WASHINGTON, DC - House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) today issued the following statement in response to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) proposed rulemaking to approve the Physical Reliability Standard submitted by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC):
“Maintaining the safety and reliability of the grid continues to be one of the nation’s most pressing challenges and a top priority for our committee. I am encouraged by the work of FERC and NERC to establish new security standards to protect our grid from physical attacks. These new standards will help prevent and mitigate attacks on our nation’s most critical facilities, like the one we witnessed on the substation in California last year. Approval of these standards is an important step in protecting our nation’s power supply, but there is still much work to be done to secure our grid. In addition to physical threats, our grid faces risks from cyber attacks, electromagnetic pulses, and EPA’s power sector regulations. I look forward to hearing from the FERC Commissioners later this month about the full range of actions the agency is taking to safeguard our grid against emerging threats and ensure Americans continue to have access to affordable and reliable energy."
The Energy and Power Subcommittee has invited the FERC Commissioners to testify on July 29, 2014. Details of the hearing will be announced.
