Franks' amendment to energy-infrastructure bill would beef up grid security

U.S. Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) is looking to make an impact with his amendment to the North American Energy Security and Infrastructure Act of 2015, and he testified before the Rules Committee on Wednesday to back up his case.

“Mr. Chairman, our National Security and the reliability of our national electric grid are inextricably related,” Franks said. “Without the grid, telecommunications no longer operate, transportation of every kind is profoundly affected, sewage and water treatment facilities stop and a safe and continuous food supply is interrupted.

“Contemporary U.S. society is not structured, nor does it have the means, to provide for the needs of nearly 300 million Americans without electricity,” Franks said. “The current strategy for recovery from a failure of the electric grid leaves us ill-prepared to respond effectively to a significant manmade or naturally occurring EMP event that would potentially result in damage to vast numbers of components nearly simultaneously over an unprecedented geographic scale.”

Franks’ amendment would seek to provide security to the electric grid, should there be some type of unforeseen event.

“Mr. Chairman, my amendment amends section 215 of the Federal Power Act by creating a protocol for cooperation between industry and government in the development, promulgation, and implementation of standards and processes that are necessary to address the current shortcomings and vulnerabilities of the electric grid from a major EMP event," Franks said.

“The base bill does indeed provide for such protocols for protection of the grid, but only in a QUOTE "grid security emergency," defined in the bill as the actual occurrence of the EMP event or the imminent danger of one, and only after the president issues a written directive declaring such an emergency. This is akin to having a parachute that opens on impact.”