With natural gas becoming increasingly critical to power generation, Congress should transfer security oversight of the nation's oil and gas pipelines to the U.S. Department of Energy and give the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission the authority to create mandatory cybersecurity standards for pipeline systems, two FERC commissioners said in a June 11 article.
The Transportation Security Administration has only six employees monitoring 2.7 million miles of pipe, FERC Commissioners Neil Chatterjee and Richard Glick wrote. Further, the agency uses voluntary cybersecurity standards for oil and gas pipeline systems, in contrast to the mandatory cybersecurity standards FERC requires of the power systems it regulates.
"The U.S. has no comparable standards for its network of pipelines," the pair said. "As abundant and affordable natural gas has become a major part of the fuel mix, the cybersecurity threats to that supply have taken on new urgency."
DOE has an energy-specific security mission and recently stood up a cybersecurity office, Republican Chatterjee and Democrat Glick wrote in an article for the news website Axios.
As the regulator of interstate oil and gas pipelines, FERC should be mandated by Congress to design and enforce new cybersecurity standards, the pair said, capitalizing on its experience in the power sector. "While the electric sector presents different operational risks, the essential starting point for these reforms is standards that are both mandatory and tailored to the pipeline network's greatest threats."
"Foreign enemies are increasingly launching cyberattacks on U.S. critical infrastructure, including energy facilities," they warned.
