim Moore (R-Kings Mountain) recently sat down with North State Journal to discuss the recent midterm results, ongoing legal cases as well as what might be on tap for next year’s long session. Moore said he felt “very positive” following the 2022 midterm elections, highlighting areas where Republicans outperformed their Democratic opponents. “You know, we actually won six seats that were presently held by Democratic incumbents. So, that’s a huge flip,” Moore said. “We went from 69 to 71 Republican members.” The Senate did pick up enough seats for a supermajority but the House came in one seat short. Moore said he wouldn’t change how the results turned out. “If somebody could say, ‘Well, would you trade and get three seats here and give up one of those Supreme Court seats?’ I wouldn’t take the trade,” said Moore. “I would keep what we have by having both of the Supreme Court seats — absolutely critical. [And] it looks like we finally have some justices that actually will follow the law instead of creating the law as they as they sit there.” Republican candidates not only won the two state Supreme Court seats that were on the ballot this year, but they also made a clean sweep of the N.C. Court of Appeals races. Moore explained it’s important
to understand that seven seats previously held by Republicans ceased to exist after redistricting. “One example is Larry Yarborough, who had a seat that had Person County but then got joined with Durham County. That seat was one that just became really a very tough seat for a Republican to win,” Moore said. “But then in the western part of the state — for example, where I am, where we had eight seats in our county grouping — we went to seven.” He said population shifts played a role in seats in the northeast part of the state and some in the southeastern area as well. “So for example, Bobby Hannig, who was a House member along with Ed Goodwin,” said Moore. “Bobby and Ed were double-bunked because the population in that area isn’t growing as much as it is and the other parts of the state. So as a result, Bobby ended up running for the Senate, and so you had situations like that.” Moore said that instead of just picking up three seats, what they really needed to win were 10 seats because Republicans needed to win back seven seats plus another three. “Well, we got nine. So not bad. Not a bad day’s work,” Moore said with a smile. “We picked back up Steve Ross’ seat — which is critical over in Alamance County,” as well as Frank Sossamon’s win in a multicounty area that includes Vance County. The speaker also noted Republicans have districts in the state that now have Republican representation for “the first time ever in the history of the state.” “Now, where we did not perform as well as I would like was in Mecklenburg County and in Wake County,” Moore said. “There’s 13 seats total in Wake County and 13 House seats in Mecklenburg. We only won one seat in each.”
“We got there because we’ve had such a terrible — and you can quote me on that — terrible state Supreme Court...the worst ever in the history of the nation with some of these absurd opinions that they have issued.” N.C. House Speaker Tim Moore (R-Kings Mountain) Rep. Erin Paré was the lone Republican to win a House seat in Wake County and Moore acknowledged her strong performance in being reelected. He also expressed regret on certain races where the Republican candidate fell short. “And then the other one that we had a shot at I think was Fred Von Canon’s race,” Moore said. “I was hoping that we would win that race, and we came up short there. And then Bill Brawley, who was running again in southeastern Mecklenburg County, he came up short. And then the other one that was really close with Brian Echeverria (Cabarrus County) who was … I mean his race was close.” Moore also noted that Republicans did well in the area of votingby-mail results. Shifting gears to recent legal cases, Moore was optimistic despite recent decisions by the former Democratic majority on the state’s top court. That includes the Leandro education funding case. “I’ve got two lawyers sitting in here, but my plan is to pursue every avenue that we can through the legal case,” Moore said. “But the reality is the General Assembly has the power of the purse, you
know.” When asked about the WestEd Comprehensive Remedial Plan funds the N.C. Supreme Court has dictated be dispersed, both Moore and his general counsel agreed there seemed to be no metric or mechanism in place for determining the effectiveness of that forced spending. “There’s nothing,” said Moore. “It’s what happens when you have a court trying to act like a legislature — it doesn’t work.” Another case that could have ramifications statewide and perSee MOORE, page A2