{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://vanepps.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-van-epps-questions-doe-secretary-wright-on-drone-threat-to-electric-grid", "Rep. Van Epps Questions DOE Secretary Wright on Drone Threat to Electric Grid", "2026-06-18", "2026", "2026-06", "Republican", "House", "TN", "Matt Van Epps", "V000139", "vanepps.house.gov", "vanepps", "https://vanepps.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "Rep. Van Epps (TN-07) participated in a Science, Space, and Technology Committee hearing reviewing the FY27 Budget Request for the Department of Energy (DOE).\n\nImage\n\nWatch Rep. Van Epps' statement here.\n\nRead Rep. Van Epps\u2019 opening remarks here:\n\n\u201cThank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, Secretary Wright, for your testimony. Under the Biden administration, American energy was crippled by \u201cgreen\u201d policies, ESG requirements, and progressive special-interest groups. Coal, natural gas, and hydro-powered electricity plants were at risk of closure, tracking us toward a massive energy shortfall. This anti-growth mindset prevented us from harnessing America\u2019s abundance, leading to energy scarcity and rendering us dependent on foreign nations for energy.\n\nUnder the Trump administration, and Secretary Wright\u2019s leadership, we have reversed course. The DOE has taken decisive action to initiate an American Nuclear Renaissance. We are reshoring American-made supply chains for critical minerals, aligning energy policy with U.S. national security, and reducing U.S. dependence on foreign supply chains. Instead of shuffling taxpayer dollars toward unreliable, intermittent energy projects, this administration is prioritizing the protection of our energy infrastructure as we face sustained cybersecurity threats from foreign adversaries like China and Iran.\n\nThe President\u2019s FY27 budget request establishes these priorities and secures the golden era of energy dominance by ensuring access to abundant, reliable, and affordable energy.\u201d\n\nRead Rep. Van Epps\u2019 questions here:\n\nRep. Van Epps asked, \u201cSecretary Wright, as you know, our critical infrastructure faces mounting threats, including our energy systems. According to a recent North American Electric Reliability Corporation [NREC] report, power grid asset owners and operators have expressed growing concerns around unmanned aircraft systems attacks. Last year, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission noted that nuclear power plant security forces lack authority to interdict or shoot down drones.\n\nI introduced a bill yesterday to authorize critical infrastructure operators to detect, track, and neutralize unauthorized drones operating over protected sites. The bill gives the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of Energy, the ability to determine which critical infrastructure facilities need these authorities\n\nSecretary, what work is DOE\u2019s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response doing to protect energy systems from drone threats, and to what extent would providing commercial energy system operators authorization to neutralize unauthorized drone threats support DOE\u2019s ongoing work in this area?\u201d\n\nSecretary of the Department of Energy Christopher Wright replied, \u201c...Representative, you raise a key issue. Drones are just massively expanding around the world for many applications, but as a threat to our energy infrastructure\u2014absolutely true. Drones fly over our national labs; they fly over critical energy infrastructure. Absolutely, it's a real issue, and we are working across the agency, with the National Security Administration, with\u2026[the] Department of the Interior about how we address\u2026 this threat\u2026I love your engagement in it, and your passionate knowledge about it. So we definitely want to work with you and across the agencies about\u2026[how]... we're going to change our policies\u2026[and] how are we going to stop this growing threat\u2026\u201d\n\nRep. Van Epps asked, \u201cThank you, sir. I was glad to see that the DOE reorganization result[ed] in the creation of the Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation, which you talked about a little bit earlier. Critical minerals and rare earth support key technologies such as EV batteries, semiconductors, and rare earth magnets. Secretary, can you expound on\u2026the ongoing work the department's Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation is doing to advance our domestic minerals processing capabilities, and what are the primary roadblocks to building back our domestic minerals processing capabilities?\u201d", 1, "2026-06-19T06:50:32Z", "2026-06-19T06:53:40Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://vanepps.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-van-epps-questions-doe-secretary-wright-on-drone-threat-to-electric-grid"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8993139490485191, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}