Pinehurst Today

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Representative Richard Hudson (R-NC) on July 18, 2023 joined the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations hearing titled "Examining Emerging Threats to Electric Energy Infrastructure.”

“This afternoon’s hearing builds on the field hearing we held in Moore County last month in order to improve the security and resiliency of our nation’s energy grid,” said Rep. Hudson. “Our committee’s continuous discussions with expert witnesses from across the industry are extremely valuable as we move closer to finding tangible solutions to strengthen our power grid in order to prevent future energy infrastructure attacks.”

Today’s hearing addressed the security challenges that currently threaten the electricity sector, and discussed emerging and existing threats to America’s electric energy infrastructure.The witnesses who delivered testimonies and answered questions from members at today’s hearing included:

• Mr. Manny Cancel, Chief Executive Officer, Electric Information Sharing and Analysis Center, and Senior Vice President, North American Electric Reliability Corporation
• Mr. Sam Chanoski, Technical Relationship Manager, Idaho National Laboratory
• Hon. Paul N. Stockton, Ph.D., Senior Fellow, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
• Hon. Bruce Walker, President and Chief Security Office, Alliance for Critical Infrastructure Security, Inc.

In June, Rep. Hudson and members of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy, Climate, and Grid Security held a field hearing in Moore County to address enhancing America’s grid security and reliability. In addition, the members discussed physical and cybersecurity issues facing the electricity sector, power outage incident response and recovery, and emergency coordination among State and local governments and the electric industry.

Watch the full Moore County field hearing here.

Prior to the hearing, Rep. Hudson and committee members toured the Duke Energy West End substation, one of two substations in Moore County that was intentionally attacked on the evening of December 3, 2022.

To build on his work to strengthen our nation's energy security, Rep. Hudson introduced the Protecting America’s Distribution Transformer Supply Chain Act, legislation to strengthen the supply chain of our nation’s critical energy infrastructure. This legislation repeals the Department of Energy’s authority to propose, finalize, implement, administer, or enforce any energy efficiency standard for distribution transformers for the next five years. 

Original source can be found here.