Underground Construction - March 2022 - 13

WASHINGTONWATCH
A House Democratic subcommittee chairman is teeing up
legislation creating a new regulatory agency that would ostensibly
safeguard interstate pipeline reliability. The House subcommittee
on energy held a hearing on Jan. 19 on the Energy
Product Reliability Act (H.R. 6084) sponsored by subcommittee
Chairman Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.).
Richard Glick, FERC chair, testified at the hearings in support
of Rush's bill. He compared the existence of 93 FERCapproved
mandatory reliability standards for the bulk-power
system, 12 of which address cybersecurity, with the absence of
any for gas pipelines.
" The lack of mandatory reliability standards, especially
for natural gas pipelines, poses a risk to the reliability of the
bulk-power system due to the interdependency of our nation's
gas and electric infrastructure, " Glick said.
Pipeline groups were not called to testify at the hearing.
But groups such as the Interstate Natural Gas Association of
America (INGAA), American Petroleum Institute (API) and
others expressed concern in a letter, when the bill was introduced
last December, to Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ), chairman
of the full Energy & Commerce Committee:
" Proposals to create a new, additional pipeline reliability
regulator fail to reflect pipelines' proven reliability record
and risk duplicating and conflicting with existing federal
and state agency regulatory authorities and programs.
H.R. 6084 will not enhance pipeline reliability - on the
contrary, it risks impairing and complicating ongoing
efforts to protect pipelines against cyber threats. "
Rush is retiring at the end of this congressional session which,
in and of itself, may reduce the bill's likelihood of passing, given
his diminishing leverage. Also, the bill has no co-sponsors.
The legislation attempts to address concerns about the impact
of cold winter weather and cybersecurity attacks on natural gas
pipeline deliveries to the bulk electric power grid.
Rush stressed at the hearing that the provisions in his legislation
are not final.
" It marks the beginning of the legislative process, and certainly
not the end, " he said. " To my Republican friends specifically,
I want to emphasize that electricity reliability is an issue
we're all concerned about. And for this reason, my staff and I
stand ready to work hand-in-hand with you. We are open to
suggestions on the best pathway forward. "
But Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), top Republican on the subcommittee,
welcomed the legislation with an artic blast of cold
air. " The topic of this hearing is totally off base, " he said. " The bill
today is a sweeping power grab that would dramatically expand
Stephen Barlas | Washington, D.C. Editor
Pipelines Push Back Against
New Reliability Regulatory Agency
FERC, transforming a relatively tiny agency into a behemoth. "
Upton referred to a letter from state energy regulators expressing
concerns with Rush's bill that are shared by " members
of this committee on both sides of the aisle. " He argued the
committee would be better served by focusing on the Pipeline
and LNG Facility Cybersecurity Preparedness Act (H.R. 3078)
which he and Rush introduced in May 2021.
That bill would strengthen the Department of Energy's
ability to respond to physical and cybersecurity threats to the
nation's pipelines and liquid natural gas (LNG) facilities. No
hearings have been held on the May 2021 bill.
A Rush spokesperson said the congressman views H.R. 3078
as a complement to H.R. 6084 and the bipartisan bill is still a
priority he definitely wants to move forward.
The committee background paper on H.R. 6084 cited two
recent events as the basis for needing a new natural gas supply
reliability agency. First were the events surrounding the
February 2021 Texas winter storm. The FERC and North
American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) joint investigative
report regarding that storm concluded, " generating
unit outages and natural gas fuel supply and delivery were inextricably
linked, " with natural gas fuel supply issues causing
more than 27 percent of the generating unit outages.
In addition to the potential disruption of gas supplies to electric
generators because of weather, committee Democrats also
cited cybersecurity-related disruptions, particularly the May 7,
2021, ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline Company.
Shutdown of the pipeline, which carries 2.5 million barrels
of liquid petroleum products each day from Texas to New
Jersey, caused gasoline price spikes and fuel shortages. The incident
prompted the Transportation Security Administration
(TSA) to propose its first mandatory cybersecurity standards
after relying exclusively on unenforceable guidelines.
Rush's legislation calls for the creation and certification of an
Energy Product Reliability Organization (EPRO), which would
develop mandatory standards to ensure the reliable delivery of
energy products. EPRO would submit the draft standards to
FERC for review and approval. Finally, the legislation would
provide FERC with authority to review EPRO enforcement
actions, and independently investigate and penalize violations
of any reliability standard.
FERC Turns Back Efforts to Cancel Approved
Compressor Station
The Democratic-majority FERC dealt another blow to environmentalists
when it refused entreaties to reconsider the
UCONonline.com | MARCH 2022
13
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Underground Construction - March 2022

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