{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.risch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2017/9/risch-king-bill-to-protect-energy-infrastructure-secures-western-governors-association-endorsement", "Risch, King Bill to Protect Energy Infrastructure Secures Western Governors' Association Endorsement", "2017-09-18", "2017", "2017-09", "Republican", "House", "ID", "Jim Risch", "R000584", "www.risch.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013\u00a0U.S. Senators Angus King (I-Maine) and Jim Risch (R-Idaho) today announced that the Western Governors\u2019 Association, a bipartisan group of 19 governors from Western states and 3 governors from Western U.S. territories, has endorsed the\u00a0Securing Energy Infrastructure Act. The bipartisan legislation, introduced by the Senators earlier this year, seeks to protect America\u2019s electric grid from cyber-attacks. The WGA expressed their support in a letter earlier this month to the Chairs and Ranking Members of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and the Subcommittee on Energy.\r\n\u201cAs our nation evaluates its vulnerability to cyber-attacks, there is one major liability that is often overlooked: our energy grid,\u201d\u00a0said Senator King, a member of both the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.\u00a0\u201cAs more and more of our grid relies on computerized systems, our risk of catastrophic attack increases \u2013 one that would cripple businesses and could threaten lives. That is why I introduced the\u00a0Securing Energy Infrastructure Act, which will examine ways to employ low-tech redundancies as back-ups to automated systems. I\u2019m grateful to the Western Governors\u2019 Association for their support, and hope that Congress can act quickly to start working towards a grid that is prepared for any attacks.\u201d\r\n\u201cSecuring our critical energy infrastructure systems is not a partisan issue. As noted by the Western Governors Association (WGA), it\u2019s a national security issue that requires the attention of every state and federal leader,\u201d\u00a0said Senator Risch, a member of both the Senate Intelligence and Energy and Natural Resources Committees.\u00a0\u201cI thank the WGA for their endorsement of our bill, which utilizes the unique assets and expertise of our national laboratories to drive innovation as they re-examine critical infrastructure security. Additionally, I am proud that the Idaho National Lab is a leader on this important topic.\u201d\r\n\u201cThe security of the United States electric grid is essential to the provision of reliable energy in the West,\u201d\u00a0wrote Governors Dennis Daugaard (Chair, R-S.D.) and David Ige (Vice Chair, D-Hawaii) in the letter. \u201cThis bill advances the Western Governors\u2019 goals of putting the United States on a path to energy security.\"\u00a0\r\nThe\u00a0\u00a0Securing Energy Infrastructure Act\u00a0would:\r\n \r\nEstablish a two-year pilot program within the National Laboratories to study covered entities and identify new classes of security vulnerabilities, and research and test technology that could be used to isolate the most critical systems of covered entities from cyber-attacks.\r\n \r\n \r\nRequire the establishment of a working group to evaluate the technology solutions proposed by the National Laboratories and to develop a national cyber-informed strategy to isolate the energy grid from attacks. Members of the working group would include federal government agencies, the energy industry, a state or regional energy agency, the National Laboratories, and other groups with relevant experience.\r\n \r\n \r\nRequire the Secretary of Energy to submit a report to Congress describing the results of the program, assessing the feasibility of the techniques considered, and outlining the results of the working groups\u2019 evaluation.\r\n \r\n \r\nDefine \u201ccovered entities\u201d under the bill as segments of the energy sector that have already been designated as entities where a cyber-security incident could result in catastrophic regional or national effects on public health or safety, economic security, or national security.\r\n \r\n\u00a0\r\nIn the letter, the WGA highlights the bill\u2019s important steps towards protecting our critical energy infrastructure from cyber-attacks. The Western Governors\u2019 Association is a bipartisan organization consisting of the governors of 19 Western States and 3 Western U.S. territories.\u00a0\r\n\u00a0\r\nThe text of their letter can be found in full\u00a0HERE\u00a0and is below:\r\n\u00a0\r\n+++\r\n\u00a0\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nSeptember 6, 2017\u00a0\r\n\u00a0\r\nHonorable Lisa Murkowski\u00a0\r\nChairman\u00a0\r\nCommittee on Energy and Natural Resources\u00a0\r\nUnited States Senate\u00a0\r\n304 Dirksen Senate Office Building\u00a0\r\nWashington, D.C. 20510\u00a0\r\n\u00a0\r\n\r\n\r\n\u00a0\r\n\u00a0\r\nHonorable Maria Cantwell\u00a0\r\nRanking Member\u00a0\r\nCommittee on Energy and Natural Resources\u00a0\r\nUnited States Senate\u00a0\r\n304 Dirksen Senate Office Building\u00a0\r\nWashington, D.C. 20510\u00a0\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nHonorable Cory Gardner\u00a0\r\nChairman\u00a0\r\nSubcommittee on Energy\u00a0\r\nCommittee on Energy and Natural Resources\u00a0\r\nUnited States Senate\u00a0\r\n304 Dirksen Senate Office Building\u00a0\r\nWashington, D.C. 20510\u00a0\r\n\r\n\r\nHonorable Joe Manchin III\u00a0\r\nRanking Member\u00a0\r\nSubcommittee on Energy\u00a0\r\nCommittee on Energy and Natural Resources\u00a0\r\nUnited States Senate\u00a0\r\n304 Dirksen Senate Office Building\u00a0\r\nWashington, D.C. 20510\u00a0\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u00a0\r\n\u00a0\r\nDear Senators Murkowski, Cantwell, Gardner, and Manchin:\u00a0\r\n\u00a0\r\nThe security of the United States electric grid is essential to the provision of reliable energy in the West. The bipartisan\u00a0Securing Energy Infrastructure Act, S. 79, creates a pilot program and working group to: identify the security vulnerabilities of critical infrastructure; create and implement technology programs and standards to defend that infrastructure; and develop a national cyber-informed strategy to insulate the energy grid from attacks.\u00a0\r\n\u00a0\r\nThis bill advances the Western Governors\u2019 goals of putting the United States on a path to energy security and modernizing transmission and pipeline infrastructure, as articulated in Western Governors\u2019 Association Policy Resolution 2016-09,\u00a0Energy and Transmission, and the Association\u2019s\u00a010-Year Energy Vision. Western Governors appreciate the bill\u2019s requirement that the working group must include a representative from a state or regional energy agency.\u00a0\r\n\u00a0\r\nWestern Governors are committed to helping improve cybersecurity for the energy grid and support the\u00a0Securing Energy Infrastructure Act\u2019s\u00a0provisions to improve the security of our nation\u2019s critical energy infrastructure.\u00a0\r\n\u00a0\r\nSincerely, \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\r\n\u00a0\r\nDennis Daugaard \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 David Ige\u00a0\r\nGovernor of South Dakota\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Governor of Hawaii\u00a0\r\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "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://www.risch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2017/9/risch-king-bill-to-protect-energy-infrastructure-secures-western-governors-association-endorsement"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7450706325471401, "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"}