House passes plan to secure power grid

Modified and amended by Paul Guinnessy. Originally published as Plans To Secure Power Grid From Terrorists, Solar Storms by Phillip F. Schewe, Inside Science News Service

A new bill, passed 9 June by the US House of Representatives and referred to the Senate’s Energy and Natural Resources Committee , aims to strengthen the electrical grid’s robustness against blackouts, such as the 2003 event in which the Northeastern US lost power for several days .

The Grid Reliability and Infrastructure Defense Act directs the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the main federal agency responsible for electricity matters, to establish security rules for utilities and other energy companies.

The GRID Act amends the existing regulations by recognizing several threats to the grid.

One threat is the infrequent but potent geomagnetic storms caused by solar flares, which send cascades of highly charged particles into Earth’s atmosphere.

Those particles can cause beautiful auroral displays (“northern lights ”), but can burn out the wiring in orbiting satellites and induce short-lived but large voltage surges in grid equipment on the ground.

Past storms, such as one that hit Canada’s grid in 1989 , have already burned out expensive electrical equipment and left millions in the dark.

Another threat to the grid is attacks by terrorists and hostile countries: A carefully detonated nuclear bomb could emit radiation pulses similar to the type of damage caused by solar flares, or by gaining access to computer control systems, a computer hacker could shut down parts of the grid. Some utilities already report fending off thousands of such cyberattacks per day.

“The electric grid’s vulnerability to cyber and other attacks is one of the single greatest threats to our national security,” said Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA), chairman of the House subcommittee on energy and environment and one of the sponsors of the bill.

“Every one of our nation’s critical systems—defense, water, healthcare, telecommunications, transportation, law enforcement, and financial services—depends on the grid. This bipartisan legislation is critical to protecting the United States against this emerging threat,” he said.

One of the chief fears addressed by the GRID Act is that a major power outage might be long-lasting, especially if critical components were affected. Even “a small disruption in the power supply can wreak havoc on our economy, while an extended blackout of months would be catastrophic,” said Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI) , another sponsor of the bill.

The GRID Act stipulates that energy companies take more precautions to guard against the highlighted threats. This would include having more spare parts on hand to deal with breakdowns. Transformers, the bulky devices that change electricity from one voltage to another, are particularly vulnerable to disturbances. Companies might pool their resources and, if necessary, pass along the cost of extra equipment directly to consumers.

The act also creates a category of “protected” technology security information that is exempt from the Freedom of Information Act , the better to foil those who would plan terror attacks on the grid, say the bill’s sponsors.