Image: Workers repair damage after an attack on a power station in North Carolina in December 2022.

This page is part of a resource collection on far right extremism.

2024

DOJ: Last of Five Defendants with Ties to White Supremacy and Who Were Charged with Targeting Idaho Energy Facilities Enters Guilty Plea.

Andy Downing & Joel Oliphint: White Power Outage: Inside a Hilliard teen’s fascist terror plot. Christopher Cook was sentenced last year in a white supremacist plot to attack the nation’s power grid, capping his evolution from isolated suburbanite to neo-Nazi radical.

Sara Ruberg: 3 Men With White Supremacist Ties Sentenced in Plan to Attack Power Station.

Jeff Stone: Far-Right ‘Terrorgram’ Chatrooms Are Fueling a Wave of Power Grid Attacks: Extremist communities see damaging power substations as a way to fuel unrest and ultimately overthrow the US.

Mike Wendling: US woman pleads guilty in neo-Nazi plot to attack power grid.

2023

BBC News: How the US power grid is a target for far-right groups.

Ben Makuch: Neo-Nazis Wanted to Attack US Power Grid. Instead They’re Going to Prison. The pair had hoped to cripple the American power grid and set off chaos and unrest.

Krystal Nurse: Boogaloo member Stephen Parshall sentenced for plot to blow up substation near BLM protest.

Tess Owen:

• Neo-Nazi Couple Arrested for Alleged Plot to Attack Power Grid and ‘Destroy Whole City’. Brandon Russell, leader of neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division, and his prison-girlfriend allegedly plotted to attack five Baltimore-area energy stations.
• Software Engineer Who Allegedly Blew Up Power Station Had Even More Bombs at Home: Peter Karasev, 36, was arrested last week after allegedly blowing up two transformers in the San Francisco Bay Area, knocking out power for thousands.

PBS News: FBI foils extremist plot to bring down Baltimore’s electrical grid.

Vice News: Lights Out: Attacks on the Grid.

The Washington Post: Duo accused of neo-Nazi plot to target Maryland power stations: Atomwaffen founder Brandon Russell and Sarah Clendaniel allegedly sought to attack substations around Baltimore.

West Point: Combatting Terrorism Center: The Targeting of Infrastructure by America’s Violent Far-Right.

2022

Kathleen Belew: Why these multiple power station attacks are concerning to domestic terrorism experts: There is a long, long history of white power attacks on infrastructure targets. (Twitter thread.)

CNN: Investigators are zeroing in on two possible motives centered around extremist behavior in NC power stations attacks.

Agence France-Presse: Fears of Extremist Campaign After Attack on US Power Station.

Tess Owen: What We Know—and Don’t Know—About Recent Power Grid Attacks. Two power substations in North Carolina were shot up last weekend. At least five similar attacks have been reported since late November.

Dennis Romero & Antonio Planas: Four substations attacked in Washington state, leaving thousands without power.

Conrad Wilson: String of electrical grid attacks in Pacific Northwest is unsolved.

2020

Amy Forliti: FBI Says White Supremacists Plotted Attack on U.S. Power Grid.